For Poppa (1899-1983), DSM1917
So this is it. Your struggle for survival -
Once fought against bullets, gas, hunger, mud - now shrunk
To a crocheted rug. Such thoughts aren't said, of course.
Anyway, you can't hear well; can't even tell
It's me. The rocker's slackening rhythm fills
The bedroom; blood-red at your feet, glowrock
Heaters throw ashy roses pale upon
Your nerve-thorned face. Bunched with dying. Crumpled
As never before, Nana nurses you.
Finds her place with phials, keeps to the pledge
For better or for worse, although she knows.
Somehow she carries on, knit one, slip one,
Making tea for two. No sad cries to sound
Its slow passing, the marriage circle narrows
To a clinically cortisoned zero.
Before I leave, in fact, before you go,
One question: why are you fighting so to stay,
When everything is over, passed away?
WORKSHEET
For Poppa 1899 to 1983 DSM 1917
By Sally Ann Murray
DSM - Distinguished Service Medal
1917 - First World War
Poppa - Granddad
84 years old
Poet is visiting dying ______- so this is it
Her grandfather once ______in the First World War, ______hunger, mud, and gas.
He escaped death then but now ______a different battle.
He is reduced to the size of the ______(gehekelde) rug that is thrown over him.
Nobody thinks of her ______the soldier anymore.
Her ______can't hear well.
He is so ill he does not even know it is her ______to his bed.
The rocker's slackening rhythm fills
The bedroom; blood-red at your feet, glowrock
Heaters throw ashy roses pale upon
Your nerve-thorned face.
The ______is described.
Her ______sits in a rocking chair.
At his feet are heaters.
He is so old you can see the ______through his skin on his face.
Bunched with dying. Crumpled
As never before,
Her ______sits in a bunch as if he is crumpled up.
She thinks it is ______that affects the way he sits.
He is more ______than before, not a straight, young, strong, soldier.
Nana nurses you.
Finds her place with phials, keeps to the pledge
For better or for worse, although she knows.
Her ______looks after him.
She sits between the medicine ______in his room.
She ______the pledge of the ______vow: for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.
She knows he is going to die, but she ______at his side.
Somehow she carries on, knit one, slip one,
Making tea for two. No sad cries to sound
Its slow passing, the marriage circle narrows
To a clinically cortisoned zero.
Grandmother goes on ______
She keeps on ______: knit one, slip one
She keeps on making tea for two
She does not cry
It is a slow death : she waits ______for him to die, for their marriage to end
Their marriage is kept alive with ______, a medical drug, which keeps her grandfather alive.
They don't have a real ______anymore, he is just sitting there.
Before I leave, in fact, before you go,
One question: why are you fighting so to stay,
When everything is over, passed away?
The poet wants to ask her ______one question before she ______or rather before he leaves.
She wants to know why he is ______to stay alive when everything is over?
pun: passed away - death/everything is over.
euphemism: passed away - die
For Poppa 1899 to 1983 DSM 1917
By Sally Ann Murray
Sally-Ann Murray's poem is a poignant consideration of the realities she has to face as she visits her dying grandfather . The DSM 1917 in the title refers to a military medal, the distinguished service medal, which he would have received for bravery as a soldier fighting in the First World War. At the time she wrote this he would have been in his eighties and she presents us with a combination of his present situation and how it contrasts so sharply with his past active life. She is acutely aware of the irony of the situation that she describes in line 1, 2 and 3. As a very young and vigourous man he fought in appalling conditions. The references to elements of the first world war in line 2 show this. Now he is fighter another bigger and more significant battle as a much older and more frail and helpless old man. He is fighting for his life. The context is no longer the battlefield, he is in a rocking chair covered with a crocheted rug in front of a heater with medication and loving care dispensed by her grandmother, his wife. The figurative implication of the slackening rhythm of the rocking chair could be that the old man's heart is beating less strongly or his life is ebbing away. The poet notices the fine detail that show his age, his poor hearing, his inability to recognise her when she comes to see him, his nerve thorned face which suggest the vains which one can trace on his face or which could be an image of suffering. The flickering of a light from the heater casts shadows on his face that she describes as ashy roses. The prase in itself is unusual as roses are not usually accorded the colour of ash. Consider the ideas this metaphor presents: the lack of colour or the palour of illness also suggesting death or dying. She is aware of the nurturing of her grandmother who sits knitting as she cares for him making tea for both of them. Her grandmother is remaining true to their marraige vows that she will love him in sickness and in health until death parts them. And she is keeping up the routine of life as she maintain a kind of vigil at his side. She knows however that his days with her are drawing to a close. The image of the marriage circle narrowing to a clinically cortizoned zero has many implications: the initial bonding, represented by the marriage ring, will soon no longer exist. Marriage of two people signified by the ring will be reduced to nothing. Looking at the harsh reality of a battle with life that has been lost the poet asks the question at the end wondering why he is still fighting. The fact that he fought with valour was acknowledged by a meddle so long ago shows something of her grandfather's character and could provide the answer to her question. You might ask yourself why she asks the question when she probably knows the answer. A clue would be to decide on the tone of her question.
QUESTIONS
1. Comment on the tone of this poem.
2. What ominous words in lines 5 to 7 that suggest that death is imminent, and how do they suggest this?
3. Show how lines 2, 11 and 13 convey important biographical information about Poppa.
4. What poetic devices does the poet use in the last four lines to bring the poem to a fitting conclusion?
SUGGESTED ANSWERS
1. There are two tonal qualities in the poem. The first is a colloquial quality. The poet uses the language of everyday speech, rather than the formal, conventional knguage of some poetry and literature. Words that help to establish the colloquial tone are "of course', "Anyway", "Somehow", "Before I leave..." and "One question". The second is the almost irreverent quality of the poem. Although Poppa is dying, the tone is not hushed, formal or reverent. It is provocative and challenging. The first four words convey both the colloquial and the irreverent tone: "So this is it." The tone of the last three lines can be considered almost callous. In effect, the poet is saying: "Why are you hanging onto life so hard when you know it is finished? Nothing can save you." The tone suggests that although the poet appreciates the life that her grandparents shared and the pain that her grandmother will endure when her grandfather dies, the relationship between herself and her grandfather was not a particularly close one. She does not describe her own history with her grandfather, only her grandmother's.
2. In line 5 the word "slackening" is ominous because it shows that Poppa's effort is failing, getting slower. The word "blood-red" in line 6 is ominous, suggesting bleeding and death. In line seven the words "ashy roses" suggest death. The word "ashy" recalls the words "dust to dust and ashes to ashes" said at funeral services, and roses makes us think of floral wreathes and tributes associated with funerals.
3. Line 2 gives us graphic information about Poppa's experiences in the trenches in the First World War; in line 11 we are reminded of Poppa's wedding day and the vows which he and his wife made to each other; line 13 reminds us of the songs that were sung in the youth of the poet's grandparents, and reminds us that they were young once, and went dancing, and enjoyed themselves.
4. The poet uses several devices in the last four lines to bring the poem to a fitting conclusion. Line 15 is a particularly powerful line. There is the alliteration in "clinically cortisoned". The word "clinically" is effective, conveying as it does both the medical involvement in the death, but also the detached, unemotional quality of the poet herself. The word "cortisoned" tells us that the grandfather has to be assisted with his breathing.
Another poetic device which the poet uses in these lines is rhyme. The poem ends with two rhyming couplets. The word "fighting" in line 17, reminds us of the start of the poem, and the description of the trench warfare in which her grandfather was involved in his youth, so it rounds the poem off very neatly. "Fighting" is also a metaphor comparing her grandfather's struggle to breathe with someone fighting an opponent. Finally, there is a pun on the words "passing away" - which can refer both to the history that is finished and to the actual dying. The words are a euphemism for dying.
For Poppa (1899 - 1933) DSM1917 Sally-Ann Murray
1. What information do we get from the tide? Analyse the whole title and try to come up with 7 facts.
2. Quote 2 statements that indicate that she is not speaking to her grandfather, but rather about him in his presence / thinking these thoughts.
3. How do you know that Poppa is dying?
4. Explain the 4 references in line 2 - bullets, gas, hunger, mud.
5.1 What picture is created of Nana?
5.2 Why does she continue to do what she does, 'although she knows?
5.3 How does she pass the time?
6. Explain the image 'the marriage circle narrows / to a clinically cortisoned zero'.
7.1 Comment on the speaker's last words to her grandfather.
7.2 'Before I leave, in fact, before you go' Explain, pointing out the difference between the 2 verbs used here.
7.3 'When everything is over, passed away?' Explain the last line. What figure of speech has been used here?
1. For grandfather, spanned two centuries, died at 84, Distinguished Service Medal 1917 at age 18, born in Anglo-Boer War, therefore lived through 3 wars.
2. "such thoughts aren't said, of course" / you can't hear well
3. "You struggle for survival" / "slackening rhythm" / "Bunched with dying"
4. World War 1 - shot at / gassed with mustard gas / starving / mud in trenches -common WW1 experiences
5.1 Devoted / loyal / right to the end, dogged: her attention to him
5.2 Old habits die hard / too painful not to / marriage vows - 'till death do us part'
5.3 Promise / vow
5.4 Knitting / making tea / looking after him
6. Circle of life (together as a couple) / marriage bond - seen in ring (circle), grows
smaller to zero / nothing decided clinically by doctor, using cortison to aid breathing but can't stop death / zero
7.1 Shows lack of understanding - why does he fight to stay when death is imminent / maybe preferable
7.2 "leave" doesn't seem as final as "go" - death
7.3 Euphemism - life as he knew it has gone / died