poppies

• 'released a songbird from its cage'

  • hiding he feelings from him, releasing them when hes gone
  • when canaries stop chirping they are dead
  • screaming/crying
  • metaphor
  • holding in
  • never return she'll continue crying
  • free from responsibility but doesnt want to be
  • maintain a brave face for her son but cant contain it anymore
• 'playground voice catching on the wind'

  • sound she will never get to hear again
  • hoping to gain a sense of comfort
  • childhood, wishes she could still protect him like she did when he was younger
  • when you miss someone you start to see signs of them everywhere
• 'crimped petals, spasms of paper red'

  • making the poppies look nicer
  • uncontrolable
  • blood spurting out of him
  • ('red')like blood and has conotations of death and violence
  • her guilt of letting him go
• 'like a wishbone'

  • metaphoricaly ripping her in two
  • wishing for her son to come back home
• 'blackthorn of your hair'

  • religious imagery
  • Jesus had a crown of thorns before his crusifiction
  • Jesus sacrifice himself
  • mother is like mary
• Context:

  • Armistice day when we remember the soldiers who died fighting in war
  • soldier in the poem could be anyone
  • written during the Iraq and Afghanistan war
• Themes:

  • effects of conflict
  • reality of conflict
  • loss and absence
  • memory
  • fear
  • identity
  • individual experiences
• structure:

  • chronological order ,describing preperations for a son leaving,his departure and the mother afterwards
  • time frame ambiguous ,memorys of the sons childhood mixed with him leaving not clearly distinguished