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”.
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Summary
Summary
- The mother reminisces about the day he left and the way her memories are brought back on Armistice Sunday.
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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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