LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS
Climbing My Grandfather
Intimate observation turns a grandfather’s ageing body into a landscape of adventure and security.
Read the accessible text and study notes
What happens?
A child’s exploration of a grandfather becomes an imagined ascent.
Big idea
Intimate observation turns a grandfather’s ageing body into a landscape of adventure and security.
“free”
Double meaning — The climb begins without equipment, suggesting both risk and trust.
“warm ice”
Oxymoron — A familiar body is made strange through an unexpected tactile comparison.
“summit”
Extended metaphor — The grandfather’s head completes the imagined mountain ascent.
“good heart”
Literal and figurative — The final pulse connects bodily life with moral affection.
Form
One 27-line stanza of free verse; an extended climbing metaphor sustains a continuous upward exploration.
Context
Waterhouse’s poem imagines family intimacy through mountaineering language, combining a childlike scale with close sensory attention.
Compare
Follower: admiration. Mother, any distance: exploration and safety.
Voice, tone and feelings
Brogues and clothes · Adventurous — The decision to climb makes an ordinary relative seem vast and worth exploring.
Hands and shoulder · Careful and trusting — Worn skin and scars reveal history while also supplying secure holds.
Head and heart · Peaceful — The ascent ends in rest, warmth and confidence in the grandfather’s goodness.
Recall
How does the final resting place shape the relationship?
Read the full poem in your own AQA anthology. Anthology information and source.