Originally

[missmcgrory]

‘Originally’ – Introductory Homework Questions

‘Originally’ is a poem in which the speaker describes the trauma of moving to a different country as a child. The feelings of loss, fear and loneliness conveyed in the poem are relevant not only the experience of emigration, but also the transition from childhood to adulthood.

Read the poem carefully and answer the following questions. Give as much detail as you can! If you’re stuck, don’t panic – you can either contact me via the message board (www.queensferryenglish.proboards.co.uk) – or do as much as you can and we will go over it on Monday.

1. Find a metaphor in verse 1 and explain how it shows this is a powerful memory.
2. How does Duffy’s word choice in verse 1 emphasise that this is a traumatic experience for the speaker?
3. Find a metaphor in verse 2 that you feel sums up the poem’s main theme and message.
4. How does the word choice in verse two highlight that she has negative feelings about moving on?
5. How does the simile “parents’ anxiety stirred like a loose tooth” convey a sense of fear about the future? Why is it appropriate for a poem that is partly about fear of change and growing up?
6. Why does the poet switch from past tense in verse 1 to present tense in verse 2?
7. Find a simile in verse 3 that shows she is changing and losing her identity?
8. How does the word choice in the final verse indicate Duffy’s belief that we can never truly define ourselves?


Copies of the poem and this question sheet are available on the message board.

[missmcgrory]

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.