1. ‘Mother Any Distance’
Simon Armitage

2. AO3: context Born in Huddersfield
A modern poet, has an accent and writes in a modern way
Poem taken from ‘Book of Matches’: a collection of 30 sonnets
Published in 1993
Also writes for TV, film and radio
FORM
A sonnet is traditionally 14 lines long and on the subject of love.
What do you notice about this ‘sonnet’?
Why the differences?

3. Content: moving out of home
How do you feel about moving out of home and getting your own place?
List emotions you may feel……….
Daunted
Sad
Delighted
Anxious
Nervous
Excited
Overwhelmed
How do you think your parents/carers will react?
Will they help?
Will they be sad? Happy for you?
Will they keep in contact too much? Too little?
Do you imagine moving far? Not far?

4. Extended metaphor Metaphor: stating one thing is something else.
Why: to highlight the qualities of that thing and associate them with the other.
Extended metaphor: a tape measure. Represents the mother/son relationship.
Watch out for how it is used in the poem…….

5. He addresses her directly. The poem is a personal message to her
A single span is the distance between her outstretched hands – he ‘requires a second pair’: he still needs his mother
Mother, any distance greater than a single span requires a second pair of hands. You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors, the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors.
Metaphors and hyperbole create an image of a vast open space –adventure?
Nervous?
STRUCTURE: ‘doors’ and ‘floors’ rhyme but ‘hands’ and ‘span’ is a half rhyme – shows the dislocation between him and his mother?
Pelmets – board or material above a window that hides the curtain rail
Acre – a large amount of land
Prairies – a large area of grassland

6. Zero-end - the time when he was born.
Measuring tape – metaphor for mother/son relationship
STRUCTURE: Enjambment reflects a new phase of their relationship
You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape, recording length, reporting metres, centimetres back to base, then leaving up the stairs, the line still feeding out, unreeling years between us. Anchor. Kite.
Represents the stability of the mother
He’s moving away from his mother, physically and emotionally
Metaphor
Son: kite
Wants to be free
Mother: anchor
Keeps him grounded, also holds him back?

7. Space metaphor
Alone?
Adventure?
Scary?
Their relationship needs to change. He’s trying to move away
Verb ‘pinch’ - she doesn’t want to let him go.
I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something has to give; two floors below your fingertips still pinch the last one-hundredth of an inch...I reach towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky to fall or fly.
STRUCTURE: ellipsis reflects how the tape is being stretched out, or that his mother finally lets go
No limit to the opportunities open to him – they can’t be measured like the walls. Optimistic tone to end.
Bird imagery: hatch, flying the nest, he’s breaking free of his mother’s protection. He doesn’t know if he will makes it – ‘has to give’ ‘to fall or fly’ (alliteration)

8. Structure and form 15 lines – he’s playing with the sonnet form
Mother, any distance greater than a single span requires a second pair of hands. You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors, the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors. You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape, recording length, reporting metres, centimetres back to base, then leaving up the stairs, the line still feeding out, unreeling years between us. Anchor. Kite. I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something has to give; two floors below your fingertips still pinch the last one-hundredth of an inch...I reach towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky to fall or fly.
15th line – represents a choice
Stanza 1: needs his mother
Stanza 2: exploring independence
Stanza 3: something must change in their relationship
Uneven lines: suggests their relationship is changing?

9. Essential Vocabulary Metaphor Connection Appreciation Hyperbole
Enjambment
Ellipsis
Fear
Excitement
Independence
Breaking away
Distance
Sonnet
Optimistic
Essential Vocabulary
Metaphor
Connection
Appreciation
Hyperbole
Enjambment
Ellipsis
Fear
Excitement
Independence
Breaking away
Distance
Sonnet
Optimistic
Essential Vocabulary
Metaphor
Connection
Appreciation
Hyperbole
Enjambment
Ellipsis
Fear
Excitement
Independence
Breaking away
Distance
Sonnet
Optimistic
Essential Vocabulary
Metaphor
Connection
Appreciation
Hyperbole
Enjambment
Ellipsis
Fear
Excitement
Independence
Breaking away
Distance
Sonnet
Optimistic
MOTHER – HANDS – ZERO-END – BASE – UNREELING – ANCHOR – KITE – SPACE-WALK – BREAKING – GIVE – PINCH – REACH – SKY - FLY
MOTHER – HANDS – ZERO-END – BASE – UNREELING – ANCHOR – KITE – SPACE-WALK – BREAKING – GIVE – PINCH – REACH – SKY - FLY
MOTHER – HANDS – ZERO-END – BASE – UNREELING – ANCHOR – KITE – SPACE-WALK – BREAKING – GIVE – PINCH – REACH – SKY - FLY
MOTHER – HANDS – ZERO-END – BASE – UNREELING – ANCHOR – KITE – SPACE-WALK – BREAKING – GIVE – PINCH – REACH – SKY - FLY