This is an exemplar response to the Comparison question in the AQA GCSE English Literature Poetry Anthology section.
This piece of work was marked as Level 6 by someone who was an examiner in 2022's GCSEs.
This is a recommended answer; it is not THE correct answer but can guide you on how to pla...
Compare how poets presents growing in ‘Mother, Any Distance’ and in one other poem from ‘Love
and relationships,’. [30 marks]
Preview:
Both Mother, Any Distance and Walking Away present growing up as a new found independence and
a breaking of strong, parental bonds as the child begins to navigate their new, personal life alone.
While Mother, Any Distance, is written in the perspective of a son who is measuring his new house
with his mother, Walking Away explores a parental figure’s (the father’s) perspective to his son’s
growth.
Both poems present growing up as a need and a finding of independence, away from their parents.
In Mother, Any Distance, the speaker is measuring his new house with his mother’s aid and in doing
so described the walls as, ‘acres,’, with the use of hyperbole to express ow large the house is to
convey the speaker’s excitement at having his own place. His need for independence is also shown
through the phrase, ‘endless sky,’ when describing the ‘hatch,’ where he can either, ‘fall or fly,’. The
world, ‘endless,’ conveys the limitless opportunities the son has in his own life as an independent
person. Similarly, in Walking Away, the father talks about his son being, ‘loosened from its parent
stem,’, indicating that once his son lets go of him, he will be free and on his own. Like a, ‘winged leaf,’,
the son has a possibility of spinning or just simply falling which is a metaphor for the risks associated
with the son’s independence. Additionally, the father worries about his son going, ‘into the
wilderness,’, with the, ‘wilderness,’ being a metaphor for the outside world and how as his son begins
his independent life in the world, it can be dangerous and unexpecting, like the actual wilderness.
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