Poppies (2005)

Context

The poem, though set in the present day, could refer to any war, from the Great War of 1914-1918, to the Afghan and Iraq wars of the 20th century. It reaches back to the beginning of the Poppy Day tradition. Armistice Day began as a way of marking the end of the First World War, so people could remember the hundreds and thousands of ordinary men who had been killed. Remembrance Sunday commemorates those who fell in all wars since then. Jane Weir conflates the two.

When ‘Poppies’ was written British soldiers were still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a way of expressing the suffering and grief caused by those deaths, the poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy asked a number of writers, including Jane Weir, to compose poems.

It is an interesting fact that neither of Weir’s two sons has ever gone to war. However, this poem explores the emotional implications of saying a last goodbye and questions who’s really the brave one. An interesting comment made by one reader is that the soldier could be a daughter if one applies the story to recent times. If earlier it is more likely to be a son, though it is perhaps too easy to make assumptions.

Jane Weir clearly wished to portray the grief of bereaved mothers. As a mother herself she was able to imagine the feelings of women who had lost a son or daughter. It is a compassionate poem about the wider implications of war, the suffering it causes to those closest to a fallen soldier. We can apply the experience of the woman speaking in this poem to mothers at any place and any time whose offspring have been killed in conflict.

It is not a protest poem. At no point does she express anger at those political and military leaders who initiate and implement war policies, and there is nothing that could be said to be unpatriotic.

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