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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:
"On the landing, you hear
your foreign accent echo down the stairs. You think
in a language of your own and talk in theirs."
[Need help?]
A "landing" has been described as "a platform between flights of stairs or the floor at the head
or foot of a flight of stairs".
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- Why should your accent be "foreign"? (2)
[Need help?]
Despite having lived in the country for some twenty years, the person has still retained her native accident.
A person's accent is fully developed by the time that he or she is in her late teens and then, although it
might adapt somewhat after living in a foreign country for some years, it will never fully change -- not
unless that person makes an absolutely concerted effort to change.
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- Why should your foreign accent "echo down the stairs"? (4)
[Need help?]
The expression indicates an emptiness about the building, a loneliness. It also hints at the building being
old and perhaps somewhat derelict so that its walls are now stark and bare, its hallways empty.
The landing is, of course, the platform between two flights of stairs and so the voice would tend to echo
in both directions up and down the stairs.
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- What is the significance of the words, "think in a language of your own and talk in
theirs"? (4)
[Need help?]
A person is only fully versed in a language when he or she actually thinks in that language. For most of
us learning a foreign language, we think in our native tongue and translate the thoughts.
This line of the poem therefore hints at the person not being fully conversant in this foreign language. She
still thinks in her native dialect, translating her thoughts rather than speaking as a native speaker.
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"Inarticulate,
because this is not home, you point at fruit. Imagine
that one of you says Me not know what these people mean.
It like they only go to bed and dream. Imagine that."
- Why does the person suddenly become "inarticulate"? (4)
[Need help?]
It happens suddenly that, even after living in a country for many years, one becomes a stranger all over
again. Suddenly one finds it difficult to speak fluently, one stumbles over one's words, one becomes
"inarticulate" again.
This is particularly true in those moments when one becomes lonely and homesick, wishing one could be
back at home surrounded by one's own family and friends.
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- Why does she point at the fruit and not speak its name? (2)
[Need help?]
This has all to do with becoming "inarticulate". Suddenly she can no longer remember the names
of the fruit but can only point. Suddenly even using the language becomes difficult.
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- Comment on the use of pidgin English in "Me not know what these people mean. It like they only
go to bed and dream." (2)
[Need help?]
The poet attempts to capture precisely how the person starts speaking. She is not intending to mock the
speaker but rather imitating her and her sudden paucity in speaking English in order to involve the reader
more in the scene.
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GENERAL QUESTIONS:
The poet uses the word "imagine" no fewer than four times in this poem.
- What is the purpose for doing so? (4)
[Need help?]
The imagination is one of the strongest faculties we have. If you can only imagine it, you can do it. Or
so they say. By calling on the reader to "imagine", therefore, the poet is opening a powerful world
of vision and emotion, and the poem takes on a life of its own within the reader's mind.
And then again, the poet is begging the reader to empathise with the person in the poet. It is no longer
"she" but "you" who is standing there, feeling lonely. The poem takes on greater realism
because it now takes place within your imagination.
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Comment on the style of this poem. (10)
[Need help?]
The poem is in four verses, each with five lines. There is no rhyming scheme. It is almost as if the poet
is writing in prose, and wrapping the lines conveniently to make it look like verses.
Word selection is very carefully controlled. Note the use of short, stabbing sentences like, "Work.
Sleep. A hate name. Red like blood." Note too the use of alliteration ("dismal dwellings") and
similes ("Red like blood.").
The poet also has invited you, the reader, to be part of the scene in your imagination. You personally are
an involved observer rather than just a third person reading the verses.
The poet brings the poem to life through the very rich descriptions and transcription of the actual language
used by the subject. The poet also portrays the emotions of the person, her loneliness, her fears, etc.
Be able to expound further on these things and other important stylistic features in this poem. Do not
skimp. Have a look at the marks awarded for this question and give full value to your answer.
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Comment on the poet's intention and tone in this poem. How does she achieve it? (6)
[Need help?]
The poet intends to draw our attention to the foreign worker in our land, whoever that foreigner is. To do
this, she dwells on the emotions of the stranger, her loneliness, her fears, the racial hatred which is
directed at her. Her tone is one of empathy, not sympathy: attempting to get the reader to become one
with the subject and feel what she feels.
The poet achieves this by her very rich language which graphically portrays the woman's world. She also
puts the reader in the subject's shoes with her words, "imagine", etc. We thereby cease to be the
uninvolved bystander but become intricately and emotionally involved in the person's life, emotions and
fears.
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