Climbing My Grandfather by Andrew Waterhouse - AQAOverview

The speaker of the poem may be thinking back to his childhood and how he used to view climbing his grandfather as climbing a mountain. Another interpretation could be that as an adult, climbing a mountain now reminds the speaker of his grandfather. Either way, Waterhouse presents the reader with an extended metaphor, which compares a kindly old man and a craggy mountain.

There is a sense that the speaker enjoys free-climbing and mountaineering as an adult. Through imagining climbing his grandfather as a mountain, the speaker is able to recall clear details from his childhood of scaling a great man. Although he may have lost his grandfather, these memories help the speaker to feel closer to the man he knew.

Read the poem here.

Compare ‘Climbing my Grandfather’ and ‘Walking Away’ in this podcast

In this episode, Testament and Caroline Bird discuss the poems ‘Climbing my Grandfather’ by Andrew Waterhouse and ‘Walking Away’ by Cecil Day-Lewis.

Listen to the full series on BBC Sounds.