Climbing My Grandfather

This lesson focuses on a single poem — Andrew Waterhouse's extended metaphor of climbing a grandfather like a mountain. It is one of the anthology's most sustained and inventive uses of conceit (extended metaphor), and it explores familial love through the lens of physical closeness, admiration, and discovery.

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Climbing My Grandfather — Andrew Waterhouse (2000)

Context

Fact	Detail
Poet	Andrew Waterhouse (1958–2001)
Published	2000, in In
Subject	The speaker imagines climbing their grandfather's body as if it were a mountain
Key context	Waterhouse was an environmentalist and academic; he took his own life in 2001, shortly after the collection was published. This gives the poem's celebration of family love an additional poignancy
Form	Extended conceit (single sustained metaphor)

Waterhouse's poetry often explores the natural world and human relationships with nature. Climbing My Grandfather applies this interest to a human body — the grandfather becomes a landscape to be explored, a mountain to be scaled. The poem is an act of love expressed through physical closeness and patient observation.

Content Summary