Exam Preparation: ‘Material’
The speaker reflects upon her mother’s approach to parenting, following her death. She
contrasts her mother’s lifestyle and maternal instinct to her own.
Key Themes:
Death and loss.
Changing society.
Legacy.
The past and passage of time.
Verse form Regular stanza lengths with a regular rhyme scheme (although half-rhyme
throughout)-
Perhaps symbolising the formality and constraint of the past era, which is
still having an impact for the speaker.
Use of half-rhyme perhaps suggesting that she is breaking away from this;
does not conform to former ideals for women/mothers.
Structural Key moments of caesura and end-stopped lines-
devices ‘She bought her own; I never did’- used to highlight the contrast between
the speaker and her mother. Also, in final stanza ‘But it isn’t mine. I’ll let it
go.’
‘greengrocer George…is history,’ – highlights shift; old way of life confined
to ‘history’.
End-stopping used for the speaker’s key reflections: ‘Nostalgia only makes
me old’; ‘There’s never a hanky up my sleeve.’
Poignant message at the end of the poem-
Mother died ‘not leaving handkerchiefs/ but tissues and uncertainty’-
speaker’s sense of loss highlighted here.
Rhyming triplet at the end of the poem- ends with the mother’s voice- her
words and message have survived after her death- looking forward to the
future and opportunities- ‘this is your material/ to do with, daughter’,
what you will.’. Key message in the poem about how we are shaped and
how we shape others. Sense of legacy.
Language Use of the metaphor of the ‘hanky’ and the speaker’s attitude towards it-
techniques Representative of the speaker’s mother- the ‘hanky queen’- ‘a thing of
/ key ideas cloth’- dependable, long-lasting, more substantial. Also ‘demanded irons,
and boiling’- handkerchiefs require careful attention and time, in the same
way her mother was dependable and would give effort. The daughter on
the other hand explains that she does not have these same attributes.
Change in speaker’s attitude- as a child ‘a mum’s embarrassment of lace’ &
‘the naffest Christmas gift you’d get’ to now where she admits ‘I miss
material handkerchiefs’-lack of appreciation as a child; change in
perspective perhaps due to age but maybe also due to the loss of her
mother. She misses tha handkerchief as it represents a lost way of life, and
the comfort of her mother.
Hankies representing lost way of life- associated with other old-fashioned
images e.g. ‘headscarves, girdles…’ etc.
Contrast between the speaker and her mother-
The speaker reflects upon her mother’s approach to parenting, following her death. She
contrasts her mother’s lifestyle and maternal instinct to her own.
Key Themes:
Death and loss.
Changing society.
Legacy.
The past and passage of time.
Verse form Regular stanza lengths with a regular rhyme scheme (although half-rhyme
throughout)-
Perhaps symbolising the formality and constraint of the past era, which is
still having an impact for the speaker.
Use of half-rhyme perhaps suggesting that she is breaking away from this;
does not conform to former ideals for women/mothers.
Structural Key moments of caesura and end-stopped lines-
devices ‘She bought her own; I never did’- used to highlight the contrast between
the speaker and her mother. Also, in final stanza ‘But it isn’t mine. I’ll let it
go.’
‘greengrocer George…is history,’ – highlights shift; old way of life confined
to ‘history’.
End-stopping used for the speaker’s key reflections: ‘Nostalgia only makes
me old’; ‘There’s never a hanky up my sleeve.’
Poignant message at the end of the poem-
Mother died ‘not leaving handkerchiefs/ but tissues and uncertainty’-
speaker’s sense of loss highlighted here.
Rhyming triplet at the end of the poem- ends with the mother’s voice- her
words and message have survived after her death- looking forward to the
future and opportunities- ‘this is your material/ to do with, daughter’,
what you will.’. Key message in the poem about how we are shaped and
how we shape others. Sense of legacy.
Language Use of the metaphor of the ‘hanky’ and the speaker’s attitude towards it-
techniques Representative of the speaker’s mother- the ‘hanky queen’- ‘a thing of
/ key ideas cloth’- dependable, long-lasting, more substantial. Also ‘demanded irons,
and boiling’- handkerchiefs require careful attention and time, in the same
way her mother was dependable and would give effort. The daughter on
the other hand explains that she does not have these same attributes.
Change in speaker’s attitude- as a child ‘a mum’s embarrassment of lace’ &
‘the naffest Christmas gift you’d get’ to now where she admits ‘I miss
material handkerchiefs’-lack of appreciation as a child; change in
perspective perhaps due to age but maybe also due to the loss of her
mother. She misses tha handkerchief as it represents a lost way of life, and
the comfort of her mother.
Hankies representing lost way of life- associated with other old-fashioned
images e.g. ‘headscarves, girdles…’ etc.
Contrast between the speaker and her mother-
