Parent Poems- Love and Relationships

Walking Away- Quote 1

‘With the Pathos of a half-fledged thing set free’

\-Bird metaphor

\-The ‘half-fledged thing’ is a metaphor for the son

\-The father is worried for the son entering the real world

Walking Away- Quote 2

‘Like a satellite wrenched from it’s orbit’

\-Metaphor, the son is the satellite and the father is his orbit

\-The separation was sudden and painful

Walking Away- Quote 3

‘That resistant figure, eddying away’

\-Natural imagery

\-Compares the son to the air and water

\-The father feels his son is uncertain and can’t be controlled

Walking Away- Quote 4

‘How selfhood begins with walking away, and love is proved in letting go’

\-The father has come to an understanding that his son has to walk away

\-His father proves his love by letting him go

Walking Away- Structure Quote 1

A consistent ABACA rhyme scheme, the stable structure contrasts the theme of change, it could also reflect the stable nature of parental love.

Walking Away- Structure Quote 2

The poem recounts events chronologically.

Walking Away- Context Quote 1

Day-Lewis was brought up by his father this may explain why he puts an emphasis on Father-son relationships with his own son.

Walking Away- Context Quote 2

It is semi auto-biographical poem suggested by the initial substitute title ‘for sean’

Eden Rock- Quote 1

‘Somewhere beyond Eden Rock’

\-The word Eden has connotations of the garden of Eden, religious imagery

\-Eden Rock is a perfect place for the narrator

Eden Rock- Quote 2

‘They are waiting for me’

The use of present tense make the scene he’s describing fell more vivid as if the memories is frozen in time. There is no way he can he certain the quite shows that he hopes they are waiting for him.

Eden Rock- Quote 3

‘The sky whitens as it out by three suns’

The three suns could show that the family of three have been reunited. This contrasts with the ordinary descriptions of the first three stanzas- its like a heavenly light.

Eden Rock- Quote 4

‘I had not thought that it would be like this’

Monosyllabic (single syllable) language created a tone of childlike simplicity. We don’t know what the ‘it’ actually is. He may be referring to preparing to be born or die, or he may be taking about the after life.

Eden Rock- Context Quote 1

His father died in 1924 as a result of injuries from the First World War; he was raised by his mother.

Eden Rock- Context Quote 2

His mother died in 1971 after he had nursed her for several years.

Eden Rock- Structure Quote 1

The poem is a simple, nostalgic narrative of 5 quatrains- the last line of the final quatrain being separated from the rest of the stanzas.

Eden Rock- Structure Quote 2

Enjambement is used to perceive life running into death, also running with the ‘stream’ in the poem.

Follower- Quote 1

‘Like a full sail strung’

The simile shows that just as sails harness the power of the wind, he harnesses the power of the horses and uses them to plough.

Follower- Quote 2

‘Hob-nailed wake’

A reference to a ships wake created an image of choppy water- the sun finds it difficult to follow his father. His boots are sturdy like his dad.

Follower- Quote 3

‘Dipping and rising to his plod’

He describes his father like a ship riding the ‘dipping’ and ‘rising’ waves of the furrows. The rhythm of the poem seems to dip and rise- like the movement of being on his fathers back.

Follower- Quote 4

‘But today it is my father who keeps stumbling behind me and will not go away’

Caesura makes the change to the present tense sudden and unexpected- heightens the impact of the final few sentences. Earlier the boy was stumbling, now it is his father.

Follower- Context Quote 1

Seamus Heaney was born in Northern Ireland. His father was a farmer in a rural county Derry and much of Heaneys poetry is about the countryside of farm life.

Follower- Context Quote 2

He was the eldest of nine children- there would have been a lot of pressure on him to conform to the expectations of his parents.

Follower- Structure Quote 1

Heaney uses near 4 stanzas (quatrains) evenly rhymed like the next lines of furrows. ABAB.

Follower- Structure Quote 2

He also uses the first person and the lyric form.

Mother, any distance- Quote 1

‘Space-walk,

Space metaphor reflects how fe feels that being on his own is an exciting adventure but it’s also scary.

Mother, any distance- Quote 2

‘Anchor. Kite.‘

He’s a kite starting to fly, but his anchor (mother) is keeping him secure. These two one-word sentences slow the pace of the poem maybe he is a bit apprerhensive.

Mother, any distance- Quote 3

‘Breaking point, where someone thing has to give’

Their relationships needs to change he’s trying to move away and she’s trying to move on.

Mother, any distance- Quote 4

‘Endless sky, to fall or fly’

He feel like there’s no limit to the opportunities open to him. Bird imagery suggests hatching and flying the nest- he’s breaking free of his mothers protection. He doesn’t know if he will make it- ‘has to give’ or ‘to fall or fly’.

Mother, any distance- Context Quote 1

It comes from a book of poetry called ‘book of matches’. Each poem in this collection can be read in the amount of time it take a match to burn out (representing ‘small but significant’ moments in life).

Mother, any distance- Context Quote 2

The topic of this poem is about a child moving out of their family home and the feelings surrounding that.

Mother, any distance- Structure Quote 1

Loosely based on a sonnet and the loose format may suggest uncertainty.

Mother, any distance- Structure Quote 2

Uneven rhyming structure, which may suggest the uneven relationship between mother and son- the sun clearly relies a lot more on his mother than vice versa.

Before you were mine- Quote 1

‘Your polka-dot dress blows round your legs. Marilyn.’

Compares her mother with Marilyn Monroe- she was a glamorous and desirable film star, but also a tragic figure who committed suicide at 36. This could hint at unhappiness to come.

Before you were mine- Quote 2

‘Fizzy, movie tomorrows’

Language suggests energy and exciting possibilities- she may have hoped for life like a movie heroine.

Before you were mine- Quote 3

‘Relics’, ‘ghost’

Eric’s are a sacred religious object from the past- to the narrator, her mother’s glamour is precious, but ‘ghost’ highlights bow it’s in the past and won’t return.

Before you were mine- Quote 4

‘Stamping stars from the wrong pavement’

Alliteration shows her mums defiance and energy, contrasts with the ‘right walk home’ maybe she has made the wrong choices in life.

Before you were mine- Context Quote 1

It explores the ideas of motherhood and how motherhood changes a person.

Before you were mine- Context Quote 2

It is also a poem about a time and a place: post-war culture in the 1950’s, and the social life of a teenage girl in Glasgow.

Before you were mine- Structure Quote 1

Before you were mine is written in four stanzas (five lines each- quatrains), in blank verse, with no rhyming pattern.

Before you were mine- Structure Quote 2

There are a few enjabment lines that give the poem a steady pace but, it also contains a few lines that do not follow on, this gives these particular lines a very authorative feel as if they contain the truth in some way.

Climbing my grandfather- Quote 1

‘ Earth-stained hands’

Detail that a child would notice from playing with his grandfather. It suggest that he likes nature which is why he is described as a mountain.

Climbing my grandfather- Quote 2

‘The glassy ridge of a scar’

Just as a ridge is part of a mountain, the scar is a part of the grandfather and something to be explored.

Climbing my grandfather- Quote 3

‘Gasping for breath’

His exhaustion shows that it had been a difficult climb- he’s been making the effort to get to know his grandfather.

Climbing my grandfather- Quote 4

‘The slow pulse of his good heart’

Monosyllabic- line slows the poem imitating his fathers heartbeat. The CG ikr May physically feel his grandfathers heart beat, but they don’t baldo hints at the grandfathers steady and warm live for his grandson.

Climbing my grandfather- Context Quote 1

The poem is semi-autobiographical, and from the perspective of someone recounting childhood memories.

Climbing my grandfather- Context Quote 2

It employs an extended metaphor of mountaineering which reflects Waterhouse keen interest in environmentalism.

Climbing my grandfather- Structure Quote 1

The poem is presented as one continuous stanza. Presenting the poem as one continuous piece may ink to a mountain.

Climbing my grandfather- Structure Quote 2

Extended metaphor poem- extended metaphor of mountaineering throughout.