Climbing my Grandfather

CONTEXT

The poem is semi-autobiographical, and from the perspective of someone recounting childhood memories of playing with their grandfather, and learning more about him. It has an extended metaphor of mountaineering.

author

Andrew Waterhouse was a poet and musician

died on October 20th 2001 (age 43) after he took his own life

he suffered with depression, this poem was written a year before his death.

KEY THEMES

• admiration

• closeness

FORM & STRUCTURE

The poem is written in the present tense, following Waterhouse’s journey up the mountain. Visually as the poem is one stanza, it looks like a mountain

enjambment

the use of enjambment could be used to imitate the motion of climbing the mountain and add a sense of progress