Poppies Key Quotes

Themes

Themes

Effects of conflict.Loss and Absence .Memory .Negative emotions - fear.Identity.Individual experiences

Context

Jane Weir was a clothes maker herself and uses such vocabulary.

Form and structure

This poem has no form or rhyme, with varying stanza sizes, as it is about a mother exploring her feelings which cannot be controlled. It is about discovery and the structure reflects this as she first talks about what she did, her feelings after he leaves and both of them finding freedom represented by the 'songbird'. The final She wants the story to end happily and therefore the last stanza only has 7 lines.

Poppies

Written by Jane Weir

Ideas

Her son is going to war. The poem starts to be about war and as it develops it changes to show the freedom she gains as her son leaves.

'Spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding around your blazer'

This is packed full of symbolism, the red paper represents the poppy but the idea of spasms suggests her physical pain from separating from her son or his painful death. The idea of a blockade is both a clothes making term as well as a war term where supplies would be blocked. The word blazer doesn't suggest a war uniform, however it could be a school uniform or a well-dressed event, so she sees this event as him leaving. The poem is about her grief of him leaving and him being a part of war. The alliteration of the 'b' sound mimics the sounds of war.

'Blackthorns of your hair. All my words / flattened, rolled, turned into felt, / slowly melting'

The idea of blackthorns suggests spikes, this could be a biblical illusion to Jesus who went died on a cross of thorns as a sacrifice. This contains a lot of imagery which reflects their relationship and reflects on why he wants to go. The blackthorns make it seem that he chose a hairstyle which would stop her from touching him and further symbolises that he wants to break away from her control and her oppressive motherhood. Next there is more imagery of clothing and material, the idea of 'felt' reminds us of feelings and by using 'felt' is further represents that her words are soft and she is not revealing her true sharp emotions. This is annoying to her son as he doesn't repress his emotions, he is sharp - he has to really pay attention, which frustrates him. She understands this as she doesn't build something solid with her words like he wants but melts away which reflects her feelings - tears maybe. Also the metaphor signifies that she has stopped talking.

'threw / it open, the world overflowing like a treasure chest'

The simile here presents the view that the mother has realised that letting her son go will be beneficial for him as he will have many opportunities in the outside world. This is then contrasting to the idea that this is a war poem as many people who went to war died. - it also shows the mother is letting her son go with the ideas he will gain great experiences and opportunity from it.

'After you'd gone I went into your bedroom, / released a song bird from its cage.'

The metaphor here could mean that he is the song bird who was trapped in the protective cage of love from his mother, but now he is gone and will be able to find his own 'song' - journey. The poet is now given her own personality as she can be a song bird now - a poet. There is also direct address here which could imply she is remembering with her son the moment he went to war, which would signify this poem is not a letter to him and he is not dead.

'The dove pulled freely against the sky, / an ornamental stitch, I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind.'

There is a lot of symbolism here when the mother is in the graveyard, the 'dove' could symbolise her sons soul being free but is also a parallel to the song bird, which implies freedom as he has opportunities as high as the sky. We are also drawn back to the idea of clothing, the ornament is the poem, and creates a bond and link between her son and the poem. The choice of the word 'playground' suggests that she wants the young child and his memories back and recaptured. The poem is more about motherhood and the mother discovering her own voice as he leaves. The dove is a christian illusion here as the in Noah's ark he would release a dove everyday and if it didn't come back it would give him hope that there was land. - symbolically there is no tragedy.