Emphasises the importance
– a personal poem
Mother, Any Distance Ambiguous – it is unclear Flat land
Repetition Emphasise conflict
Mother, any distance greater than a single span A very small distance
requires a second pair of hands. Juxtaposition: ‘single’/‘second’ – reflects he is lonely
You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors, Metaphors – associated with USA, land of
the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors. opportunity and freedom. Suggest a huge space
Conversational tone Symbolises the mother being with the beyond the size of walls and floors – adds the
speaker’s beginning and infinite love. feelings of distance.
Metaphor - You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape, recording The speaker is distracting himself
memories length, reporting metres, centimetres back to base, then leaving as he would be lonely.
up the stairs, the line still feeding out, unreeling Metaphor – like the operation base
years between us. Anchor. Kite. Represents either toy/bird. Toy: of a space mission, somewhere safe
Keeps a boat secure – how He is flying but she is holding onto that keeps running things smoothly.
he feels about his mother him. Bird: He wants to fly freely. Juxtaposition – Bedrooms are
associated with warmth and people
Extended I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb
being together but ‘empty’ shows
metaphor the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something
that he is alone and isolated
(base) – he has to give;
is like the two floors below your fingertips still pinch The miniscule amount on which she
astronaut the last one-hundredth of an inch...I reach still clutches suggests a clear
connected towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky desperation to keep a hold on him
to the ship to fall or fly. Emphasise freedom where he
Metaphor – the speaker doesn’t
know whether to have complete will face endless opportunities
freedom or not, as he wants both:
freedom and to be still connected to
his mother - it is ambiguous
Simon Armitage
– a personal poem
Mother, Any Distance Ambiguous – it is unclear Flat land
Repetition Emphasise conflict
Mother, any distance greater than a single span A very small distance
requires a second pair of hands. Juxtaposition: ‘single’/‘second’ – reflects he is lonely
You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors, Metaphors – associated with USA, land of
the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors. opportunity and freedom. Suggest a huge space
Conversational tone Symbolises the mother being with the beyond the size of walls and floors – adds the
speaker’s beginning and infinite love. feelings of distance.
Metaphor - You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape, recording The speaker is distracting himself
memories length, reporting metres, centimetres back to base, then leaving as he would be lonely.
up the stairs, the line still feeding out, unreeling Metaphor – like the operation base
years between us. Anchor. Kite. Represents either toy/bird. Toy: of a space mission, somewhere safe
Keeps a boat secure – how He is flying but she is holding onto that keeps running things smoothly.
he feels about his mother him. Bird: He wants to fly freely. Juxtaposition – Bedrooms are
associated with warmth and people
Extended I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb
being together but ‘empty’ shows
metaphor the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something
that he is alone and isolated
(base) – he has to give;
is like the two floors below your fingertips still pinch The miniscule amount on which she
astronaut the last one-hundredth of an inch...I reach still clutches suggests a clear
connected towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky desperation to keep a hold on him
to the ship to fall or fly. Emphasise freedom where he
Metaphor – the speaker doesn’t
know whether to have complete will face endless opportunities
freedom or not, as he wants both:
freedom and to be still connected to
his mother - it is ambiguous
Simon Armitage
