The poem Mother, Any Distance Greater Than a Single Span, written by Simon Armitage, is about a child and his relationship with his mother. Throughout the poem, we see their connection naturally develop and change. As the child gets older and becomes more independent he wants to leave the ‘birds nest’, yet the mother doesn’t want to fully let go. Armitage successfully uses the language features of symbolism, metaphor, and rhyme to influence me into feeling love, sadness, and hope towards the mother throughout the poem.
In Mother, Any Distance Greater Than a Single Span, author Simon Armitage uses symbolism to shape my thoughts and feelings towards the mother. In the first stanza, Armitage uses this technique to show the son’s emotions towards
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In the second stanza, he writes, “You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape”. This creates an allusion to when a mother and their child is connected by the umbilical cord right after birth. This connection is fleeting, but truly symbolizes the intense level of connection which the mother has for their child. After carrying their fetus inside of them for nine months, living off their own blood and nutrients, the physical connection between the mother and child is exposed. I lovingly think of it as an announcement to the world of the mother’s commitment to the child, and the beginning of a human’s lifer. This caused me to feel joy towards the mother, as I am once again reminded at how beautiful the maternal bond is. Armitage therefore portrays the idea that mothers have connections with their children that no one else can compare with, but they must all learn to trust that their child will come back to her when they need …show more content…
Throughout every stanza in the poem, they all have a part where rhyme links into it. In stanza one, the rhyme is found at the end of each sentence, “span…hands…doors…floors…” This is a very simple rhyme, which links back to the relationship of the mother and child. This rhyme shows the beginnings of the mother helping her child and creating a bond. This influenced the mother as she was able to help her child and be close with her son. This inspires me to feel gratitude towards the mother, as it shows that she is helpful, always there and willing to help her son. I suppose I appreciate this mother’s dedication, as in this society, it is rare to find such commitment mothers or fathers. Being present and supportive can go far for your child. Therefore, the first stanza uses rhyme in order to influence the audiences’ feeling about the mother. The second stanza also creates a rhyme at the end of each sentence, “recording… leaving… unreeling…” These are similar to the first stanza but have the same “ing” sound at the end of each word. The second stanza also goes into depth about the bigger objects and the distance between the mother and child’s relationship becoming further apart. Both stanza one and two show the development of the
One of the most difficult, yet rewarding roles is that of a parent. The relationship between and parent and child is so complex and important that a parents relationship with her/his child can affect the relationship that the child has with his/her friends and lovers. A child will watch their parents and use them as role models and in turn project what the child has learned into all of the relationship that he child will have. The way a parent interacts with his/her child has a huge impact on the child’s social and emotional development. Such cases of parent and child relationships are presented in Theodore Roethke’s “My Papa’s Waltz” and Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy”. While Roethke and Plath both write about a dynamic between a child-father relationship that seems unhealthy and abusive, Plath writes about a complex and tense child-father relationship in which the child hates her father, whereas Roethke writes about a complex and more relaxed child-father relationship in which the son loves his father. Through the use of tone, rhyme, meter, and imagery, both poems illustrate different child-father relationships in which each child has a different set of feelings toward their father.
The poem “Mother Who Gave Me Life”, written by Gwen Harwood explores the extremely personal relationship between a daughter and her mother. It focus’ on the universal role of women as mothers and nurturers throughout time. It explores the intimate moments and memories between a daughter and her mother, and gives us as the reader an insight into the relationship between the two.
TS - In the poem, “Mother who gave me Life”, Harwood explores the memory of motherhood as a quintessential part of being human.
The next couple of lines portray the idea that it is only through the mother that the father and son are united. In life, her presence and assurances that they are alike linked them, and once she is gone, there is little to bring them together except their shared grief, which as they are so emotionally divided they find impossible to communicate.
"The Mother," by Gwendolyn Brooks, is a sorrowful, distressing poem about a mother who has experienced numerous abortions. While reading the poem, you can feel the pain, heartache, distress and grief she is feeling. She is both remorseful and regretful; nevertheless, she explains that she had no other alternative. It is a sentimental and heart wrenching poem where she talks about not being able to experience or do things with the children that she aborted -- things that people who have children often take for granted. Perhaps this poem is a reflection of what many women in society are feeling.
With close reference to Before you were mine Mother..any distance and On my first Sonne explain how imagery, structure and language are used to convey these relationships. Relationships between Parents and Children are described in several poems in the Anthology. With close reference to 'Before you were mine' 'Mother..any distance' and 'On my first Sonne' explain how imagery, structure and language are used to convey these relationships. The three poems all contain different ideas on relationships between parents and children.
Language and imagery plays a dramatic role in portraying relationships and feelings/thoughts of the persona. Whilst in ‘Burning Sappho,’ the mother’s attitude towards tasks is portrayed as emotionless (“the child is fed, the dishes are washed, the clothes are ironed and aired,”), language is utilised within ‘Suburban Sonnet’ to construct the mother’s mental state and situation as dire. “Zest and Love drain out with soapy water.” The use of two personal, passionate adjectives and the depiction of them being physically overcome by soapy water directly link the mother’s loss of feelings and fiery emotion to the household chores and duties. For example, she “scours crusted milk,” as a part of her role as mother and housewife as the reader is positioned to reject this requirement as a result of the huge impact to her quality of life (“Veins ache”). The literal image of a dead mouse symbolises the mother’s situation as the ‘soft corpse’ directly represents the mother, that is, emotionally dead as a result of the entrapment by society. The reader is positioned to fully
Plath starts her poem out negatively, ‘barely daring to breathe or Achoo’, with a distinct repetition of the ‘oo’ sounds in ‘Achoo’, ‘do’, ‘shoe’ and ‘du’ creating a childlike, nursery rhyme style of delivery that contrasts greatly with the violent and dark themes. Harwood begins on a significantly more positive if wistful note, ‘forgive me the wisdom I would not learn from you’ positioning her mother as a wise and positive influence. The tones of the poems are very different, as shaped by the poet’s experiences with their parents, with Harwood creating an affirmative, loving description of her relationship with her mother while Plath develops a much darker and sinister view s.
There are many devices used in this poem to emphasize the emotions going through the mind of a parent when sending their child off into the world. Of such device used is imagery, the use of imagery is used abundantly in the
The second stanza is almost like the first in the fact that it appeals to the same senses. It talks about the actions and the feelings of the child. It describes how the child would wake and wait for his father to call him. The second stanza also describes the mood of the house in the line, "fearing the chronic angers of that house." Perhaps that line is
Linda Pastan made this poem include various forms of figurative language to hide the literal message that it's trying to portray. Figurative language is using figures of speech to make the text be more powerful, persuasive, and meaningful. Figures of speech such as, similes and metaphors, go beyond the literal meanings to give the readers a new way of looking at the text. It can come in multiple ways with different literacy and rhetorical devices such as: alliteration, imageries, onomatopoeias, and etc. With the usage of the literary devices Pastan has used, it introduced the relationship between the mother and the daughter. It shows the memories of how the mother helped her daughter grow from a little girl to a young adult getting ready to go her own way in life.
The poem “The Mother” written by Gwendolyn Brooks in 1945, is a poem that focuses on the immeasurable losses a woman experiences after having an abortion. The poems free verse style has a mournful tone that captures the vast emotions a mother goes through trying to cope with the choices she has made. The author writes each stanza of the poem using a different style, and point of view, with subtle metaphors to express the speaker’s deep struggle as she copes with her abortions. The poem begins with, “Abortions will not let you forget” (Brooks 1), the first line of the poem uses personification to capture your attention. The title of the poem has the reader’s mindset centered around motherhood, but the author’s expertise with the opening line, immediately shifts your view to the actual theme of the poem. In this first line the speaker is telling you directly, you will never forget having an abortion. Brooks utilizes the speaker of the poem, to convey that this mother is pleading for forgiveness from the children she chose not to have.
The poem Mother, any distance by Simon Armitage, explores the emotional connection of mother and child. The use of symbolism of the tape measure, anchor and kite and the latch that opens a door to an endless sky develops Simon Armitage’s key ideas. The purpose of this poem was to allow the audience to relate the poem to their own lives and with their own mothers and to realise their support and never ending love for us.
The relationship between a parent and child is potentially one of the most influential in a child’s life. A positive interaction often yields admiration, love or a sense of support. A negative relationship may yield distrust, animosity or a sense of solitude. Theodore Roethke’s poem, “My Papa’s Waltz,” describes the admiration of his hardworking father. The speaker, a young boy, depicts roughhousing with his father in the form of a waltz; expressing his desire to stay up and spend more time together though their relationship is detached. Seamus Heaney’s “Digging,” instills a sense of respect, pride, and a slight affliction for the speaker’s choice of the pen over the spade. The speaker has chosen a different path in life than that of his father and grandfather. Although written at different stages in life, both Roethke and Heaney write a poem about their families utilizing vivid imagery to demonstrate the love and pride they felt for these men.
Along with the advising tone, the imagery adds on and creates pictures in a reader head to play a role as well. The imagery used in “Mother to Son” has a painful picture in the reader's head. There are images that can be pictured because the way the author describe the stairs in the first couple of lines. By using images in words in the poem such as, “It's had tacks in it, / And splinters, / And boards torn up, / And places with no carpet on the floor—” (3-6), a reader can atomically picture a woman going up stairs that are very painful to her feet and causing bruises and scratches all over it.