Poppies

• The title of 'Poppies' hints towards remembrance of soldiers
• Enjambment in 'Poppies' shows the fluidity of the mother's memory, and she does not want to let her son go, but cannot control her sadness which reflects an overwhelming atmosphere to the reader
• 'disrupting a blockade' negative vocabulary hints a semantic field of war
• 'blackthorns' metaphor to show the dangers of the world
• 'flattened, rolled, turned' triplet
• 'I was brave' contradiction as she is calling herself brave, but her son is the one going to war, highlights the fear of letting child go
• 'world overflowing like a treasure chest' simile and enjambment emphasises her sadness overflowing the lines
• 'song bird from its cage' metaphor for the son, who returns later in the poem
• 'single dove' metaphor for son, dove represents innocence, purity and heaven
• 'pear tree' symbolism for eternal life
• 'hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind' reminiscing the childhood of her son, creates a maternal feeling
• 'inscriptions on the war memorial' cyclical structure of remembrance