Old Tongue - Key Quotes Flashcards
“When i was eight, I was forced south”
word choice suggests she really didn’t want to go
“Words fell of my tongue”
metaphor - she has no control in the situation
“My own vowels started to stretch like my bones”
Similie - It has long vowel sounds saying that the english accent has long vowel sounds.
“and I turned my back on Scotland”
Strong idea of some sort of betrayal to her native language.
“Words disappeared in the dead of night,/ new words marched in”
Metaphor (personification) - some kind of stealthy/ sinister invasion taking over. Her old words are being taken away and replaced
“ghastly, awful,/ quite dreadful”
Long vowel sounds - she is mocking the english accent.
“scones said like stones”
repeat
“Oh where did all my words go-/ my old words, my lost words?”
Very personal. Like a lament for her lost words.
“Did you ever feel sad when you lost a word”
using direct address to bring the reader into the experience.
“Our in the English soul, my old words/ buried themselves”
Metaphor - Giving the idea that they aren’t necessarily dead but dormant and to come back to life.
“It made my mother’s blood boil,/ I cried one day with the wrong sound in my mouth”
the english words feel wrong
“I wanted them back: I wanted my old accent back,/ my old tongue”
reflects a child’s emotions and impulses
Main Themes?
- Change
- Displacement
- Childhood
- Loss is tradition/ language/ past
- Nostalgia
