Poppies

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…

• If someone you loved was leaving to go and fight in a war?

Context

• Armistice day, when people remember those who have died fighting for their countries, is 11th November every year

• Poppies are worn as a symbol of remembrance.

• In the poem, a mother is saying goodbye to her son who is going to war.

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).

.

• 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”

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”

“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.

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

blockadeof 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 body

Sellotape bandaged around my hand, I rounded up as many white cat hairs as I could, smoothed down your shirt’supturned collar, steeled the softeningof my face. I wanted to graze my noseacross the tip of your nose, play at being Eskimos like we did when you were little. I resisted the impulseto run my fingers through the gelledblackthorns 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

life

She is still treating him like a child

Metaphor – suggests he’s no longer a child because he’s styled his hair. His prickly hair

suggests he is unapproachable

slowly melting, I was brave, as I walkedwith you, to the front door, threwit open, the world overflowinglike 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 it has led me,skirting the church yard walls, my stomach busymaking 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 sadness

Symbolic of son leaving

Sudden 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 unapproachable

What is the role of women during times of conflict?

Consider how the poet makes use of genderstereotypes within her poem...

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?

Question Time

1. 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.