English literature- Poems

Will be updated as I learn the poems, pls be patient

Mother any distance key idea

Mother any distance key idea

The strength of mother-son bond and the strength took to overcome it

Mother any distance structure

Loose format- uncertainty, unknown, confusion, fear

Uneven rhyming- uneven relationship, son relies more on mother than she does on him

Mother any distance first quote

“You at the zero end, me with the spool of the tape”
(measuring out the years, growing up milestones, mother still thinking of him as a child, leaving her behind)

Mother any distance second quote

“Anchor. Kite”
(Keeping him grounded, stopping him getting hurt, him wanting to fly away, wanting freedom)

Mother any distance third quote

“I reach towards the hatch that opens to an endless sky”
(Infinite possibilities, freedom, escape, adulthood)

Follower key idea

The admiration of a son looking up at his father and the want to be like him despite his subsequent clumsiness and inability

Follower structure

Ridged- Mimics farm work and the ploughing of the fields

Follower first quote

“His shoulders globed like a full sail strung”
(Fathers strength, is his whole world, nautical theme, power, looking up to him)

Follower second quote

“I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake”
(Sons inability, nautical theme, fathers determination and strength)

Follower third quote

“All I ever did was follow in that broad shadow around the farm”
(Disappointment in himself, hidden away from the world, literally in his fathers shadow)

Before you were mine key idea

A daughter looking back on her mother before she was born and thinking about how much her mother changed because of her

Before you were mine structure

Repetitive- progression of time/flicking through photos

Before you were mine first quote

“Your polka dot dress blows around your knees. Marilyn.”
(Innocence, beauty, tragedy, foreshadowing, vivid imagery- present tense used, conversational tone)

Before you were mine second quote

“My hands in those red heeled shoes. Relics.”
(Beauty is a thing of the past, different life, now a child's toy, lost everything to motherhood)

Before you were mine third quote

“Stamping stars from the wrong pavement”
(Believes her mother chose the wrong path, believes she could stamp stars- admiration, compassion, love for her mother, wants the best for her)

Walking away key idea

Father watching his son grow up and leave him to go out into the world

Walking away structure

Organised- Like his father wants it to be, stableness of paternal love

Dashes- Connection, changing of time

Repetition of away- Son is consistently growing less dependent

Walking away first quote

“Like a satellite wrenched from it’s orbit go drifting away”
(Thinks his son needs him, violent terminology, aimless wondering, concerned for his sons safety)

Walking away second quote

“A half-fledged thing set free into the wilderness”
(fear for his sons safety, thinks he isn’t ready yet, bird theme, unknown world)

Walking away third quote

“Scorching ordeals which fire ones irresolute clay”
(must suffer to become strong, acceptance, pain is necessary on both sides, can mould your kids but they need to struggle to set)