Foreign
alienation/unknown - anomalous within society.
Imagine living in a strange, dark city for twenty years.
There are some dismal dwellings on the east side
and one of them is yours. On the landing, you hear
your foreign accent echo down the stairs. You think
in a language of your own and talk in theirs.
Commented [1]: Alludes to the concept of
Commented [2]: Written as a dramatic monologue with
four quintains (5 line stanzas) creates regular stanza
structure represents the mundane regularity of the
persona's life.
Free verse
Commented [3]: Use of frequent enjambment and
caesuras gives the poem a halting rhythm - plain diction
evokes the difficulty of speaking in a second language
(guiding the reader into this perspective.)
Commented [4]: Imperative language requires the
reader to expand their empathetic imagination to
appreciate the plight of a displaced individual.
Commented [5]: Creates a possible realm for the reader
but also suggests that this is a reality for people
Commented [6]: Oxymoronic - twenty years is significant
amount of time yet the city remains 'strange, dark'.
Poetic voice is bothered - ideas of city life as
inhospitable.
Commented [7]: Juxtaposition of strange/dark presents
an ominous setting - negative connotations render the
city as threatening. Implied contrast to the homeland as
a place of light and familiarity.
Commented [8]: Plosive alliteration of /d/ complement
the description of this harsh environment.
East side contributes to isolation - marginalisation to the
fringes of the city/society (physical distance)
Commented [9]: Second person language - addresses
the reader directly to imagine feeling alienated (reveals
personal impact of difference).
Commented [10]: Distances poetic voice - complements
the alienation explored throughout the poem.
Commented [11]: Distance is reinforced through the
auditory image of echo, implying that the space is
vacant and unoccupied (loneliness and isolation).
Commented [12]: Assonance of /e/ in foreign accent
echo captures an echo to contribute to loneliness of the
poetic voice.
Commented [13]: Challenges of language barrier
established through the shift/juxtaposition between the
possessive pronouns "yours" and "theirs"
Then you are writing home. The voice in your head
Recites the letter in a local dialect; behind that
Is the sound of your mother singing to you,
All that time ago, and now you do not know
Why your eyes are watering and what’s the word for this.
You use the public transport. Work. Sleep. Imagine one night
You saw a name for yourself sprayed in red
against a brick wall. A hate name. Red like blood.
It is snowing in the streets, under the neon lights,
as if this place were coming to bits before your eyes.
Commented [14]: Conveys a sense of belonging that is
in stark contrast with the previous "dwelling"
Commented [15]: Reinforces an intimate connection to
home
Commented [16]: Prepositional phrase evokes an
emotional connection to the origin of identity and
personal voice - connection to mother/home/culture.
Native language has associations of comfort.
Commented [17]: Internal rhyme structurally mirrors
connection between place and family
Commented [18]: Memories of home bring poetic voice
to tears - out of nostalgia/homesickness and the loss of
family/connection to culture or language.
Alliteration connects /w/ sounds with each word
separated from the next - reinforcing ideas of
connection and separation.
Commented [19]: Simultaneous lack of acculturation but
an inability to retain cultural identity.
Commented [20]: The monotony of existence is
conveyed through the routine of the poetic voice
(existing with only the necessities).
Public transport infers a lack of independence.
Commented [21]: Holophrastic sentences (single words)
focus on the nouns to evoke the idea that the poetic
voice's life is reduced to these aspects.
Commented [22]: Repetition of imagine - reminding
audience that this is a hypothetical, albeit real situation
Commented [23]: References racial hatred through
graffiti - an unspecified derogatory slur universalises the
minority experience.
Commented [24]: Deliberately terse/minor sentence
emphasises the negative impact that exposure to
racism has. Staccato rhythm creates shock and
underscores the tension.
Simile of blood renders the hate more threatening
through connotations of violence.
Commented [25]: Physical reminder of alienation - not
just perceived/self-inflicted. Cultural
divides/misunderstandings generate fear and hatred.
Commented [26]: Conventionally an image of beauty
and tranquility.
Commented [27]: Artificial environment - reinforces a
lack of connection to place.
Commented [28]: Subverts/Transforms image through a
simile, conveying ideas of decay and destruction
And in the delicatessen, from time to time, the coins
in your palm will not translate. Inarticulate,
because this is not home, you point at the fruit. Imagine
that one of you says, Me not know what these people mean.
*It like they only go to bed and dream.* Imagine that.
- Carol Ann Duffy
Commented [29]: Foreign loan word - could be poetic
voice's attempt to find other that do not 'belong'.
Commented [30]: High modality reveals the struggles of
communication - alludes to wider struggles to function
within society.
Commented [31]: Personfication - loose figurative device
of money translating/making sense.
Commented [32]: The second person creates a
collective experience (seductively groups all immigrants
together)
Commented [33]: Direct speech presented in broken
English with non-standard grammar.
Convey immigrants failure to understand the easy life of
natural citizens - ideas of comfort through peaceful
sleep.
Commented [34]: End rhyme used to create a primitive
sounding phrase - might evoke the crude stereotypes of
foreigners as unintelligent.
Commented [35]: Expression of frustration at self or
contempt at the intolerant society.
Commented [36]: Cyclical structure shifts to immigrant
perspective and desire to live a life of ease - to belong.
Structure could allude to the difficulty of escaping the
cycle of poverty.
Commented [37]: Creates an irony through a dry tone -
this experience is built within reality. Reminds audience
to reconsider their perspective through imperative
language.