Mother, any distance - Simon Armitage

CONTEXT

Mother, any distance is a part of the collection “Book of Matches”, they’re designed to be read in the same time in takes a match to burn out, they’re all around the length of a sonnet.

Armitage is reflecting on the connection he has with his mother, at his perspective of growing up. He contrasts the reliance he has with his mother in Stanza 1, to the pressure of desiring to explore independence in Stanza 2 and in the final stanza he considers whether his future will be a success or fail.

KEY THEMES

• Gaining independence can be daunting

• Children desire freedom as they grow up

• Parents and Children gradually grow apart over time

• Parents provide stability/security for their children

FORM & STRUCTURE

sonnet form?

• The poem is loosely based on a sonnet with it being 14 lines long but the short deliberate last line “To fall or fly” ruins that.

• The use of sonnet form could reflect the love Armitage has for his mother (as it’s directly addressed to her)

• the unstable use of it could be used to present the instability of their relationship during this moment as Armitage wants more independence away from his mother.

enjambment & sentence structure

• Throughout the whole poem there is no regular rhyme scheme, and a variety of sentence lengths, this makes a very uncontrollable and unpredictable poem just like their relationship at this time.

• The use of enjambment is Stanza 2 mirrors the unreeling tape metaphor, to really emphasize the distance growing between them throughout the years Armitage is growing up, the tape could also be viewed as an umbilical cord, a physical example of how mothers and children are connected.

caesura

• At the end of stanza 2 after a long use of enjambment it ends with “.Anchor. Kite.” The contrast here is with the enjambment presenting what Armitage wants, listing all his dreams, but with it ending in a caesura and the juxtaposition between them show the difference between him and his mother and how his close relationship with her is holding him back.

Anchor - used to symbolise the mother, trying to provide a safe but limited life for her son

Kite - used to symbolise the son, wants to travel far away into freedom and explore but is held down by the person holding the rope.

the final line - “ to fall or fly”

This final line is the biggest break in the sonnet form with it making the poem 15 lines instead of 14. It does rhyme with the 14th line “endless sky”. It could be seen as imagery of a bird falling from a nest or admitting to the chance of failure and success.

IMAGERY

tape measure

The metaphor of the tape measure, is used mainly in the 2nd Stanza as a physical representation of the distance of their relationship, with the mother “at the 0 end” (since the womb) and the son venturing further away as time passes. A good way to think of it is like an umbilical cord, it shows how vital a Mother is to a child and how they ground and support you from the start, in the womb.

“space walk”

When you drift in space, you explore the unknown, exciting and dangerous territory. Yet you also still have a cord keeping you connected to the base. Making sure you don’t go to far, and become lost.

hatch/fall or fly (bird)

Armitage uses the word ‘hatch’ for a door but the word has strong connections to birds. When the time comes and they leave the nest (which could be presented by the son moving out of his parents house) and try to leave for the 1st time, they jump out the nest and are now open to the whole world, where they could fall to the ground and fail or they could soar up into the sky and have the freedom to travel the world in the sky. If this is what Armitage was trying to do, thinking himself of a bird shows how he yearns for freedom and again contrasts against his Mom an ‘Anchor’ who rests at the bottom of the sea.

anchor

The metaphor of an anchor to describe his mother shows that Armitage views her as someone who holds him in the same place, and keeps him safe from drifting afar and exploring, to keep him from danger, yet it can be quite limiting for him. The use of Anchor massively contrasts with the kite and bird (the son) as they both roam the sky, while an anchor roams the bottom of the sea.

kite

The metaphor of a kite to describe the son shows how he feels held back by the mother, making sure the son doesn’t wonder too far and get lost. But the kite wants to go out and have the freedom to wonder the skies.