Poppies Flashcards

1
Q

Who is poppies written by?

A

Jane Weir

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2
Q

Who is this poem inspired by?

A
  • Poem inspired by Wilfred Owen’s mother (Susan Owen.)
  • Wilfred Owen died a week before Armistice day: she references this in her poem.
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3
Q

How are the poppies described in the first part of the poem?

A
  • “spasms of paper red.”
  • Spasms - connotations of being wounded
  • “red” - blood
  • WAR IMAGERY
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4
Q

What is the significance of the poem being from the perspective of a woman (specifically a mother?)

A
  • Most war literature from perspective of men fighting.
  • This poem is about mother-son relationship when son goes to war (a lot more emotional twist.)
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5
Q

Where were British soldiers fighting at the time this poem was published?

A
  • British soldiers were fighting in Iraq/ Afghanistan.
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6
Q

What could the mother pinning a poppy “onto the lapel” of her sons uniform be symbolic of?

A
  • Symbol of protection.
  • Reminding her son of all of the people that have died in war.
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7
Q

What could the mother “disrupting a blockade of bias binding to (his) blazer” by a metaphor for?

A
  • She is trying to disrupt her son from going to war.
  • “Binding”: she feels as though he has binded himself to go to war/ forced himself when in reality, it is his decision.
  • “Blockade” - military language –> she wants to distrupt the mere concept of war.
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8
Q

What is the significance of the imagery of the poppies in first stanza: “spasms of paper red?”

A
  • “Red”
  • Symbolic of the death/ destruction associated with the war the son is going to fight in.
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9
Q

What types of domestic imagery are used throughout the whole poem? What is the significance of this?

A

-“sellotape”
- “turned into felt”
-“tucks, darts, pleats”
- “ornamental stitch.”
- Shows how the mother cares for her son in the home and always will.
- The caring nature of the mother.

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10
Q

How does the mother make her son look presentable in the 2nd stanza? Why is she doing this?

A
  • “rounded up as many cat hairs.”
  • “smoothed down shirt.”
  • This is the only thing she can control when her son is going so far away from her.
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11
Q

What does the mother have the impulse to do when arranging her son’s uniform? Significance…?

A
  • “graze (her) nose across the tip of (his) nose.”
  • Still feels like her son is a child and therefore wants to protect him. Only a child in her eyes so it’s difficult to see him taken away.
  • She resists this feeling to try and seem “brave” so her son doesn’t get upset.
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12
Q

What is the significance of the phrase:” all my words, flattened, rolled, turned into felt?”

A
  • Metaphor.
  • Insignificance of her words: nothing will stop her son from going to war (because he wants to go.)
  • Doesn’t know what to say to her son because she is so emotional (shows how close she is to her son.)
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13
Q

What is the significance of the enjambement between the 2nd and 3rd stanzas (from sorting uniform to her son leaving?)

A
  • Shows how quickly her son went away: she feels as though she was unable to say goodbye properly.
  • This is also seen by the fact that he is gone in a “split second.”
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14
Q

What is the significance of the “world overflowing like a treasure chest” when the mother “threw” the door open?

A
  • Shows the treasures that the son will experience for going to war. Links to idea of him being: “intoxicated” - drunk with the excitement of something new.
  • “Threw”: trying to get it over and done with as soon as possible because she is too emotional/ it’s too difficult for her to say goodbye.
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15
Q

What is the significance of the mother “releasing a song bird from its cage?”

A
  • Symbol of letting her son go.
  • “song bird” - child- like innocence, still views her son as a child who she needs to protect.
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16
Q

What is the significance of the image of the “dove that pulled freely against the sky?”

A
  • “Dove” = symbol of peace.
  • The son is now at complete peace because perhaps he has died?
  • Pulling freely = him going to heaven.
  • SIDE NOTE: doves normally come in pairs but he has been PULLED AWAY from her.
17
Q

Why might’ve the mother gone to the “church yard?”

A
  • War memorial there: a way for her to remember her son (maybe died/ maybe not.)
  • To pray for him to be as safe as possible at war.
18
Q

What is the significance of the mother leaving her house: “without a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf and gloves?”

A
  • She doesn’t care about protecting herself from the cold, she is only concerned about her son.
19
Q

What is the significance of the mother leaning against the “war memorial like a wishbone?”

A
  • Simile
  • Hoping/ wishing that her son won’t die.
20
Q

What is the significance of the mother wanting to her her son’s “playground voice catching on the wind?”

A
  • Personification.
  • Wants to go back to when he was young to protect him from any dangers.
  • Is he dead? –> she is thinking about his old voice rather than his voice NOW. Reminscing on his life??
21
Q

What type of conflict is shown in this poem?

A
  • Internal conflict of the mother of taking her son to war.
  • Conflict of her son wanting to go to war but the mother wanting him to stay.
22
Q

What type of power is shown in this poem?

A
  • The power of their relationship.
  • The power of the mother’s love to her son.