Belonging Anthology

Pink = Distant reading, orange = form and structure, yellow = key quotes, green = context

==The Emigrée==

**Title** - Poem is about someone who has emigrated

**About** - Person who left a country as a result of war and feels they don’t belong

**Themes** - Not belonging, ending of childhood

**Poetic voice** - Reminiscing on childhood, reflecting, feeling hopeless towards the end

@@The Emigrée@@

**Enjambment** - Lots of enjambment in first 2 stanzas, like a stream of thought and childlike, less enjambment in last stanza, indicates ending of childhood and pessimistic attitude

**Turning point** - Between second and third stanza turns from reminiscing to present day feelings of not belonging

**Stanzas** - Last stanza different lengths to others, indicating being older and present sadness

The Emigrée

__1__ - There once was a country…I left it as a child

__7__ - **It may be at war, it may be sick with tyrants**

__16__ - **It tastes of sunlight.**

__17__ - I have no passport, there’s no way back at all

__22__ - They accuse me of absence, they circle me.

__23__ - Accuse me of being dark in their free city

%%The Emigrée%%

**Diaspora** - Identity split between childhood and now

**Romanticism** - Innocence of childhood

==We Refugees==

**Title** - Poem is about refugees

**About** - People who have escaped a country and feel they don’t belong in the country they are in now

**Themes** - Not belonging, childhood

**Poetic voice** - Trying to be optimistic but recognising pain of past, reminiscing, factual, educating

@@We Refugees@@

**Repetition** - “I come from“ repeated at start of 7 stanzas foregrounds heritage, “We can all be“ repeated, foregrounds everyone’s vulnerability of being a refugee, creates a sense of empathy with reader

**Turning points** - Every stanza starts with a positive tone contrasted by recognition of pain and torture in previous country, introducing each stanza from a child’s perspective, connoting child’s innocence while the rest of the stanza is from present perspective, presenting reality of past

**Enjambment** - The last line uses enjambment, with the poem having no official ending, meaning the impact of the poem resonates with the reader

**Stanza lengths** - Stanza 5 and 8, where they discuss the idea that ‘we can all be refugees’, are longer than the other stanzas, deviating from the usual 4-line stanzas, emphasising everybody’s vulnerability to be a refugee

We Refugees

__5, 9, 25__ - I come from a beautiful place

__6__ - Where they hate my shade of skin

__11__ - Where girls cannot go to school

__17, 41__ - We can all be refugees

__50__ - We all came from somewhere

%%We Refugees%%

**Diaspora** - Feeling split heritage and how to feel about the previous country they lived in

==Sunday Dip==

**Title** - Introduces feeling of relaxation, peace and water

**About** - Man writing about boys enjoying their one day off and freedom

**Themes** - Nature, innocence of youth, weather, relaxation, peace

**Poetic voice** - Seemingly peaceful but in reality foregrounding a sense of darkness

@@Sunday Dip@@

**Rhyme** - **AABB rhyme scheme** creates sense of splashing and further foregrounds theme of nature

**Rhythm** - Dum-de-dum rhythm undulates further creating sense of water and nature

**Structure** - Traditional structure follows tradition to emphasise the boys will follow the generations before them but are not there yet and still have childhood innocence

**Form** - **Sonnet form** reflects the romantic contexts that the poem was written in and creates a sense of appreciation for nature further contrasting the underlying sense of a darker entity

Sunday Dip

__1__ - Merry boys

__4__ - Dance about the water in the shade.

__7__ - Try to lose their fears

__8__ - And laugh to hear the thunder in their ears

__14__ - And play about the water half the day.

%%Sunday Dip%%

**Romanticism** - Joy in nature, the innocence of the boys

==I Remember, I Remember==

**Title** - Introduces sense of reflecting and nostalgia

**About** - Person reflecting on their childhood and all the time they spent in nature

**Themes** - Belonging in nature, childhood

**Poetic voice** - Reflective, reminiscing, regretful at the end of childhood

@@I Remember, I Remember@@

**End-stopping** - The first 3 stanzas end with an exclamation mark, representing childish excitement while the final stanza ends with a full stop representing end of childhood and innocence

**Repetition** - “I remember, I remember” is repeated at the start of each stanza to reinforce nostalgia and end of childhood

**Structure** - Traditional structure, foregrounding that the poetic voice’s childhood is over and is in the past

**Turning point** - Between the penultimate and the final stanza there is a clear turning point emphasising the present-day sadness and pessimism the poetic voice feels

I Remember, I Remember

__1, 9, 17, 25__ - I remember, I remember

__12__ - Those flowers made of light!

__21__ - My spirit flew in feathers then

__30__ - But now ‘tis little joy

__32__ - Than when I was a boy

%%I Remember, I Remember%%

**Romanticism** - Innocence of children, safety and joy in nature

==To My Sister==

**Title** - Introduces immediate sense of family

**About** - Man writing to his sister about nature

**Themes** - Nature, love, family

**Poetic voice** - Appreciative, positive, peaceful, reflecting on love for nature and sister

@@To My Sister@@

**Rhyme** - **ABAB rhyme scheme**, peaceful, relaxed, creates a sense of rippling and fragility and beauty of nature

**Structure** - Metre and rhyme creates **a ballad form** which presents a story and ‘love letter’ to sister

**Rhythm** - Dum-de-dum rhythm emphasises the peaceful yet happy feeling, further undulation adds to peaceful atmosphere

To My Sister

__9__ - My sister! (‘tis a wish of mine)

__16, 40__ - We’ll give to idleness

__21__ - Love, now a universal birth

__23__ - From earth to man, from man to earth

__34__ - Power that rolls about, below, above

%%To My Sister%%

**Romanticism** - Joy and safety in nature

==Mild the mist upon the hill==

**Title** - Calm ‘mist‘ upon ‘hill‘ introduces nature and a sense of peace

**About** - Somebody reminiscing on previous memories and their childhood

**Themes** - Nature, childhood, death, ending of childhood, loss of innocence

**Poetic voice** - Reflective, sad, mournful, reminiscing

@@Mild the mist upon the hill@@

**Structure** - Traditional, uniform structure reflecting on the idea that the poetic voice’s childhood is over and in the past, elegy represents death of childhood

**Rhyme** - ABAB rhyming reflects peace and the weather and creates a sense of age and wisdom, contrasting the ideas of innocence of childhood

**Turning point** - 1st and 3rd stanzas start with a peaceful line, discussing peaceful weather while following line contrasts that present turbulence and hardships of adulthood

Mild the mist upon the hill

__1__ - Mild the mist upon the hill

__2__ - Telling not of storms to-morrow

__5__ - Oh I’m gone back to the days of youth

__10__ - After a day of rain

__11__ - Blue mists, sweet mists

__16__ - That breathe of other years

%%Mild the mist upon the hill%%

**Romanticism** - Safety and peace in nature, ending of childhood innocence

==Captain Cook (To My Brother)==

**Title** - Immediately creates a feeling of looking up to an idol and family

**About** - Reflecting on how the death of Captain Cook represents the end of childhood

**Themes** - Nature, childhood, looking up to an adult

**Poetic voice** - Sad, realising the innocence they had when they were a child

@@Captain Cook (To My Brother)@@

**Structure** - Traditional structure and rhyming represents the past and childhood

**Stanzas** - Regular stanza length represents the poetic voice’s maturity now, contrasting to the innocent childhood discussed in the poem

**Rhyme** - AABB rhyme scheme creates undulating feeling building on semantic field of sea

Captain Cook (To My Brother)

__1__ - Do you recall the fancies of many years ago

__12__ - All other favourite heroes were nothing beside him.

__13__ - For weeks he was our idol, we sail’d with him at sea

__24__ - We leave in leaving childhood, life’s fairy land behind

__30__ - The life that cometh after, dwells in a darker shade.

__32__ - How much we lov’d his dangers, and we mourn’d his fall.

%%Captain Cook (To My Brother)%%

**Romanticism** - Ending of childhood innocence, safety and joy in nature

==Clear and Gentle Stream==

**Title** - Introduces the idea of peaceful nature and water

**About** - Person discussing their childhood through a stream

**Themes** - Childhood, water, nature

**Poetic voice** - Reflecting and reminiscing on their childhood while relaxing in nature

@@Clear and Gentle Stream@@

**Rhythm** - Dum-de-dum rhythm undulates representing water and a stream

**Rhyme** - ABBA rhyme scheme emphasises the flow and idea of a stream

**End-stopping** - Contrasts rhythm highlighting the idea that while waves of childhood flow gently, this stops suddenly, symbolising the abrupt ending of childhood

Clear and Gentle Stream

__1, 12, 37, 48__ - Clear and gentle stream!

__5__ - Of my boyish day;

__13__ - Where my old seat was

__14__ - Here again I sit,

__36__ - Of her brightening moon.

%%Clear and Gentle Stream%%

**Romanticism** - Ending of childhood innocence, nature

==Island Man==

**Title** - Introduces the idea of a man alone on an island

**About** - A man dreaming of nature only to wake up to the disappointing reality of London

**Themes** - Safety in nature, not belonging, split between nature and cities

**Poetic voice** - Relaxed and peaceful at the start, disappointed and grumpy towards the end

@@Island Man@@

**Form** - Free verse means creates a sense that the poem is a stream of thought, emphasising the ideas of dreaming previously established

**Enjambment** - The lack of end-stopping at the end of the poem means the hopelessness of the poem resonates with the reader and emphasises the idea that the man does not belong in the city and would prefer to be on his island

**Turning point** - Between stanzas 2 and 3 the poetic voice changes from happy and peaceful to hopeless feelings of despair as a result of being in a city

Island Man

__2__ - and island man wakes up

__10__ - of his small emerald island

__11__ - he always comes back groggily groggily

__15__ - to dull north circular roar

__18__ - island man heaves himself

__19__ - Another London day

%%Island Man%%

**Romanticism** - Joy and safety in nature, while the industry is presented negatively

**Diaspora** - Split between the safety of the island and the city

==Peckham Rye Lane==

**Title** - Immediately introduces a sense of place

**About** - A person travelling through a place that is familiar to them but exlporing and realising new things

**Themes** - Not belonging, nature

**Poetic voice** - Peaceful, observations become more violent but ultimately resolve in a sense of relaxation

@@Peckham Rye Lane@@

**Enjambment** - Use of enjambment across the poem creates a sense of a stream of thought and forces the reader to pause at certain impactful moments in the poem

**Irregular stanza length** - Furthers the sense that the poem is a stream of thought and focuses the reader’s attention to certain parts of ‘Peckham Rye Lane’

**Free verse** - Contemporary structure encourages the reader to understand the recentness of the poem, which is later contrasted by the reference ‘William Blake’, leaving a more significant impact on the reader

Peckham Rye Lane

__5__ - I take the bus - through Peckham

__12__ - as damp and cramped as a coconut shell

__16__ - the delicate babies in KFC

__17__ - wailing, clutching drumsticks like weapons

__20__ - the pavement is a gruesome meat,

__22__ - Angels gaze from the treetops

__23__ - like William Blake

__24__ - and radiate

__25__ - comfort

%%Peckham Rye Lane%%

**Diaspora** - Feeling split between the familiarity of Peckham Rye Lane and their new observations

**Romanticism** - Recognising how nature ‘radiates comfort’ and also mentions ‘William Blake’

==In Wales, Wanting to be Italian==

**Title** - Introduces a sense of desire and a sense of a barrier or restriction preventing poetic voice from fulfilling their wish

**About** - Being from one place but desiring to be from somewhere different

**Themes** - Not belonging, desire to be from somewhere different, desire to change

**Poetic voice** - Curious, questioning what it would be like to be from a different country, stream of thought, although the structure creates a sense that speaker has considered this before

@@In Wales, Wanting to be Italian@@

**Repetition** - Repeated use of question marks throughout the poem creates a sense of curiosity, two question marks in final stanza create a sense of extreme curiosity

**End-stopping and enjambment** - There is a mix of enjambment and end-stopping throughout the poem, with the enjambment establishing a sense that the poem is a stream of thought, while the end-stopping contrasts this, suggesting a sense that the speaker often considers what it would be like to be from a different country, with the final stanza concluding with a question mark leaving a lasting sense of curiosity

**Structure** - First and final stanzas are both 7 lines, while the 2nd and 3rd stanzas are 4 lines, creating a sense of structure, emphasising the idea that the speaker has considered this before, with the structure perhaps deviating from expectations

In Wales, Wanting to be Italian

__1__ - Is there a name for that thing

__2__ - you do when you are young?

__6__ - *Fremlandischgehörenlust* or perhaps

__7__ - *Einzumandererslandgehörenwunsch.*

__8__ - What is it called, living in Glasgow,

__9__ - dying to be French, dying to shrug and pout

__16__ - What is that called?

__17__ - in Wales, longing to be Italian,

__22__ - and wear impossibly pointed shoes?

%%In Wales, Wanting to be Italian%%

**Diaspora** - Being split between their nationality and somewhere else

**Background** - Born in Lahore, but moved to Glasgow before her first birthday

==Kumukanda==

**Title** - Means ‘initiation’ and immediately introduces a sense that the poem will have a strong influence of a specific culture

**About** - A boy who feels as though he doesn’t belong in the culture he was raised in as he didn’t complete his initiation but also doesn’t feel as though he belongs in the place he is now

**Themes** - Not belonging, isolation, feeling lost, family, ending of childhood

**Poetic voice** - Feels left out as they have not completed their initiation, but recognises they completed a form of initiation after the death of their mother, ultimately realises how different they are in the present to how they used to be

@@Kumukanda@@

**Form** - Three stanzas of equal length, create a sense of tradition and structure, which creates a stark contrast to the ideas of feeling ‘unfinished’ and not following tradition presented in the poem, conforming to the idea of ‘literary pretensions’

**Stanzas** - Each stanza presents a different aspect of the speaker’s life, with the first stanza depicting the speaker’s Zambian heritage, the second stanza depicting the speaker’s upbringing and the final stanza depicting the confusion the speaker feels over their fractured identity, which is done to create visual fractures across the poem, emphasising a fractured identity

**Turning point** - The first two stanzas depict the speaker’s upbringing, while the final stanza depicts speaker’s fractured identity, which is furthered by the turning point between the two stanzas about the past and the final stanza reflecting on the present

Kumukanda

__3__ - Tata’s people would think me unfinished -

__4__ - a child who never sloughed of the childish estate

__6__ - in order to die and come back grown.

__7__ - I was raised in a strange land, by small increments:

__13__ - If my alternate self, who never left, could see me

__15__ - this need to speak with a tongue that isn’t mine?

__17__ - he greets me in the language of my father

__19__ - and my father’s father and my father’s father’s father

%%Kumukanda%%

**Diaspora** - Fractures in upbringing and between who speaker was and who they are now

**Background** - Born in Zambia in 1987 and moved to the UK in 1993

==Us==

**Title** - Introduces an immediate sense of collectiveness and a sense of connection everyone can feel

**About** - Somebody exploring the meaning of ‘us’ through description of the sea

**Themes** - Belonging, loss of identity, sea being a place of belonging

**Poetic voice** - Curious at the beginning of the poem, changes to sadness as a result of the sense of lost identity, confused

@@Us@@

**Rhythm** - Dum-de-dum rhythm undulates adding to the sense of the sea and emphasising the importance of the sea in this poem

**Enjambment** - Throughout the poem, there is a noticeable use of enjambment, most notably between the final lines of the poem, where the poetic voice expresses hope at being able to use ‘us’ to refer to everyone, resolving the sense of curiosity but forcing the reader to pause and understand the sense of hopelessness the poetic voice feels

**Stanzas** - The poem uses a contemporary form but is structured, creating a sense of order, which is contrasted by the content of the poem, emphasising the poem’s sense of confusion, final stanza is only 1 line contrasting the other 3-line stanzas, emphasising sense of optimism but also hopelessness

**Repetition** - Pronouns are repeated throughout the poem, with ‘us’ and ‘we’ repeated heavily at the beginning, gradually being replaced with ‘I’ emphasising poetic voice’s feeling of losing their identity and their feelings of not belonging

Us

__1__ - If you ask me, *us* takes in *undulations* -

__12__ - my heart’s sunk at separations of *us.*

__13__ - When it comes to us, colour me unsure.

__21__ - Us. I hope, from here on, I can say it

__22__ - and though far-fetched, it won’t be too far wrong.

%%Us%%

**Diaspora** - Feelings of not belonging, split between ‘I’ and ‘us’

**Background** - Kunial’s mother is English, while his father is Pakistani, with his poetry often referring to culture, identity and the nature of languages and dialects

==Jamaican British==

**Title** - Introduces a sense of dual nationality, perhaps creating a split that runs throughout the poem

**About** - Somebody exploring their identity through exploring their struggles with both of their nationalities

**Themes** - Exploration of identity, not belonging

**Poetic voice** - Confused and questioning their identity, senses of certainty established and then once again offset by questioning

@@Jamaican British@@

**Stanzas** - First 7 stanzas are couplets, introducing a sense of togetherness, which contrasts the sense of division within the poem, emphasising the split the speaker feels

**End-stopping** - End-stopping at the end of most lines creates a sense of certainty within the poem and when referring to their identity which is immediately contrasted by the reintroduction of the feelings of not belonging

**Different perspectives** - By discussing their own and their father’s perspectives by using italics, the speaker seeks to further emphasise the split in the divide they feel

**Repetition** - ‘Jamaican British’, ‘Jamaican’ and ‘British’ repeated throughout the poem to emphasise the divide in the two aspects of their identity and heritage

Jamaican British

__1__ - Some people would deny that I’m Jamaican British.

__4__ - but the English boys at school made me choose: Jamaican, British?

__11__ - He laughed, said, *you cannot love sugar and hate your sweetness,*

__16__ - Jamaican British?

__17__ - When knowing how to war is Jamaican British.

%%Jamaican British%%

**Diaspora** - Clear split in identity and sense of confusion surrounding their identity

**Background** - Antrobus has a British mother and a Jamaican father, with his dual heritage reflected in the poem as he searches to form his own identity

==My Mother’s Kitchen==

**Title** - Introduces an immediate sense of family and togetherness through the lexis of ‘kitchen’

**About** - Speaker’s mother moving house yet again after having to flee as a result of war

**Themes** - Displacement, change, family, safety in nature, not belonging

**Poetic voice** - Melancholic as a result of the ‘escapes’ that the speaker’s mother has had to go through

@@My Mother’s Kitchen@@

**Stanzas** - At first glance, the stanzas all appear to be the same length, but, in reality, they are different lengths, to convey the idea that the ‘mother’ seems okay but likely has a sense of heartbreak and trauma as a result of what she has had to escape, with the length of stanzas also reflecting the different changes that she has had to endure

**Turning point** - The final stanza utilises a more positive tone, as it discusses the nature in her ‘mother’s’ garden, creating a sense of hope and dramatising and emphasising the trauma of her mother’s past

**Rhyme** - The poem concludes with a rhyming couplet, reflecting romantic sonnets, and emphasising the sense of hope, furthering the mother’s trauma and sadness

My Mother’s Kitchen

__1__ - I will inherit my mother’s kitchen,

__8__ - My mother is planning another escape

__9__ - for the first time home is her destination,

__11__- At 69 she is excited at starting from scratch.

__15__ - She never feels regret for things

__19__ - sew cotton bags to protect them from the bees.

__20__ - I know I will never inherit my mother’s trees.

%%My Mother’s Kitchen%%

**Diaspora** - Split in identity between the past and now and clear feelings of not belonging

**Background** - Hardi was born in Iraqi-Kurdistan in 1974, coming to England in 1993, with the poem written in 2004, just after the Iraq war, with the poem focussing on her mother who decided to go back to Iraq after years of being away from their homeland and the poem being about her mother packing up her home to move on yet again