Higher English - "Originally" quotes

Themes of "Originally"

childhood, change, language as identity, origins

Stanza 1:

"We cam from our own country in a red room"
"fell through the fields"
"My brother cried, one of them bawling. Home, home"
"as the miles rushed back to the city"
"the street, the houses, the vacant rooms where we didn't live any more"
"I stared at these soft a blind toy"

Stanza 2:

"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."
"My parents' anxiety stirred like a loose tooth"
"I want our own country"

Stanza 3:

"seeing your brother swallow a slug, feel only a self of shame"
"I remember my tongue shedding its skin like a snake"
"just like the rest"

"We came from our own country in a red room"

word choice: "own" reinforces her definite sense of belonging and possession of the country she came from
metaphor: "red room" is a childish interpretation of a train

"fell though the fields"

metaphor: (specifically "fell") suggests and uncontrollable and sudden motion which reflects the lack of control she has over the situation

"My brother cried, one of them bawling. Home, home"

word choice: "bawling" conveys the intensity of her brother's negative attitude towards moving
repetition of "home" reinforces the misery and overwhelming sense of loss and separation from the place they belonged

"as the miles rushed back to the city"

using distance as a measure of time reflections the motion of her her moving further away from something

"the street, the houses, the vacant rooms where we didn't live any more"

list: the list emphasises the number of specific details the narrator remembers, reinforcing the notion of identity and her loss of it

"I stared at the eyes of a blind toy"

word choice: "blind" suggests that she is uncertain and anxious as she heads towards something unknown and unfamiliar

"All childhood is an emigration"

metaphor: reveals the key theme in this poem as she considers a wider more generic experience of childhood itself which involves changes and new experiences, much like moving countries

"Some are slow, leaving you standing, resigned up an avenue where no one you know stays."

sentence structure: the long sentence reflects the sometimes longer experience of growing up which ultimately leave you in an unfamiliar place that you have not experienced before

"Some are sudden."

sentence structure: the short sentence contrast with the previous long sentence and conveys the abrupt changes that people can experience in childhood

"Your accent wrong."

word choice: "wrong" suggest that her way of speaking was incorrect which conveys the complexities of communication and language when moving countries, even if you speak the same language

"My parents' anxiety stirred like a loose tooth"

simile: "like a loose tooth" compares her parents worry and anxiety to a common childhood experience

"I want our own country"

echoes imagery in first line and reinforces the idea that she does not feel like she belongs in her new home

"seeing your brother swallow a slug, feel only a skelf of shame"

"swallow a slug" links back to the previous paragraph and reflects how her brother has become accustomed to life in her new home
word choice: "skelf" suggests she is still connected to her scottish roots

"shedding its skin like a snake"

simile: "like a snake" suggests a loss of previous identity in relation to the way she speaks