Originally: Overview

Overview of “Originally”

The poem “Originally” by Carol Ann Duffy focuses on the experience of migration and the feelings attached to it. She details her personal experiences as a child when her family moved from Scotland to England.
The poem is broken into three sections, with each contributing to expressing the progression of loss, adaptation, and eventual acceptance of a new life and identity.
In Part 1, Duffy plunges the reader into the turmoil of a sudden move. The narrator’s feelings of loss and confusion are expressed through her view of unfamiliar surroundings, “cities”, “fields”, “a river’s tug.”
Part 2 transitions to the experience of starting a new life in a strange place. Duffy uses the motif of language – the loss of it and the effort to learn a new one to portray the struggle of adaptation and fitting in.
Part 3 brings a glimmer of optimism, hinting at a painful yet successful assimilation, however, it ends with a poignant question that hints at a lingering sense of loss and longing for home.

Themes in “Originally”

Displacement is a central theme. The physical act of moving encapsulates the emotional and cultural displacement the narrator feels as she loses a sense of self along the way.
The theme of Childhood plays a vital role in the narrative. The child’s perspective brings vividness and raw emotion to the experiences of moving and trying to belong.
Finally, the theme of Identity runs through the poem, as the narrator navigates the journey from who she was to who she is expected to be. The last line, “But what like is it?”, hints at this ongoing struggle to understand oneself in the context of constant change.

Poetic Techniques in “Originally”

Duffy utilises first-person narrative to emphasise the personal aspect of the poem. This perspective gives the reader a direct insight into the emotional turmoil associated with displacement.
Visual imagery is used throughout to draw a clear picture of the narrator’s feelings. Phrases like “the city, the street, the house, the vacant rooms” simply indicate a place but a place where she doesn’t belong or recognise.
The use of repetition of words like ‘I want our own country’ amplifies the longing, grief, and sense of loss experienced by the narrator. The repetition of ‘our own’ underscores the feeling of displacement.
Enjambment, where a sentence continues beyond the end of the line, mimics the non-stop, disruptive nature of the journey, mirroring the constant movement and unease experienced by the poet.

These elements combine to create a poignant exploration of the impacts of migration from a child’s perspective, exploring emotions with both depth and sensitivity.