In "Material," Ros Barber meditates on the disappearance of a once-ubiquitous object: the cloth handkerchief. Though the poem's speaker found her mother's frilly "hankies" deeply unfashionable as a child, she has since grown nostalgic for the simpler, more personal world those hankies evoke. The speaker laments that modern life is marked by the mass production of cheap, "disposable" objects like paper tissues, and she also feels guilty about not being as attentive a parent as her own mother was. "Material" was published in Barber's second poetry collection of the same name in 2008.

• Read the full text of “Material”

• “Material” Summary

• “Material” Themes

  • 

    Tradition, Nostalgia, and Loss

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-7
    • Lines 17-24
    • Lines 50-56
    • Lines 60-64
    • Line 65
  • 

    Motherhood and Generational Change

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Line 1
    • Line 8
    • Lines 9-16
    • Lines 46-49
    • Lines 57-59
    • Lines 66-72
  • 

    Modernity, Mass Production, and Dehumanization

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 25-46
    • Lines 51-53

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

  • Lines 1-4

    My mother was ...
    ... garages and shops,

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    but things for ...
    ... up her sleeve.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    Tucked in the ...
    ... against my face.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    And sometimes more ...
    ... raising little squares.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-21

    She bought her ...
    ... gift you'd get—

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 22-24

    my brothers too, ...
    ... had more snot.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 25-28

    It was hankies ...
    ... today in malls.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 29-32

    Hankies, which demanded ...
    ... buy them died.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 33-40

    And somehow, with ...
    ... of local crab

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 41-46

    lay opposite the ...
    ... point!

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 46-49

    The Annual Talent ...
    ... from little dears.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 50-56

    Nostalgia only makes ...
    ... to being home.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 57-64

    There's never a ...
    ... and hidden history.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 65-68

    But it isn't ...
    ... tissues and uncertainty:

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 69-72

    and she would ...
    ... .

    

    

    

    

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• “Material” Symbols

  • 

    The Hanky

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2
    • Lines 5-6
    • Lines 7-8
    • Lines 9-16
    • Lines 17-24
    • Line 25
    • Lines 29-32
    • Lines 33-49
    • Line 57
    • Lines 63-64
    • Lines 65-67
  • 

    Paper tissues

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-4: “when hanky meant a thing of cloth, / not paper tissues bought in packs / from late-night garages and shops”
    • Lines 60-62: “What awkwardness in me forbids / me to keep tissues in my bag / when handy packs are 50p?”
    • Lines 66-72: “My mother too, eventually, / who died not leaving handkerchiefs / but tissues and uncertainty: / and she would say, should I complain / of the scratchy and disposable, / that  / this is your material / to do with, daughter, what you will / .”

• “Material” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 13-16: “And sometimes more than one fell out / as if she had a farm up there / where dried-up hankies fell in love / and mated, raising little squares.”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “My,” “mother”
    • Line 2: “meant”
    • Line 3: “paper,” “packs”
    • Line 10: “embarrassment”
    • Line 11: “embroidered,” “V,” “Viv”
    • Line 12: “spittled,” “scrubbed”
    • Line 20: “script,” “spelling”
    • Line 21: “gift,” “get”
    • Line 27: “presses,” “props”
    • Line 34: “dodgy”
    • Line 35: “delivering,” “veg,” “van”
    • Line 38: “slab”
    • Line 39: “smoked”
    • Line 42: “talons”
    • Line 43: “taught,” “Smiling”
    • Line 44: “stumbling,” “tune”
    • Line 45: “step-together,” “step-together,” “step-together”
    • Line 46: “Talent”
    • Line 47: “tears”
    • Line 48: “would,” “whip,” “sleeve”
    • Line 49: “smudge”
    • Line 55: “bought,” “biscuits,” “bake”
    • Line 57: “never”
    • Line 58: “neglected”
    • Line 59: “noses”
    • Line 62: “handy”
    • Line 63: “miss,” “material,” “handkerchiefs”
    • Line 64: “hidden,” “history”
    • Line 66: “My,” “mother”
    • Line 69: “she,” “say,” “should”
    • Line 70: “scratchy”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “waving,” “trains”
    • Line 16: “mated, raising”
    • Line 31: “doors,” “stores”
    • Line 39: “smoked,” “yolks”
    • Line 40: “rows”
    • Line 50: “only,” “old”
    • Line 64: “hidden history”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “queen / when”
    • Lines 3-4: “packs / from”
    • Lines 5-6: “trains / and”
    • Lines 7-8: “material / she'd”
    • Lines 10-11: “lace / embroidered”
    • Lines 13-14: “out / as”
    • Lines 14-15: “there / where”
    • Lines 15-16: “love / and”
    • Lines 18-19: “aunts / in”
    • Lines 19-20: “covers / and”
    • Lines 26-27: “wool / and”
    • Lines 27-28: “props / you'd”
    • Lines 30-31: “purified / shuttered”
    • Lines 31-32: “stores / when”
    • Lines 34-35: “foot / delivering”
    • Lines 35-36: “van / is”
    • Lines 36-37: “butcher / who'd”
    • Lines 38-39: “slab / of”
    • Lines 39-40: “yolks / and”
    • Lines 40-41: “crab / lay”
    • Lines 41-42: “school / where”
    • Lines 43-44: “from / a”
    • Lines 46-47: “Show / when”
    • Lines 48-49: “sleeve / and”
    • Lines 51-52: “brood / to”
    • Lines 52-53: “notes / was”
    • Lines 54-55: “on / and”
    • Lines 55-56: “bake / if”
    • Lines 60-61: “forbids / me”
    • Lines 61-62: “bag / when”
    • Lines 67-68: “handkerchiefs / but”
    • Lines 69-70: “complain / of”
    • Lines 71-72: “material / to”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “one, always, up”
    • Line 16: “mated, raising”
    • Line 17: “own; I”
    • Line 19: “sets, with”
    • Line 22: “too, more”
    • Line 23: “ones: serious, and”
    • Line 24: “larger, like”
    • Line 26: “headscarves, girdles, knitting”
    • Line 27: “presses; homely”
    • Line 29: “Hankies, which”
    • Line 33: “somehow, with”
    • Line 36: “history, and”
    • Line 42: “White, with”
    • Line 44: “stumbling, out”
    • Line 45: “step-together, step-together, step-together”
    • Line 46: “point! The”
    • Line 47: “mother, fencing”
    • Line 65: “mine. I'll”
    • Line 66: “too, eventually”
    • Line 69: “say, should”
    • Line 72: “with, daughter, what”

• “Material” 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.

  • Hanky
  • Material
  • Cardi
  • Spittled
  • Ponce
  • Naffest
  • Trouser presses
  • Girdles
  • Homely props
  • Purified
  • Shuttered
  • Greengrocer
  • Dodgy
  • Comma van
  • Veg
  • Fishmonger
  • Haddock
  • Parcelled
  • Talons
  • When You're Smiling
  • Ten-bob notes
  • Lassitude
  • Bought biscuits
  • 50p
  • (Location in poem: Lines 1-2: “My mother was a hanky queen / when hanky meant a thing of cloth”; Line 7: “when hankies were material”; Line 15: “where dried-up hankies fell in love”; Line 18: “Hankies were presents from distant aunts”; Line 25: “It was hankies that closed department stores”; Line 29: “Hankies, which demanded irons”; Line 33: “with the hanky's loss”; Line 48: “would whip a hanky from their sleeve”; Line 57: “There's never a hanky up my sleeve”; Line 63: “I miss material handkerchiefs”; Line 67: “who died not leaving handkerchiefs”)

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

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Material” Speaker

• “Material” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Material”

• More “Material” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Reading of the Poem — Watch Barber perform two of her poems, including Material.  

    • The Poet's Website — Learn more about Barber's books and other accomplishments on her website.  

    • A History of the Hanky — Learn more about the surprisingly fascinating subject of "Material."

    • Saturday Sessions: an Interview with Ros Barber — The poet talks about her novels, her relationship to poetry, and her work as a poetry mentor. 

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