GCSE English Literature (AQA)

1.10 - Follower

7 min

Context

Social and historical context

The poem, written in 1966, reflects on rural Irish life in the 1940s, a time when farming was a dominant way of life.
Sons were traditionally expected to learn their father's trade and inherit the family farm.
This created a strong cultural expectation of continuity and passed-down masculine skill.

Literary and biographical context

Seamus Heaney grew up on a farm in Northern Ireland but pursued an academic and literary career instead of farming.
He often expressed a sense of guilt for not following the expected path and for leaving his rural roots behind.
The poem uses technical farming language like "furrow" and "headrig", showing Heaney's respect for the life he rejected.

Psychological and emotional context

The poem explores the complex and often unspoken dynamics of family relationships, particularly the shift in roles as parents age.
It challenges the idealised view of family duty, presenting an honest perspective on how love can coexist with feelings of burden and resentment.
Heaney's work often focuses on memory and how the past shapes present identity and relationships.

Overview

Follower in a nutshell

What literally happens in the poem: The speaker vividly recalls watching his father expertly ploughing a field when he was a child, struggling to keep up. The poem ends with a sudden shift to the present, where his elderly father now stumbles behind him.
Context and significance: Heaney draws on his own childhood to explore themes of admiration, family expectations, and the painful reversal of roles between a father and son over time. The poem is a powerful reflection on memory, guilt, and the complexities of love.
Key techniques and approach: Heaney uses a regular form and rhyme scheme to mirror the father's precise work, with a dramatic volta [turning point in poem] in the final stanza that re-frames the entire poem.

Translation and Heaney's intent

Lines 1-4

"My father worked with a horse-plough,
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horse strained at his clicking tongue."

Translation

The speaker remembers his father working with a horse-drawn plough. His father's shoulders were rounded and powerful, like a ship's sail catching the wind, positioned between the plough's handles and the trench in the soil. The horse pulled hard, responding to the father's vocal commands.

Heaney's intention

Heaney establishes the father as a figure of immense strength and skill from the very beginning.
The maritime simile [comparison using 'like' or 'as'] comparing his shoulders to "a full sail" elevates the act of farming to something heroic and epic.
This imagery creates a powerful, almost mythical figure in the child's memory, which makes the later role reversal more poignant.

Lines 5-8

"An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck"

Translation

He was an expert. He would adjust the different parts of the plough, like the "wing" and the "sock" (the ploughshare). The soil turned over perfectly in a continuous strip. At the end of a row, he would turn the horses around with just one pull on the reins.

Heaney's intention

The short, blunt sentence "An expert" is a definitive statement of the child's admiration.
Heaney uses a semantic field [group of words linked by theme] of technical farming terms ("wing", "sock", "sod", "headrig").
This shows respect for his father's specialist knowledge and skill, highlighting a world the speaker ultimately did not join.

Lines 9-12

"Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly."

Translation

With a pull of the reins, the hard-working horses turned and went back to ploughing the field. His father's eye was focused and precise as he looked at the ground, planning the next ploughed line perfectly.

Heaney's intention

The enjambment [line runs to next] between lines 9-10 mirrors the continuous movement of the plough turning.
The verb "Mapping" suggests that farming requires intellectual precision and planning, not just physical strength.
The adverb "exactly" at the end of the line emphasises the father's perfectionism and absolute control over his craft.

Lines 13-16

"I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod."

Translation

The speaker, as a child, followed clumsily behind his father, tripping in the disturbed earth left by his heavy boots and falling on the smooth, turned-over soil. Occasionally, his father would carry him on his back as he walked steadily.

Heaney's intention

The poem shifts to the first-person "I", introducing the speaker's perspective directly.
The verb "stumbled" creates a direct contrast with his father's expertise and foreshadows the final line of the poem.
The father is shown to be caring ("rode me on his back"), but the child's clumsiness highlights the gap in skill between them.

Lines 17-20

"I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow round the farm."

Translation

As a child, he desperately wanted to be a farmer like his father, imitating his expert stance. However, he never achieved this; all he did was trail behind in his father's large shadow.

Heaney's intention

The past-tense verb "wanted" communicates an unfulfilled childhood desire.
The "broad shadow" is both literal and metaphorical [symbolic comparison]; the speaker felt overshadowed by his father's skill and reputation.
This stanza confirms that the speaker did not, and could not, follow in his father's footsteps, creating a sense of failure.

Lines 21-24

"I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away."

Translation

He admits he was an annoying child, always getting in the way and talking incessantly. But now, in the present, the roles are reversed: it is his elderly father who is clumsy, following him, and is a constant presence.

Heaney's intention

The volta begins with "But today", creating a shocking shift from past memory to present reality.
The verb "stumbling" is repeated from the fourth stanza, but now describes the father, emphasising the complete role reversal.
The final phrase, "and will not go away," has an ambiguous and unsettling tone, suggesting feelings of both love and burden.

Writer's methods

Analysing form, structure, and language together reveals how Heaney crafts his message. He uses a highly controlled form to reflect his father's skill, while the structure creates a shocking reversal that reveals the poem's true focus on the present-day burden of care.

Form

The poem is written in six quatrains (four-line stanzas) with a regular ABAB rhyme scheme, mirroring the order and control of the father's ploughing.

Theme	Evidence	Poet's intention
Skill and precision	The poem has a very regular structure of six quatrains and a consistent ABAB rhyme scheme throughout.	The tight, controlled form mirrors the father's precise, disciplined work, showing how he created perfectly ordered furrows. Heaney honours his father's craft by using an equally crafted poetic form.
Memory and admiration	The steady rhythm, created by the iambic tetrameter [eight syllables per line with alternating stress], gives the poem a song-like, nostalgic quality.	The regular rhythm reflects the steady, plodding sound of the horses and the father's walking, creating an auditory memory that draws the reader into the speaker's childhood admiration.
Tradition and heritage	The use of a traditional ballad-like form (quatrains with end-rhymes) is typical of rural storytelling.	Heaney connects his poem to the very culture he is writing about. This choice shows respect for his rural origins, even though he chose a different path in life.

Structure

The poem's structure is defined by its chronological shift, moving from a detailed memory to a stark present-day reality, which completely changes the poem's meaning.

Theme	Evidence	Poet's intention
Role reversal	The poem has a dramatic volta at the beginning of the final stanza, signalled by "But today".	This sudden shift in time forces the reader to re-evaluate the entire poem. What seemed to be a nostalgic tribute to a powerful father is revealed to be a reflection on the difficult present.
The weight of the past	Five of the six stanzas are dedicated to the past, while only the final two lines describe the present.	This structural imbalance shows how the memory of his father's strength dominates the speaker's mind, making the current reality of his father's frailty even more difficult to accept.
Inevitable cycle	The poem begins with the child following the father and ends with the father following the child. The key verb "stumbling" is used to describe both of them at different times.	This cyclical structure suggests that the reversal of roles is a natural and inescapable part of life. The dependency of a child is replaced by the dependency of an elderly parent.

Language

Heaney's language contrasts the powerful, expert world of the father with the clumsy, inadequate world of the child, using vivid imagery and specific vocabulary.

Theme	Evidence	Poet's intention
Admiration and power	The simile "His shoulders globed like a full sail strung" compares the father to a powerful ship, navigating the land.	Heaney uses this heroic, maritime imagery to show the child's perspective. The father is not just a farmer but a masterful, almost mythical figure, making his later decline more tragic.
Skill versus inadequacy	Heaney uses a semantic field of expert farming terms ("wing", "sock", "furrow") but describes himself with verbs of failure ("stumbled", "tripping", "falling").	This juxtaposition [contrasting elements placed together] highlights the immense gap between the father's competence and the son's inability to follow in his footsteps, establishing the son's sense of inadequacy.
The burden of love	The final line, "and will not go away", is deliberately ambiguous and uses negative phrasing.	Heaney avoids sentimental language to convey a complex truth. The phrase suggests both the father's physical dependency and the speaker's feeling of being trapped by duty, revealing a raw, honest mix of love and resentment.

What to compare it to

When comparing poems, focus on how different poets explore similar themes, like family relationships or memory, through their choices of form, structure, and language. A good comparison connects the writers' methods to their overall purpose.

Suggested comparisons

Follower and Eden Rock - Both poems explore idealised memories of parents, but Heaney contrasts this with a difficult present reality, whereas Causley presents a peaceful, unchanging memory.
Follower and Mother, Any Distance - Both poems use an extended metaphor to explore the changing parent-child relationship, but Armitage focuses on the need for separation, while Heaney explores the burden of inescapable closeness.

Follower and Eden Rock

Comparison in a nutshell

Both poems reconstruct idealised memories of parents from a childhood perspective. However, Follower shatters this nostalgia with the reality of ageing and role reversal, whereas Eden Rock preserves the memory as a peaceful and hopeful vision of reunion after death.

Similarities

Point

Both poets use precise, vivid details from memory to create a strong, almost photographic image of their parents, showing them in their prime.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Eden Rock
Heaney describes his father with sharp physical details, such as how his eye "Narrowed and angled at the ground". Similarly, the technical vocabulary ("wing", "sock") shows a memory rooted in specific, expert actions.	Likewise, Causley provides minute details of the picnic scene, from his father's "Genuine Irish Tweed" suit to the "H.P. Sauce bottle" used for milk. This creates a sense of a perfectly preserved moment in time.
Both poets present their parents as competent and in control. Heaney's father is "An expert", while Causley's parents calmly prepare the picnic and "beckon to me from the other bank", seeming all-knowing and reassuring.	In the same way, both speakers are observers, looking on at their parents with a sense of admiration and distance. Heaney "was a nuisance", separate from his father's work, just as Causley is on a different "bank" from his parents.

Differences

Point

While Causley's poem maintains a tone of peaceful nostalgia and hope for reunion, Heaney's poem introduces a jarring and uncomfortable present-day reality that complicates the nostalgic memory.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Eden Rock
The volta "But today" shatters the nostalgic tone, introducing the father's frailty. The final line, "and will not go away," creates a feeling of burden and entrapment.	In contrast, Causley's memory remains serene and unbroken. The parents' call, "Crossing is not as hard as you might think", is gentle and encouraging, suggesting a peaceful transition rather than a difficult reality.

Endings comparison

Point

The endings of the two poems create completely opposite effects: Follower ends with an unsettling, ongoing present, while Eden Rock concludes with a sense of calm, timeless waiting.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Eden Rock
The present tense in "keeps stumbling" creates a sense of a relentless, unresolved problem. Heaney's ending leaves the reader with the speaker's emotional conflict, combining love with the burden of care.	Conversely, the final line of Eden Rock, "I had not thought that it would be like this", suggests a quiet, simple realisation. The ending is reflective and peaceful, implying an acceptance of death and reunion that is free of conflict.

Follower and Mother, Any Distance

Comparison in a nutshell

Both poems use an extended physical metaphor to chart the changing relationship between a parent and child. However, Armitage focuses on the transition towards independence and separation, while Heaney explores the opposite: a reversal into renewed, and burdensome, dependency.

Similarities

Point

Both poets use a central extended metaphor linked to physical distance and connection to explore the emotional bond between parent and child.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Mother, Any Distance
Heaney uses the physical act of following his father ploughing as a metaphor for his desire to emulate him. The poem is built around the changing physical dynamic between father and son.	Similarly, Armitage uses the extended metaphor of a measuring tape to represent the bond between mother and son as he moves into a new house. The tape "unreeling years between us" shows their connection across a growing distance.
Both poems feature a distinct shift or volta that marks a key moment of change in the relationship. In both, this signals a move from one stage of life to another.	In the same way, both speakers are looking back on a past state of dependency ("I stumbled") or connection ("You at the zero-end") and moving towards a new reality.

Differences

Point

The poems present contrasting views on the evolution of the parent-child relationship: Armitage portrays separation as a natural and necessary step towards selfhood, while Heaney depicts a painful role reversal that leads to entrapment rather than freedom.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Mother, Any Distance
Heaney's volta ("But today") reveals a negative reversal. The speaker is not freed but is now the one being followed, with his father's stumbling presence described as something that "will not go away".	In contrast, Armitage's speaker is moving towards freedom. His final decision is "to fall or fly", suggesting risk and independence. The "endless sky" is a metaphor for possibility, unlike the closed, cyclical trap in Follower.

Endings comparison

Point

The endings highlight the poems' different trajectories: Armitage's ending looks forward to an unknown future of independence, while Heaney's ending is stuck in a difficult, ongoing present.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Mother, Any Distance
Heaney's final two lines are grounded in a relentless present, with the present tense verb "keeps" emphasising the ongoing nature of the situation. The tone is one of weary resignation and entrapment.	Conversely, the ending of Mother, Any Distance is future-oriented and hopeful. The speaker reaches "towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky", an image of limitless opportunity and the beginning of a new chapter in life.

1.10 - Follower

7 min

Context

Social and historical context

The poem, written in 1966, reflects on rural Irish life in the 1940s, a time when farming was a dominant way of life.
Sons were traditionally expected to learn their father's trade and inherit the family farm.
This created a strong cultural expectation of continuity and passed-down masculine skill.

Literary and biographical context

Seamus Heaney grew up on a farm in Northern Ireland but pursued an academic and literary career instead of farming.
He often expressed a sense of guilt for not following the expected path and for leaving his rural roots behind.
The poem uses technical farming language like "furrow" and "headrig", showing Heaney's respect for the life he rejected.

Psychological and emotional context

The poem explores the complex and often unspoken dynamics of family relationships, particularly the shift in roles as parents age.
It challenges the idealised view of family duty, presenting an honest perspective on how love can coexist with feelings of burden and resentment.
Heaney's work often focuses on memory and how the past shapes present identity and relationships.

Overview

Follower in a nutshell

What literally happens in the poem: The speaker vividly recalls watching his father expertly ploughing a field when he was a child, struggling to keep up. The poem ends with a sudden shift to the present, where his elderly father now stumbles behind him.
Context and significance: Heaney draws on his own childhood to explore themes of admiration, family expectations, and the painful reversal of roles between a father and son over time. The poem is a powerful reflection on memory, guilt, and the complexities of love.
Key techniques and approach: Heaney uses a regular form and rhyme scheme to mirror the father's precise work, with a dramatic volta [turning point in poem] in the final stanza that re-frames the entire poem.

Translation and Heaney's intent

Lines 1-4

"My father worked with a horse-plough,
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horse strained at his clicking tongue."

Translation

Heaney's intention

Heaney establishes the father as a figure of immense strength and skill from the very beginning.
The maritime simile [comparison using 'like' or 'as'] comparing his shoulders to "a full sail" elevates the act of farming to something heroic and epic.
This imagery creates a powerful, almost mythical figure in the child's memory, which makes the later role reversal more poignant.

Lines 5-8

"An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck"

Translation

Heaney's intention

The short, blunt sentence "An expert" is a definitive statement of the child's admiration.
Heaney uses a semantic field [group of words linked by theme] of technical farming terms ("wing", "sock", "sod", "headrig").
This shows respect for his father's specialist knowledge and skill, highlighting a world the speaker ultimately did not join.

Lines 9-12

"Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly."

Translation

Heaney's intention

The enjambment [line runs to next] between lines 9-10 mirrors the continuous movement of the plough turning.
The verb "Mapping" suggests that farming requires intellectual precision and planning, not just physical strength.
The adverb "exactly" at the end of the line emphasises the father's perfectionism and absolute control over his craft.

Lines 13-16

"I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod."

Translation

Heaney's intention

The poem shifts to the first-person "I", introducing the speaker's perspective directly.
The verb "stumbled" creates a direct contrast with his father's expertise and foreshadows the final line of the poem.
The father is shown to be caring ("rode me on his back"), but the child's clumsiness highlights the gap in skill between them.

Lines 17-20

"I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow round the farm."

Translation

As a child, he desperately wanted to be a farmer like his father, imitating his expert stance. However, he never achieved this; all he did was trail behind in his father's large shadow.

Heaney's intention

The past-tense verb "wanted" communicates an unfulfilled childhood desire.
The "broad shadow" is both literal and metaphorical [symbolic comparison]; the speaker felt overshadowed by his father's skill and reputation.
This stanza confirms that the speaker did not, and could not, follow in his father's footsteps, creating a sense of failure.

Lines 21-24

"I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away."

Translation

Heaney's intention

The volta begins with "But today", creating a shocking shift from past memory to present reality.
The verb "stumbling" is repeated from the fourth stanza, but now describes the father, emphasising the complete role reversal.
The final phrase, "and will not go away," has an ambiguous and unsettling tone, suggesting feelings of both love and burden.

Writer's methods

Form

The poem is written in six quatrains (four-line stanzas) with a regular ABAB rhyme scheme, mirroring the order and control of the father's ploughing.

Theme	Evidence	Poet's intention
Skill and precision	The poem has a very regular structure of six quatrains and a consistent ABAB rhyme scheme throughout.	The tight, controlled form mirrors the father's precise, disciplined work, showing how he created perfectly ordered furrows. Heaney honours his father's craft by using an equally crafted poetic form.
Memory and admiration	The steady rhythm, created by the iambic tetrameter [eight syllables per line with alternating stress], gives the poem a song-like, nostalgic quality.	The regular rhythm reflects the steady, plodding sound of the horses and the father's walking, creating an auditory memory that draws the reader into the speaker's childhood admiration.
Tradition and heritage	The use of a traditional ballad-like form (quatrains with end-rhymes) is typical of rural storytelling.	Heaney connects his poem to the very culture he is writing about. This choice shows respect for his rural origins, even though he chose a different path in life.

Structure

The poem's structure is defined by its chronological shift, moving from a detailed memory to a stark present-day reality, which completely changes the poem's meaning.

Theme	Evidence	Poet's intention
Role reversal	The poem has a dramatic volta at the beginning of the final stanza, signalled by "But today".	This sudden shift in time forces the reader to re-evaluate the entire poem. What seemed to be a nostalgic tribute to a powerful father is revealed to be a reflection on the difficult present.
The weight of the past	Five of the six stanzas are dedicated to the past, while only the final two lines describe the present.	This structural imbalance shows how the memory of his father's strength dominates the speaker's mind, making the current reality of his father's frailty even more difficult to accept.
Inevitable cycle	The poem begins with the child following the father and ends with the father following the child. The key verb "stumbling" is used to describe both of them at different times.	This cyclical structure suggests that the reversal of roles is a natural and inescapable part of life. The dependency of a child is replaced by the dependency of an elderly parent.

Language

Heaney's language contrasts the powerful, expert world of the father with the clumsy, inadequate world of the child, using vivid imagery and specific vocabulary.

Theme	Evidence	Poet's intention
Admiration and power	The simile "His shoulders globed like a full sail strung" compares the father to a powerful ship, navigating the land.	Heaney uses this heroic, maritime imagery to show the child's perspective. The father is not just a farmer but a masterful, almost mythical figure, making his later decline more tragic.
Skill versus inadequacy	Heaney uses a semantic field of expert farming terms ("wing", "sock", "furrow") but describes himself with verbs of failure ("stumbled", "tripping", "falling").	This juxtaposition [contrasting elements placed together] highlights the immense gap between the father's competence and the son's inability to follow in his footsteps, establishing the son's sense of inadequacy.
The burden of love	The final line, "and will not go away", is deliberately ambiguous and uses negative phrasing.	Heaney avoids sentimental language to convey a complex truth. The phrase suggests both the father's physical dependency and the speaker's feeling of being trapped by duty, revealing a raw, honest mix of love and resentment.

What to compare it to

Suggested comparisons

Follower and Eden Rock - Both poems explore idealised memories of parents, but Heaney contrasts this with a difficult present reality, whereas Causley presents a peaceful, unchanging memory.
Follower and Mother, Any Distance - Both poems use an extended metaphor to explore the changing parent-child relationship, but Armitage focuses on the need for separation, while Heaney explores the burden of inescapable closeness.

Follower and Eden Rock

Comparison in a nutshell

Similarities

Point

Both poets use precise, vivid details from memory to create a strong, almost photographic image of their parents, showing them in their prime.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Eden Rock
Heaney describes his father with sharp physical details, such as how his eye "Narrowed and angled at the ground". Similarly, the technical vocabulary ("wing", "sock") shows a memory rooted in specific, expert actions.	Likewise, Causley provides minute details of the picnic scene, from his father's "Genuine Irish Tweed" suit to the "H.P. Sauce bottle" used for milk. This creates a sense of a perfectly preserved moment in time.
Both poets present their parents as competent and in control. Heaney's father is "An expert", while Causley's parents calmly prepare the picnic and "beckon to me from the other bank", seeming all-knowing and reassuring.	In the same way, both speakers are observers, looking on at their parents with a sense of admiration and distance. Heaney "was a nuisance", separate from his father's work, just as Causley is on a different "bank" from his parents.

Differences

Point

While Causley's poem maintains a tone of peaceful nostalgia and hope for reunion, Heaney's poem introduces a jarring and uncomfortable present-day reality that complicates the nostalgic memory.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Eden Rock
The volta "But today" shatters the nostalgic tone, introducing the father's frailty. The final line, "and will not go away," creates a feeling of burden and entrapment.	In contrast, Causley's memory remains serene and unbroken. The parents' call, "Crossing is not as hard as you might think", is gentle and encouraging, suggesting a peaceful transition rather than a difficult reality.

Endings comparison

Point

The endings of the two poems create completely opposite effects: Follower ends with an unsettling, ongoing present, while Eden Rock concludes with a sense of calm, timeless waiting.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Eden Rock
The present tense in "keeps stumbling" creates a sense of a relentless, unresolved problem. Heaney's ending leaves the reader with the speaker's emotional conflict, combining love with the burden of care.	Conversely, the final line of Eden Rock, "I had not thought that it would be like this", suggests a quiet, simple realisation. The ending is reflective and peaceful, implying an acceptance of death and reunion that is free of conflict.

Follower and Mother, Any Distance

Comparison in a nutshell

Similarities

Point

Both poets use a central extended metaphor linked to physical distance and connection to explore the emotional bond between parent and child.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Mother, Any Distance
Heaney uses the physical act of following his father ploughing as a metaphor for his desire to emulate him. The poem is built around the changing physical dynamic between father and son.	Similarly, Armitage uses the extended metaphor of a measuring tape to represent the bond between mother and son as he moves into a new house. The tape "unreeling years between us" shows their connection across a growing distance.
Both poems feature a distinct shift or volta that marks a key moment of change in the relationship. In both, this signals a move from one stage of life to another.	In the same way, both speakers are looking back on a past state of dependency ("I stumbled") or connection ("You at the zero-end") and moving towards a new reality.

Differences

Point

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Mother, Any Distance
Heaney's volta ("But today") reveals a negative reversal. The speaker is not freed but is now the one being followed, with his father's stumbling presence described as something that "will not go away".	In contrast, Armitage's speaker is moving towards freedom. His final decision is "to fall or fly", suggesting risk and independence. The "endless sky" is a metaphor for possibility, unlike the closed, cyclical trap in Follower.

Endings comparison

Point

The endings highlight the poems' different trajectories: Armitage's ending looks forward to an unknown future of independence, while Heaney's ending is stuck in a difficult, ongoing present.

Evidence and explanation

Follower	Mother, Any Distance
Heaney's final two lines are grounded in a relentless present, with the present tense verb "keeps" emphasising the ongoing nature of the situation. The tone is one of weary resignation and entrapment.	Conversely, the ending of Mother, Any Distance is future-oriented and hopeful. The speaker reaches "towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky", an image of limitless opportunity and the beginning of a new chapter in life.