1. LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question
‘Poppies’ by Jane Weir
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

2. What do you think of when you see this poppy?
Be prepared to explain your reasons as to why you think this.
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

3. Information about ‘Poppies’
‘Poppies’ was written in 2009 by Weir in response to a request from Carol Ann Duffy to ten poets to each write a poem in response to present-day wars and conflicts. The poem is set in the present day, but reaches right back to the beginning of the Poppy Day tradition. Armistice Sunday began as a way of marking the end of the First World War in It was set up so people could remember the hundreds and thousands of ordinary men who had been killed in the First World War. Today, the event is used to remember soldiers of all wars who have died since then. When Poppies was written, British soldiers were still dying in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a poem that is open to interpretation. When asked what the poem is about, Jane Weir replied; ‘I think it’s important to let the reader have space to make up their own mind’.
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

4. The experience
Read the poem. What experience do you think is being related?
Who is the narrative voice in the poem? – The ‘I’?
Who is the ‘you’ who is referred to many times?
Select two/three lines or phrases that jump out to you. Explain your selection of these lines to a partner.
‘Poppies’ is a poem that tells a story; it relates a series of linked events.
Highlight all of the references to time within the poem. Do you notice anything interesting about the placement of these time references?
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

5. What could these line breaks suggest to a reader?
Form and structure
The poem appears to have a strong, regular sense of form. There are four clear stanzas, the first and last with six lines, the second with 11 and the third 12.
On closer inspection, however, we can see a great deal of movement within this outwardly regular form. 19 lines out of 35 have breaks in the middle of the lines (caesuras).
What could these line breaks suggest to a reader?
The biggest movement in the poem is the narrative structure. The time sequence keeps changing along with her emotions. It goes from "Three days before" (line 1) to "Before you left" (line 3) to "After you'd gone" (line 23) to "later" (line 25) and the present in "this is where it has led me" on line 26.
The poem ends with her suspended, on the hill, between the present and the past.
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

6. Complete your investigating language and imagery task sheet.
In one colour, highlight all of the possessive pronouns within the poem.
What effect does the repetition of these create?
Complete your investigating language and imagery task sheet.
‘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.’
This line carries the sense of the mother blocking out the memory of her son’s violent death with a sweeter, purer memory . This image carries echoes of battlefield injury as well as cleaning the cat hairs off the blazer. The contrast between the death in battle and the domestic happiness (the boy has been cuddling his cat) is powerful.
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

7. Finding images Poppies Needlework and embroidery Caged birds and doves
The poem contains a number of images and references to:
Poppies
Needlework and embroidery
Caged birds and doves
Why do you think the poet included these details ? How do they add to the way the poet explores the idea of warfare and conflict?
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

8. Attitudes, themes and ideas
The poem is about the nature of grief. The mother is speaking directly to her son, but a son who shifts in time. There is:
The son leaving home for school on his own for the first time.
The son who has just been killed.
Beneath the surface ,the son dying violently in a field hospital in Afghanistan.
It is as if all these different versions of her son fixed exist together inside her. When the poem reaches a moment in the present (line 26) she is vulnerable and without protection. The final lines then go back to the past tense "I traced…".
Why do you think that the verb ‘traced’ has been chosen by the poet?
It is as if the present holds too much pain and her memories can only be expressed if distanced in imagery held safely in the past.
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

9. Summarise ‘Poppies’ The fact file:
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

10. Final notes:
Key vocabulary:
Armistice Sunday: (or Remembrance Day) – commemorated every year on 11th November to remember those who have died in line of duty.
Blockade: Surrounding a place, by armed forces, to prevent anyone leaving.
Intoxicated: Drunk, or exhilarated, highly excited.
Key theme:
Personal view of war from a mother’s perspective.
You could compare ‘Poppies’ to:
‘Kamikaze’
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question

11. Extending your learning
To extend your knowledge and understanding of ‘Poppies’, write a first person account from either the mother, or the son’s, perspective about how they feel on the morning that the son leaves home.
Ensure that you include:
Personal pronouns
Details from the poem
Descriptive language (use the writer’s toolkit)
Structural features (paragraphs and sentences of varying lengths)
To be able to comment on structural features and poetic devices in a poem
To be able to respond creatively to a poem through analysis paragraphs
To identify the meaning of a poem through close language analysis
LO: To be able to effectively respond to a poetry exam question