“Poppies” is a poem by the English poet Jane Weir, first published in 2005 as part of her collection The Way I Dressed. Written in response to the poet Carol Ann Duffy’s call for more war poems about the deaths of British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, Weir’s poem imagines the trials and difficulties of war from the perspective of a mother who sends her child off to fight. The poem investigates this grief by comparing it, through an extended metaphor, to the more general feeling of anxiety that all parents face as their children prepare to enter a frightening and often violent world.

• Read the full text of “Poppies”

• “Poppies” Summary

• “Poppies” Themes

  • 

    War, Parenthood, and Grief

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-35

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Poppies”

  • Lines 1-6

    Three days before ...
    ... around your blazer.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 7-11

    Sellotape bandaged around ...
    ... of my face.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-16

    I wanted to ...
    ... of your hair.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-18

    All my words ...
    ... slowly melting.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-22

    I was brave, ...
    ... were away, intoxicated.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 23-24

    After you'd gone ...
    ... from its cage.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-29

    Later a single ...
    ... of scarf, gloves.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 30-35

    On reaching the ...
    ... on the wind.

    

    

    

    

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• “Poppies” Symbols

  • 

    Poppies

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “poppies”
  • 

    Song Bird

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 24: “song bird”
  • 

    Dove

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 25: “dove”
    • Line 33: “dove”

• “Poppies” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “left,”
    • Line 4: “petals,”
    • Line 6: “blazer.”
    • Line 7: “hand,”
    • Line 17: “felt,”
    • Line 22: “intoxicated.”
    • Line 23: “bedroom,”
    • Line 24: “cage.”
    • Line 25: “tree,”
    • Line 26: “me,”
    • Line 29: “gloves.”
    • Line 31: “memorial,”
    • Line 32: “wishbone.”
    • Line 33: “sky,”
    • Line 35: “wind.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “Sunday / and”
    • Lines 2-3: “placed / on”
    • Lines 5-6: “blockade / of”
    • Lines 8-9: “hairs / as”
    • Lines 9-10: “shirt's / upturned”
    • Lines 10-11: “softening / of”
    • Lines 11-12: “nose / across”
    • Lines 12-13: “at / being”
    • Lines 13-14: “when / you”
    • Lines 14-15: “impulse / to”
    • Lines 15-16: “gelled / blackthorns”
    • Lines 16-17: “words / flattened”
    • Lines 18-19: “walked / with”
    • Lines 19-20: “threw / it”
    • Lines 20-21: “overflowing / like”
    • Lines 21-22: “second / and”
    • Lines 27-28: “busy / making”
    • Lines 28-29: “without / a”
    • Lines 30-31: “traced / the”
    • Lines 34-35: “hear / your”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “graves. Before”
    • Line 4: “lapel, crimped”
    • Line 5: “red, disrupting”
    • Line 9: “could, smoothed”
    • Line 10: “collar, steeled”
    • Line 11: “face. I”
    • Line 12: “nose, play”
    • Line 14: “little. I”
    • Line 16: “hair. All”
    • Line 17: “flattened, rolled, turned”
    • Line 18: “melting. I,” “brave, as”
    • Line 19: “you, to,” “door, threw”
    • Line 20: “open, the”
    • Line 21: “chest. A”
    • Line 22: “away, intoxicated”
    • Line 27: “walls, my”
    • Line 28: “tucks, darts, pleats, hat-less, without”
    • Line 29: “scarf, gloves”
    • Line 34: “stitch, I listened, hoping”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “p,” “p”
    • Line 3: “l”
    • Line 4: “p,” “l,” “p”
    • Line 5: “p,” “b”
    • Line 6: “b,” “b,” “b”
    • Line 7: “b,” “h”
    • Line 8: “h”
    • Line 9: “s”
    • Line 10: “s,” “s”
    • Line 13: “w”
    • Lines 13-13: “w / h”
    • Line 14: “w,” “r”
    • Line 15: “r,” “f”
    • Line 17: “f,” “f”
    • Line 18: “w,” “w”
    • Line 19: “w”
    • Line 20: “o,” “o”
    • Line 21: “s,” “s”
    • Line 23: “b”
    • Line 24: “b”
    • Line 27: “s,” “s”
    • Line 28: “w”
    • Line 29: “w”
    • Line 30: “t,” “t”
    • Line 31: “w”
    • Line 32: “w”
    • Line 33: “s”
    • Line 34: “s,” “h,” “h”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “ay,” “i,” “i,” “ay”
    • Line 2: “a”
    • Line 3: “i,” “i,” “i,” “a”
    • Line 4: “a,” “e,” “e,” “a”
    • Line 5: “a,” “e,” “a”
    • Line 6: “i,” “i,” “a”
    • Line 7: “a,” “a”
    • Line 8: “a”
    • Line 9: “a”
    • Line 11: “a,” “a,” “o”
    • Line 12: “os”
    • Line 13: “o”
    • Line 14: “i,” “i,” “i,” “u”
    • Line 15: “u,” “i”
    • Line 16: “a,” “o,” “ou”
    • Line 17: “a,” “o,” “e”
    • Line 18: “o,” “e”
    • Line 19: “ou,” “o,” “e”
    • Line 20: “o,” “o,” “o”
    • Line 21: “ea,” “e,” “e”
    • Line 22: “a,” “a”
    • Line 23: “ou,” “o,” “oo”
    • Line 24: “a”
    • Line 25: “a,” “o,” “o”
    • Line 29: “o,” “o”
    • Line 30: “O,” “o,” “o”
    • Line 31: “i,” “i,” “a,” “o”
    • Line 34: “i,” “i”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “s,” “c,” “S”
    • Line 2: “p,” “pp,” “d,” “d,” “p,” “l,” “d”
    • Line 3: “d,” “d,” “l,” “r,” “r,” “r,” “l”
    • Line 4: “p,” “nn,” “n,” “n,” “l,” “p,” “l,” “m,” “p,” “p,” “t,” “l,” “s”
    • Line 5: “s,” “p,” “sms,” “p,” “p,” “r,” “r,” “d,” “r,” “p,” “bl,” “d”
    • Line 6: “ll,” “b,” “b,” “n,” “d,” “r,” “n,” “d,” “r,” “bl,” “r”
    • Line 7: “b,” “n,” “d,” “d,” “n,” “d,” “h,” “n,” “d”
    • Line 8: “n,” “d,” “d,” “t,” “c,” “t”
    • Line 9: “c,” “d,” “s,” “d,” “d,” “r,” “r”
    • Line 10: “t,” “r,” “c,” “ll,” “r,” “s,” “t,” “l,” “s,” “f,” “t”
    • Line 11: “f,” “c,” “z,” “s”
    • Line 12: “c,” “p,” “s,” “p”
    • Line 13: “k,” “s,” “k,” “w,” “w”
    • Line 14: “w,” “r,” “l,” “ttl,” “r,” “s,” “s,” “t,” “l,” “s”
    • Line 15: “r,” “r,” “r,” “ll”
    • Line 16: “l,” “r,” “r,” “r,” “ll,” “r”
    • Line 17: “f,” “l,” “tt,” “n,” “d,” “r,” “ll,” “d,” “t,” “r,” “d,” “nt,” “f,” “lt”
    • Line 18: “l,” “l,” “lt,” “w,” “w”
    • Line 19: “w,” “r,” “r,” “r,” “w”
    • Line 20: “w,” “r,” “r,” “w”
    • Line 21: “t,” “r,” “s,” “r,” “s,” “t,” “s,” “t,” “s”
    • Line 22: “w,” “w,” “t,” “t”
    • Line 23: “t,” “r,” “n,” “t,” “nt,” “r,” “b,” “r”
    • Line 24: “r,” “s,” “d,” “s,” “b,” “d,” “r”
    • Line 25: “L,” “t,” “r,” “l,” “fl,” “fr,” “r,” “tr”
    • Line 26: “s,” “s,” “s,” “l”
    • Line 27: “s,” “r,” “t,” “ch,” “rch,” “r,” “s,” “s,” “t,” “s”
    • Line 28: “k,” “t,” “ck,” “s,” “ts,” “ts,” “t,” “ss,” “w,” “t”
    • Line 29: “w,” “t,” “c,” “t,” “r,” “r,” “r,” “ts,” “s,” “c,” “r,” “s”
    • Line 30: “r,” “t,” “t,” “r”
    • Line 31: “r,” “w,” “r,” “m,” “m,” “r”
    • Line 32: “n,” “n,” “t,” “t,” “w,” “n”
    • Line 33: “ll,” “l,” “s”
    • Line 34: “r,” “t,” “s,” “t,” “t,” “st,” “h,” “t,” “h,” “r”
    • Line 35: “r,” “r”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “spasms of paper red”
    • Lines 5-6: “disrupting a blockade / of yellow bias binding around your blazer.”
    • Line 7: “Sellotape bandaged around my hand”
    • Lines 10-11: “ steeled the softening / of my face”
    • Lines 15-16: “the gelled / blackthorns of your hair”
    • Lines 16-18: “All my words / flattened, rolled, turned into felt, / slowly melting”
    • Lines 21-22: “A split second / and you were away, intoxicated”
    • Lines 27-28: “my stomach busy / making tucks, darts, pleats”
    • Lines 33-34: “The dove pulled freely against the sky, / an ornamental stitch”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 11-14: “I wanted to graze my nose / across the tip of your nose, play at / being Eskimos like we did when / you were little.”
    • Line 32: “like a wishbone.”

  • Extended Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-35

• “Poppies” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Armistice Sunday
  • Poppies
  • War Graves
  • Lapel
  • Spasms
  • Blockade
  • Yellow Bias Binding
  • Sellotape
  • Eskimos
  • Blackthorns
  • Intoxicated
  • Tucks
  • Darts
  • Pleats
  • Reinforcements
  • Wishbone
  • Pulled
  • Ornamental Stitch
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Armistice Sunday”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Poppies”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Poppies” Speaker

• “Poppies” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Poppies”

• More “Poppies” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Remembrance Poppies — An article from the British Legion about the history of the Remembrance Poppy.

    • Jane Weir's Life Story — A brief biography of Jane Weir from the British-based Poetry Archive, with links to some of her other poems.

    • Jane Weir Discusses and Reads "Poppies" — The poet walks around her village in the north of England, showing off the key places in the poem and discussing her thinking behind it. At the 6:30 mark she reads the poem aloud.

    • World War I — A brief history of World War I from Britannica.

    • "Exit Wounds" — An article on the British poet Carol Ann Duffy's decision to commission war poems in response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which lead to Jane Weir writing "Poppies."

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