“Mother, any distance” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Mother, any distance”

“Mother, any distance” Summary

“Mother, any distance” Themes

• 

  Mothers and Children

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-15

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Mother, any distance”

• Lines 1-4

  Mother, any distance ...
  ... of the floors.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  You at the ...
  ... us. Anchor. Kite.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-11

  I space-walk through ...
  ... has to give;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 12-15

  two floors below ...
  ... fall or fly.

  

  

  

  

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“Mother, any distance” Symbols

• 

  The Measuring Tape

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 5-8
  • Lines 9-13
• 

  The Anchor

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 8: “Anchor”
• 

  The Kite

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 8: “Kite”

“Mother, any distance” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “s,” “s,” “p”
  • Line 2: “s,” “p”
  • Line 3: “m,” “m”
  • Line 5: “r”
  • Line 6: “r,” “b,” “b”
  • Line 7: “st,” “st”
  • Line 9: “l”
  • Line 10: “l,” “l”
  • Line 12: “f,” “f”
  • Line 15: “f,” “f”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “a,” “a,” “a”
  • Line 2: “a”
  • Line 3: “e,” “ea,” “e,” “e”
  • Line 5: “e”
  • Line 6: “e,” “e,” “e,” “ea”
  • Line 7: “ee,” “ee”
  • Line 8: “ea,” “e,” “ee”
  • Line 12: “i,” “i,” “i,” “i”
  • Line 13: “i”

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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  Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

  • Lines 3-4
  • Lines 5-8
  • Lines 9-11

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “Mother, any”
  • Line 3: “windows, pelmets, doors”
  • Line 4: “walls, the”
  • Line 5: “zero-end, me,” “tape, recording”
  • Line 6: “length, reporting metres, centimetres,” “base, then”
  • Line 7: “stairs, the,” “out, unreeling”
  • Line 8: “us. Anchor. Kite”
  • Line 9: “bedrooms, climb”
  • Line 10: “loft, to,” “point, where”
  • Line 13: “inch...I”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “n,” “s,” “n,” “n,” “s,” “s,” “n”
  • Line 2: “r,” “r,” “s,” “s,” “r,” “s”
  • Line 3: “m,” “m,” “m,” “s,” “s,” “s”
  • Line 4: “s,” “s,” “s,” “s”
  • Line 5: “p,” “p,” “r,” “n,” “g”
  • Line 6: “n,” “g,” “r,” “r,” “t,” “ng,” “m,” “tr,” “m,” “tr,” “b,” “b”
  • Line 7: “st,” “st”
  • Line 8: “ch,” “K”
  • Line 9: “cl”
  • Line 10: “l,” “l,” “t”
  • Line 12: “f,” “l,” “f,” “n,” “ch”
  • Line 13: “n,” “n,” “n,” “n,” “ch,” “ch”
  • Line 14: “tch,” “n,” “n,” “n,” “n,” “l,” “ss,” “s”
  • Line 15: “f,” “ll,” “f,” “l”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “span”
  • Line 2: “requires”
  • Line 5: “recording”
  • Line 6: “length,” “ leaving”
  • Line 7: “up,” “unreeling”
  • Line 8: “years”
  • Line 9: “climb”
  • Line 10: “the”
  • Line 11: “has”
  • Line 12: “pinch”
  • Line 13: “the,” “reach”
  • Line 14: “towards,” “sky”
  • Line 15: “to”

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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  Where metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Line 4: “the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors.”
  • Lines 7-8: “the line still feeding out, unreeling / years between us. Anchor. Kite.”
  • Line 9: “I space-walk ”
  • Lines 13-15: “I reach / towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky / to fall or fly.”

“Mother, any distance” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Span
• Pelmets
• Acres
• Prairies
• Zero-end
• Spool
• Unreeling
• Space-walk
• Loft

• (Location in poem: Line 1: “span”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mother, any distance”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Mother, any distance” Speaker

“Mother, any distance” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Mother, any distance”

More “Mother, any distance” Resources

• External Resources

  • Armitage's Life and Work — A valuable resource from the Poetry Foundation, with more poems and biographical information about Armitage.

  • Mother's Day Poems — A fine selection of other poems that also look at the mother-child relationship. 

  • Walking Home — An interesting discussion with Armitage about his book Walking Home.

  • The Poem Read by the Man Himself — Simon Armitage reads "Mother, any distance."

  • Poetry as Dissent — Armitage discusses the "obstinate nature of poetry" in this video interview with The Guardian.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Simon Armitage

  • Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass

  • Hitcher

  • Out of the Blue (Excerpt)

  • Remains

  • The Manhunt