Poppies

• How is poppies different to the other war poems?

  it shows the effect on those left at home rather than the soldiers
• what can be inferred from the quote ‘gelled blackthorns of your hair‘?


  ’thorns‘ is a biblical illusion to Jesus‘ crown of thorns. her son is making the ultimate sacrifice
• ‘world overflowing like a treasure chest‘
• ’released a songbird‘
• ‘a single dove flew from the pear tree’
• ‘Leaned against it like a wishbone’
• ‘hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind‘
• what is a basic summary of poppies?

  a mother prepares her son to go to war then her son dies and we see her visit the memorial
• what is the meaning of the phrase ‘releasing a songbird from its cage’?


  freedom, she has freed her son and allowed him to choose his own path in life
• what are doves a symbol of?


  freedom
• what is the impact of the repeated domestic imagery such as ‘pleats’ and ‘ornamental stitch‘?


  it shows how she stays behind and has to continue with her life without her son, he is part of her everyday
• what is the impact of the simile ‘I leaned against it like a wishbone‘?


  1.she is wishing her son will come back

  2.son and mother have been separated like when a wish bone is snapped, they can’t be put back together
• ‘graze my nose‘
• what are the connotations of the quote ’graze my nose’?


  maternal, intimate. she fears for her son and wants to treasure her last moments with him
• ‘all my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt‘
• what is the connotations of the quote “all my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt‘?

  metaphor, words dismissed by son due to his ‘intoxication’ of excitement, internal conflict of mother