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• Poppies was written by Jane Weir and tells the story of a parent reminiscing about their son’s life.

• The poem is written in the form of a dramatic monologue from the perspective of a parent.

• In 2009, poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, called for war poetry to be written about British soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

• Poppies was Weir’s response to this and first appeared in a collection called Exit Wounds.

In the poetry section of your English Literature exam, you will be asked to compare two poems. Listen to this podcast to hear an example of how you could approach this task.

In this episode, writer and rapper Testament and poet Jane Weir, compare the context, form and themes of the poems The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Poppies by Jane Weir.

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Context

Poppies begins “Three days before Armistice Sunday”. This is often called Remembrance Sunday and takes place every year on the second Sunday in November. It originally commemorated the end of World War One. It has since become about remembering all those lost in war.

Poppies grew on the fields in Flanders, Belgium, even after a lot of fighting there in World War One. In 1915, the poet, soldier and physician John McCrae, wrote a famous poem inspired by them called In Flander's Field. Poppies soon became a well-known symbol for remembering those lost in wars.

The poem

Poppies is about a parent reminiscing about their son – although it is ambiguous whether the son is alive or dead.

In the poem, the parent pins a poppy to their son’s blazer and gets rid of cat hairs on his clothes. They resist the urge to run their fingers through the boy’s hair before walking him to the front door. After the son leaves, the parent goes into his bedroom. The poem ends with the parent visiting a war memorial and tracing the names inscribed on it.

Jane Weir has two sons which may have inspired her to write about a parent and a son relationship in this poem. She also worked in textiles and frequently uses imagery of fabrics and fashion in her writing.

The parent in Poppies is brave in an unconventional way. Rather than facing physical pain as might be expected in war poetry, they experience emotional pain.

At the start of the poem, the parent holds back from treating the boy as if he is still a child. They want to “play at / being Eskimos like we did when / you were little” but resist the urge, knowing that the child is older now.

Likewise, rather than smother the boy with advice, they find their words “flattened, rolled” and “slowly melting” – the boy is old enough to make his own decisions and they don’t want to tell them what to do.

As the parent walks the boy to the door, they say “I was brave”. A simple sentence that emphasises the strength and love it takes to let their child grow up and make their own choices in life.

The parent’s love for their child is unconditional. The first two stanzas list special moments they have shared and build up an image of physical closeness and emotional dependency.

This contrasts with the second half of the poem, in which the parent is alone and more vulnerable: “without winter coat or reinforcements”. Even then, the parent is longing for their child. They lean against the war memorial which looks “like a wishbone” – suggesting the parent is wishing their child would come back.

It is unclear whether the boy is alive or not, the poem is deliberately ambiguous, but the memorial setting suggests he may have died at war. The parent is searching for a way to feel connected to him again and a place to channel their love.

Weir explores the parent’s vivid, sensory memories in Poppies. Verbs like “pinned” and “smoothed” show the physical nature of their relationship.

Likewise, when the parent remembers cuddling their child, the memory is sensory – their noses “graze”.

"I wanted to graze my nose
across the tip of your nose, play at
being Eskimos like we did when
you were little”.

The assonance in the repetition of “nose” and “Eskimos” is like an echo and reflects how important memories linger on and can be revisited time after time.

The poem ends with an aural memory – a wish to hear the son’s “playground voice catching on the wind” which is an intimate memory that emphasises the parent’s feeling of loss.

In poetry, language relates to anything in connection with words and the ways they are used.

Simile

A simile compares two things by saying they are alike in some way using “like” or “as”. For example:

the world overflowing like a treasure chest.

The idea of the world being an overflowing treasure chest suggests the excitement and potential that the future has for the son. It is full of riches and opportunities.

However, the fact that it is overflowing could suggest a sense of feeling overwhelmed for the parent. It suggests their uncontainable sadness at losing their child.

Metaphor

Weir uses a metaphor in the third stanza of Poppies:

"After you’d gone I went into your bedroom,
released a song bird from its cage.”

This metaphor could be interpreted in a few ways.

• “After you’d gone” could refer to the son leaving home, or the son dying – Weir leaves this as deliberately ambiguous.

• The son could be the songbird. He has been “caged” with his mother and has now been set free.

• Alternatively, the mother is the song bird and she is releasing her emotions – crying – at the loss of her son.

• The full stop at the end of the metaphor suggests a sense of finality. It creates a deliberate pause to reflect the silence now that the parent is alone.

Sensory imagery

Weir’s use of sensory imagery throughout this poem helps to reinforce the parent’s vivid memories.

• Touch is used. For example, the parent remembers “pinning” a badge to the child’s lapel, “smoothing” down their collar and tracing the inscriptions on the war memorial. The textile language of “lapel”, “blazer” and “hair” helps keep the feeling of intimacy between parent and child.

• Sound is also used as the parent remembers how they “released a songbird” and listened for the child’s “playground voice”,

In poetry, structure relates to anything in connection to the layout and organisation.

Free verse

Free verse is a poem with no set rhyme or rhythm. This creates a feeling of freedom that is more similar to natural speech, so it sounds more like the parent is telling an authentic, personal story.

The lack of a set rhythm could also highlight the parent’s overwhelming emotions as their son leaves for war – it is unpredictable and unsteady.

Enjambment

Enjambment is a poetic device in which a sentence continues beyond the end of the line or verse. For example:

“I was brave, as I walked
with you, to the front door, threw
it open, the world overflowing
like a treasure chest.”

Enjambment also makes the poem feel more like natural speech as it flows freely – unrestricted by line length.

In the example above, the parent is feeling particularly strong emotions about their child leaving and the use of enjambment could show the overflow of emotion and pain that they are feeling and struggling to contain.

In poetry, form is the type of poem that the poet has chosen to write.

Dramatic monologue

A dramatic monologue is a speech or poem where one speaker describes their ideas, thoughts and feelings. Poppies uses this form as we learn about the parent’s thoughts and feelings from their own perspective.

Weir may have chosen this form to explore more closely how war affects the families of those who die. We are shown the feelings of a grieving parent, in detail yet in a soft and personal way.

Second person

Second person means that the speaker or writer speaks directly to the person or character they are addressing.

The parent in the poem speaks to their son throughout using the pronoun ‘you’. This creates a sense of closeness and familiarity – intimacy between parent and child.

Despite the parent speaking to their son throughout the poem, the son never replies. This creates a sense of sadness. The parent’s longing to be with their son again is clear, as is the feeling that the parent will, in many ways, never be able to fully let go of their child.

Remember

• Read the question carefully. Highlight the key words and focus of the question.

• Make a plan. Annotate the poem or create a short list of points you could make, supported by evidence. This will help you to stay focused and relevant.

• Analyse features. When you identify a feature, always consider why it has been used and what effect it creates.

• Reread your answer. Keep checking that you are on topic throughout the writing process.

Making comparisons

You will need to write your response using comparative connectives, such as:

• Similarly

• Likewise

• However

• In contrast

In the exam

This poem could be assessed in the anthology poetry part of the exam.

You will be asked to compare a named poem with a poem of your choice.

The choice must be from the cluster of poems you have studied. The named poem will be provided.

This question assesses AO2 and AO3:

Test your understanding of the poem Poppies by taking this quiz