By Jane Weir What do you think when you see this particular flower What do you already know about what this flower stands for What could the colour red symbolise How would you feel ID: 411511
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Slide1
Poppies
By Jane WeirSlide2
What do you
think
when you see this particular flower? What do you already
know about what this flower stands for?Slide3
What could the colour
red
symbolise?Slide4
How would you feel…
If someone you loved was leaving to go and fight in a war?Slide5
Context
Armistice day, when people remember those who have died fighting for their countries, is 11
th
November every yearPoppies are worn as a symbol of remembrance.In the poem, a mother is saying goodbye to her son who is going to war.Slide6
Who is
Jane Weir
?
A Very Brief Biography
She was born in
1963
on a
council estate
on the outskirts of
Manchester
Her publications have been
diverse
and include a pamphlet called Alice (2006) which was based on the life of an early 20th century political activist, Alice
Wheeldon
.
She has also written about the poet Charlotte Mew and the writer Katherine Mansfield and, more recently, a
poetic biography
of two highly respected women textile
designers.
Weir currently lives in Derbyshire and Manchester, where she writes and runs her own textile and design business
She describes herself as Anglo-Italian
She is a textile designer, writer and poet
As an adult, she has lived ‘all over the place’, including in Belfast, Northern Ireland during the Troubles (in the 1980s).
.Slide7
Weir’s poem ‘Poppies’ was commissioned by
Carol Ann Duffy
as part of a collection of ten contemporary war poems which were published in the Guardian in 2009, as part of a response to the escalating
conflict in Afghanistan
and the Iraq
inquiry.
Weir describes being surprised by the ‘overwhelming response’ she had from readers across Europe to ‘Poppies
’.
“Poppies” – “a multisensory explosion”Slide8
She
commented in an interview that, ‘I wrote the piece from a
woman's perspective,
which is quite rare, as most poets who write about war have been men. As the mother of two teenage boys, I tried to put across how I might feel if they were fighting in a war zone.’
“Poppies” – “a multisensory explosion”Slide9
“Poppies” – “a multisensory explosion”
Weir has acknowledged that ‘A lot of my poems are
narrative driven
or
scenarios
’, and in ‘Poppies’ she tells the ‘
story
’ of a mother’s
experience of
pain
and
loss
as her son leaves home to go to war. Slide10
Annotation
Three days
before
Armistice Sundayand poppies had already been placedon
individual war grave
.
Before
you left,
I pinned one onto your lapel, crimped petals,
spasms
of paper red, disrupting the
blockade
of yellow bias binding around your
blazer
Ominous reminder that war kills
School uniform? Army?
Suggests she feels shut out from her son’s life
Repetition
emphasises
the parallel between national and personal mouring Makes the reader think of injured bodySlide11
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 feltflattened, rolled, turned into felt
Another image of being wounded
Alliteration
Suggests she feels shut out from her son’s lifeShe is still treating him like a childMetaphor – suggests he’s no longer a child because he’s styled his hair. His prickly hair suggests he is unapproachableSlide12
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
i
t has
l
ed me,
skirting the church yard walls, my stomach busy
making trucks, darts, pleats, hat-less, withouta winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves
Simile shows the world from the son’s perspective – exciting
The son’s excitement contrasts with the mother’s sadnessSymbolic of son leavingSudden movement suggests breaking a boundary
Metaphor – suggests he’s no longer a child because he’s styled his hair. His prickly hair suggests he is unapproachableSlide13
What is the role of women during times of conflict
?
Consider how the poet makes use of gender
stereotypes within her poem...Slide14
Exploring the text:
Clothing and textile language
* Find all the references to clothing.
Why are they used? What are the associations?
Sensory details
* What sensory details are there in stanza 2?
Why are they used? What connotations do they have?
Verbs
* Track the verbs used throughout the poem.
* What do you notice? How do they help to reveal different emotions?Slide15
Question Time
Is the poem about war
or a poem about families?
2. How does the title refer to the poem?
3. Why does the mother have so many feelings of anxiety and fear?
4. Why does the poet use the metaphor of a bird?
5. Do you think the son is still alive?
Explain.