Mother, Any Distance

'requires a ------/---- of hands'

(a)  

What is the poem about?

• A son who is measuring something with his mum in his family home.

• A son who is moving into his new house and his mum helping him move in and measure.

Who features in the poem?

• A wife and husband.

• A mother and a son.

• A dog and an uncle.

• Sisters.

What is enjambment?

• Using a full-stop at the end of a sentence.

• Where a line continues onto the next without punctuation.

• Using opposites together.

• Comparing using the words 'like' or 'as'.

What is a caesura?

• Using opposites within a sentence.

• A dramatic/ contemplative pause

  (- or .)

Who wrote this poem?

• Carol Ann Duffy

• Elizabeth Barrett Browning

• Simon Armitage

• Sheamus Heaney

Spot the technique here:

'Anchor. Kite'

• Simile

• Metaphor & Caesura

• Hyperbole

• Sibilance

What does the enjambment in the poem suggest?

• Reflects the tape measure unreeling and the parent and son growing distant.

• The poet couldn't be bothered to put punctuation in.

• The speaker is insane.

What does this quote suggest?

'To fall or fly'

• The syntax (word order) suggests that the son will fly and take on new adventures.

• Suggests he will fall out the hatch to his death.

• Suggests the son trips and flies out the window.

What does the irregular rhyme scheme suggest?

• Shows how close the two are all throughout the poem.

• Shows the distance forming between them and then being fully lost at the end.

• Suggests a distance forming between the mum and son. The regularity at the end shows how they come back together.