The Furthest Distances I've Travelled Flashcards
“Like many folk, when I first saddled a rucksack”
“saddled” juxtaposes zoomorphic imagery with the “rucksack” - unnatural reflects the awkward and inexperienced person she was before
Starts with a colloquial term - references the community she is apart of + creates a casual, light-hearted tone
“feeling it’s weight on by back- /the way my spine/ curved under it like a meridian-“
Caesura (tentative disruption from the meter) creates a disjointed and unnatural feel to the text - reflects her nerves and apprehension
“meridian” - scientific word connoting the curvature of the earth suggests her body is woven with the world and reflects the significance of travelling for her
“I thought: Yes. This is how/to live.”
Disruptive grammar (caesura) reflects the certainty of the Poet’s feelings at this point in the poem
Grammatical isolation of “Yes.” adds weight to the word - we understand how visceral and raw her excitement was
“On the beaten track, the sherpa pass, between Krakow/ and Zagreb, or the Siberian white/ cells of scattered airports,”
Enjambment acts as a contrast to previous lines in stanza and quickens the pace and drives the narrative. Emblematic of her own flitting through countries and fast-paced life on the road.
“it came clear as over a tannoy/ that in restlessness, in anony/mity:/was some kind of destiny.”
‘Destiny’ is a prophetic line and adds a grandeur to her travels
Fractured line cuts stanza in two - reflects her restless state but also forms two couplets enclosing the stanza in an internal rhyme (graphological parallelism). Seamlessness paired with ‘destiny’ symbolizes that it was fate taking her here.
“than to be doing some overdue laundry/ is really beyond me./ However,/ when doing routine evictions, I discover”
Shift in tone (Volta) marked by end-stopped and then ‘however’. End-stopped causes the reader to take a physical breath before reading on - accentuates the epiphany/ moment of clarity she has while home from her travels.
‘routine evictions’ - contrasts the fluidity of her travels. She is now carrying out a structured and trivial task. The double caesura also forces readers to slow down and ground themselves back to the poet’s reality.
“alien pants, cinema stubs, the throwaway comment - on a Post-it - or a tiny stowaway pressed flower amid bottom drawers, I know these are my souvenirs”
Items trigger a wave or memories with them. Almost idolisation of the ordinary displays value of memories
Flower represents the universal ecstasy that often comes with rediscovering forgotten/ faded memories highlighting that the emotion memories and experiences provoke is much more powerful than material objects.
‘pressed’ and ‘crushed’ further on reflects how memories outlive everything else as these physical objects have a semantic field of fragility and being worn down, which contrasts the memories.
“and, from these crushed valentines, this unravelled sports sock, that the furthest distances I’ve travelled have been those between people: and what survives of holidaying briefly in their lives.”
Second slight shift in the final stanza as poet goes a step further and argues that above all, the connection with people is what she values the most and what has shaped her identity.
Rhyming couplets in the last 3 stanzas emphasise her epiphany as they reflect that she has found herself and is certain of her identity and the last stanza reveals this was catalysed and then driven by the people she met along the way.
“Survives” links to the transience and mortality of humans by making the point that even though we may only exist physically for short periods in others’ lives, the impact we have on them and the world will live on forever.
