Originally Flashcards
S1
“We came from our own country”
- ‘We’, ‘our’, ‘own’ – connotations of belonging, ownership, togetherness.
- Suggests persona feels a closeness to her family/ the country she is leaving.
S1
“In a red room”
- ‘red room’ – Perhaps the vehicle Duffy traveled in.
- ‘red’ connotations of anger at leaving her home.
S1
“Fell”
Connotes feeling of being out of control – Idea that she has been uprooted and feels lost.
S1
“Singing our father’s name”
- Connotations of comfort/ optimisim
- Perhaps to calm/ reassure children
S1
Enjambment in first three lines (no punctuation to break flow)
Reflects the long journey/ distance traveled.
S1
“My brothers cried”
- Word choice/ Onomatopoeia
- ‘cried’ and ‘bawling’ connote distress of brothers
- Fear/ sense of loss.
S1
“Home, home”
- Enjambment/ repetition draws attention to ‘Home’
- Emphazies brothers’ sense of loss of somewhere associated with safety
S1
“Miles rushed back to the city”
- Personification – ‘miles rushed back to the city’.
- Connotations of brothers’ distress – fear/ sense of loss.
S1
“The city, the street, the house, the vacant rooms”
List emphasises how much has been left behind.
S1
“Vacant rooms”
- ‘Vacant’ connotesemptiness.
- Suggests she feels lonely/ lost.
S1
“I stared at the eys of a blind toy, holding its paw”
- Symbolic of situation – heading into unknown.
- ‘holding its paw’- she seeks comfort
- Persona withdrawn/ quiet – seeking comfort
S1- Overall
Poet’s reaction to the move?
- Poet’s reaction – subdued, withdrawn, quiet
- Contrasts with her brothers’ reaction – vocal/ upset
S2
“All childhood is an emigration”
Metaphor – Just as an emigration involves change/ new experiences/ being unsettled so too is childhood a difficult journey/ a time of constant change, an unsettling experience
S2
“Some are slow,”
- Idea that growing up is a gradual process.
- Reflected by longer sentence punctuated by commas.
S2
“Leaving you standing, resigned, up an avenue where no one you know stays”
- Word choice: ‘leaving you’, ‘resigned’, no one you know’
- Connote vulnerability/ loneliness of childhood/ change.
S2
“Others are sudden. Your accent wrong
Idea that changes experienced growing up can feel abrupt/ unexpected – reflected by the short, snappy sentences.
- “Your accent wrong”
- “Unimagined”
- “Words you don’t understand”
Connotations of loneliness, vulnerability, feeling of not belonging/ can’t communicate isolation caused by moving/ growing up.
S2
“Big boys easting worms
Threatening, aggressive behaviour is unsettling. ‘words you don’t understand’ – doesn’t fit in
S2
“My parents’ anxiety stirred like a loose tooth in my head”
- Simile – ‘parents’ anxiety’ – worry of parents contrasts with optimism of stanza ‘stirred like a loose tooth in my head’.
- Just as a ‘loose tooth’ is a constant worry/ concern, so too has her parents’ worries become a worry and concern for the speaker.
S2
“I want our own country”
Reminder of word choice in first stanza – desire to have a sense of belonging.
S3
“But”
Indicates change
S3
“You forget, or don’t recall, or change”
List and use of the word ‘or’ suggests change can be difficult to pinpoint.
S3
“Brother swallow a slug”
They now fit in
S3
“Skelf of shame”
- ‘skelf’ – Scottish dialect. Reminder of where she is from/ her roots.
- ‘Shame’- she is no longer threatened or unsettled by the boys’ behaviour.
S3
“Tounge shedding its skin like a snake”
- Simile suggests change again.
- Leaving behind old/ starting new.
- Implies she has found her voice – growing in confidence?
- A natural process?
S3
“Just like the rest”
Sense she is fitting in/ accent changed?
S3
“Do I only think?”
Enjambment and questions suggest uncertainty
S3
“I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space & the right place”
List emphasises what she has lost/ left behind.
“Now, where do you come from? strangers ask. Originally?”
Last two questions also show Duffy’s uncertainty – is where you were born where you ‘come from’?
S3
“and I heistate”
Final abrupt sentence reveals uncertainty about Duffy’s identity/ where she belongs
Overall
Central concerns
- Isolation
- Confusion
- Belonging
