Homing

Question 1

Key message

Answer 1

• aims to preserve the Black Country accent and dialect that was once shamed
  critiques societal pressure to conform
• we must honour and reclaim our voices as a way of returning to who we truly are
• imagery of containment and release
• reclamation and pride

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

• Free verse
• lots of enjambment - to avoid traditional rules of poetry - sense of rebellion and freedom

Question 3

YKYAIABBTB
You kept your…

Answer 3

You kept your accent in a box beneath the bed
language:
* metaphor for repression
* “box” - restriction,control, it wasnt forgotten but actively hidden - makes the loss of voice feel more deliberate and damaging - mother has to choose to erase a part of herself to survive socially
* setting - “bed” - personal - suggests suppression was emotional and private - idea of internalised shame
“box” - also suggests treasure - smth valuable yet locked - duality of shame and worth
effect on reader
* sympathy for mum and respect for daughters longing to reconnect
* Berry makes us question how society values certain ways of speaking and challenges class-based prejudice

Question 4

IWTFYVIMM,ABF
I wanted to…

Answer 4

I wanted to forge your voice in my mouth, a blacksmith’s furnace
Language:
* Violent metaphor
* “forge” - connotes labour, creation and pride - daughter wants to reclaim mothers identity
* “Blacksmiths furnace” - connotes heat, fire, industry, links to emotional intensity - urgency is felt through funances heat - its a burning desire, deep yearning. she is actively shaping and reclaiming mums identity
* Alt int = furnace reflects both the fire of love for her mum and the pain of lost connection

Question 5

SYW,LP,FFH
send your words…

Answer 5

send your words, like pigeons, fluttering for home
Language:
* Simile - “pigeons” - symbol of memory,belonging and return(homing)
* “fluttering” - gentle, uncertain movement - implies fragility and hope
interpretations:
* voice is no longer hidden - being released
* daughter encouraging mum to reclai and speak in original voice
* implies language is a carrier of identity and love - passed from generations
effect
* tender optimism - reader feels a sense of emotional resolution
* ALT INT = vulnerability, pigeons are small and easily lost - suggests how easily stories, cultural identity can be lost if not carried forward

Question 6

TLRSBHOE HNBC
the lock rusted shut….

Answer 6

the lock rusted shut by hours of elocution how now brown cow
language
* metaphor = loss of access to authentic voice - time and repeated effort have damaged or permanently sealed the ability
* “elocution” - conforms to societal standards - forced education to erase regional accents
* irony - elocution lessons are meant to refine speech have instead led to the rusting shut of original voice - symbolises damaging effects of societal expectations
Interpretation
* rusted lock implies years of effort to conform - have led to a permanent emotional scar
* listing at the end - sense of artificality and alienation - meaningless words - contrasts with natural speech of mother full of meaning and persoanl indentity

Question 7

TOTIWWTBJOTLYOLWSO
the only thing i wanted….

Answer 7

The only thing I wanted was that box, jemmied open to let years of lost words spill out
* box - metaphor for repressed language which speaker wants to retrieve
* “spill” - intense desire
* “lost words” - memories and experiences connected not only language
* “jemmied” - force open, desperate need, urgency and a certain level of violence, implying process of reclaiming isnt easy - highlights difficulty and effort
* conveys emotional intensity
* “spill out” -suggesting once the repressed part of the self is freed, it will come with a rush of emotion and memory, almost ovverwhelmingly
* it has been contained for so long, now bursting to be freed

Question 8

IWTSTA:TP,R,F,TAC
i wanted to swallow them all…

Answer 8

I wanted to swallow them all: the pits, railways, factories thunking and clanging
language
* metaphor for desire to internalise and absorb mothers repressed lang and identity
* Semantic field of industrial labour to evoke mothers working class roots and speakers desire to reclaim that heritage
* onomatopoeia - industry and work - heavy and repetive - gives weight to daughters longing. - reflects conflict between past and present or clash between identity and societal standards

Question 9

How is identity explored?

Answer 9

• Something thats suppressed for survival in a society that punishes working-class dialects, exposing class-based prejudice
• identity is not just as individual but collective , smth rooted in community and labour
• identity is a legacy passed down - it must be actively revived with emotion
• identity will always seek to return to its roots like pigeons - it may be hidden, but not destroyed

Question 10

How does the poem explore the idea of belonging?

Answer 10

• Identity is shaped by anguage, heritage and memory and how these can both be suppressed and reclaimed. Language = expression of identity
• societal pressure - aboning roots to be accepted

Question 11

BFTW

Answer 11

Bibble,fettle,tay,wum
* juxtaposes with how now brown cow
* reminds her of the Black Country - prideful
* Implies she has a sense of hope that future gens wont have to go through torture of elocution lessons, instead embrace uniqueness
* forces everyonw including readers to be exposed to her culture which should be accepted and not concealed