Starter quiz
- Who is 'Poppies' written from the perspective of?
- a soldier
- a soldier's sister
- a soldier's mother ✓
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- In this quote from 'Poppies': "smoothed down your shirt’s upturned collar", how does the mother seem?
- jealous
- angry
- protective ✓
- nostalgic
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- Throughout the poem 'Poppies', Weir uses frequent...
- floral imagery
- winter imagery
- textile imagery ✓
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- Which quote from 'Poppies' suggests the mother may be at peace with her son's death?
- "my stomach busy making tucks, darts, pleats"
- "The dove pulled freely against the sky" ✓
- "I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice"
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- Look at these words: "steeled", "blockade", "reinforcements". All of these words fit the semantic field of...
- love
- peace
- hope
- war ✓
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- Through the dramatic monologue form used in 'Poppies'...
- Weir compels the reader to acknowledge the mother's quiet trauma. ✓
- Weir places significance on the soldier's pain.
- Weir shows the patriotism of mothers of boys at war.
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Exit quiz
- In 'Poppies', the mother "steel[ing] the softening of her face" could reflect...
- how she represses her grief when saying goodbye to her son ✓
- how she found it easy to say goodbye to her son
- how she does not want to be alone
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- The act of "releasing a song bird from its cage" in 'Poppies' could represent...
- the mother letting her son go ✓
- the mother finally unleashing her grief ✓
- the mother releasing her son's childhood pet
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- In 'Poppies', the two sestets either side of long stanzas could reflect…
- how war seems to never end
- the conflict between the mother and her son
- how the mother tries to contain her grief ✓
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- "The word “stitch” could further reflect how the mother tries to keep her grief neat and tidy." This response to the poem 'Poppies' contains...
- absolute langauge
- tentative language ✓
- emotive language
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- What is one way to ensure a nuanced answer when writing essays about poems?
- choose the first analysis that comes to your head
- name the poet's literary devices
- consider alternative interpretations of something in the poem ✓
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- Why might Weir have chosen the title "Poppies"?
- to encourage the reader to wear a poppy every year
- to encourage the reader to reflect on the grief that lies within the symbol ✓
- to criticise the sheer loss of life in war
- to emphasise the many mothers that experience the same grief as the speaker ✓
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Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- The title could be suggestive of remembrance, the many grieving mothers of war or the outward display of deeper grief.
- Bird imagery may reflect the mother letting go of her son or the way in which she represses her grief.
- Two sestets either side of two longer stanzas may suggest the mother trying hard to contain her emotions for her son.
- The domestic and textile imagery may also show the mother’s containment of grief.
- Textile imagery also suggests the limitations of the mother’s ability to protect her son outside of the home.
Common misconception
Pupils may not notice the significance of the textile imagery.
The textile imagery was carefully chosen for the poem, Jane Weir would have been very conscious of putting this in as she was a textile designer.
Keywords
Grief - intense sorrow usually associated with the death of something or someone
Repress - to keep something under control and not let it come to the surface
Selflessness - concern more with the desires and needs of others rather than one’s own
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