Single Span Poem

The poem Mother, Any Distance Greater Than a Single Span, written by Simon Armitage, is about a child and his relationship with his mother. Throughout the poem, we see their connection 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 successfully uses the language features of symbolism, allusion, metaphor, and rhyme to influence me into feeling love, sadness, and hope towards the mother throughout the poem.

In Mother, Any Distance Greater Than a Single Span, author Simon Armitage uses symbolism to shape my thoughts and feelings towards the mother. In the first stanza, Armitage uses this technique to show the son’s emotions

Throughout every stanza in the poem, they all have a part where rhyme links into it. In stanza one, the rhyme is found at the end of each sentence, “span…hands…doors…floors…” This is a very simple rhyme, which links back to the relationship of the mother and child. This rhyme shows the beginnings of the mother helping her child and creating a bond. This influenced the mother as she was able to help her child and be close with her son. This inspires me to feel gratitude towards the mother, as it shows that she is helpful, always there and willing to help her son. I suppose I appreciate this mother’s dedication, as in this society, it is rare to find such commitment mothers or fathers. Being present and supportive can go far for your child. Therefore, the first stanza uses rhyme in order to influence the audiences’ feeling about the mother. The second stanza also creates a rhyme at the end of each sentence, “recording… leaving… unreeling…” These are similar to the first stanza but have the same “ing” sound at the end of each word. The second stanza also goes into depth about the bigger objects and the distance between the mother and child’s relationship becoming further apart. Both stanza one and two show the development of the relationship between the mother and child, and as the poem goes on – as the child grows older – they draw further apart. The third stanza ends with a rhyme, “sky… fly.” This rhyme is shorter than the others, but it particularly invites the reader to imagine the blue sky and a kite flying in it. This soaring kite is representative of the son, as I have mentioned earlier, and shows that he is finally able to fly away to develop and learn the life of an adult. This influenced my thoughts and feelings for