Material - Ros Barber

Question 1

What is significant about the structure of ‘Material’?

Answer 1

• stanzas concerning past have clear “efe” rhyme scheme at end (slab/yolks/crab), whilst present = slant or no rhyme (material/will or bake/home) <- slant = mother’s words
  o the chaos of the present and uncertainty of trying to figure things out vs the stability and comfort of the certain past
  o could also be read as the rules and certainty of the past belonging to the past and becoming incongruous or forced when the speaker attempts to use them as a framework for understanding modern life, which is vastly changed in reality
  o could also be showing freedom from social constraint in modern world
• spends 6 of the 9 stanzas reminiscing about the past
  o suggests strong nostalgia -> desire to escape to the familiar comfort of a past where her mother was still alive and where things were
• each stanza until present mentioned has 8 lines - stanzas about the present have varying numbers of lines
  o stability and steadiness of the past
• (LARGELY) iambic tetrameter, but slips out at points
  o ALWAYS has 4 stressed syllables or multiples (8) in a line - the only time it doesn’t is the 6 stressed syllable line about the dancing to a “stumbling, out of tune piano” and it mirrors this
  o 4 corners - a hanky?
  o also, the fact it is Mostly iambic tetrameter is reminiscent of older poems where a consistent meter was much more common -> longing for the past and the comfort of concrete, predictable rules
• caesura in terms of commas and semicolons when there is a generational schism between the mother and daughter shown (eg. “She bought her own; I never did.”)

Question 2

Why did Barber write ‘Material’?

Answer 2

• explore the way the world changes when one’s parent dies
• explore the disparity between past and present and the passing of time
• explore the uncertainty and fear of the future that people often feel in the modern world by contrasting with a longing for a past that “isn’t mine [hers]”
• explore the way in which social rules and gender roles for women have changed since the past

Question 3

‘Material’

Answer 3

• not only literal fabric of the hankies, but also representative of society (“the fabric of life”) -> framework for life
• material is also something conceete that you can touch and feel and verify -> security and non-abstraction of the past

Question 4

“My mother was a hanky queen”

Answer 4

• “hanky” -> colloquial language
  o feeling of closeness with the past -> speaker identifies more with the slang of that time rather than the present
• “hanky queen”
  o “queen” -> ruler -> sole authority on hankies and links mother inextricably with hankies in the speaker’s life
  o could also be that hankies symbolise comfort, stability etc. in the poem, and in being their “queen” she is the pinnacle of these attributes

Question 5

“when hanky meant a thing of cloth”

Answer 5

• “when”
  o reminiscing and longing for the past
  o also, mother is not a “hanky queen” now -> past tense -> though had dominion doesn’t any more; she and the hankies have lost their power and cannot feel their rule anymore
• “when hanky meant a thing of cloth”
  o alternatively, feels explanatory, as if people in modern times are so completely divorced from the past that they don’t know what a hanky is
• “cloth”
  o soft, durable, often associated with comfort -> evocative of mother
• “thing of cloth”
  o soft fricative sounds of the ‘th’ -> emphasise comfort and wistful longing for past

Question 6

“not paper tissues bought in packs”

Answer 6

• plosives contradict the soft sounds associated with the cloth hankies
  o present day is harsher, harder hitting, more difficult for the speaker to face head on, and so hides in the comfort of the past
• “paper tissues”
  o motif contrasting the hankies throughout the poem
  o evoke disposability, flimsiness and general uncertainty, as well as modernisation and the loss of the emotional association with hankies prevalent in older society
• “packs”
  o many tissues in one pack and even then have to buy packs plural -> flimsiness and lack of durability and structure compared to hankies -> uncertain
  o could also connote a “pack” of animals (typically sinister predators like wolves) -> highlights the fact that the speaker is terrified of the uncertainty of the future to the point of feeling preyed upon by it

Question 7

“things for waving out of trains/and mopping the corners of your grief”

Answer 7

• “waving out of trains”
  o romantic gesture -> emblematic of the bygone era
  o equating the past with a more deeply feeling, emotional and human time may also exacerbate the speaker’s depiction of her grief - the past had her mother in it, who taught her how to feel and speak and be a person, who comforted her and who birthed her, but when she disappears the world is left emptier for the speaker and without that same comfort and love present
• “mopping the corners of your grief”
  o “mopping” -> domestic chore, feels homely and perhaps reminds of her mother -> comfort of the past again
  o “corners of your grief” -> sharp, poignant emotion contrasted with the soothing softness of teh cloth hankies - in past, had reliable and effective comfort from such immense pain, whereas now, doesn’t have the hankies/mum/past and has to rely on the “scratchy and disposable” tissues of present

Question 8

“she’d have one, always, up her sleeve.”

Answer 8

• “always”
  o reliability
• alliterative “h” and sibilance combined gives line a whispery softness -> comfort of mother, or perhaps the dreaminess of the past and how it’s been left behind
• “up her sleeve”
  o reminiscent of magic trick -> amazement and wonder and happiness as children -> mum brings those happy memories back and gave the world a sense of magic -> magic could also be reminiscent of the dreamlike thing ? world not really so wonderful and once mum (magician) is removed it becomes comparatively bleak and hard

Question 9

“a mum’s embarrassment of lace”

Answer 9

• “embarrassment”
  o means either emotional sense, or a Lot Of
  o emotionnnnal stuff make a point out of this
  o so much lace that it’s shameful or tacky
• “lace”
  o delicate, beautiful and intricate -> traditional femininity
  o mum as a role model for femininity and knowing how to be a woman etc. - even if the past gender roles ‘embarrassing’ in their traditionalism and incongruity with the modern world, still provided a framework, whereas modern gender roles having shifted is terrifying and unknown in terms of management
  o lace also was a symbol of crafstmanship in the past - nostalgia and associates mum with traditionality

Question 10

“dried up hankies fell in love/and mated, raising little squares.”

Answer 10

• “dried up hankies”
  o “dried up” - old, used -> could be exp. and then like. passing down ? the old gen wiser ? could also be the “dried up” social norms of the past thus raising “little squares” in the derogatory sense (sibilance + consonance helps this reading)
• “little squares”
  o “square” -> hanky’s shape literally, but also describes someone traditional/obstinate in their morals and ideals -> reps type of ppl who usually carry handkerchiefs + links the hankies to the past
  o “little” combined with this reading -> almost oxymoronic; trying to bring youth to the past and maintain it in her current life but ultimately contradicts? could be that SHE’S the little square since still longing for the past and struggling to fit into modern life without feeling alienated

Question 11

“She bought her own; I never did.”

Answer 11

• semicolon exacerbates the generational schism and the barrier stopping speaker from truly being part of the past that she craves
• “i never did”
  o was always given hankies as gifts etc. - separates them from necessities which aren’t really appropriate to give as gifts (eg. a pack of tissues) -> makes the past seem more like a novelty and not a consistent feature of modern life
  o also means reliance on family for hankies -> dry tears etc. -> family for emotional support

note: hankies also linked to family through “shuttered the doors of family stores”, mother, “distant aunts”

Question 12

“serious, and grey,/and larger, like they had more snot.”

Answer 12

• “serious, and grey,”
  o differs from the mum’s “embarrassment of lace” -> element of personalisation given to hankies that isn’t seen in tissues (“noses strangers clean”) -> embeds the emotional value of hankies, as well as the fact that the speaker may identify more with the “hidden history” of hankies, or modern values surrounding individuality etc.?
• “like they had more snot”
  o ridiculous -> some gender roles etc. of the past are absolutely nonsensical, maybe discriminatory etc. but they comfort her regardless and needs to lesrn how to leave them behind for future good

Question 13

“demanded irons,/and boiling to be purified”

Answer 13

• “demanded”
  o contrasts w/accessibility and convenience of tissues (“bought in packs/from late-night garages and shops) as has quite authoritarian tone -> highlights increasing desire for ease over sentiment in modern world and the view of this “demand” as harsh when really all it needs is care -> how this alienates from old-world values of familial support, emotion etc.
• “purified”
  o hankies can be reused - tissues once dirty are soiled forever
  o contrast between durability and disposability

Question 14

“greengrocer George with his dodgy foot”

Answer 14

• consonance here makes phrase sound bouncy and gives Gg George a friendly vibe
  o community
• “greengrocer”
  o sells fruit/veg -> provider of the community -> connects with freshness, vitality etc.
• “dodgy foot”
  o knows George PERSONALLY or at least can distinguish him as an individual with an idiosyncratic aspect -> emotional attachment and nostalgia, reminiscing on the past
• all of these aspects combined make the sellers in the past feel like Real Actual People and not a bodiless and soulless entity, such as the “late-night garages and shops” where tissues are bought -> identifies with past, finds comfort in the past, felt safer and more secure and like she knew what was going on properly in the past whereas now is the opposite - everything is unknown

Question 15

“greengrocer”/”friendly butcher”/”fishmonger”

Answer 15

• all providers specialising in different areas of food (food = sustenance = life = necessity - also rooted in senses -> past feels more solid and real than the modern world, esp w/o mum) -> individuality and community -> a BUNCH of diff people need to come together simply to make a meal and it feels special and imbued with love and effort, whereas shops don’t have that element -> sacrificed for the convenience of modern day (“killed in TV’s lassitude”, “bought biscuits”, “bought in packs”)

Question 16

“haddock smoked the colour of yolks”

Answer 16

• consonance
  o attention brought to the phrase
• open vowels
  o lend feeling of luxury or indulgence to the words
  o also make them last longer and accentuates them -> speaker trying to hold on to past in head and elongate its influence in her life -> not ready to let go of luxury of safety and security that came with the past
• “colour of yolks”
  o yolk is the richest tasting part of an egg -> feeling of wholeness and senses being rooted in the past
  o colour = golden, luxurious -> preciousness of the past, or perhaps luxury of the security and safety it provided

Question 17

“Mrs White, with painted talons,/taught us When You’re Smiling from a stumbling, out of tune piano”

Answer 17

• “talons”
  o specific to birds of prey and used for hunting - gives sinister feel to Mrs White distinct from all the other old characters so far (comforting etc.)
  o MW is a female teacher - teaches how to be girl properly - old societal standards for women restrictive, trapping
  o the Sinatra song can also be interpreted as a societal message to women - emphasis on presentation and looking lovely even when sad ?
  o even so, this is juxtaposed by the generally comforting nature of ‘When You’re Smiling’ (Frank Sinatra) - even for less pleasant, still not a threat per se ?
• consonance makes the passage feel more rhythmic - could also make white feel harsher but mainly the rhythmic thing; mimics and immerses reader in the scene, may also show strict choreography and restriction of women’s roles in society in the past

Question 18

“step-together, step-together, step-together,/point!”

Answer 18

• again consonance and plosives for rhythm to immerse or show restriction
• caesura the same reason - rigidity, careful organisation and choreography, boxing in the actions of the girls
• instructions for how to move and when

Question 19

“every mother, fencing tears,/would whip a hanky”

Answer 19

semantic field of fighting - mothers fending off tears and makes hanky seem like a protector subsequently as helps fend off the tears and put them away - comfort and emotional protection provided by the hankies
- also frames MOTHERS as the protectors - direct involvement, contrasted by using “bought biscuits” and the “TV” to babysit in the modern world - the role of mother has become strained and the speaker feels like she may be failing her kids

Question 20

“Nostalgia only makes me old.”

Answer 20

being stuck in the past sticks you in the past and ages you - cannot survive long in the modern world whilst refusing to adapt

Question 21

“The innocence I want my brood to cling on to like ten-bob notes”

Answer 21

• “ten-bob notes”
  o note for 10 shillings; out of circulation now -> not only was the innocence “killed in TV’s lassitude” but it simply isn’t available (in the same manner) now - shift in childhoods and shift in how the world shapes children
  o could also be how the past has been devalued + replaced (also like the hanky) - ultimately a symbol of the past
  o could also be referencing pocket money - childlike wonder + happiness when going to get a few sweets etc with the ten-bob notes that just isn’t the same any longer
• “I want” -> disconnect between the longing for the past and the fact that it has faded

Question 22

“innocence… was killed in TV’s lassitude”

Answer 22

• “lassitude” = a lack of empathy or will to care
• “killed” = violent
• plosives/consonance = bitter, violent
  o speaker angry at modernity for killing the care and love that children in the past were raised with and ripping that from her own children and herself
  o speaker also guilty that she has contributed to this murder by using the TV to replace the care and play she would have with her own children in order to have the time to write and express herself in the unrestricted way that modernity has provided (contrast w/dance school + gender roles)
  o mention of TV also incorporates the shift in technology - digital babysitter in essence replaces the need for the same community as in the past - it no longer takes a village to raise a child and so there is no mention of anyone but the speaker and her children in the present - isolation

Question 23

“it was me that turned it on and eat bought biscuits I would bake/if I’d commit to being home.”

Answer 23

• “it was me” -> guilty, realises that she is having to adapt to fit the newer ways of life and that there are some upsides (she can now write etc.) but still feels horrible about it
  o horribleness = consonance, plosives throughout
• “if I’d commit to being home.” -> potentially a self-reproachful tone in that she doesn’t view herself as being “committed” to raising her children and that they receive less love or care than she did from her committed, old fashioned mother
  o also points out the new restrictions emerging from modernity - motherhood and femininity still feels oppressed and restricted by new expectations to work and for women to be more than a housewife despite the immense pressure on all the chores etc. that they are still expected to do increasing
  o also exacerbated by the fact that no husband or partner is mentioned - not only do the motherhood and supposed increased gender freedom clash, but the old societal norms of the women doing everything still remains and forces to choose and divide herself
• the “bought” biscuits and “TV” also impart a sense of impersonality on the new generation - again isolation from community and the feeling of an overall lack of empathy and humanity in the new generation

Question 24

“There’s never a hanky up my sleeve.”

Answer 24

• since speaker associates hankies with material comfort and maternal care, adds to the guilt of not providing for her children the way she thinks she should according to the past?
• could also show the contrast again between the older and newer generations and thus the shift in motherhood and roles

Question 25

"I raised neglected-looking kids/the kind whose noses strangers clean."

Answer 25

- guilt guilt guilt, the tissues are the "strangers" - impersonality, lack of care and sensitivity in the present, shift in material and shift in the way children are shaped o also associated hankies directly with family, but the outsourcing to "strangers" changes ??

Question 26

"What awkwardness in me forbids/me to keep tissues in my bag"

Answer 26

- "awkwardness" -> unfamiliarity, discomfort o feels inherently out of place in the modern world without the comfort and regulation of the past to right her - "forbids" -> feels Wrong and Bad to let go of the past and replace hankies with "tissues", succumb to the accessibility of being in her bag and in packs

Question 27

"soft and hidden history./But it isn't mine."

Answer 27

- alliteration feels like hushing and comforting - "hidden history" = kept away from the speaker - "it isn't" hers

Question 28

"who died not leaving handkerchiefs/but tissues and uncertainty"

Answer 28

self explanatory - uncertainty of modernity, the shift in materials from cloth to tissue ("scratchy and disposable") explicitly pointed out, the death of the mother being the catalyst for the change (links again the past and hankies and comfort and certainty to her mother and to the past and to the old frameworks for motherhood and life)

Question 29

"the scratchy and disposable"

Answer 29

ew ewwwww no i want the soft and durable ewwww tissues are unreliable and uncertain and uncomfortable and until i get used to them it's going to hurt and scratch and i won't necessarily get out of this untouched bc its a new era and i have no defence or safety blanket owwwww - disposable = impersonality

Question 30

"this is your material/to do with, daughter, what you will."

Answer 30

- in italics - mother speaking - like final words (and literally poem's final words) so lends importance and gravity - the final instructions from the past that the daughter will receive before she is truly on her own - "your material" - no longer is reliant on something that "isn't [hers]" and the future is now hers to innovate with and forge her own way with - possibility and opportunity seen by the mother in the freedom provided by the new material in contrast to the restriction of the cloth - "what you will" - again, same thing of ownership and freedom - mother kind of reminding to be positive even though it's hard and uncertain now that is its benefit - balances the downsides to the newfound gender role freedom stuff as touched upon earlier

Question 31

Track the use of symbols and motifs within the poem

Answer 31

SYMBOLS OF THE PAST o Comma van o ten-bob notes o 'When You're Smiling' o "homely props" and "family stores" o the community represented by the butcher, Mrs White, greengrocer George and the fishmonger, as well as the speaker's family, the family stores, all the mothers watching the "Annual Talent Show" to support their children MOTIFS OF THE PAST o handkerchiefs SYMBOLS OF ROLES REGARDING FEMININITY AND MOTHERHOOD: o all the mothers o speaker's mother having a "lace" hanky (delicacy, femininity) o the "painted talons" of Mrs White and the dance choreography o the "rouge" of the mothers' lipstick - femininity and makeup and motherly role model in past o the commitment to "being home" MOTIFS OF THE PRESENT o tissues SYMBOLS OF THE PRESENT AND ITS IMPERSONALITY o "TV's lassitude" o "late-night garages and shops" o "bought biscuits" o "never a hanky up my sleeve" o no partner, no community, nothing