Origin Story (WJEC Eduqas GCSE English Literature): Revision Note
Exam code: C720
Origin Story
Here, you’ll find a guide to Eve L. Ewing’s poem ‘Origin Story’ to help prepare you for the Eduqas GCSE English Literature exam. It includes:
Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
Writer’s methods: an exploration of Ewing’s techniques and methods
Historical and literary context: an exploration of connections between contextual aspects and the themes and ideas within Ewing’s poem
Linking the poems: an understanding of how ‘Origin Story’ connects to other poems in the Eduqas GCSE English Literature Poetry Anthology
Overview
In order to answer questions on any poem it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:
An overview of the poem
A ‘translation’ of the poem, section-by-section
A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Eve L. Ewing’s intention and message
‘Origin Story’ overview
In her poem ‘Origin Story’, Eve L. Ewing’s speaker reflects on a comic book that began their parent’s romantic relationship and, thus, their own existence. Ewing details how collected memories and family history creates a context for their own personal identity.
‘Origin Story’ translation
Lines 1-4
“This is true:
my mother and my father
met at the Greyhound bus station
in the mid-eighties in Chicago.”
Translation
The poem begins with a declarative statement “This is true”, suggesting the poem is factual
The speaker goes on to narrate the story of how their parents met (at a “Chicago” coach station in the 1980s):
This is a mundane setting rather than a romanticised one
Ewing’s intention
Ewing’s first person poem has an autobiographical tone
Like a story, it begins with an exposition that narrates details about the speaker’s parents:
Ewing subverts the title ‘Origin Story’, which is a phrase typically used to describe the beginnings of superheroes (foreshadowing the poem’s later motif of the comic book)
She is declaring her own, personal “origin” is rooted in real, authentic human history
Lines 5-8
“my mother, all thick glass and afro puff,
came west on the train when she was nineteen,
lived in a friend’s house and cared for her children,
played tambourine in a Chaka Khan cover band.”
Translation
The speaker describes their mother’s appearance, referring to “thick glasses” and an “afro puff” hairstyle
The speaker describes their mother as independent and musical
They refer to “Chaka Khan”, a lead vocalist of a popular funk band from the late 1970s and 1980s
Ewing’s intention
Ewing’s narrator provides details of their mother’s youth, raising ideas about personal identity:
She uses synecdoche (where a part represents the whole) to conjure a distinct 1980s look and a sense of unapologetic Black identity
The information the speaker gives has likely been passed down to them, which raises themes about family relationships
Lines 9-14
“my father, all sleeveless and soft eye,
ran away from home when he was seventeen,
mimeographed communist newspapers
and drew comic books
like this one, for sale. one dollar.
my mother bought one.”
Translation
The speaker describes their father in his youth: he is portrayed as a sensitive, rebellious, and artistic soul
The speaker’s parents met when their mother bought one of his “comic books” for a “dollar”
Ewing’s intention
Ewing creates a sentimental tone with sibilance: “sleeveless and soft eye”
She structures the father’s stanza to mirror the mother’s, positioning the parents as equals
The phrase “like this one” implies the speaker is looking at a “comic book”, which makes her poem a reflection:
Ewing implies that the speaker is holding or showing the reader the very comic book, or one just like it, that began their own ‘Origin Story’
The non-standard grammar (the lack of capital letters to begin sentences) contributes to the description of the father as someone who did not conform:
The unconventional style raises ideas about youthful freedom
Lines 15-17
“love is like a comic book. it’s fragile
and the best we can do is protect it
in whatever clumsy ways we can:”
Translation
The comparison of “love” to a “comic book” connotes to the fragile qualities of paper and romantic relationships
The speaker suggests both love and comics have value, even though imperfect humans can treat them clumsily and carelessly
Ewing’s intention
Ewing’s simile raises themes about romantic love:
She mixes playful references to comics with serious ideas about love
A first person plural pronoun “we” includes the reader:
This makes the poem universal, extending its ideas beyond the speaker’s identity and their own parent’s relationship
Lines 18-23
“plastic and cardboard, dark rooms
and boxes. in this way, something
never meant to last
might find its way to another decade,
another home, an attic, a basement, intact.
love is paper.”
Translation
The speaker alludes to keepsakes: “dark rooms”, “cardboard” and “boxes” refer to attics and “basements” where people store things from the past
Through these items, family history is passed down into “another decade”
Ewing says that these items, perhaps photographs, letters, or diaries, create loving memories
Ewing’s intention
Ewing’s metaphor “love is paper” connotes to fragile things that hold value:
However, even something fragile can last, and humans take careful measures to protect them
Although keepsakes are fragile, they create a family’s historical identity
Ewing suggests that love may not last, but memories of it remain “intact”
Lines 24-29
“and if my parents’ love was a comic book,
it never saw polyvinyl, never felt a backing.
it was curled into a back pocket for a day at the park,
lent to a friend, read under covers,
reread hanging upside-down over the back of the couch,
memorized, mishandled, worn thin, staples rusted.”
Translation
The speaker compares her parents’ romance to a comic book:
The “comic book” was treated carelessly: it was “mishandled” and “worn thin”
Nevertheless, it held treasured memories: it was shared with a “friend”, read under the “covers” or “upside down”, and remembered by heart
Ewing’s intention
Ewing compares the “comic book” to the speaker’s parent’s love:
Its vast history of treasured moments is emphasised by a list
Ewing’s imagery (“worn thin, staples rusted”) alludes to aging, and perhaps structural failure, representing the core bonds of the parents’ marriage slowly deteriorating over time
Lines 30-31
“a love like that doesn’t last
but it has a good ending.”
Translation
The speaker says that a love that is “mishandled” cannot last:
Nevertheless, it has a “good” conclusion
The final line connects to the title of the poem “Origin Story”: it suggests the speaker originated from their parent’s love
Ewing’s intention
Ewing’s poem appears to suggest that the child is a product of love, even one that has not lasted
The poem’s narrative structure ends with a resolution:
Family history creates personal identity
Writer’s methods
This section is divided into three sections: form, structure and language. When you write about a poem, aim to expand your interpretation of what the poet is writing about by exploring how they present their ideas and why they have made the technical choices they have.
Focusing on the poet’s ideas and how they express them will gain you far more marks than examining individual poetic techniques. Look at the analysis in the sections below, which is organised by the main themes of ‘Origin Story’ and demonstrates the methods and reasons for Eve L. Ewing’s choices of:
Form
Structure
Language
Form
In Eve L Ewing’s poem ‘Origin Story’, a first person speaker narrates the story of how they came to be. The unconventional form contributes to the natural voice of a reflective speaker.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Memory and reflection | The first person speaker begins by detailing their family history: “my mother and my father/ met at the Greyhound bus station/in the mid-eighties in Chicago” | The poem has a reflective tone: it centres around a “comic book” described by the speaker as “this one”, which suggests the adult child is looking at the comic as they remember where they came from |
Written in free verse, the poem narrates naturally flowing thoughts with non-standard punctuation | Ewing’s poem, although it discusses family history, has a modern feel which connects the past (the parent’s youth) to the present (the child’s origins) | |
Identity | ||
Ewing’s poem uses irregular lines, enjambment, and caesura to create a natural voice | ||
Structure
The poem ‘Origin Story’ is structured as a two-stanza narrative, beginning with character descriptions and background details, and ending with a clear resolution. It shifts from the past to the present, extending beyond the intimate details of one family to raise universal themes about relationships and family history.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Identity | The poem’s first stanza is in past tense as its speaker describes their parents as young people, while the second stanza is mostly present tense, offering wisdoms about love and personal identity | The poem’s first line “This is true” creates a realistic, autobiographical tone, while its last line (“it has a good ending”) brings the story to a close:
|
A motif, the “comic book”, ties the poem together and links the past with the present | ||
Language
Ewing refers to popular culture as she reflects on an individual’s place in history. Using symbolism, she connects a treasured, yet mishandled, comic book to love and relationships.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Identity | The speaker refers to popular culture as they describe their parent’s youth: “afro puff”, “Chaka Khan”, and “comic books” | Ewing’s poem discusses the significance of family history in shaping one’s identity |
Lists detailing past events and keepsakes highlight the way identity is formed from stories of the past | ||
Memory and reflection | ||
An extended metaphor compares “love” to a “paper” “comic book” | Ewing’s poem is nostalgic and sentimental: she describes how a past love “never meant to last” continues into the next generation as it creates a child’s “origin story” | |
The speaker suggests their parent’s romantic relationship was “fragile” and “mishandled”, that it “never felt a backing” and was “curled into a back pocket”, but that, regardless, it was a love made up of treasured memories |
Historical and literary context
Context offers you a different perspective on a poem and can enrich your engagement with it. However, examiners don’t want contextual information added on at the end of your essay, or even in your introduction. Instead, your knowledge of Eve L. Ewing’s life should be used to explore themes and support an analysis of the poem.
The ideas explored in 'Origin Story’ focus on how a child’s identity is shaped by their family history and their parent’s love. The poem centres around memories and keepsakes that provide a child with context for their existence. Therefore, this section has been bullet-pointed under the following themes:
Memory and reflection
Identity
Memory and reflection
‘Origin Story’ was included in Ewing’s debut poetry and short story collection, ‘Electric Arches’, which was published in 2017
The collection is a speculative exploration of history and identity
It is considered Afrofuturist as it recasts well-known African figures:
The modern poem ‘Origin Story’ similarly blends the past and present and hints at African-American heritages
The poem is a reflection: the speaker is looking at a “comic” that is like the one their mother bought from their father when they first met:
The poem examines the significance of keepsakes kept in “attics” and “basements”
Through these keepsakes, memories of the past can be brought to life
Identity
Eve L Ewing, an American writer and professor, was born in Chicago in 1986
Her work includes several Marvel comic books, including ‘Ironheart’:
The poem ‘Origin Story' centres around a “comic book”: the speaker's parents met when their mother bought the comic their father “drew”
Ewing's collection ‘Electric Arches’ contains a section called “true stories”:
The poem ‘Origin Story' begins with the line “This is true”
It has an autobiographical tone, detailing a family’s history
Ewing’s work often explores the way places shape identities
In ‘Origin Story', Ewing’s speaker mentions that her mother and father met in “Chicago” at a “Greyhound station”
Examiner Tips and Tricks
Examiners say that it is important to focus on the specific question throughout your essay. To do this, you should include an overview of the way the two poems explore the theme in the question. In your answer, make sure to link your analytical points to this theme. Stronger answers show a perceptive understanding of the text and chose pertinent references from across the poems to support an argument. In other words, when you revise, think about how poets’ choices deliver messages and explore themes, rather than learning quotes without understanding ideas.
Linking the poems
The Eduqas GCSE English Literature exam asks you to compare two poems from the anthology. You will be given the text of one poem in the question paper, but you will need to compare this with another poem of your choice, one that comments on the particular theme in the question. It stands to reason, then, that it will be a good idea to understand your anthology poems according to their themes.
Here, you will find a guided list of poems that work well together, and how they are linked by a common theme. Do remember, though, the list below is not exhaustive and themes and ideas often overlap.
The poems you could link with Eve L Ewing's poem ‘Origin Story’ are:
‘Dusting the Phone’ by Jackie kay
‘Catrin’ by Gillian Clarke
‘Sonnet 29’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
‘I Shall Return’ by Claude McKay
‘Kamikaze’ by Beatrice Garland
‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ by William Wordsworth
‘Decomposition’ by Zulfikar Ghose
‘The Schoolboy’ by William Blake
Theme: Identity | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
‘Dusting the phone’ | ‘Catrin’ | ‘Sonnet 29’ | ‘I Shall Return’ | ‘Kamikaze’ |
Conflicted romantic relationships, sense of self based on relationships | Family identity, personal identity, growing up | Emotional conflict in romantic relationships, personal identity within the context of relationships | Personal and cultural identity, sense of self based on one’s own history | An individual’s sense of self, cultural identity, family history |
Theme: Memory and reflection | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ | ‘Decomposition’ | ‘The Schoolboy’ | ‘Kamikaze’ | ‘Sonnet 29’ |
The significance of recalling moments, the importance of introspection | Memories and imaginings that offer new perspectives | The importance of imagination in childhood, reflections on repressive, rigid systems | The power of memory to overcome indecision, the importance of imagination and reflection | Vivid imaginations of being with a loved one, the memory and fantasy of a lover |
Sources:
Poetry Anthology (C720) (opens in a new tab)
https://www.publicbooks.org/toward-the-black-girl-future/ (opens in a new tab)
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