Poppies

• After her son has gone she releases her emotions by visiting his bedroom and later visits a local war memorial and remembers him. The ending is ambiguous: by ending at the memorial it may either suggest her son has died at war or that she misses him and fears the worst.
• This poem attempts on one level to address female experience and is consciously a political act. The purpose of the poem was to convey the suffering caused because of the death of soldiers.
• The sellotape is “bandaged around” the mother’s hand. The word ‘bandaged’ is cleverly used to indicate regarding shge its finding this leave painful. It reflects her fears of him being hurt.
• He is old enough to make decisions about his appearance. The word ‘blackthorns’ indicates that his hair is gelled in a spiky way - but it is perhaps covering fears that he might be hurt with the idea of ‘thorns’ thrown in.
• Once at the memorial, she landed against it “like a wishbone” - a simile which displays her fragility (wishbones are very brittle and delicate) or hints at the idea of wishes - her wish for her son to be safe / happy.
• “I listened, hoping to hear / your playground voice catching on the wind” - the words ‘playground voice’ suggests the speaker’s nostalgia for her son’s childhood and the regret that he had to grow up. the use of the senses emphasise that she cannot touch or hear him anymore.
• Some may feel that the son is going off to war and the narrator is saying goodbye to him. Some may feel that she is saying goodbye to her son that has died in war. Others, however, think that the son is going off to school as soldiers don’t wear blazers.
• Ultimately, the poem is a rite of passage for mother and son. Here it is about sending your son off into the world. In addition, there is a sense of fear for the future - when she says goodbye to her son, she feels real empathy for the mothers of the men listed on the war memorial because their sons never came home.
• The mother’s feelings are presented through references to war and references to domesticity. These two concepts are juxtaposed together to create uncertainty regarding the speaker’s son, whether he is still alive and to show the inner turmoil the speaker is feeling and trying to hide from her son.
• The poet employs the use of caesura to suggest the inner emotion of the speaker, who is trying to remain calm and composed in front of her son. The domesticity and practicalities of the speaker’s actions are juxtaposed with her inner anguish and heartache of having to say goodbye ton her son.
• Feelings and attitudes

  Loss - the mother acts as if she has lost her son. This may be a permanent of temporary situation. The speaker is stuck in her memories which she can’t go back to but she is also unable to be in the present.

  Fear - the poem focuses upon the difficulties faced by the people left behind when their loved ones go to war.

  Freedom - from the son’s perspective, his place in the army offers freedom and new experiences
• THEMES

  Women and conflict - although the poem focuses upon the plight of one mother left behind and her feelings of loss, it reminds the reader that many women have been in similar situations in past wars.

  Loss and absence - the poem gives a voice to those who are left behind when loved ones go to war.

  Memory - the poem explores memories on a personal and broader societal level
• COMPARE

  ’War photographer‘ - memory and the experience of war through someone who is not a soldier.

  ’Kamikaze’ - memory and alternative view point

  ’The emigree‘ - feelings of loss

  ’London’ and / or ‘Exposure’ - both of these poems have a political purpose.