Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Saturday, 5 September 2015
How does the speaker in 'I Come From' create a sense of his identity?
The poem 'I Come From' carries a strong sense of identity as one of it's primary themes. It conveys this theme in several ways throughout the poem.
Firstly, and most prominently, the repetition of the poem's title 'I Come From' serves as the voice's most blatant attempt of establishing an identity. This constant repetition, accentuated by the personal pronoun 'I', is a constant reminder to the reader that this poem is about the past of it's persona. It can be argued that the past is the most influential factor in shaping someone's identity, so the presence of the voice's childhood memories throughout this poem helps to establish the thematic 'identity' of the persona.
The progression of the poem also gives us further insight into the identity of the speaker through it's structure and composition. The poem uses free verse form, meaning that it has no inherent regular rhythm or rhyme. This, coupled with the 'stream of consciousness' style utilized by the poet, gives the poem the feeling of a note or diary, scrawled down in a hurry by someone reflecting on their past. This all contributes to the overall theme of identity.
Another point of interest is the composition of the poem. The very opening line tells us that the speaker comes from a suburb, which is a fairly standard image. Then the poem travels through several scenarios at various points in the past of the persona. Next, we travel with the persona on it's commute into London. Through "smashed windows, graffiti" and other, more violent and disturbed images. After this, it re-emerges into more fond and stable memories of the voice's childhood, such as: "clean handkerchiefs, dinner money". This juxtaposition creates a deeper understanding of the voice's identity.
After this brief respite, the speaker seems to relapse into darker thoughts when it states: "I come from rats behind the garage, and a man who followed me back from the library". This then goes back to more positive memories. This makes it seem as though the speaker was recalling some memories they didn't want to relive, so it cut them off and moved on.
All together, these techniques and images strive to give us a glimpse into the mind of someone flicking through memories of their childhood and more, in their head. This helps to establish a sense of Identity.
Firstly, and most prominently, the repetition of the poem's title 'I Come From' serves as the voice's most blatant attempt of establishing an identity. This constant repetition, accentuated by the personal pronoun 'I', is a constant reminder to the reader that this poem is about the past of it's persona. It can be argued that the past is the most influential factor in shaping someone's identity, so the presence of the voice's childhood memories throughout this poem helps to establish the thematic 'identity' of the persona.
The progression of the poem also gives us further insight into the identity of the speaker through it's structure and composition. The poem uses free verse form, meaning that it has no inherent regular rhythm or rhyme. This, coupled with the 'stream of consciousness' style utilized by the poet, gives the poem the feeling of a note or diary, scrawled down in a hurry by someone reflecting on their past. This all contributes to the overall theme of identity.
Another point of interest is the composition of the poem. The very opening line tells us that the speaker comes from a suburb, which is a fairly standard image. Then the poem travels through several scenarios at various points in the past of the persona. Next, we travel with the persona on it's commute into London. Through "smashed windows, graffiti" and other, more violent and disturbed images. After this, it re-emerges into more fond and stable memories of the voice's childhood, such as: "clean handkerchiefs, dinner money". This juxtaposition creates a deeper understanding of the voice's identity.
After this brief respite, the speaker seems to relapse into darker thoughts when it states: "I come from rats behind the garage, and a man who followed me back from the library". This then goes back to more positive memories. This makes it seem as though the speaker was recalling some memories they didn't want to relive, so it cut them off and moved on.
All together, these techniques and images strive to give us a glimpse into the mind of someone flicking through memories of their childhood and more, in their head. This helps to establish a sense of Identity.
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