poppies

Question 1

stanza 1:
“blazer”

Answer 1

• reference to school uniform, shows how he is still too young to go to war
• shows how she did not get enough time to spend with her son since he is so young

Question 2

stanza 1:
“spasms… red…”

Answer 2

• war metaphor, foreshadows what will happen to his later
• refers to the pain that the mother feels

Question 3

stanza 2:
“smoothed down.. rounded up as many cat hairs”

Answer 3

• she still cleans up after her son, shows how he misses him and still sees him as a child

Question 4

stanza 2:
“blackthorns of your hair”

Answer 4

• image of nature, suggesting his purity
• thorny, suggesting the child has picked a hairstyle that would discourage the mother from touching it
• metaphorical of the son wanting to break away from the bonds of motherhood by going to war

Question 5

stanza 3:
“a song bird from its cage”

Answer 5

• symbolic of how she is releasing the child into the world
• reference to a song bird, shows how it is silent without her son, emphasises how lonely she feels

Question 6

stanza 3:
“like a treasure chest”

Answer 6

• the son is expecting something rewarding from the war, but he might be looking for something that does not exist
• shows how naïve and immature the son is

Question 7

stanza 3:
“my stomach busy making tucks”

Answer 7

• dressmaking metaphor, the idea of stomach folding suggests how nervous she is

Question 8

explain the structure of poppies

Answer 8

no specific form in the poem, shows how she is exploring her emotions throughout the poem