GCSE English Literature - Belonging Anthology Context

To My Sister (William Wordsworth)

• A Romantic poet
• Lived with sister Dorothy
• Opposed the values of the Enlightenment

Sunday Dip (John Clare)

• Romantic poet
• Poem captures Romantic themes

Mild the Mist Upon the Hill (Emily Bronte)

• Mother and sisters died
• Family experienced a rural, isolated existence
• Family steeped in grief

Captain Cook - To My Brother (Letitia Landon)

• Innocence of childhood contrasts conflict with brother
• Brother spread rumours of scandalous sexual behaviour
• Died aged 35 by drinking poison

Clear and Gentle Stream (Robert Bridges)

• Was a doctor
• Poet Laureate from 1913 until death
• Has been sung and set to music
• Deeply religious man

I Remember, I Remember (Thomas Hood)

• Innocence of childhood contrasts illness of adulthood
• Romantics believed childhood to be innocent/good because they haven't been corrupted by society

Island Man (Grace Nichols)

• Born in Guyana but moved to England
• Poem expresses homesickness immigrants feel when they have moved away from home

We Refugees (Benjamin Zephaniah)

• Over 84 million people displaced this century
• Poem written at the start of this worldwide refugee crisis

Peckham Rye Lane (Amy Blackmore)

• Explores experiences of people part of the windrush generation
• Fragmented style hints at how difficult, but diverse and poetic this community is

Us (Zaffar Kunial)

• Born in Birmingham (extremely diverse city)
• Born to an English father and Nepalese mother

In Wales, Wanting to be Italian (Imtiaz Dharker)

• Born in Pakistan but moved to Glasgow when she was young
• Poet lives in a variety of different countries

Kumukanda (Kayo Chingonyi)

• Kumukanda is name given to a tribal ceremony for young boys to become men
• Without clear initiations, boys find it difficult to transition into men

Jamaican British (Raymond Antrobus)

• Born to a Jamaican father and English mother
• Poet struggles with his identity

My Mother's Kitchen (Choman Hardi)

• Family is constantly refugees
• Autobiographical poem

Emigree (Carol Rumens)

• The identity of the speaker's homeland is unspecified so it is applicable to all displaced people