{"id":316,"date":"2014-10-07T12:54:25","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T11:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/?p=316"},"modified":"2016-01-11T16:42:39","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T15:42:39","slug":"the-thread-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/2014\/10\/07\/the-thread-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thread notes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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taken from taken from http:\/\/www.123rf.com\/photo_11718494_ecg-ekg-monitor-pulse-rate-medical-symbol-of-health-and-healthy-lifestyle-green.html<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The thread is a very appropriate title for this poem. The poem talks about Jamie\u2019s birth and the aftermath which saw him fighting for his life. In this sense the thread is a metaphor for the thing that kept him alive. In the second half of the poem there is an image of Paterson, Jamie and Russell all running down a hill together in a line. Here the thread is the family as they stretch out across the grass. <\/p>\n

The split in the poem creates a clear division between the past and the present. The past was a tense time as they thought that Jamie might not make it, however now Jamie is very much alive and filled with energy. <\/p>\n

The flying metaphor in this poem helps us understand both Jamie\u2019s birth and the life he is living aged 2. In line 2-3 it tells us that Jamie \u201cmade his landing in the world so hard he ploughed straight back into the earth\u201d. The use of \u201clanding\u201d makes it seem like Jamie is some otherworldly being who has arrived on our plane. This suggests he is a gift to his parents. It also suggests the speed and panic surrounding his difficult birth, especially with the follow up of \u201cso hard he ploughed straight back into earth\u201d which suggests he almost died.
\nThe metaphor of flying is again used to describe Jamie, aged 2. This time it suggests family and a vibrant energy about Jamie. We are told that Paterson and his two boys make a \u201cgreat twin-engined swaying wingspan\u201d as they run down the hill. Here the word choice creates a sense of a family unit and vitality. The word \u2018great\u2019 suggests that this family is powerful and mighty in some way. \u201ctwin-engined\u201d shows us that it is the boys who give their father his energy and drive and swaying wingspan\u201d again suggests the size of this family, they feel invincible in this moment as they run down the hill. Jamie in particular stands out as we are told his lungs \u201csomehow out-rev every engine in the universe\u201d. There is a suggestion here that Jamie is far more powerful and alive than anything that has been made by man. <\/p>\n

The language in lines 2 and 3 creates a sense of wonder at Jamie\u2019s survival. His landing is so hard that he went \u201cstraight back into the earth\u201d. Although this is a metaphor for the landing plane it has other connotations of a body being laid to rest hinting that Jamie came very close to death. We are told the doctors \u201ccaught\u201d him, which suggests he was falling in some way. We already know he was almost dead from the previous line. The seriousness of the issue is put across in the \u201cone breath\u201d. It suggests that Jamie only had one shot at living and that this was it. <\/p>\n

In the final three lines Paterson uses structure to create a sense of the thread holding the family together. First of all line 12 talks about the \u201clong week\u201d of Jamie\u2019s hospitalisation at birth. This creates a sense of worry. Paterson then quickly moves on the thread giving us a time shift with the word \u201cnow\u201d that comes after the caesura, this lets us know that he is going to be focusing on the present. He then places the words \u201cthe thread\u201d at the end of line 12, which emphasises its importance as a key idea in the poem. He then goes on to say that the thread is \u201cholding all of us\u201d which lets us know he is talking about the whole family unit. This time he expands the family unit further to include his wife. There is a colon which goes on to introduce the mother \u201clook at our tiny house,\/ son, the white dot of your mother waving\u201d which gives us the full image of the family \u2013 father and sons at the top of the hill with their mother at the other end of the thread at the bottom of the hill. <\/p>\n

Line 7 is very effective at creating an image of the family strength by focusing on the male members of the family. Paterson uses a metaphor to compare himself and his two boys to a plane with a \u201cgreat twin-engined swaying wingspan\u201d. Paterson clearly feels that his energy is derived from his boys and that they drive him in some way. They are clearly one unit, as together they form the plane and there is a sense of immensity here with the word choice \u201cgreat\u201d and the implication of size through \u201cwingspan\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The thread is a very appropriate title for this poem. The poem talks about Jamie\u2019s birth and the aftermath which saw him fighting for his life. In this sense the thread is a metaphor for the thing that kept him alive. In the second half of the poem there is an image of Paterson, Jamie … Continue reading The Thread notes<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2785,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[461],"tags":[3440,136],"class_list":["post-316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-higher","tag-don-paterson","tag-poetry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2785"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316\/revisions\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/ea\/HomeoftheBrave\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}