Fleur Adcock: Analysis of Instead of an Interview
'Instead of an Interview' by Fleur Adcock, is a poem essentially about the divided sense of identity she has inherited: from both family (or historical) emigrant experience and personal deportation. In the poem, the issue is complicated, as Adcock explores the loss and alienation that emerges from the choice of long-term separation from family.
It begins with descriptive visual imagery, where Adcock attempts to familiarise herself with the childhood images of "The hills", "water, the clean air", and "a river or two", "certain bays", and "those various and incredible hills". The description almost seems like a ramble, which evokes a fresh and exciting experience. Although we learn later on in this poem that she addresses England as her "home", this stanza largely bears feelings of nostalgia. The "ah" in the last line of the stanza re-emphasises her expression of relief, relaxation and comfort, after her first visit back to New Zealand after 13 years.
Through this poem, Adcock offers "snapshots" of her family's past, and the struggles of family, marriage, and life. In the second stanza, we see Fleur warming up to the familiarity of New Zealand - the "streets I could follow blind", and other "familiar settings". There seems to be a sense of distress, as Fleur is engaging in parts of her past that she has tried to forget about. Coming back to her birthplace appears to be more overwhelming, than comforting. It seems like she had gone away because she hadn't like it enough to stay. Whether good or bad, "the dreams (she'd) not bothered to remember" kept creeping back automatically as she passed "familiar settings". She further relates this attachment with the atmosphere of the country: "ingrained; ingrown; incestuous: like the country." The elaborated vowel sounds enhance the warmth of the stanza, drawing the reader closer to Adock's personal feelings. The semicolons serve as caesuras, creating dramatic pauses for emphasis. The slightly grotesque terms -
It begins with descriptive visual imagery, where Adcock attempts to familiarise herself with the childhood images of "The hills", "water, the clean air", and "a river or two", "certain bays", and "those various and incredible hills". The description almost seems like a ramble, which evokes a fresh and exciting experience. Although we learn later on in this poem that she addresses England as her "home", this stanza largely bears feelings of nostalgia. The "ah" in the last line of the stanza re-emphasises her expression of relief, relaxation and comfort, after her first visit back to New Zealand after 13 years.
Through this poem, Adcock offers "snapshots" of her family's past, and the struggles of family, marriage, and life. In the second stanza, we see Fleur warming up to the familiarity of New Zealand - the "streets I could follow blind", and other "familiar settings". There seems to be a sense of distress, as Fleur is engaging in parts of her past that she has tried to forget about. Coming back to her birthplace appears to be more overwhelming, than comforting. It seems like she had gone away because she hadn't like it enough to stay. Whether good or bad, "the dreams (she'd) not bothered to remember" kept creeping back automatically as she passed "familiar settings". She further relates this attachment with the atmosphere of the country: "ingrained; ingrown; incestuous: like the country." The elaborated vowel sounds enhance the warmth of the stanza, drawing the reader closer to Adock's personal feelings. The semicolons serve as caesuras, creating dramatic pauses for emphasis. The slightly grotesque terms -