Originally Flashcards
red room
alliteration emphasised by metaphor of this childlike impression of the train carriage compartment. connotations of anger/feelings of danger, reflecting her feelings about being forced to leave the country of her childhood.
fell through the fields
metaphor emphasised by alliteration highlights her sense of powerlessness and lack of control in the making of this important decision. reflects speed at which they’re travelling away from Glasgow
our mother singing our father’s name
optimistic mood of mother contrasts her own negativity, for adults it’s a positive decision for the family. feeling decisions are made outwith our control when we’re children is a familiar experience for all children.
Home, Home
repetition of this word reinforces the children’s misery and overwhelming sense of loss and separation that she remembers vividly.
the miles rushed back
personification emphasis her sense of urgency and desire to return to Glasgow (reverse this trip)
All childhood is an emigration
metaphor presents one of the key ideas of the poem. childhood is filled with change, transition, moving into the unknown and there are experiences often beyond our control. at times when we are growing up we don’t recognise ourselves.
Your accent wrong.
short, abrupt sentence reflects idea of quick changes
“seem” “unimagined” “you don’t understand”
word choice conveys her confusion in this unfamiliar place, she can’t find her way about and is confronted by behaviour and language that is alien to her
My parents’ anxiety stirred like a loose tooth
simile. a loose tooth isn’t very serious but you are constantly aware of it. it can bother you but is not exactly a problem. suggests Duffy was aware her parents were finding aspects of the move hard but their concerns weren’t strongly conveyed
I want our own country
italicised cry of sorrow reminds us of the autobiographical nature of the poem and takes us back to the first line of stanza one
skelf of shame
metaphor. small amount of shame. also like a splinter it feels uncomfortable and is a sharp nip of embarrassment. implies that she still felt out of place, but only a little bit. use of Scottish word for splinter shows she still feels attached to her Scottish roots and will never completely forget the last traces of her Scots dialect
my tounge shedding its skin like a snake
simile. she’s loosing her accent. she’s adapting and fitting in but comparison suggests she wasn’t happy about this, it unsettles her that this has happened. “snake” has connotations of betrayal and she feels like she’s betraying her roots but loosing her accent.
Do I only think I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space and the right place ?
lists all the things she thinks she lost but poses it as a question to highlight uncertainty
Originally? And I hesitate.
she continues to feel out of place and is uncertain about her identity. even though she moved to England when she was a small child her sense of Scottishness has stayed with her
blind toy
in contrast to her younger brothers, she is silent. word choice of “blind” reveals her feelings of uncertainty & anxiety as family head towards unknown & unfamiliar.
