Starter quiz
- Read this sentence: 'After the match, Heidi went home to rest her aching muscles'. Which fragment below is the dependent clause?
- After the match ✓
- Heidi went home to rest her aching muscles
- muscles
- After
- to rest her aching mcles
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- 'Mother, any distance' focuses on the relationship between a mother and her son. We could describe this relationship as...
- romantic
- parental ✓
- extramarital
- familial ✓
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- When writing analysis paragraphs, you should be led by...
- key quotations
- the writer's use of methods
- inferences and interpretations of the text ✓
- contextual knowledge
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- Which of these 'rules' can you apply to the sonnet form?
- 14 lines long ✓
- usually consist of three quatrains (4-line stanzas) and a couplet (2 lines) ✓
- made up of 5 tercets (3-line stanzas)
- uses iambic pentameter ✓
- traditionally written about death and loss
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- Which of these sentences is written in iambic pentameter?
- A bird sings a melody, filling the air with its sweet song.
- The wind whispers secrets through the rustling leaves of the trees.
- The stars twinkle brightly in the dark sky above us.
- The moon's soft glow upon the ocean's crest. ✓
- The mountains stand tall, watching over the valley below.
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- Effective analysis will...
- stick to one main analysis of the poem
- include links to contextual knowledge in every paragraph
- consider multiple interpretations of the text ✓
- include contextual knowledge only where it is relevant to the main argument ✓
- use tentative language to indicate personal interpretations ✓
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Exit quiz
- What does the word 'ephemeral' mean?
- long, drawn out, extended
- spontaneous, unexpected
- impending, destined to be
- short-lived, fleeting ✓
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- Which type of distance found in 'Mother, any distance' is missing from this list? '__________, emotional, generational and temporal.
- romantic
- platonic
- physical ✓
- aesthetic
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- 'Mother, any distance' is about...
- a mother and son sorting through old photo albums
- a young son, climbing his mother's body
- a mother helping her son to move into his own home ✓
- a son, remembering how he used to help his mother with DIY tasks
- a young mother, reflecting on whether or not she was ready for motherhood
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- Which of these sentences uses an embedded subordinate clause?
- The coffee from that shop tastes delicious.
- The sun was setting, and the stars began to appear in the night sky.
- The cat meowed loudly, waiting by the door for its owner to return.
- The cat, who always sleeps on the windowsill, enjoys the warmth of the sun. ✓
- The tree with green leaves swayed gently in the breeze.
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- Which of these words from the final stanza of 'Mother, any distance' symbolises the man's independence?
- "empty"
- "ladder"
- "fly" ✓
- "hatch"
- "endless"
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- 'Mother, any distance' is found in a collection of poems called 'Books of Matches'. The title of the collections links to...
- a book of matches Armitage found in a hotel as a child
- a game where players tell anecdotes in the time it takes for a match to burn ✓
- the speaker's yearning to set things on fire
- the title of Armitage's autobiography
- a book of matches given to him by his mother
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Worksheet
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Presentation
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Video
Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Armitage describes a mother helping her son move into his own home as he reaches adulthood.
- The speaker’s new home seems huge and expansive, emphasising the growing distance between mother and child.
- The speaker builds on the emotional distance between the mother and son as their physical distance increases.
- Both speaker and subject seem apprehensive about the son's upcoming independence.
- The poem comes from ‘Books of Matches’, reflecting on ephemeral moments that make a deep impression.
Common misconception
This poem is written in the form of a sonnet: it has 14 lines and a regular rhyme scheme.
This poem does not strictly follow the sonnet form but does use many of its conventions. It contains 15, not 14 lines and doesn't use a regular rhyme scheme. It does however end with a rhyming couplet and uses iambic pentameter in places.
Keywords
Ephemeral - short-lived, fleeting, lasting for a brief time
Subordinate clause - part of a sentence that adds detail but cannot stand alone
Embedded - enclosed successfully within another structure
Temporal - relating to the passing of time
Sonnet - a traditional form of love poetry, famous for its strict rhythmic rules
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