What is the Poppy symbolic of? Why do people wear poppies each November? Why was the poppy chosen to be a memorial flower?

To use MITSL to develop a response to the poem Poppies Objectives: To explore the poem Poppies focusing on how Weir has used poetic devices to portray the theme of power and conflict To use MITSL to develop a response to the poem

Poppies at the Tower of London The Poppies at The Tower of London was one of the biggest visitor attractions in 2014. Why?

Parents and teenagers Do you have a good relationship with Your parents? What do you argue about? If you were a parent of a teenager what would you do? Will your parents miss you when you leave Home?

Group explorations You will be given a section of the poem in your group. There are some annotations and questions. Be ready to feedback to the class

When is the exact date? Why do we keep being given time frames? Who is the ‘you’? Why does she begin by talking about war? Three days before Armistice Sunday and poppies had already been placed on individual war graves. Before you left, I pinned one onto your lapel, crimped petals, spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding around your blazer. What do you notice about the words in purple? What connotations does this have? What effect does the alliteration have here? The poem is set in time context right at the start – ‘three days before Armistice Sunday’ – so we know the time of year when the poem is set. This gives us a clue as to what the poem might be about: Armistice Sunday is a time when people remember those who have fallen in conflicts so the writer is likely to be writing about someone who has lost a friend or family member. There is a strong sense of colour in this section – the red of poppies and yellow edging of a blazer. The mention of a blazer makes us think of school children and school uniform. We assume that the narrator is a mother pinning a poppy on her son’s blazer. At this point we may think that the mother and son are to attend a memorial service on Armistice Sunday, perhaps to remember a member of their family. This is a very personal scene and we are drawn into this personal and intimate moment. There are textile/sewing references her – ‘pinned’, ‘crimped’ & ‘bias binding’. These are feminine references – most people associate textiles and sewing with women. Who is the I? Bias binding: a strip of fabric used for edging clothes What? Where? When?

Why do you think she chose the word ‘bandaged’? What imagery is implied here? Sellotape bandaged around my hand, I rounded up as many white cat hairs as I could, smoothed down your shirt's upturned collar, steeled the softening of my face. I wanted to graze my nose across the tip of your nose, play at being Eskimos like we did when you were little. I resisted the impulse to run my fingers through the gelled blackthorns of your hair. All my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt, Why does she want to do this? What language technique does she use? Why does she want him to be young again? What language technique does she use? We are invited into an intimate domestic scene here – a mother/woman preparing to leave the house with someone she obviously cares about. The detail is carefully observed and designed to draw the reader in to the scene – we will all be able to remember a time when a mother behaved this way towards us. There is an air of regret here – ‘I wanted to’ & ‘I resisted’ suggest that looking back on the scene she wishes that she had done what she didn’t. When this is linked with the previous stanza’s Armistice Sunday setting we are led to believe that the boy may be the one who was lost. We know that this is a recent event through the metaphor of ‘gelled blackthorns’ – this is a relatively modern way of styling hair. We believe that the narrator is the mother because she refers to things that she did ‘when you were little’ – she is remembering a time from his childhood – this also links to the picture of the boy in school uniform. Why use these verbs? What? Where? When?

Sellotape bandaged around my hand, I rounded up as many white cat hairs as I could, smoothed down your shirt's upturned collar, steeled the softening of my face. I wanted to graze my nose across the tip of your nose, play at being Eskimos like we did when you were little. I resisted the impulse to run my fingers through the gelled blackthorns of your hair. All my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt,

slowly melting. I was brave, as I walked with you, to the front door, threw it open, the world overflowing like 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 busy making tucks, darts, pleats, hat-less, without a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves.

On reaching the top of the hill I traced the inscriptions on the war memorial, leaned against it like a wishbone. The dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch. I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind.

What sort of lexis is used here? Why? slowly melting. I was brave, as I walked with you, to the front door, threw it open, the world overflowing like 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 busy making tucks, darts, pleats, hat-less, without a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves. What technique? Why? What effect does it have? How is time used as a narrative structural device? Look at all the phrases in red. Device? Why does she choose this? There is enjambment between stanza 2 & 3 – this ensures a flow through the poem between the memories, as if the mother is allowing her mind to wander as she thinks about her son. The simile ‘overflowing like a treasure chest’ shows the potential that parents feel is in their children. This boy, at the time she is remembering, is at the start of his life and everything is possible for him. The moment when the boy leaves is a break point in the poem – the memories from childhood are replaced with events in the present. The two birds are symbolic – the song bird may be a symbol of joy and happiness, people associate their song with a sense of happiness; the dove is a symbol of peace. The idea here is that when the boy left the mother also ‘released’ or lost her happiness; when the dove leads her to the church it is symbolising the peace that she may gain from attending the service and remembering her son. There are more sewing references here – ‘tucks, darts, pleats’ – these are linked into a nervous feeling, ‘my stomach busy’ which suggests that she is worried about the impending service. Why might this be? There is a military reference here – ‘reinforcements’ are usually military but here they also refer to winter clothing. What sort of lexis is used here? Why? Why use these verbs? What? Where? When?

What is she doing and why? What do we with do with a wishbone? Why does she choose this image/simile? Have you noticed another theme/symbol running through this poem? Whre else is it? On reaching the top of the hill I traced the inscriptions on the war memorial, leaned against it like a wishbone. The dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch. I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind. In this stanza there is a climb to reach the war memorial – this suggests a struggle or effort to get there. The simile ‘like a wishbone’ suggests someone being pulled in two directions. The dove ‘pulled freely against the sky’ suggesting a struggle to get free and this is again linked to a sewing reference ‘an ornamental stitch’. The poem ends with an emotive image of the mother straining to hear her son’s voice. There is no suggestion in the poem that the son has died rather that he has joined the forces and as Armistice Sunday cones around his mother is thinking of him along with all the fallen. What technique is this? What does it suggest? How is this poem left?

Accept, amend, reject Choose one the statements. Write it down and explain, using two quotes, why you agree with the statement. The author uses imagery as her main techniques to discuss the themes in the poem. The poem Poppies is more about a mother’s worry than about war. The title is fitting because this poem is about remembrance. The author makes the poem purposely confusing as we’re not sure if we’re in the past or present in some parts. There is more than one theme present in this poem. Now pass it over to a partner. You choose to accept, amend or reject their answer. Accept: agree and add more evidence Amend: change their answer by adding on some more but with different ideas/evidence Reject: disagree by saying why and giving more evidence. Pass on again!