11.1.3

Key Quotes & Comparisons

Test yourself

Key Quotes in Mother, Any Distance

Here are some examples of key quotes in Mother, Any Distance:

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‘You at the zero-end...'

  • ‘You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape’.
    • The fixed position of the mother at the 'zero-end' shows the contrast between the security of childhood and the narrator's feelings of instability as he approaches adulthood.
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‘Line still feeding out...'

  • ‘The line still feeding out, unreeling years between us. Anchor. Kite’
    • The reference to the measuring tape 'unreeling years' suggests it symbolises the passage of time as the son grows up.

Key Comparisons: Mother, Any Distance

Here are some suggestions for poems you could compare Mother, Any Distance to. Remember, there are endless options!

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Follower

  • Contrast the changing positions of the parents:
    • Armitage seems to be still holding onto his mother as support in Mother, Any Distance.
    • The complete opposite is seen in Follower.
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Walking Away

  • Similar themes of growing up and letting go.
  • But Walking Away is from the perspective of the parent. It is useful to consider how the different perspective changes the tone.

Jump to other topics

1When We Two Parted - Lord Byron (1788-1824)

2Love’s Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley

3Porphyria’s Lover - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

4Sonnet 29 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

4.1Sonnet 29 – ‘I think of thee!’ Analysis

5Neutral Tones - Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

6Letters from Yorkshire - Maura Dooley (Born 1957)

7The Farmer’s Bride - Charlotte Mew (1869-1928)

8Walking Away - Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972)

9Eden Rock - Charles Causley (1917-2003)

10Follower - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

11‘Mother, Any Distance’ - Simon Armitage (Born1963

12Before You Were Mine - Carol Ann Duffy (Born 1955)

13Winter Swans - Owen Sheers (Born 1974)

14Singh Song! - Daljit Nagra (Born 1966)

15Climbing My Grandfather - Andrew Waterhouse

16Grade 9 - Comparisons

16.1Grade 9 - Comparisons

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