Originally - Carol Ann Duffy

Question 1

How does Duffy suggest a sense of belonging at the start of the poem?

Answer 1

“we came from our own country”

Question 2

“a red room which fell through the fields”

Answer 2

This metaphor describes the car journey. “Red” connotes danger and anger while “fell” suggests danger and a lack of control. As a child she would have found this move very scary and would have had no say in it.

Question 3

“bawling Home, Home”

Answer 3

The brothers are young and so openly show their distress at leaving the familiar behind. “bawling” connotes childish but extreme distress. The repetition, italicisation and capitalisation of “Home” shows how important their home was to them.

Question 4

How does Duffy emphasise the amount of familiar places the family are leaving ?behind?

Answer 4

“the city, the street, the house, the vacant rooms”

Question 5

“a blind toy, holding its paw”

Answer 5

Personification. The toy is just as confused about the unknown as she is. Childish attempt at finding comfort from the familiar (her toy).

Question 6

“A childhood is an emigration”

Answer 6

Key idea. Growing up means leaving behind the familiar and experiencing the new. “emigration” is a metaphor but ties this idea into her experience of moving country. This line universalises the idea so we can all relate to it.

Question 7

“Your accent wrong”

Answer 7

Word choice of “wrong” suggests she feels not just different but also not good enough. Isolation and not belonging is a painful experience. Repetition of “you” second person in this section universalises this again.

Question 8

How does Duffy use word choice to convey the speaker’s disorientation in stanza 2?

Answer 8

-“seem”
-“unimagined”
-“don’t understand”
“No one you know”

Question 9

“big boys eating worms and shouting”

Answer 9

Word choice of “big” and “shouting” makes them seem threatening. Hard alliteration reinforces this. This alien behaviour is confusing to her.

Question 10

“my parents’ anxiety stirred like a loose tooth in my head”

Answer 10

Simile shows that even grown ups find change and not belonging difficult. The idea of a loose tooth fits well as it suggests constant low level irritation but also losing baby teeth is a normal change and part of growing up.

Question 11

“I want our own country”

Answer 11

Repetition of “our own country” from earlier shows the importance of being somewhere familiar and where you feel you belong.

“I want” is a childish phrase and reminds us she was young at the time.

Question 12

How does Duffy show the turning point in the poem?

Answer 12

Stanza 3 begins “But”

Question 13

“you forget, or don’t recall, or change”

Answer 13

Again, 2nd person universalises. It is human nature to adapt and eventually fit in.

Question 14

How does Duffy show the speaker’s brothers have started to fit in?

Answer 14

“swallow a slug”

Question 15

How does Duffy show that the speaker retains some of her original identity?

Answer 15

“skelf”

Question 16

“my tongue shedding its skin like a snake”

Answer 16

Simile shows the idea of adapting and changing. Snakes naturally shed skin as they grow, again referencing the idea of natural change in life. Snakes are associated with betrayal – does she feel she betrayed her roots by changing?

Question 17

“I hesitate”

Answer 17

Ends on a short sentence for impact. “hesitate” shows she still has confusion about her identity and where she belongs. “I in 2nd and 3rd verse instead of “we” shows that as an adult you develop your own individual identity instead of defining yourself in terms of your family.

Question 18

“Do I only think I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space and the right place?”

Answer 18

List shows the vast amount of things which make up an identity and sense of belonging to a city, lots of things she left behind in Glasgow. The rhetorical question involves the reader in thinking about the issue of what makes an identity and also shows her own confusion.