Freya Richardson-Fay
Analyse the language used by Barber in ‘Material’ to explore the relationships between
generations.
‘Material’ by Ros Barber is a fond poem, dedicated to her mother and focusses on how she
always seemed to have a hanky “up her sleeve”. In the poem, Barber makes striking
observations about how relationships between generations have changed, and the ‘disposable’
society that has brought this about.
Barber utilises diction and language to help depict the speaker’s interpretation of the
differences between generations, caused by their changing relationships within themselves
and each other. The mother’s lexical of royalty, first introduced in “My mother was the hanky
queen” is the immediate antithesis of the neglected and destitute lexical created by the
speaker’s guilt in “I raise neglected looking kids”. These oxymoronic lexicons serve to
illuminate the difference in the two generation’s ideals dealing with childhood, and what it is
to be a mother. The metaphor connotes how the mother’s qualities have greatly impacted the
speaker, due to the vital linking verb “was”, illustrating how the speaker views this as a fact.
This impact is greatly attributable to how previous generations placed a focus on a highly
maternal upbringing, in which the father was the sole breadwinner and mother would stay
home and raise the children, and thus increasing her presence in their lives. Moreover, the
noun “queen” further strengthens this interpretation, as it connotes a strong female presence,
ruling over the speaker’s childhood. Paradoxically, the colloquialism of “kids” highlights
how, on account of society’s new ideals surrounding motherhood and the role of women in
general, the speaker has less time for her children, hence using the monosyllabic “kids” over
the disyllabic “children” and thus reducing the time given to them. Because of this new focus
on the ‘working woman’ society will, hypocritically, view the children as “neglected” as a
direct rebuttal to the time constraints the speaker works to, with little to no acknowledgement
on how these constraints were formed. This causes the speaker to feel guilty that she can’t
live up to the standard that her own mother inspired in her, and wish that her mother hadn’t
just impacted her, but influenced her too. Through introducing this idea of guilt, Barber
promotes the reader to critique and compare themselves with prominent figures in the
generation before them and then, to either change their relationships with them, or modernise
their relationship, to fit the principles of wider society.
‘Material’ has been structured by Barber into nine irregular stanzas, symbolising the changing
relationships between the generations. The stanzas are significant as they depict how the
relationship has attempted to organise itself, possibly representing how the younger
generation has become more formal with the generation before them, and thus trying to
compartmentalise their relationship with them. This organisation could also be a result of the
changing dynamic of today’s world and society’s new focus on working and productivity. The
irregularity of these stanzas is, therefore, an embodiment of how this focus on working has
brought about the throw away society, much like a packet of tissues, as it displays how the
attempt to categorise has only been followed through a certain extent, and has been rushed for
the sake of never-ending, capital productivity. This interpretation can then lead to the idea
that although the younger generation has tried to organise and mould their relationships to fit
the schedule of a working-world, they will eventually need to remind themselves that
relationships need time to form and care to develop, an idea that the generation before them
understood well. This, arguably, informs the reader of the miscommunications that they may,
Analyse the language used by Barber in ‘Material’ to explore the relationships between
generations.
‘Material’ by Ros Barber is a fond poem, dedicated to her mother and focusses on how she
always seemed to have a hanky “up her sleeve”. In the poem, Barber makes striking
observations about how relationships between generations have changed, and the ‘disposable’
society that has brought this about.
Barber utilises diction and language to help depict the speaker’s interpretation of the
differences between generations, caused by their changing relationships within themselves
and each other. The mother’s lexical of royalty, first introduced in “My mother was the hanky
queen” is the immediate antithesis of the neglected and destitute lexical created by the
speaker’s guilt in “I raise neglected looking kids”. These oxymoronic lexicons serve to
illuminate the difference in the two generation’s ideals dealing with childhood, and what it is
to be a mother. The metaphor connotes how the mother’s qualities have greatly impacted the
speaker, due to the vital linking verb “was”, illustrating how the speaker views this as a fact.
This impact is greatly attributable to how previous generations placed a focus on a highly
maternal upbringing, in which the father was the sole breadwinner and mother would stay
home and raise the children, and thus increasing her presence in their lives. Moreover, the
noun “queen” further strengthens this interpretation, as it connotes a strong female presence,
ruling over the speaker’s childhood. Paradoxically, the colloquialism of “kids” highlights
how, on account of society’s new ideals surrounding motherhood and the role of women in
general, the speaker has less time for her children, hence using the monosyllabic “kids” over
the disyllabic “children” and thus reducing the time given to them. Because of this new focus
on the ‘working woman’ society will, hypocritically, view the children as “neglected” as a
direct rebuttal to the time constraints the speaker works to, with little to no acknowledgement
on how these constraints were formed. This causes the speaker to feel guilty that she can’t
live up to the standard that her own mother inspired in her, and wish that her mother hadn’t
just impacted her, but influenced her too. Through introducing this idea of guilt, Barber
promotes the reader to critique and compare themselves with prominent figures in the
generation before them and then, to either change their relationships with them, or modernise
their relationship, to fit the principles of wider society.
‘Material’ has been structured by Barber into nine irregular stanzas, symbolising the changing
relationships between the generations. The stanzas are significant as they depict how the
relationship has attempted to organise itself, possibly representing how the younger
generation has become more formal with the generation before them, and thus trying to
compartmentalise their relationship with them. This organisation could also be a result of the
changing dynamic of today’s world and society’s new focus on working and productivity. The
irregularity of these stanzas is, therefore, an embodiment of how this focus on working has
brought about the throw away society, much like a packet of tissues, as it displays how the
attempt to categorise has only been followed through a certain extent, and has been rushed for
the sake of never-ending, capital productivity. This interpretation can then lead to the idea
that although the younger generation has tried to organise and mould their relationships to fit
the schedule of a working-world, they will eventually need to remind themselves that
relationships need time to form and care to develop, an idea that the generation before them
understood well. This, arguably, informs the reader of the miscommunications that they may,
