poppies

• 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.

  The poem, though set in the present day, could refer to any war, from the Great War of 1914-1918, to the Afghan and Iraq wars of the 20th century. It reaches back to the beginning of the Poppy Day tradition. Armistice Day began as a way of marking the end of the First World War, so people could remember the hundreds and thousands of ordinary men who had been killed. Remembrance Sunday remembers those who fell in all wars since then. Jane Weir conflates the two.

  
  

  When 'Poppies' was written British soldiers were still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a way of expressing the suffering and grief caused by those deaths, the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy asked a number of writers, including Jane Weir, to compose poems.

  
  

  It is an interesting fact that neither of Weir's two sons have ever gone to war. However, this poem is about saying a last goodbye and questions who's really the brave one. An interesting comment made by one reader is that the soldier could be a daughter if one applies the story to recent times. If earlier it is more likely to be a son, though it is perhaps too easy to make assumptions.

  
  

  Jane Weir clearly wished to portray the grief of bereaved mothers. As a mother herself she was able to imagine the feelings of women who had lost a son or daughter. It is a compassionate poem about the wider implications of war, the suffering it causes to those closest to a fallen soldier. We can apply the experience of the woman speaking in this poem to mothers at any place and any time whose offspring have been killed in fighting.

  
  

  It is not a protest poem. At no point does she express anger at those political and military leaders who initiate and implement war policies, and there is nothing that could be said to be unpatriotic.

  
  

  Structure - Four stanzas of irregular length; 6, 11, 12 and 6 lines each. It is in free verse with no regular rhyme scheme, though in places there is internal assonant and half rhyme.

  
  

  Voice - The narrator is not the poet, but an imagined woman. She could represent any woman who has suffered such a war-related loss in any part of the world at any time. It is a dramatic monologue in which the speaker reveals information gradually, and the reader pieces together the story.

  
  

  Themes -

  The grief of those left behind when a loved-one is killed in conflict.

  Motherhood; the impulse to protect a grown son or daughter; to always view them in her mind as a child.

  Emotional Suffering; the emotional pain a mother feels when a loved one does not return from a war.
• "Three days before Armistice Sunday

  and poppies had already been placed

  on individual war graves."


  Armistice day is the 11th November, commemorated every year to remember the formal agreement between allies and Germans to stop fighting in World War One. Poppies grew on Flanders fields and they've become a symbol to commemorate those who died. Remembrance Sunday recognizes those who have died in all wars and is held the Sunday afterwards.

  
  

  Another interpretation is that the reference to 'Armistice Sunday' conveys a sense of publicity, her grief on display for everyone to see. Furthermore, 'Poppies' reminds us that blood was spilt in war, hence the colour symbolism of the poppies' redness. The public and the private are juxtaposed — the 'individual war graves' represent single soldiers, but the war cemetery represents a youthful generation lost.
• "Before"

  With the repetition of 'before', the poet suggests a calm before a storm. This also links to the third stanza, where she repeats 'after' and 'later'. An important element of the poem is time and the interrelationship between the phases of the young man's life. He has made a sharp break, whereas the speaker finds it difficult to separate them.
• "I pinned one onto your lapel,"


  This is ironic as it foreshadows a time when she would have to wear a poppy herself in remembrance of her son. It could also be that she is unknowingly marking him for death,
• "crimped petals,"


  'Crimped petals' suggests a torn or damaged poppy. It implies that war damages people, whether a fallen soldier or grieving family.

  
  

  This also links with the theme of death. The crimped poppy may represent flowers that are withering and dying, the remains of funeral wreaths.
• "spasms of paper red,"


  'Spasms' suggests injury, showing that she's thinking about her son's possible death. The word has associations with short but severe stabs of physical pain, or convulsions suffered during death throes. 'Red' also refers to blood and injury. It is a powerful, emotive image.

  
  

  The word 'spasms' could also relate to a short time span, implying that the life expectancy of a fighting soldier is brief.
• "a blockade"


  The word 'blockade' is ambiguous. It could be referring to military action but also the barrier being put between her and her son, who may have been enthusiastic about fighting for his country, while she lived in fear for him.
• "of yellow bias binding"


  The blazer is trimmed with 'bias binding', that is material cut on the cross which decorates and makes firm the edge of a garment. It has a rhythmic sound and is alliterative. It could suggest that his uniform represents an outward display of firmness and smartness, but inside he could be nervous and worried. For a conscripted soldier the 'binding' may be a metaphor for the compulsory requirement to fight, being 'bound' by the laws of the country to make a sacrifice.
• "Sellotape bandaged around my hand,

  I rounded up as many white cat hairs

  as I could,"

  The idea of a sellotape "bandage" could be a metaphor for those with bandaged limbs caused by war injuries.

  
  

  Cleaning cat hairs from his uniform — especially 'white' cat hairs, white being the symbolic colour of innocence — sounds tender and motherly, an ironic contrast to the serious injuries sustained in war that need treating and dressing. It suggests that she will always look after him. To her he never grew up.

  
  

  This mother's hands are tied and she can do nothing to stop her son from going to war, either because he has been conscripted or because he is of age to make his own decisions. One interesting suggestion is that "rounded up" is also suggestive of conscription, that her son has been forced into war.
• "I wanted to graze my nose

  across the tip of your nose, play at

  being Eskimos like we did when

  you were little."


  An "Eskimo kiss" is when people rub noses together as an equivalent to kissing because Eskimos' lips aren't often exposed in the cold. The idea of a cold kiss may also suggest death. The words 'graze' and 'nose' are consonant, similar sounds that create a memorable rhythm, like a children's playground song.

  
  

  However sweet and reminiscent of childhood this may be, she still chooses the word 'graze' - the tenderness of the poem is constantly being broken up by words suggesting injury. It is one of a lexical field of related words that also include 'spasm' and 'bandaged'.
• "I resisted the impulse

  to run my fingers through the gelled

  blackthorns of your hair."


  The use of hair gel suggests that she's casting her mind forward to an older boy now, a less childish one. This is the point where he's about to leave for battle and she wants to hold him while she still can.

  
  

  'Blackthorns' has a religious connotation. It represents Jesus' crown of thorns - this woman believes her son is being metaphorically 'crucified' unjustly by leaving for battle at a young age. It may also represent the barbed wire used to protect the trenches in the First World War.
• "All my words

  flattened, rolled, turned into felt,"


  Flattening and rolling are involved in the process of creating felt. Felt is often used to make military caps and uniform trimmings. She feels that her voice has been crushed in a similar way because she's lost for words after seeing someone she's raised go to war. She finds it impossible to say a fitting goodbye.

  
  

  This also fits the semantic field of sewing. It suggests that the speaker is trying to stitch together the gap that war and loss has created throughout the course of the poem.

  
  

  Note also that the asyndetic list at the end of this stanza contrasts with the earlier rhythmic caesurae. This could show that the mother loses her composure briefly, emphasized by the "melting" of her words.

  
  

  The felt, could also imply that her words are warm, soft and tender and that she loves her son.
• "slowly melting."


  The last line of the stanza blends into the first line of the next with enjambment, to reflect her 'melting' words; there is no 'end-stop' to her grief. Note the rhyming 'felt' and 'melting'.

  
  

  However, this depends on how it is read. Another view is that it is caesura rather than an enjambment, with the pause after 'felt', maybe to suggest that the grief stops her words.
• "the world overflowing

  like a treasure chest."


  The 'treasure chest' is a simile comparing freedom from his mother's suffocating clutches to the 'treasure' of freedom and adventure. The 'treasure chest' may also apply to his mother. He was everything to her, and the 'treasure' that he was to her now belongs to the world.

  
  

  He is, of course, naïve and doesn't take into account the dangers. Though the world is full of potential, he chooses to ignore other options and opts to fight. The caesura after the word 'chest' highlights this dramatic decision.

  
  

  Alternatively, the treasure could represent her emotions and how she can no longer contain them as she watches her beloved son slip away from her. furthermore it presents how he is precious and must be "treasured" rather than being taken into the war.
• "A split second"


  The word split is a plosive, that is, the sharp 'p' split suggests disruption or agitation.

  
  

  Throughout the poem the theme of time is woven through. The start of the poem is 'Three days before Armistice Sunday'. She refers to 'before you left', 'after you'd gone' and 'later'. Most importantly his 'playground voice', that of the small boy, is always in her mind. She is constantly thinking of the past.

  
  

  The 'split second' breaks this pattern with a sudden, sharp shock when she is tugged back to the present.
• "intoxicated."


  He is intoxicated — meaning 'drunk' — with the excitement of freedom and adventure. In literal terms he may only be just old enough to drink alcohol and maybe his body is not used to it. The adjective 'intoxicated' also shows the narrator's son is excited at the adventures he believes he will have in the army, but also references the dangers he will experience, as being intoxicated is also dangerous.
• "released a song bird from its cage."


  The metaphor may indicate that the mother is the 'songbird', and she is releasing all her emotions by crying. She was clearly afraid to cry in front of her son, as she thought he might feel guilty and constrained.

  
  

  This can also be a metaphor for her "releasing" her son. He has been by her side for years and now she is freeing him into the world, but sadly he might not come back. She is finally trying to overcome her emotional attachment and is letting him go.
• "Later a single dove flew from the pear tree,"


  The dove is a symbol of peace so this could suggest that the speaker's son has died and passed on to a peaceful world. There is irony, however, in the fact that he died fighting.

  
  

  The pear tree is a symbol of long life and strength. This is again ironic, as he dies prematurely.

  
  

  One inventive suggestion is that this could be a reference to the carol, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', where the turtle doves are in a pair whilst here there is only one that flew from the pear tree, symbolising her sense of isolation after her son has left her and presumably died in battle.
• "my stomach busy

  making tucks, darts, pleats, hat-less,"


  These actions suggest her stomach is churning with emotion. The lexical field of sewing references — 'tucks', 'darts' 'pleats' etc. relate back to the first stanza and the literal reference to his uniform blazer. Her life involved caring for him and probably she sewed clothes for him, so this also has a metaphorical significance. Now all she has left is her painful, 'stitched up' stomach. Note that the words are nearly all one syllable with hard consonants, like small stabs of pain. 'Hat-less' may imply that she is unprotected from the elements, exposed to pain and mourning.
• "without

  a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves."


  She is left exposed by her grief to pain and the cold of a future in which she no longer has him to love. The 'reinforcements' are an ironic military reference.

  
  

  Military terms, like 'reinforcements', are used in a domestic context-possibly reflecting that emotional battles are fought at home as well as overseas.
• "The dove pulled freely against the sky,"


  "The dove" is a primarily, though not exclusively, a Christian symbol of hope and freedom and especially peace. The dove is flying away from the memorial "Freely into the sky" almost as if it was carrying the spirits of the dead away to their final resting place. The mother of the dead soldier is almost begging it to fetch back the spirit and voice of her son, but the word 'freely' implies that it ignores her.

  
  

  It also refers to the needle weaving in and out like her emotions of fear and grief. The dove also symbolizes the hope for her son but as it 'pulled freely against the sky', it implies that her son has passed away.

  
  

  An interesting observation by one reader is the juxtaposition of 'pulled' and 'freely' because the bird is still trapped, encased by its troubles, just like the mother in this story.
• "an ornamental stitch,"


  The 'stitch' continues the extended metaphor of sewing. This represents literally the tasks she performed for him, but also symbolically the link between them. However, he has gone and the stitch is 'ornamental' — a metaphor for the remains of their former loving bond that now has no substance, just an 'ornamental' representation — which no longer exists on this earth.
• "I listened, hoping to hear

  your playground voice catching on the wind."


  This represents the longing of the woman to turn back time; to recapture his 'playground voice', that is, the sound of him as a child. She can only hope to hear it 'catching on the wind' — a metaphor for elusiveness and fleetingness — like the spirit voice of her dead son.

  
  

  It could also show her wishing she could join her son where he is. It echoes the moment in the previous paragraph where she says: 'and this is where it has led me' showing she is being drawn to join him. Finally, she ends at a memorial, another reference to her possibly wanting to end her life.