Orginally by Carol Ann Duffy
Jenetta Robinson
Ms. Tami Davis
Eng. III-DP
13 November 2012
Originally
In the poem “Originally,” by Carol Ann Duffy, she is writing from a point of view of a child to adult for the reader to understand how she felt when she was a young girl moving to how she feels now. This poem is from the “The Other Country” collection, they all have a central theme of growing up with literary devices of imagery, diction, and alliteration threaded through the poem to help grab the reader’s attention. Duffy writes this poem using symbols as if she is telling the story to someone because that is the only way she can recall her true identity of from where she is “Originally,” from.
In the first and second stanza is about the sadness the child feels about moving and is almost a flashback he/she is having. Duffy brings the reader in by writing, “our own,” (1) making this a personal attachment from the reader and to the family with, “country,” following it. Then she puts us in the mind of a young child by writing, “red room/ which fell through the fields,” (1-2) providing alliteration for a vehicle and them driving through the forest. She does this because that is how she thought when she was a kid going on a long trip. The brother is crying, “Home/Home,” (4-5)to show how much he wants to be back and the mother is trying to make the best out of the situation(comforting the child) by talking to the father about what the good things to come, “our mother singing/ our father’s name to the turn of the wheels.”(2-3) Duffy breaks the sentence up using, “cried,” and, “bawling” to show the dramatic difference (diction) of the words and the way it was used. Duffy writes using a polysyndeton by listing the things they are leaving behind in order in which want they saw last from the, “miles…/the street, the house, the vacant rooms/…”(5-7). The only thing he/she had left was, “a blind toy,”(8) symbolizing how the child was feeling confused, alone and in need of comfort and that is why
Ms. Tami Davis
Eng. III-DP
13 November 2012
Originally
In the poem “Originally,” by Carol Ann Duffy, she is writing from a point of view of a child to adult for the reader to understand how she felt when she was a young girl moving to how she feels now. This poem is from the “The Other Country” collection, they all have a central theme of growing up with literary devices of imagery, diction, and alliteration threaded through the poem to help grab the reader’s attention. Duffy writes this poem using symbols as if she is telling the story to someone because that is the only way she can recall her true identity of from where she is “Originally,” from.
In the first and second stanza is about the sadness the child feels about moving and is almost a flashback he/she is having. Duffy brings the reader in by writing, “our own,” (1) making this a personal attachment from the reader and to the family with, “country,” following it. Then she puts us in the mind of a young child by writing, “red room/ which fell through the fields,” (1-2) providing alliteration for a vehicle and them driving through the forest. She does this because that is how she thought when she was a kid going on a long trip. The brother is crying, “Home/Home,” (4-5)to show how much he wants to be back and the mother is trying to make the best out of the situation(comforting the child) by talking to the father about what the good things to come, “our mother singing/ our father’s name to the turn of the wheels.”(2-3) Duffy breaks the sentence up using, “cried,” and, “bawling” to show the dramatic difference (diction) of the words and the way it was used. Duffy writes using a polysyndeton by listing the things they are leaving behind in order in which want they saw last from the, “miles…/the street, the house, the vacant rooms/…”(5-7). The only thing he/she had left was, “a blind toy,”(8) symbolizing how the child was feeling confused, alone and in need of comfort and that is why