Mother, any distance than a single span

Starter (10 mins)

How do relationships

change between parents

and their children as they

grow up?

Make a list of key stages

when relationships change

– learning to walk; going

to school; staying out with

friends

ChallengeWrite a 2/3 sentences explaining how your relationship with your parents has changed over

the years.

Task (5 mins)

Write down why you think Armitage uses ‘Mother’ rather than

‘Mum’. Is it because:

• his mother doesn’t like being called ‘Mum’

• it’s more formal

• it makes the poem read like a letter

• he doesn’t think of her as ‘Mum’

Or can you think of a better reason?

Mother, any distance greater than a single span

Mother, any distance greater than a single span

requires a second pair of hands.

You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors,

the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors.

You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape, recording

length, reporting metres, centimetres back to base, then leaving

up the stairs, the line still feeding out, unreeling

years between us. Anchor. Kite.

I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb

the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something

has to give;

two floors below your fingertips still pinch

the last one-hundredth of an inch… I reach

towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky

to fall or fly.

The poet has moved in to a new house.

His mother has come to help him measure the house for curtains and carpets.

She holds one end of the tape-measure, he unwinds the tape and calls out distances for her to write down.

The poem is really about the poet trying to break away from

the traditional ties which bind him to his mother. The tape

represents the tie which holds them together. He gets further

and further away, but she is still there holding down the other

end of the tape. She is like the anchor which stops him from

floating away. He is like the kite, flying into the sky but still

tethered to the earth.

In the poem he moves towards the top of the house. He sees a hatch through which he can see the sky. The sky represents freedom, the final breaking loose. But for the moment he is still tied emotionally to his mother. The tape might be at breaking point but she still holds one end of it.

Mother, any distance greater than a single span

requires a second pair of hands.

You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors,

the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors.

1. Why has the mother come to the house?

2. What is the effect of using ‘Mother’ in the first line?

3. What is the effect of saying ‘the acres of the walls, the prairies

of the floor?

To help her son measure walls and other things He can not do

it by himself.

He is addressing his mother directly. This poem is a personal

message to her. Can you find the other example?

The walls and floors are big and they seem

frightening without his mother.

Tasks (10 mins)

Answer the following questions in full sentences

You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape, recording

length, reporting metres, centimetres back to base, then leaving

up the stairs, the line still feeding out, unreeling

years between us. Anchor. Kite.

4. What is meant by zero-end?

5. What effect does it have when he starts to walk

away from his mother and up the stairs?

6. Who is the ‘Anchor’ and who is the ‘kite’? Do you

think the poet likes this?

The zero end is the start of the tape measure.

It shows that the son is moving upwards and away from his

mother – physically but also mentally.

The ‘anchor’ is his mother who always keeps him from getting carried

away. He is the ‘kite’ flying high with the direction of his mum.

Tasks (10 mins)

Answer the following questions in full sentences

I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb

the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something has to give;

two floors below your fingertips still pinch

the last one-hundredth of an inch. .. I reach

towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky

to fall or fly.

7. What is meant by the ‘spacewalk’?

8. Why does something have to break when he gets into the loft?

9. Will the mum ever fully let go of her son?

10. Will he succeed or fail?

He is an explorer exploring his new life and starting an

adventure.

The tape measure has been stretched and so have the mother/son

bounds. He is breaking free of his mother as all children should do as

they get older.

The mum will still be a small part of his life –’last one-hundredth

of an inch’.

He doesn’t know whether he will ‘fall or fly’ but he has to take the risk.

Task (5 mins)

How would you describe the tone of the

poem?

• warm and loving

• cold and objective

• embarrassed

• amused

• nostalgic

• proud

Write 2/3 sentences as to why you think this?ChallengeThe poem is directly addressed to

Armitage’s mother.

What do you think she would

have felt about it when she read

it?

Task (10/15 mins)

Imagine you are at the house

the mother and son have

been measuring up. Write at

least half a side of A4

outlining what you think of

the two people and imagine

what their relationship is like,

use the poem to guide your

ideas