Poppies Analysis

• Brief Summary


  A mother recalls caring for her son and reminisces about his childhood before it is revealed that he is no longer there and it is implied that he has died in conflict.
• Synopsis


  1. The poem opens "three days before armistice Sunday" to establish the theme of remembrance

  2. The narrator places a poppy on her son's blazer

  3. She recounts memories of her son- Using Sellotape to remove cat hairs from his clothes, smoothing down his collar

  4. She remembers trying to stop her emotion and resist smothering him

  5. After he leaves the house she goes to his room

  6. She then climbs a hill to lean on the war memorial and watch a dove

  7. The narrator wishes she could hear her son's voice still
• Jane Weir


  Weir was born in 1963 and lived in Northern Ireland during the troubles in the 1980's. She has two sons which may have influenced her desire to explore what caused young boys to go to war and fight. Weir was also a textile designer which explains her use of related imagery.
• Poppies


  The poem comes from the collection commissioned by Carol Ann Duffy called "exit wounds". Poppies grew in battlefields and became a symbol of remembrance in 1921, armistice Sunday also became a way to remember World War Two. Weir uses these symbols to establish from the outset that the poem is an act of remembrance.
• Three days before Armistice Sunday and poppies had already been placed on individual war graves. Before you left, I pinned one onto your lapel, crimped petals, spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding around your blazer.
• Sellotape bandaged around my hand, I rounded up as many white cat hairs as I could, smoothed down your shirt's upturned collar, steeled the softening of my face.
• I wanted to graze my nose across the tip of your nose, play at being Eskimos like we did when you were little. I resisted the impulse to run my fingers through the gelled blackthorns of your hair.
• All my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt, slowly melting.
• I was brave, as I walked with you, to the front door, threw it open, the world overflowing like a treasure chest. A split second and you were away, intoxicated.
• After you'd gone I went into your bedroom, released a song bird from its cage. Later a single dove flew from the pear tree, and this is where it has led me, skirting the church yard walls, my stomach busy making tucks, darts, pleats, hat-less, without a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves.
• On reaching the top of the hill I traced the inscriptions on the war memorial, leaned against it like a wishbone. The dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch. I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind.
• Dramatic monologue


  The speaker uses a second person narrative to directly address their son however, he never replies, implying that he is no longer there which creates a sense of death and loss.
• Free verse


  There is no rhyme scheme or meter as well as a lot of variety in stanza length. This shows that these are the speakers uncensored thoughts through which she desperately tries to make sense of the situation.
• Enjambment


  Weir's use of enjambment is seen in "rolled, turned into felt // slowly melting" which gives the sentences a fragmented feeling. This alludes to the narrator having to grasp at incomplete memories.
• Blending domestic with conflict

  • Weir interweaves domestic imagery with violent military metaphors throughout the poem. This is evident when the speaker describes leaving the house "without a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves". The lack of protection from the cold shows how violence has left a mark on all parts of her everyday life.
• Unconventional bravery


  • Weir is unusual as a war poet in the way in which she explores emotional suffering as opposed to physical pain. This is evident in the speaker's declaration of "I was brave" which opposes conventional ideas of bravery associated with fighting and risk taking.
• Suffering


  • The use of enjambment between stanzas in "all my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt // slowly melting" breaks the structure of the poem to correspond with the mother emotionally breaking. Hints of the mother's suffering are heard throughout the poem as she is repeatedly assaulted by painful memories.