On the surface, Simon Armitage's untitled poem beginning "Mother" seems to be about a son asking for his mother's help to measure the "window, pelmets, doors." I can tell this because the poem states "Mother...You come to help me measure." However, on considering the poem more deeply, I can tell that it covers wider themes about growing up and growing apart. For instance in line 7 the poet writes "the line still feeding out, unreeling years between us." This metaphor compares the reel with time and as it feeds out, the two characters; the writer and his mother are growing apart. A further example of a similar idea can be found in the phrase "I space-walk through." Here the narrator implies that he is walking with caution. However it may also be a metaphor for being so far away from his mother.

The poet develops his ideas about...