mother any distance

Question 1

taken from “book of matches”

Answer 1

IT HAS NO TITLE, NOT TECHNIQUELY THE TITLE, PUBLISHERS WOULD JYST TAKE THE FIRST LINE AS A REFERENCE

Question 2

context

Answer 2

• writes poetry that is accessible and relatable situation in order to resonate and engage the reader

Question 3

meaning

Answer 3

• speaker introduces situation of him moving into a new house and his mother has come round to help him measure the house for furniture
• reflects on the distance between them and how he feels about his connection to his mother
• he considers whether he will succeed on his next step in his life or whether he will fail
  – growing independence, changing nature of parent child relationships
  – disjointed, unstable moment in relationship when child becomes own person, loves parents but needs to develop own identity

Question 4

FORM

Answer 4

• loosely based on a sonnet (deliberately adds a small last line - emphasis too)
  -> loose format may suggest uncertainty as to how he feels towards his mother
  -> speaker does love his mother (sonnet form= love) , but relationship at this point in their lives is unstable and chaining as it moves from something it once was to something new

Question 5

STRUCTURE - uncontrolled

Answer 5

• no fixed rhyme scheme or line length
  -> relationship is unpredictable
  -> uncontrolled
  -» relationship is uncontrolled now and unpredictable - new stage no formulaic pattern to follow as everything is new - reflects relationship

Question 6

STRUCTURE - enjambement and caesura

Answer 6

• the second stanza uses enjambement over 4 lines and then ends with “anchor. kite.”
  -> fast flowing and then contrasted
  -> anchor and kite = are deliberately emphasised (language analysis too) anchor holds you down and keeps you safe, a kite seems to have freedom but is still held down by person holding the rope
  -» both bring stability and hold you down in one place
  -»> suggests being held back
  -> enjambement reflects being held back ad the enjambement is free flowing so could represent his freedom and then the caesura is contrasted and holds him back
  -» reflects the difference between the mother and the child

Question 7

STRUCTURE - ending

Answer 7

• “to fall or fly” -> breaks the sonnet form
  -> shortest line so stands out
  -» emphasises the importance of the line
  -» highlight the cold is admitting that speaker knows he may not succeed
  -»> structural isolation of this point highlights its importance
  -»» speaker refuses to blame mother it is just him feeling he needs to do this

Question 8

LANGUAGE - “acres” and “prairies” and “span”

Answer 8

• “acres = hyperbolises, exaggeration
  -> slightly childish
• prairies = childish frame of reference
• span = childish imagery as a measurement
  -» deliberate use to remind mother of past they shared together
  -» to show that the speaker is perhaps naïve and will not actually survive

Question 9

LANGUAGE - measuring tape and space

Answer 9

• “you at the zero end me with the spool of tape”
  -> as the speaker moves further away from mother the physical distance that is growing between them
  -> mother holds one end and son holds the other
  -» metaphor for the tape is symbolic of an umbilical chord - essential connection to life
• “zero end”
  -> the moment in the womb for a baby
  -» reminds the reader that the mother and the speaker have been connected
  -»> reflected in the space walk imagery
• “i space walk through the empty bedrooms”
  -> space exploration
  -» exploring uncharted territory - exciting but also risky - represents relationship - independence an the future
  -> still connected by a life giving chord that gives you everything you need

Question 10

LANGUAGE - “i reach towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky to fall or fly”

Answer 10

• bird imagery
• “hatch” - door in loft and the word also comes from the lexical felid of birds
  -> instigates imagery of the bird flying the nest
  -» children leaving
  -» and it is a risk - blunt final line - knows it is serious

Question 11

LANGUAGE - how is there a theme of separation

Answer 11

• mother and DISTANCE
• and separation in the first stanza of “you” and “me” in “you come to help me”
  -> reliance the son has on his mother, prospect of distance, early on in the poem
• distance shown by the semantic field of measurement - “metres, centimetres” and “one hundredth of an inch”

Question 12

quotes

Answer 12

• “you come to help me”
• “metres, centimetres” and “one hundredth of an inch”
• “i reach onwards a hatch that opens on an endless sky to fall or fly”
• “you at the zero end me with the spool of tape”
• “i space walk through the empty bedrooms”
• “acres” “prairies” “span”
• “to fall or fly”
• “anchor. kite.”