Originally

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Originally

We came from our own country in a red room

which fell through the fields, our mother singing

our father's name to the turn of the wheels.

My brothers cried, one of them bawling, Home,

Home, as the miles rushed back to the city,

the street, the house, the vacant rooms

where we didn't live any more. I stared

at the eyes of a blind toy, holding its paw.

All childhood is an emigration. Some are slow,

leaving you standing, resigned, up an avenue

where no one you know stays. Others are sudden.

Your accent wrong. Corners, which seem familiar,

leading to unimagined pebble-dashed estates, big boys

eating worms and shouting words you don't understand.

My parents' anxiety stirred like a loose tooth

in my head. I want our own country, I said.

But then you forget, or don't recall, or change,

and, seeing your brother swallow a slug, feel only

a skelf of shame. I remember my tongue

shedding its skin like a snake, my voice

in the classroom sounding just like the rest. Do I only think

I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space

and the right place? Now, Where do you come from?

strangers ask. Originally? And I hesitate.

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Past Paper Questions

1. Look at lines 1-8.

Analyse how the poet uses language to convey the emotional impact of the journey on the speaker and/or her family. (2)

2. Look at lines 9-16.

By referring to at least two examples, analyse how language is used to convey the speaker's alienation from her new surroundings. (4)

3. Look at lines 17-24.

By referring to at least two examples, analyse how language is used to convey a sense of acceptance of the speaker's situation. (4)

4. By referring to this poem and at least one other by Duffy, discuss how the poet explores concerns about identity. (10)

In Originally, Duffy explores concerns about identity through the use of alliteration.

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Analysis - Miss MacD.

Overview

In this autobiographical poem, Duffy considers and explores the sense of isolation and confusion felt when as a child her parents moved from the Gorbals in Glasgow to England. She describes both the literal details of the journey and the move as well as the deeper, metaphorical journey that she and her family experienced as a result of this decision. As the title suggests, she considers to what extent our identity is shaped and defined not only by our environment but by changes in dialect and culture. The initial catalyst for the poem, the memories of the move and her gradual assimilation to her new home, provokes a bigger, more philosophical meditation on the subject of childhood itself. Perhaps the most significant line of the poem comes at the start of stanza two when she asserts that "All childhood is an emigration", revealing clearly the universal truth that the process of growing up is always synonymous with change.

Form and Structure

Like much of Duffy's work, the poem has a regular structure. The three stanzas of eight lines help to divide the poem into a straightforward chronology: stanza 1 recalls the journey from Glasgow towards her new home; stanza 2 explores her initial sense of not fitting in to this new landscape while in the third she considers the larger question about how our sense of identity is formed, shaped and affected by such transitions. However, underneath this apparently ordered structure, the poet's anxiety and uncertainty is revealed through the lack of a regular rhythm or rhyme scheme which reinforces the lack of order in her own life at this time. The fact that the poem is mainly composed by a series of fragmented memories, occasionally using deliberately childish words or phrases is reminiscent of the way most of us recall our own childhoods and adds to the authenticity of the poem.

Themes

In this poem, Duffy reveals the importance of early childhood memories and experiences in shaping identity and also considers the impact of significant domestic changes during the formative years. It is clear that even though Duffy was only six when she moved to England, her sense of Scottishness has stayed with her. However, this affinity has resulted in a sense of confusion about her own identity and where she belongs and the poem is her own attempt to define more precisely where her true origins lie. Although asserting that all childhoods involve change and transition, she feels a distinct pull towards the country that she left so young and there is a definite feeling of loss running through the poem. In recalling how easily her brothers were able to adapt, she emphasises her own sense of separateness.