Starter quiz
- 'Mother, any distance' is about...
- a mother who mourns the loss of her son after he moves out
- a son who misses his mother after she dies
- a son who wishes he could move back in with his mother
- a mother who is helping her son to move into his new home ✓
- a father who is describing the relationship between his wife and their son
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- Which of these key themes can we identify in 'Mother, any distance'?
- separation ✓
- jealousy
- friendship
- nostalgia ✓
- regret
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- 'Mother, any distance' loosely follows the conventions of which type of poem?
- ballad
- haiku
- sonnet ✓
- villanelle
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- 'Mother, any distance' is taken from a collection entitled 'Books of ______'.
- 'Matches' ✓
- What does the word 'ephemeral' mean?
- ambiguous, difficult to understand
- short-lived, fleeting, lasting for a brief time ✓
- angelic, like something from Heaven
- successful, effective in achieving its purpose
- slow, gradually played out over a number of years
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- Starting with the first, put these quotations from 'Mother, any distance' in the order they appear.
- 1⇔"Mother"
- 2⇔"unreeling"
- 4⇔"pinch"
- 5⇔"endless"
- 6⇔"fly"
Exit quiz
- What is a vignette?
- a scene in a movie
- a description so clear you can picture it in your mind
- a brief descriptive scene that focuses on a particular moment ✓
- a descriptive paragraph that uses all five senses
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- What is symbolism?
- repetition of initial consonant sounds in neighbouring words
- attributing human qualities to non-human entities
- words that imitate the sounds they represent
- repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses
- representing abstract ideas, themes, or concepts through concrete objects ✓
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- The image of the anchor on line 8 of 'Mother, any distance' could symbolise how...
- the speaker views their mother as an obstacle to achieving independence ✓
- the speaker worries that their mother views them as a burden
- the speaker views their mother as stubborn and immovable
- the speaker wishes they could be more principled in their beliefs
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- In 'Mother, any distance', the speaker uses which image to suggest they feel tethered to their mother?
- a tape measures
- windows
- a kite ✓
- a ladder
- a bird
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- How does Armitage use measurements in 'Mother, any distance' to symbolise the generational distance between the mother and the son?'
- He uses smaller units of measurement to show how little things change over time.
- He uses a tape measure to show old old-fashioned the mother is.
- He uses a ruler to show how rigid and ordered the mother is.
- He uses metric and imperial measurements to emphasises how time has moved on. ✓
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- How does Armitage imply the speaker's future is uncertain at the end of 'Mother, any distance'?
- the last line leaves the reader with the binary options of success or failure ✓
- the tape measure snaps which implies the speaker will fail on his own
- the mother becomes increasingly more desperate not to let her son go
- the description of sky suggests there are many possibilities for his future ✓
- the house is presented as a negative, foreboding place
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Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Armitage uses an extended metaphor to compare an expansive new house to the growing distance in a relationship.
- Armitage uses symbolism to represent the bond between the mother and son that exists despite the growing detachment.
- Armitage uses metaphors to convey the complex and nuanced maternal relationship in light of the physical separation.
- Armitage conveys how the speaker's future is uncertain without the proximity and support of their mother.
Common misconception
The speaker mourns the growing distance between him and his mother.
This is just one interpretation of the text; we could also infer that the speaker has felt stifled by their mother's involvement in their life until now and yearns for their independence.
Keywords
Temporal - relating to the passing of time
Explicit - clearly stated or expressed, without ambiguity
Implicit - implied or understood though not directly expressed
Vignette - a brief descriptive scene that focuses on a particular moment
Symbolism - representing abstract ideas, themes, or concepts through concrete objects, actions, or images
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