Poppies

Question 1

Poppies — Context:

Answer 1

Jane Weir was born in 1963, growing up in England, Northern Italy and living in Belfast during the Troubles of the 1980’s.

•When Poppies was written, British soldiers were dying in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Weir was struck by the mothers of dead soldiers in the media- their “voicelessness and ability to be heard or get any kind of justice”.

•Armistice Sunday began as a way of marking the end of WWI. It was set up so people could remember the millions of ordinary men who died. Today, the event is used to remember soldiers of all wars who have died since then.

Question 2

Poppies — Rhythm:

Answer 2

The poem is an elegy.

Question 3

Poppies — Rhythm:

Answer 3

The lack of a regular rhythm in this poem, coupled with the long sentences and enjambment, gives an impression of someone absorbed in their own thoughts and memories.

Question 4

Poppies — Rhyme:

Answer 4

There is no apparent rhyme scheme in this poem.

The sounds are restrained, much like the mother in the poem as she tries to contain her emotions.

Some rhymes in stanza 2 (“nose” and “Eskimos”) are buried in the stanza, rather than being at the end of each line. Again, this reflects how the mother is trying to bury and contain her emotions.