White poppies essay

Poppies are used to symbolise war and sacrifice. The effect of this is to make the reader remember the people who put their life on the line so that we could have our freedom and the use of the word ‘poppies’ gives the poems multiples of meanings and ways to interpretate the structure of the poem.

She places a poppy on his lapel before he leaves, implicitly to go to war, though this may simply be an extended metaphor as he is wearing a blazer, more normally associated with school uniform than army uniform.

Similes and metaphors are used to express deep emotions like ‘like a wishbone’ or ‘like a treasure chest’ or ‘released a song bird.’ Finally it uses symbols like the doves and the poppies to show the meanings shared by everyone that also contain deeply personal feelings as well.

The sounds of the poem are restrained and the colour and texture of the poppies is expressed through powerful language in the first stanza. The detailed description of the blazer is emphasised through alliteration on “bias binding… blazer”. We feel the closeness between mother and son.