1. Poppies
by Jane Weir
This is my response to the poem. The poem was written in the present day and
poppies are used on armistice Sunday, armistice Sunday began as a away of ending
first world war in 1918, set up to remember those who died. Poppies are seen as a
sign of hope: of life following death, of the triumph of beautiful nature over the
ugliest of man made scars.
The poem is initially about her grown up son who is leaving home and 'going to war'.
The message of the poem in my opinion is remembering. There is no regular theme.
It breaks up into sections of the sons life and emphasizes that the message of the
poem is remembering which links to the title, 'Poppies'. In the poem it says
“individual war graves” this is highlighting that not all soldiers are remembered.
They tend to be remembered as a group of people but what Jane Weir is trying to do
is make people realise that they are individuals and should be remembered as
individuals.
I think this poem has a narrative structure (non-chronological) I think this because the
mother is reliving memories from different stages in the boys life. It reflects the way
the mother is grieving in different ways for her son. I also think the whole poem is
like a circle/timeline. I think this because she first talks about the son as a child. Then
as he grew up and died, she then goes back to talking about when he was a child
again and this helps the narrative structure function. It also links to the title; about
remembering, that she will never forget her son.
The different lengths of the stanzas suggest she's grieving and going through a rough
time as they don't all flow perfectly, but neither does life (e.g. war) or anything you
want...
In the poem it says “all my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt”. Jane said she
wrote this to show the pain and grief the mother is feeling in the poem. Its almost
describing how felt is made, it has stages and then finally builds up into one. This is a
metaphor for her feelings, the feelings off pain, grief and loss turned into one. In the
poem it relates to this metaphor again, it says “ my stomach busy making tucks, darts,
pleats, hat-less,” is showing the physical pain than can be caused by a loss/war,
implying to the reader that war and remembering is a serious thing and should not
just be forgotten.
In the poem it says “I listened hoping to hear your playground voice”. When she
refers to her son, instead of saying his, she says your. This is suggesting that she cant/
doesn't want to come to terms that he's actually gone. This shows the strong
relationship she had with her son and how she misses him, yet now the only thing to
remind her of him is the memories that they had together and she will always
remember them. By Purple