For my grandmother knitting by Liz Lochead

S
1. The poem is about a grandmother that cannot stop knitting because it reminds her of when she was younger and because she doesn't want to become useless. Knitting helps her to fight alienation as she only sees her grandchildren once a week, every "sundays".
P
1. PURPOSE
  1. The poem was maybe written to pay homage to the grandmother, as a tribute, to remember her.
  2. The poem could also have been written in order to make us consider the difficulty for aging people to become relevant in the world their grandchildren now grow, and to make us more understanding towards senior citizens
2. THEMES
  1. alienation
    1. The grandmother can't stop knitting because she fears to become useless. This is because she is used to providing her family with what they needed ( "who made do and mended") in times of financial difficulty. She also feels like helping is the only way for her to be part of her grandchildren's world, and therefore not be excluded from it. She fears to be alienated by her own family.
  2. aging
  3. routine
    1. Another reason why the grandmother can't stop knitting is because it reminds her of when she was youngeR. Her hole life is linked to her hands, and knitting. Once, she was a fisherman's daughter, once she was a bride, once she was a miner's wife, and once she was a mother of six, obliged to knit her child's cloths because of financial difficulties. Knitting is something she always did, and by continuing to knit, she refuses to get older, she refuses the fact that she shouldn't kit any more, because her hands are "Swollen-jointed. Red. Arthritic. Old".
  4. gap between past and present generations
I
1. the poem's mood
  1. melancholic
    1. The mood is quite melancholic because of the refusal of the grandmother to abandon her usefulness. Throughout the poem, there is a constant reminder that the grandmother is old and useless now. And the flashback to when she was younger makes the mood melancholic. Also the grandmother refuses to stop knitting partly because it reminds her of when she was younger and useful.
  2. sad
    1. The refusal of the children and grandchildren to accept the grandmother's help makes the mood sad because even though the grandmother only seeks to find a place and be relevant in her family's life, they don't do anything to accept her, and instead alienate her even more.
2. the reader's response
  1. sympathy
    1. the fact that she continues to knit help us to understand how misunderstood she feels, and encourages the reader to empathize.
T
1. S
  1. 5 stanza - unequal length
  2. There are many enjambments that create a flow
  3. The chronological order of life events mimics her transition to old age
2. L
  1. The repetitions of key phrases like "there is no need they say" draw the reader's attention to the main ideas.
    1. the use of the word "they" emphasizes the sense of separation between the grandmother and the rest of her family
  2. By listing some of the grandmother's life events, Lochead creates a gap between past and present, and emphasizes the idea that the grandmother is now to old to do the things she used to do before, like knitting.
3. I
  1. the listing of adjectives describing the grandmother's hands ("SWollen-jointed. Red.Arthritic. Old.") forces the readers the face the cruelty of aging process, while contrasting with the skillful hands of the fisher girl.
  2. symbolism
    1. Throughout the poem, the grandmother's hands tell her story. Once youthful and skillful, she became robust and hard-working then frail and fumbling. They symbolize her transition through each stage of her life. Her hands are precious to her because they are the source of her usefulness. This makes us empathize.
4. M
  1. The movement of the poem is quite fluid because most of the stanzas (1, 3&4) are made up of a single sentence. There are also a few enjambments in the poem which highlights the alienation of the grandmother and her will to be relevant to her children's world.
5. S
  1. In the sentence "you slit the still-ticking quick sliver fish" we can easily hear the alliteration of the sound "s" which mimics the reality: an endless circle of knitting.
  2. again we find the same alliteration in the sentence "scraped and slaved slapped sometimes" which mimics the slaps of the mother, and highlights the horrible memories she has from it and how she hated it.
S
1. The Poem For my Grandmother knitting, by Liz Lochead, is about a grandmother that cannot stop knitting because it reminds her of when she was younger and because she doesn't want to become useless. Knitting helps her to fight alienation. The poem could either have been written as a tribute to the grandmother or in order to make the reader consider the difficulty for aging people to stay relevant in a modernized world, in order to make us more understanding towards them. The main themes are alienation, the gap between past and present generations, aging and the routine. The poem's general mood is sad and melancholic mainly because of the grandmother's refusal to abandon her usefulness. This encourages the reader to be sympathetic towards her.
2. In the poem there are 5 stanzas, each of unequal length. Her life events were put in order (in stanza 3) to mimic her transition to old age. The use of the word "they" throughout the poem helps to create a gap between the grandmother and her family, while the repetition of key phrases draws the attention of the reader to the main ideas. Throughout the poem, the grandmother's hands tell her story. Once youthful and skillful, she became robust and hard-working then frail and fumbling. They symbolize her transition through each stage of her life. Her hands are precious to her because they are the source of her usefulness. This makes us empathize. Because most of the stanzas are made up of a single sentence, the movement of the poem is quite fluid. There are many alliteration in "s" in the poem, this mimics the time passing or the slaps the mother once gave to her children.
3. Whilel writing the poem, Lochead has successfully demonstrated the isolation some senior citizens suffer each day because of the lack of understanding the family has towards his actions.

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For my grandmother knitting by Liz Lochead

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