Mother Any Distance Simon Armitage AO 3 context

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‘Mother Any Distance’ Simon Armitage

‘Mother Any Distance’ Simon Armitage

AO 3: context • • • Born in Huddersfield A modern poet, has an

AO 3: 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?

Content: moving out of home How do you feel about moving out of home

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?

Extended metaphor • Metaphor: stating one thing is something else. • Why: to highlight

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…….

He addresses her directly. The poem is a personal message to her Metaphors and

He addresses her directly. The poem is a personal message to her Metaphors and hyperbole create an image of a vast open space – adventure? Nervous? 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. Pelmets – board or material above a window that hides the curtain rail Acre – a large amount of land Prairies – a large area of grassland STRUCTURE: ‘doors’ and ‘floors’ rhyme but ‘hands’ and ‘span’ is a half rhyme – shows the dislocation between him and his mother?

Zero-end - the time when he was born. Measuring tape – metaphor for mother/son

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?

Space metaphor Alone? Adventure? Scary? Their relationship needs to change. He’s trying to move

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. 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) No limit to the opportunities open to him – they can’t be measured like the walls. Optimistic tone to end. STRUCTURE: ellipsis reflects how the tape is being stretched out, or that his mother finally lets go

Structure and form 15 lines – he’s playing with the sonnet form 15 th

Structure and form 15 lines – he’s playing with the sonnet form 15 th 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? 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.

Essential Vocabulary Metaphor Connection Appreciation Hyperbole Enjambment Ellipsis Fear Excitement Independence Breaking away Distance

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