Peter Skrzynecki Summaries
Feliks Skrzynecki
The poem Feliks Skrzynecki expresses the emotional challenge that an individual confronts when coming to terms with their own cultural identity. Through the relationship between the persona and his father, the poem illustrates the cultural rift which has emerged as a result of their differing experiences. Despite the persona’s heritage, he is incapable of developing a strong connection with his culture and thus he feels unable to share the same positive perceptions upon life as his father. The persona’s epithetical characterisation of his father as “gentle… Alert, brisk and silent” enlightens the audience to Skrzynecki’s admiration of his father. This respect is further extended through Peter’s hyperbolic reflections upon his father’s diligence and work ethic: “I often wondered how he existed… Why his arms didn’t fall off / From the soil he turned”. However, Skrzynecki’s sense of dislocation from his own culture becomes increasingly apparent when he states, “… Feliks Skrzynecki, / That formal address I never got used to.” Throughout the poem, the persona suggests that by not being closely affiliated with his Polish heritage, he has consequently developed feelings of separation and unhappiness. In spite of the fact that the father lived under the extreme circumstances of World War 2, he is portrayed as a man who can still manage to relish the simple pleasures of life in stark comparison to Peter Skrzynecki. Skrzynecki’s ironic simile “…like a dumb prophet” further accentuates his lack of knowledge upon his Polish background and reveals the poet’s sense of ambiguity about his own cultural identity. The allusive and symbolic reference of the persona “pegging my tents / Further and further south of Hadrian’s Wall” is strongly suggestive of the poet’s growing incapacity to carry on the legacy of his Polish descendants. It additionally demonstrates the inevitability of Skrzynecki’s assimilation into Australian culture and because of this, he finds it
The poem Feliks Skrzynecki expresses the emotional challenge that an individual confronts when coming to terms with their own cultural identity. Through the relationship between the persona and his father, the poem illustrates the cultural rift which has emerged as a result of their differing experiences. Despite the persona’s heritage, he is incapable of developing a strong connection with his culture and thus he feels unable to share the same positive perceptions upon life as his father. The persona’s epithetical characterisation of his father as “gentle… Alert, brisk and silent” enlightens the audience to Skrzynecki’s admiration of his father. This respect is further extended through Peter’s hyperbolic reflections upon his father’s diligence and work ethic: “I often wondered how he existed… Why his arms didn’t fall off / From the soil he turned”. However, Skrzynecki’s sense of dislocation from his own culture becomes increasingly apparent when he states, “… Feliks Skrzynecki, / That formal address I never got used to.” Throughout the poem, the persona suggests that by not being closely affiliated with his Polish heritage, he has consequently developed feelings of separation and unhappiness. In spite of the fact that the father lived under the extreme circumstances of World War 2, he is portrayed as a man who can still manage to relish the simple pleasures of life in stark comparison to Peter Skrzynecki. Skrzynecki’s ironic simile “…like a dumb prophet” further accentuates his lack of knowledge upon his Polish background and reveals the poet’s sense of ambiguity about his own cultural identity. The allusive and symbolic reference of the persona “pegging my tents / Further and further south of Hadrian’s Wall” is strongly suggestive of the poet’s growing incapacity to carry on the legacy of his Polish descendants. It additionally demonstrates the inevitability of Skrzynecki’s assimilation into Australian culture and because of this, he finds it