10.1.1
Summary
Summary of Poppies
Summary of Poppies
Jane Weir wrote Poppies as a dramatic monologue, which is a form of poetry where an imagined speaker addresses a silent audience. In Poppies, a mother speaks to her son who is presumably going off to war. Weir herself describes the poem as a “contemporary war poem”.
Summary
Summary
- The mother reminisces about the day he left and the way her memories are brought back on Armistice Sunday.
Influence
Influence
- With the news filled with stories of conflict – for example, in Iraq and Afghanistan – the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, asked several poets to write on this theme.
- Weir was interested in the voice of women involved in conflict, which she believed were often silenced. So she chose to focus on the grief of a mother and the pain of letting her child go.
Key Ideas in Poppies
Key Ideas in Poppies
Here are some of the key ideas Jane Weir explores in Poppies:
Parents and children
Parents and children
- This poem is a depiction of a mother’s pain and grief as she sends her son to war.
- It explores the difficulty parents face allowing their children to become independent and enter the world.
- There is a contrast between the sadness and nostalgia of the mother and the son’s freedom.
- The mother tries to preserve the son’s childishness and reminisces about the games they used to play as a child.
- She is coming to terms with the fact that she can no longer keep him safe in the same way she could when he was small.
Loneliness and loss
Loneliness and loss
- Loneliness and loss are key themes.
- There are hints that the son has died as she visits the war memorial on Armistice Sunday, but this is unclear.
Strength and bravery of war victims
Strength and bravery of war victims
- Weir celebrates the strength and bravery of those left behind in war - the victims of war who don’t risk their own lives but still suffer.
1Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
2London - William Blake (1757-1827)
3Storm on the Island - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)
3.1Storm on the Island Analysis
4Exposure - Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
5War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955)
5.1War Photographer Analysis
6My Last Duchess - Robert Browning (1812-1889)
7The Prelude - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
7.1Extract from The Prelude Analysis
8Charge of the Light Brigade - Alfred Tennyson
9Bayonet Charge - Ted Hughes (1930-1998)
10Poppies - Jane Weir (Born 1963)
11Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker (Born 1954)
12The Emigree - Carol Rumens (Born 1944)
13Kamikaze - Beatrice Garland (Born 1938)
14Checking Out Me History - John Agard (Born 1949)
14.1Checking Out Me History Analysis
15Remains - Simon Armitage (Born 1963)
16Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons
16.1Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons
Jump to other topics
1Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
2London - William Blake (1757-1827)
3Storm on the Island - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)
3.1Storm on the Island Analysis
4Exposure - Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
5War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955)
5.1War Photographer Analysis
6My Last Duchess - Robert Browning (1812-1889)
7The Prelude - William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
7.1Extract from The Prelude Analysis
8Charge of the Light Brigade - Alfred Tennyson
9Bayonet Charge - Ted Hughes (1930-1998)
10Poppies - Jane Weir (Born 1963)
11Tissue - Imtiaz Dharker (Born 1954)
12The Emigree - Carol Rumens (Born 1944)
13Kamikaze - Beatrice Garland (Born 1938)
14Checking Out Me History - John Agard (Born 1949)
14.1Checking Out Me History Analysis
15Remains - Simon Armitage (Born 1963)
16Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons
16.1Grade 9 - Themes & Comparisons
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