When was this poem publised?
- 1978
What is this poem influenced by?
- The death of Harrison’s mother, 2 years prior to “Timer” publication date.
Rhyme scheme
- Regular,clear: enduring love for his mother.
- Polysyllabic/ coloquial rhymes: “St James” and “their names.”: acceptance of her death/ man expressing his thoughts authentically.
Why does the speaker use colloquial/ official language surrounding death throughout this poem?
- Shows he has accepted his mom’s death.
- Doesn’t know how to respond to it? Emotionally numb?
Form of poem?
- Uses 16 lines instead of 14.
- “Caduate sonnet” rather than Petrachan.
- Elegy: poem that explores death.
- Isn’t traditionally presenting loss of love, showing the bureaucracy/ officiality required when you lose someone you love.
What two opposite ideas are explored in this poem?
- Intimacy speaker still feels with his mother (ie. enduring love) VS official bureacracy when losing someone you love.
Jewelery imagery
- “Gold”/ “ring.”
- “Ring”: symbol of son’s eternal love for mother.
- “Eternity” inscribed juxtaposes the banal clothing details.
Signifiance of address in this poem.
- “you”: direct address, personal/ initimate nature of poem.
- Literary apostrophe: poem addressed to absent figure.
- Juxtaposes unattached/ bureaucratic descriptions.
Heat/ destrution imagery
- “fire.”
- “ashes.”
- “incinerator.”
- Temporary nature of life/ relationships?
What semantic field is used in first stanza?
- Semantic field of practicality.
- Contrast between the practical actions son must complete and the grief he experiences.
- “envelope”/ “official”
Significance of use of “Dad” and “St James” at beginning of stanza 2.
- Contrast of dad = intimate relationship and formality in “St James.”
Significance of how the dad views death of mother, how does this contrast to son?
- Spirititual reflection of dad, certainty that they will be re-united in afterlife.
- “Later” = euphemisim, struglling to come to terms with wife’s death.
- Son engagement in mother’s death is a lot more practical, ie. speaking to clerk.
Significance of clothing described.
- “the” rather than “her”: distancing himself - he doesn’t know how to react to her death, raw and unfamiliar.
- Clash between impersonality of “the parcelled clothing” (created through listing effect!) and the intimate, personal, private nature.
- Personal, private conveyed through coloquialisms: “pants, bra, dress.”
Significance of the clerk’s call.
- His mom has become defined as a number after death.
- Bureaucracy of her death.
What type of love is presented?
- Filial love (ie. love for parents.)
How does last stanza juxtapose the bureaucratic/ official imagery throughout poem?
- Shows that speaker still feels connection with his mother.
- “I feel”: sensory connection reminding him of physical touch from mother.
- Switch to present tense, note of contemplation: son still adjusting to fact relationship with mother has entered new stage.
Maternal imagery in last stanza.
- “breasts, womb, legs.” Physical features associated with child-bearing. List parallels earlier listing of her clothes.
- “eggs” -> maternal imagery.
- Ashes moving through ring –> hourglass image. Time running out with his mom, temporary love.
- Ordinary memories, ie. kitchen, build love.
Context
- A lot of his poetry addresses relationship with his parents ie. tension between father after death of mother (Book Ends.)
- Lived in Leeds then went to live in London, extravagant lifestyle/ read classics.
- Poems address social/ class conflict.
What contrast of events do we have in this poem?
- Contrast between narrative/ realistic events juxtaposed with spiritual/ emotional events (ie. father saying he will re-unite/ memory with mother in kitchen.)
