Attitude, Tone and Ideas

Much of the meaning of a poem is conveyed by the attitude it expresses toward its subject matter. 'Attitude' can be thought of as a combination of the poet's tone of voice, and the ideas he or she is trying to get across to the reader.

A good way to decide on the tone of a poem is to work out how you would read it aloud. How would you read this poem?

• admiringly, and with gratitude for the way her mother livened up her childhood - 'You'd teach me the steps on the way home from Mass'
• wistfully, dwelling on the poet's own memories ('I remember my hands in those red high-heeled shoes') and imaginings ('your ghost clatters towards me')
• ironically - contrasting the short-lived glamour of her mother's teenage life with the hard reality of motherhood
• affectionately - almost a love poem to her mother

Any of these tones would work. In fact the tone [tone: The mood or manner of a text or part of a text. The author's 'tone of voice' or way in which they expect to be understood. The emotional load carried by a text. ] shifts subtly from one to another, ending on a note of enduring love between daughter and mother - "That glamorous love" that lasts.

Ideas

Picture courtesy of David Williams

The following ideas are all contained within the poem. Which do you think come across most strongly?

• The poet romanticises her mother and the glamorous life she used to lead.
• The poet longs to see her mother as she once was, before she was tied down with motherhood.
• The poet recognises that all mothers have mothers - her mother's mother used to 'stand at the close with a hiding for the late one', perhaps as the poet's mother now watches out for her...
• The poet is re-examining her own feelings as a daughter.