‘Originally’ by Carol Ann Duffy - Annotated

Alternative transcript:

stared at the eyes of a blind toy, holding its paw. All childhood is an emigration. Some are slow, leaving you standing, resigned, up an avenue where no one you know stays. Others are sudden. Your accent wrong. Corners, which seem familiar, leading to unimagined pebble-dashed estates, big boys eating worms and shouting words you don't understand. My parents' anxiety stirred like a loose tooth in my head. I want our own country, I said But then you forget, or don't recall, or change, and, seeing your brother swallow a slug, feel only a skelf of shame. I remember my tongue shedding its skin like a snake, my voice in the classroom sounding just like the rest. Do I only think I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space and the right place? Now, Where do you come from? strangers ask. Originally? And I hesitate. M: This poem is about duffy and moving away from glasgow This poem shows the struggles and questions one may face when moving or growing up 1 = Imagery T = Theme S = Structure L = Language / Word choice M = Meaning 1: "Red room which fell through the fields." this shows that the so called red room might be a car and that it is moving through the country side leaving home L: "singing" Connotations of calming, melody, mellow Ishows that the mother is trying keep the children calm and not overwhelmed L: "blind toy" connotations of uncertainty and anxiety as they head into the unknown 1: "I remember my tongue shedding its skim like a snake" - Simile just as a snake tosheds its skin to regenerate/ renew itself so too has she cut off the accents that she previously portrayed L: "emigration" connotations of big change, move, overwhelming this shows that growing up is a massive change and can be challenging some point 1: "A skelf of shame" just as a skelf is annoying and irritable so too is her shame small but still bugs her S: "i lost a river..speech" emphasizes the number of things that she has lost poses a question of uncertainty and confusion S: "And i hesitate" - Short Sentence this abrupt last sentence shows that the poet is still uncertain of who she is and her identity T Memory Time Loneliness Identity Crisis Moving away Growing up