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10 questions available at this level
by Andrew Waterhouse
Andrew Waterhouse (1958–2001) was an English poet and environmentalist from Northumberland. He won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection with In (2000). Tragically, he took his own life in 2001, making his poetry posthumously poignant.
"Climbing My Grandfather" was published in In (2000). The poem uses a single sustained metaphor — climbing a mountain — to explore the speaker's relationship with his grandfather.
The extended metaphor of mountaineering transforms the act of getting to know a grandparent into a physical journey. The grandfather's body becomes a landscape to explore, with clothing as terrain and features as geological formations.
The poem is entirely positive. Unlike many poems in the anthology that explore conflict, loss, or difficulty, "Climbing My Grandfather" presents family love as a source of wonder, warmth, and discovery.
Given Waterhouse's posthumous publication and early death, the poem has acquired additional layers of meaning. The view from the summit, of open sky and wheeling birds, can be read as the grandfather looking towards heaven, or as the infinite, ungraspable nature of truly knowing another person.
The poem may also reflect on intergenerational connection — how a grandchild can bridge the gap between generations through patient, loving attention to physical detail.
“free”
The poem opens on a decision: the speaker will climb his grandfather "free", which in climbing means with no ropes or other protection, and line 1 names both the rope and the net he does without. Free climbing needs trust and courage: he approaches his grandfather with no emotional barriers, willing to be vulnerable.
“traverse”
"Traverse" (line 6) is precise climbing vocabulary for moving sideways across a rock face, as "scramble" (line 3) is for easy ground between walking and climbing. The exact terms make the metaphor precise, not decorative: the shirt becomes an overhang and the belt a ledge.
“earth-stained”
"Earth-stained" (line 7) places the grandfather in nature, perhaps a gardener or an outdoor worker, and so reinforces the landscape metaphor: even the soil on his hand belongs to the mountain.
“good purchase”
The grandfather’s broken nails give "good purchase" (line 8), the climber’s term for a reliable hold. Damage becomes help: what time has worn rough is exactly what lets the grandchild hold on, and the body is presented as solid, dependable terrain.
“like warm ice”
"Warm ice" (line 10) is an oxymoron. Ice is cold and smooth, but the grandfather’s skin has the smoothness of ice with the warmth of life. The simile captures the strangeness and tenderness of an old body.
“glassy ridge”
A scar is a record of an old wound, a piece of history written on the body. "Glassy ridge" (line 11) makes it sound geological, so even injury becomes part of the landscape, and the speaker sets his feet gently in the marks of its stitches: he treads carefully on his grandfather’s past.
“smiling mouth”
The grandfather’s smile (line 17) shows that he is awake and enjoying the game, and a few lines later the speaker watches one of his pupils widen and narrow. The climb is not a one-way exploration of a still body but a shared, living moment.
“good heart”
At the summit, lying still against the grandfather’s warmth, the speaker feels the "slow pulse" of his "good heart" (line 27). "Good heart" works literally (a steady, healthy beat) and metaphorically (the grandfather’s kind nature), and the two meanings fuse.
“summit”
The grandfather-as-mountain metaphor is sustained throughout the poem with genuine climbing vocabulary, from "scramble" and "traverse" to "summit" (line 23). Every physical detail of the grandfather is translated into the terms of mountaineering, creating a unified, coherent conceit.
“good purchase”
The poem is dominated by the sense of touch. The speaker understands his grandfather through physical contact: the cloth of the trousers, the broken nails, the smooth skin, the stitched scar. Touch becomes a language of love.
“like warm ice”
Ice is cold; the grandfather's skin is warm. The contradiction holds together the smoothness of aged skin and the warmth of a living body in one perfect phrase.
“traverse”
Waterhouse uses authentic mountaineering vocabulary rather than vague metaphor. The technical precision makes the conceit feel honest and earned, not decorative.
“slow pulse”
Lines run into each other, mimicking the continuous, hand-over-hand motion of climbing. Line 26 ends on the verb of knowing, so the object of that knowledge, the "slow pulse" of the last line, arrives only after a pause.
“good heart”
"Good heart" works literally (a healthy heartbeat) and metaphorically (the grandfather’s kind nature). The two meanings fuse: physical and moral worth become inseparable.
“glassy ridge”
Rather than giving nature human qualities, Waterhouse turns the human body into geography. The grandfather becomes a landscape, suggesting he is as vast, ancient and worthy of exploration as a mountain.
“smiling mouth”
The grandfather is not a passive mountain: his mouth is smiling (line 17), and his pupil widens and narrows as the speaker looks into his eyes (lines 19 to 20). The climb becomes a shared moment; the grandfather knows he is being known.
Simon Armitage
Both use extended metaphors to explore family bonds. Armitage uses a measuring tape/umbilical cord; Waterhouse uses mountaineering. Both convey love through physical imagery.
Charles Causley
Both present family members with warmth and tenderness. Causley's parents are idealised in a heavenly setting; Waterhouse's grandfather is a mountain to be explored with love.
Carol Ann Duffy
Both explore family relationships through vivid sensory detail. Duffy imaginatively reconstructs her mother's past; Waterhouse physically maps his grandfather's present.