Themes Of Thoughts In Mother Any Distance By Simon Armitage

Analyse how techniques are used to affect your thoughts and/or feelings about a character in the written text(s).

The poem, “Mother any distance” by Simon Armitage, is about a child and his mother. Throughout the poem, we see the relationship of the mother and child naturally develop and change. As the child gets older and becomes more independent he wants to leave the ‘birds nest’. Yet the mother doesn’t want to fully let go. Armitage uses symbolism, metaphor, and rhyme to affect my thoughts and/or feelings towards the mother.

Armitage used symbolism to shape my thoughts and/or feelings towards the mother in the text “mother any distance”. In the first stanza, Armitage uses this technique to show the son’s emotions towards the mother. He goes along by saying “greater than a single span requires a second pair of hands”

This creates the meaning that he needs another pair of hands to help him measure his new home. Despite the child becoming independent he still needs that reassurance that the mother will still be beside him, as he might actually not be ready to do it alone. The hand symbolizes hope that the son will get the help he needs, as he doesn’t want to be unaccompanied by his mother. Yet he still wants to have some freedom which is shown later in the poem. This has an impact on the mother, as every mother struggles to let go. This shapes my feelings with the mother as being a teenager I have days where I don’t want to be alone and need that help from my mother.