Poppies by Jane Weir

Hannah Ao
by Jane Weir
1. Context
  1. Grew up in Italy and England
  2. She is a textile designer and a poet
    1. lots of imagery of textiles in Poppies
  3. Poppies; Armistice Sunday began as marking the end of the first world war, so people could remember all the men that gave their lives. Now it is used to remember those who died in all wars since then.
Form
1. The form is a dramatic monologue
  1. Dramatic monologue - the poet takes on the persona of a character and addresses, a silent listener, the son.
  2. Why a dramatic monologue?
    1. Emphasises the pain caused for the often ignored mother
    2. About those left behind
    3. Emphasises the fact the son is not there. He's not responding because he's not there, or he's at war or dead
Structure
1. Free verse
2. No specific rhyme scheme or structure
3. stanzas all have totally different lengths.
4. Enjambment
  1. "All my words/flattened, rolled, turned into felt, /new stanza/ slowly melting."
    1. structure breaks, reflects how the mother is breaking emotionally.
5. caesura
6. Chaotic structure in total
  1. This reflects the effect conflict has on those who are left at home, their lives are chaotic and disorderly like the structure. Everything is disorganised due to the terror in their thoughts about their loved ones fighting at war.
Language
1. Domestic Language
  1. She uses very domestic, everyday, ordinary language and enfuses in it rich imagery with similies, metaphors

Resource summary

	Created by Hannah Ao about 7 years ago