Analysis of the poem Essay

The numbers Originally by Carol Ann Duffy dialogue about the issue of kitchen-gardening identity. The numbers talks about mixture, memories, and anxiety which occurs when moving. This is conveyed through the experiences of a young misfire in the poem who is reluctant to leave what she knows behind. This is made app bent through the proposition of memory and the continual change of setting. The title Originally sets the t matchless for the poem as there change needs to occur for there to be an original.This choice of diction allows for an expectation for what the jaunt get out be about, while the ambiguity of the poem is written in much(prenominal) a way that personal experiences can be projected upon the mavin. The aspect of the poem through tactile property however creates a bias towards negative emotions and experiences receivable to the despondent tone throughout the first two stanzas. This atmosphere of spillage is aided through the use of negative emotive diction s uch as bawling and resigned.By showing that the protagonists brothers ar crying, Duffy illustrates how hard this is for them as crying is usually plainly brought on by major or sad events and loss, resigned is used to show how she has accepted her fate, unless it doesnt mean she likes it. This association of emotions with the diction allows for empathy to occur towards the protagonist and her shy(p) senses about her expatriation. The theme of cultural identity is used in the poem in order to instil a sense of not be broading.This feeling of unease and unhappiness is introduced through the use of bawling as this change from the empower where they are comfortable and belong to the new one is both painful and confusing for them. The use of italics however, in the repetition of Home as head as the capitalisation of it, emphasises its importance to them and their desire to overhaul to it. The use of a blind toy by Duffy can be used as a metaphor towards the protagonists new life , where, although the toy is blind, it so far has eyes.The foreshadowing could be that when the protagonist expires she lead be blinded by everything which is new so that she doesnt become overwhelmed by it. She exit widen to be blind to the beauty of her new home so long as she is yearning for her old one. However, once she is ready her sight get out return and she will start to forget her cultural identity. At the meter, the girl doesnt want this however, so she is clinging onto a toy to maintain her memories of home. Additionally, a toy is associated with childhood, so the clinging onto it whitethorn represent how she doesnt want to scram up and leave her comforts behind.By saying in the warrant stanza that all childhood is emigration, Duffy allows for immediate relation to the protagonists situation. This is due to the journey of ontogenesis up to adulthood which is a worldwide experience, as wholesome as referring to physical emigration of moving from one place to an other. Improtantly however, the emigration of childhood is all made without the acceptance of the person moving, they cannot stop growing older, and parents make the ultimate decisions. This unease and the inability to understand the need to move is reenforce by the location of her new home where no one you know stays. This introduces the tone of isolation which is reinforced by having the wrong accent, and yelling words you dont understand which immediately marks a person as being from a different area, even though the move could have been within the same country of city, the accent and receive changes. The introduction of big boys shows that she is intimidated by people from the area who are older and bigger as she doesnt know how they will react, this is reinforced by the alliteration present through the repetition of the hard d, continuing the feeling of intimidation which the protagonist encounters.A continuation of the alliteration in sibilance, seeing your brother swallow a slug, feel only a skelf of shame, provides an insight that the protagonist is slightly proud of her brothers for adapting so well to the environment, which is then applied to herself in a continuation of sibilance in crew with a simile in that she remembers (her) tongue shedding its skin like a snake, my voice in the classroom sounding skillful like the rest. This shows that she is also now adapting to her environment, reinforced by the fact that a shed skin is natural for a snake, and this adaptation is normal, although slightly unwanted. The cobblers last stanzas change in tone shows how the protagonist has changed with age. This allows for a time skip to take place into a time when she is more raise and able to reflect upon the journey easily, although with some regret. This is expressed through rhetorical questions beginning with the use of Do I only think, in telephone circuit 20, which builds up an atmosphere of longing and wistfulness.There is also a tone of uncertaint y in there, as she doesnt know if she had remained in the place if the feelings of belonging would have remained, which is why she only questions and doesnt outright look at that staying would have been the best option for her. The rhyming of the words first home and right place reinforces the disbelieve she feels about her cultural identity. The continued doubt of the protagonists cultural identity which occurs in lines 23 and 24, illustrates how she will continue to try and find the answers throughout her life as she will never be truly certain of who she is, creating a sense of not belonging.Although emigration is a hard thing to experience, Duffy illustrates that trying to maintain a cultural identity through such a process may cause problems later. The continued rejection of the new culture illustrates how much of an outsider it makes the protagonist feel later in life, which could have been avoided if it had been readily embraced. The place which she originates from will al ways have a draw, however, the acceptance of a new culture viewed as a new part of a personal culture, would be much easier to accept than a replacement to the old one.