“Poppies” Introduction

• 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."