Climbing My Grandfather

Climbing My Grandfather by Andrew Waterhouse describes a child climbing up a grandfather as if he were a mountain, from his shoes to his head. On the way, the speaker gets to know him closely, and at the end lies down on him and feels his heartbeat.

Waterhouse published it in 2000. He was a poet and environmentalist from the north-east of England, and he often wrote about nature.

The poem is one long stanza of free verse, like a single climb without stopping. It follows the climb in order, from the feet upward.

It is written in the present tense, ‘I decide to do it free’, as if the climb is happening now, though it may be a memory of childhood. Enjambment carries the lines on, like the climber moving steadily up.

The whole poem is an extended metaphor of climbing a mountain. The climb begins with the grandfather's shoes, ‘First, the old brogues, dusty and cracked’, then ‘an easy scramble onto his trousers’. The climbing words show both effort and fun.

Details show the grandfather's age and life: his skin is ‘like warm ice’, and his white hair is snow, ‘at this altitude’.

At the top, the child rests and feels ‘the slow pulse of his good heart’: the climb ends in love and closeness.

Themes: family; a child's admiration for an older relative; getting to know someone; nature.

Compares well with:

• Follower: a child's admiration for a strong older man.
• Eden Rock: memories of older family members, with warmth.
• Walking Away: a bond between generations.