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READ THIS
The poem portrays the hardships that foreigners face when living and working in a strange country. The
poet speaks of the psychological barriers, as well as the racial hatred which is endemic when foreigners
try to make their way as workers and outsiders in a different society.
A NOTE ON THE POET
Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow in December 1955, the eldest child in her family. From an early age
she revealed a passion fo reading and soon began to indicate her qualities as a writer, qualities which
would eventually blossom into the literary skills of her adult life.
Although she was raised and educated a Catholic, she soon moved away from religion and into a more
philosophical outlook, although she personally did not see much of a difference. "Poetry and prayer are
very similar," she once said.
As early as sixteen, she became involved in a passionate relationship with the 39 year old poet Adrian
Henri. It was because of this that she decided to study Philosophy at Liverpool University so as to be near
him.
With her degree in her pocket, she worked first for Granada Television as a game-show and joke writer.
Then she began working in schools in East London (England) before becoming a full-time writer and
dramatist.
She became editor of the poetry magazine Ambit and has lectured poetry at
Manchester Metropolitan University. She is currently Professor of Contemporary Poetry and Creative
Director of the Writing School at the Manchester Metropolitan University.
She was almost appointed Poet Laureate for Britain in 1999 but Prime Minister Tony Blair apparently
rejected her nomination. She was at last given that honour in 2009.
Carol Ann Duffy has won several other awards for her work. She was honoured with an O.B.E. in 1995,
became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1999 and was awarded the C.B.E. in 2001.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"You use the public transport. Work. Sleep. Imagine one night
you saw a name for yourself sprayed in red
against a brick wall. A hate name. Red like blood."
- Is there any significance in the person using public transport? (4)
[Need help?]
Perhaps, perhaps not. Use of public transport -- busses, the underground, etc -- is common in cities
like London and many people use it, not just the poor.
On the other hand, there is perhaps the hint of poverty in that the woman always uses the public transport.
But it is only a hint. It might not be so in reality.
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- Why does the poet use the words "Work." and "Sleep." as two complete
sentences? (4)
[Need help?]
This creates two short, sharp, jabbing sentences. Work and sleep become two realities, completely
separated from each other. Half a life spent in work, half a life spent in sleep.
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- What name do you think has been sprayed on the brick wall? (4)
[Need help?]
The name, of course, is up to your imagination since you were asked at the outset of this poem to imagine
the scene. It could, however, be such a word as, "Paki", since there appears to have been intense
victimization of these people in the poorer slum areas of England.
By keeping the words vague, however, the poet allows for the imagination to supply -- and the
imagination is a powerful tool. It could therefore be a word of simple racial hatred, or it could be a word
of intense obscenity. You must decide.
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- What is the significance of the name being "red like blood"? (4)
[Need help?]
Red is the colour of passion, hatred and anger. It is also the colour of martyrdom and victimisation.
If the name was sprayed in red paint, therefore, it could convey the passion and hatred of the person
spraying it. On the other hand, it would also convey the message of martyrdom on the part of the person
or group of people being thus victimised.
There is also the threat of death in the colour and in the words. Red is the colour of violent death, of blood
having been spilt.
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"It is snowing on the streets, under the neon lights,
as if this place were coming to bits before your eyes."
- Comment on the reference to the "neon lights". (4)
[Need help?]
Neon lights are common in most modern cities but always in the downtown areas, the city centres. The
lights are gaudy in colour, hinting at a sordid life, a place of prostitution and such things.
But they also reveal that it is a time of darkness because the neon lights would not be noticed during the
day. Indeed, they only come on at night. The woman therefore comes and goes in the dark while working
during daylight hours. Her only freedom is in the world of darkness.
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- Why should the snow make it appear as if the place "were coming to bits before your
eyes"? (2)
[Need help?]
The snow is presumably falling more as sleet -- tiny particles of snow like frozen mist -- rather than
in large flakes. It could therefore appear as frozen dust, as if the buildings were coming to pieces and
showering dust onto you.
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- Is there any significance to the poem's setting being mid-winter? (4)
[Need help?]
Of course, this might be the reality: that the incident did indeed take place in mid-winter. On the other
hand, the winter could be a metaphorical tool to indicate the coldness of heart, the intolerance of the
people, the loneliness of the stranger.
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"And in the delicatessen, from time to time, the coins
in your palm will not translate."
- What is a "delicatessen"? (2)
[Need help?]
A "delicatessen" has been described as "a store selling foods already prepared or requiring little
preparation for serving", such as cooked meats, cheese, salads, etc.
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- Why do the coins in your palm sometimes "not translate"? (4)
[Need help?]
Every now and then the strangeness of the stranger in a strange land comes to dominate once more.
When that happens, everything about the city suddenly becomes foreign again. The language spoken
becomes difficult to understand. The money becomes meaningless in its value. The person holding the
coins in her hand has to stare at the money, trying to work out its value but it refuses to "translate",
refuses to tell her its exact worth.
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