https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies Made with joy en-us 2020-03-11 20:40:59 UTC 2025-07-19 03:18:20 UTC hello@padlet.com nhussey1973 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459071037 "There was once a country,  I left it as a child"
Ambiguous noun "a country" - suggests many emigrees around the world. Memory of "child" and the metaphor of "sunlight clear" implies light and fondness. "Sunlight clear" also implies light under God, and how childhood innocence is ruined by war.]]> 2020-03-12 12:03:33 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459071037 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459071398 'Your playground voice' - memory of child going to school, contrasting with the voice he is going to have whilst fighting.]]> 2020-03-12 12:04:09 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459071398 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072146 All she wants to remember about it are the good things ]]> 2020-03-12 12:05:12 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072146 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072716 “But my memory of it is sunlight clear” shows she remembers it well and the word sunlight may show she has hope ]]> 2020-03-12 12:06:11 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072716 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072779 'Your' - personal and shows individuality and an identity.]]> 2020-03-12 12:06:17 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072779 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072891 ‘There was once a country’ 
Suggests the opening of a story like her own country is something that it isn’t, it could also suggest severe loss .]]> 2020-03-12 12:06:28 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072891 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072951 Your playground voice implies that it is a personal memory, through the personal pronoun “your” implies that her memories are solidified in her mind and she doesn’t want to get rid of them Childhood/Loss]]> 2020-03-12 12:06:33 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072951 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072955 The country isn’t a good place anymore Sense of loss of the country's identity and her own. Her memories of childhood are tarnished]]> 2020-03-12 12:06:33 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459072955 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459073382 2020-03-12 12:07:13 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459073382 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459073959 “Slowly melting” she’s unable to continue upholding the facade of her being “brave” as she begins to “melt” thus making the reader feel as though she’s not only physically wounded through the previous stanza but that she’s also mentally damaged as she’s unable to process life without her son]]> 2020-03-12 12:08:10 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459073959 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074173 "I was brave" suggests mother asserting her bravery/ war imagery. With the idea of war imagery, it could be that she was fighting with her emotions, struggling to let go of her son. ]]> 2020-03-12 12:08:34 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074173 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074182 ‘Treasure chest’ this simile shows the word from the sons perspective, this makes it sound exciting and something that he wants to find for himself ]]> 2020-03-12 12:08:35 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074182 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074199 “it tastes like sunglight” using metaphors and sense language to exaggerate the memory theme of freedom and now she could taste the “sunlight” which could be seen as a metaphor of hope   ]]> 2020-03-12 12:08:36 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074199 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074201 ‘As time rolls it’s tanks” tells us that time is personified as an enemy to her, even though it’s the enemy it won’t effect the poets good memories.]]> 2020-03-12 12:08:36 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074201 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074423 The city is personified, the “white plane” could represent the speakers memories ]]> 2020-03-12 12:08:57 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074423 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074462 “The bright, filled paperweight “
-Metaphor- recreates the idealized city that she remembers from her childhood on paper
- The memories have weight even though they are just written
- Oxymoron- paper encapsulates all of her memories
Links to childhood and loss]]> 2020-03-12 12:09:01 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074462 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074521 'Like a treasure chest' - children playing and scavenging. 'Treasure' - pirate which is an inspiration for young boys]]> 2020-03-12 12:09:08 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074521 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074739 ‘Spasms of paper red’ 
The speaker is really talking about a poppy, however it creates and image of an injured body for the reader, it could suggest that poppies and remembrance bring about pain and suffering to the speaker. Additionally ‘spasms’ are uncontrollable which could either suggest that the pain the speaker feels is uncontrollable or the injuries her son went through in the war were uncontrollable]]> 2020-03-12 12:09:29 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459074739 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459075075 -trademarked ?]]> 2020-03-12 12:09:59 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459075075 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459075358 I have no passport
Shows she is trapped and can’t escape ]]> 2020-03-12 12:10:26 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459075358 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459075937 negativity caused by humans]]> 2020-03-12 12:11:24 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459075937 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459076484 Implies that she can’t ever revisit the place, therefore she can only view the city through rose tinted glasses of her own mind]]> 2020-03-12 12:12:04 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459076484 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459076545 2020-03-12 12:12:09 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459076545 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459076654 Poem ends on a positive note despite the threats of death, the city is still associated with sunlight, just as it is at the end of the first two stanzas ]]> 2020-03-12 12:12:16 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459076654 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459076796 Caesuras throughout poppies represent the mothers inability to control her emotions.  It shows everything is hard to process for her and represents the words getting stuck in her throat ]]> 2020-03-12 12:12:30 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459076796 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459077066 'Before' - emphasises between national and personal mourning and rememberance]]> 2020-03-12 12:13:00 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459077066 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459077358 "Your playground voice catching the wind" the word "playground" suggests innocence as it links to the idea of a child, and is still holding onto the idea she must keep him safe ]]> 2020-03-12 12:13:26 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459077358 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459077700 “Death and my shadow”
- Can be foreshadowing her own death 
- Can be her returning to the city but she’s being persecuted and surrounded by people which once considered her as their own
- Sacrificing herself to her positive memories to this city
Links to all of the themes

]]> 2020-03-12 12:13:55 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459077700 https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459077816 Me at 2am]]> 2020-03-12 12:14:09 UTC https://padlet.com/nhussey1973/poppies/wish/459077816