Climbing My Grandfather - Andrew Waterhouse

Climbing My Grandfather - Andrew Waterhouse

1. Form

   • "I decide"
     • present tense following his journey as the author is imagining it
   • "I change (next line) direction"
     • enjambment imitates motion of climbing a mountain and emphasises climbers steady process.
   • Poem is all one stanza and lines are all similar length making it look strong and sturdy like a mountain

2. Structure

   • Poem follows climber's progress up the mountain - feels as if he is getting higher with each line of the poem

3. Language about Mountains

   • "dusty and cracked"
     • compares shoes to dusty foothills of the mountain and connotes age
   • "glassy ridge of a scar"
     • just as a ridge is part of a mountain, the scar is part of the grandfather and is something to be explored
   • "to his thick hair (soft and white at this altitude"
     • Grandfather's white hair is compared to snow on a mountain top

4. Language about exploration

   • "I decide to do it free, without a rope or net"
     • he feels confident and comfortable with his grandfather, but there's also an element of risk. This climbing vocabulary shows the reader that the poem is going to be an extended metaphor of an imagined climb up a mountain
     • This adds danger and excitement to the child's game
   • "an earth-stained hand"
     • most likely to be muddy as he does gardening so there are many links with nature which could be why he is described as a mountain
     • this detail is likely to be noticed by a child who is playing or "climbing" their grandfather
   • "smooth and thick like warm ice"
     • use of oxymoron creates child-like similie - simple and contradictory
     • GIves an image that he may look 'cold' and 'icy' but is 'warm' on the inside
   • "stare into his brown eyes"
     • there is a child-like fascination for simple things such as his grandfathers eyes
   • "the slow pulse of his good heart"
     • hints at the grandfathers steady and warm love for his grandson
     • monosyllabic line which slows the pace of the poem imitating the grandfather's heartbeat

5. Language about personal discovery

   • "trying to get a grip"
     • metaphor for trying to get to know his grandfather
   • "I change direction"
     • suggests he has run into difficulty and is taken a different approach
   • "the nails are splinteres and give good purchase"
     • They are ugly but give good grip - metaphor for treatment of old people; people don't always value them but they have a lot to offer
   • "I discover the glassy ridge of a scar"
     • Getting to know grandfather - scar represents finding out something about his past
   • "gently" "move on"
     • Grandson is understanding and does not linger n the past which may have been hurtful to the grandfather
   • "gasping for breath"
     • exhausted from climing the mountain - metaphor for how tiring it was to get to know his grandfather
   • "knowing the slow pulse of his good heart"
     • contrasts with previous lines in the poem as he now has gained understanding and knowledge from his grandfather