- crackedadjectiveChapter 1 →
Split or broken along the surface in an irregular pattern, the way old leather dries out and develops lines and gaps over time.
- waistcoatnounChapter 1 →
A sleeveless, button-up garment worn over a shirt and under a jacket, common in older men's formal or working dress; what Americans call a vest.
- ledgenounChapter 1 →
A narrow, flat shelf of rock sticking out from a cliff face that a climber can grip or stand on; here used for a scar or missing finger that offers a handhold.
- scarnounChapter 1 →
A permanent mark left on skin after a wound has healed; in this poem it doubles as a physical ridge the speaker uses like a climbing hold.
- stubblenounChapter 1 →
The short, rough bristles of hair left on a man's face when he has not shaved for a day or two, creating a coarse, scratchy texture.
- grittyadjectiveChapter 1 →
Rough and grainy in texture, like coarse sand or sandstone, so that it catches and scrapes against whatever touches it.
- crevicenounChapter 1 →
A narrow crack or gap in a rock face; climbers use crevices as footholds or sheltered resting spots out of the wind.
- ascentnounChapter 1 →
The act of climbing upward; the full journey from the base to the top of something, whether a mountain or, here, a person's body.
- pulsenounChapter 1 →
The steady, rhythmic beat felt or heard as the heart pumps blood through the body, sensed here as a slow, deep throb beneath the surface.
“I can hear the slow pulse of his heart, / a deep, slow rhythm, like the sea.”
- summitnounChapter 1 →
The very highest point of a mountain or, in this poem, the top of the grandfather's head, where the speaker's climb finally ends.
- old stonephraseChapter 1 →
Rock that has been warmed by long exposure to sunlight, used here to describe the comforting, solid warmth of the grandfather's fingers.
“his fingers are warm, like old stone / in the sun.”
Climbing My GrandfatherShort story by Andrew Waterhouse