Poppies

Question 1

Poppies context

Answer 1

• written by Jane weir
• livide in Northern Ireland during the conflict
• a textile designer and poet
  -‘fear that parents experience in letting their children go’
• focuses on the grief of those left behind

Question 2

Poppies
form

Answer 2

Dramatic monologue

• solely focussed on the suffering of those left behind

Silence emphasises the pain caused for the often ignored mother

Mother talking to herself to give the illusion of her sons presence

Question 3

Poppies language quote and technique

Answer 3

Colour symbolism and metaphor

“Spasms of paper red , disturbing a bloackade of yellow bias”

Spasm- violent , pain, suffering
Grief becomes physical
Paper- fragility of life
Yellow= warmth, happiness , joy and life
Red blocks the yellow shows how grief plagues and destroys all happiness and healing

Question 4

Poppies structure technique and quote
What did Jane wire say about grief?

Answer 4

Enjambment

“Turned into felt,/slowly melting”

Jane weird said ‘if no one is to grieve one has to at some point let it dissolve”

Break in structure=
Emotional break
Felt = stretches across stanza , soft maternal warmth

Enjambment + tactile imagery= emotional disintegration