Main Message

• Conflict between mother wanting to keep her son safe and him wanting to join war. Government are in control not her or any other person.

  Modern poem: allows woman’s voice, inevitable rite of passage between parent and child, parent and child relationships change over time. Mother represses her feelings in front of her son. Sees children grow up and lose their innocence.
• The poem is written from the perspective of a mother whose son has gone to war. The mother reflects on her son growing up, and at the end we are uncertain if he is alive or dead.