Originally

Poem

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 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.

General Analysis

• Dramatic monologue
• 3 sets of octets
• Each stanza has a specific focus:
  • (1) Migration (Scotland to England)
  • (2) troubles faced in adaptation
  • (3) speaker’s adaptation to the new place but lack of complete acceptance of the new place.
• Autobiographical in nature but the theme of transition is universal
• From the collection “The Other Country” – themes of transition from one place to another, from one stage to another and migration
• This poem belongs to this collection as it discusses the speaker’s physical transition/migration from Scotland to England
• Present tense – distancing self from the past

Analysis

We came from our own country in a red room

• Collective 1st person
• Sense of belonging and possessiveness
• Connotations of discomfort and danger, metaphor for a train

which fell through the fields, our mother singing

• Denotes lack of control
• Positive connotation

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

• Metaphor for changing time

My brothers cried, one of them bawling, Home,

• 2nd voice, therefore a dramatic monologue

*Home,*as the miles rushed back to the city,

• The train moves forward as the tracks (miles) “rush back to the city” where they came from
• 2nd voice, therefore a dramatic monologue

the street, the house, the vacant rooms

• Zooming in on the former house and therefore showing nostalgia

where we didn’t live any more. I stared
at the eyes of a blind toy, holding its paw.

• The child is old enough to see the fact that the toy is in fact, blind. Also shows the helplessness of the toy (cognition awareness). Also metaphorical for how the future is blind.

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All childhood is an emigration. Some are slow,

• Dictum (truth) – this sentence shows the theme of transition

leaving you standing, resigned, up an avenue

• personalization
• emotional distancing

where no one you know stays. Others are sudden.

• short sentences, emphatic, shows alienation

Your accent wrong. Corners, which seem familiar,

• exclusion due to difference in accent

leading to unimagined pebble-dashed estates, big boys

• large, rich places

eating worms and shouting words you don’t understand.
My parents’ anxiety stirred like a loose tooth

• personal tactile imagery, shows the perennial nagging the child encounters.

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

• unable to adapt to issues at home
• inability to adapt to the new place

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

• tricolon, lexical cluster (a group of words with similar meanings)
• polysyndeton

and seeing your brother swallow a slug, feel only
a skelf of shame. I remember my tongue

• Scottish – shows she is rooted in Scotland despite trying to adapt - autobiographical
• language

shedding its skin like a snake, my voice

• accent wearing off
• sibilance shows the loss of the cultural identity

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

• shows the disgust the child feels as she doesn’t feel unique or different anymore

I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space
and the right place? Now, Where do you come from?

• In addition to losing all of these, the child has lost a bit of herself and her identity
• implies that the loss is much more than these
• Lost the sense of 'first space’ and ‘right place’
  • Does not know what
• contemplative question

strangers ask. Originally? And I hesitate.

• The use of the word 'strangers’ shows that she still feels foreign
• Shows that the child is not able to identify herself with the rest of the community
• Shows the confused state of personal identity

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