Originally (SQA National 5 English): Revision Note
Exam code: X824 75
Here is a guide to Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Originally’ to help prepare you for the SQA National 5 English exam. It includes:
Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations
Writer’s methods: an exploration of Duffy’s techniques and methods
Understanding the poem: an exploration of the themes and ideas within Duffy’s poem
Linking the poems: an understanding of how ‘Originally’ connects to Duffy’s other prescribed poems for the Scottish text section
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 Carol Ann Duffy’s intention and message
‘Originally’ overview
Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Originally’ is about her childhood experience of moving with her family from Glasgow to Stafford in England. She describes her journey south and her reactions to her new home. She explores the changes caused by her displacement and reflects on how it affected her sense of identity.
‘Originally’ translation
Lines 1-3
“We came from our own country in a red room
which fell through the fields, our mother singing
our father’s name to the turn of the wheels.”
Translation
The poem begins with a description of the speaker’s train journey to her new home
The speaker’s mother tries to cheer her children up by repeating their father’s name in time with the rhythm of the train’s wheels on the track
Duffy’s intention
Duffy’s speaker refers to “our own country” to show her sense of belonging to the place they have left
The poet’s description of the “red room” (the train carriage) implies the speaker’s strong negative feelings, as the colour red often carries connotations of anger
Duffy uses alliteration in the phrase “fell through the fields” to emphasise the speaker’s lack of control, as if she were falling
Lines 4-8
“My brothers cried, one of them bawling, Home,
Home, as the miles rushed back to the city,
the street, the house, the vacant rooms
where we didn’t live any more. I stared
at the eyes of a blind toy, holding its paw.”
Translation
The speaker’s brothers share her sadness about moving
The speaker visualises the distance back to the place they have left
Instead of crying, the speaker stares at her eyeless toy
Duffy’s intention
Duffy’s repetition and capitalisation of “Home, / Home” emphasise the loss felt by the speaker and her brothers
By imagining her journey in reverse, Duffy signals her speaker’s desire to return to the place they have left
The imagery of a “blind toy” conveys the speaker’s uncertainty - she cannot see what will happen next
Lines 9-11
“All childhood is an emigration. Some are slow,
leaving you standing, resigned, up an avenue
where no one you know stays. Others are sudden.”
Translation
The speaker reflects that childhood always entails leaving something behind and coming to something else, just like emigration
Some childhood changes are “slow” and difficult to define, while other changes are “sudden”
Duffy’s intention
Duffy uses the metaphor of “all” childhood as “an emigration” to convey the universal experience of growing up and the changes that are beyond anyone’s control
Different experiences of change are contrasted; some are “slow”, but they still leave people with feelings of dislocation, like being somewhere “where no one you know” lives
The shock of unexpected changes, which are more difficult to accept or be “resigned” to, is conveyed by Duffy’s use of a short sentence: “Others are sudden”.
Lines 12-14
“Your accent wrong. Corners, which seem familiar,
leading to unimagined pebble-dashed estates, big boys
eating worms and shouting words you don’t understand.”
Translation
The speaker returns to the experience of moving away from her first home
In her new home, the speaker’s accent is different, her surroundings are unfamiliar and she doesn’t understand the habits and behaviour of the “big boys”
Duffy’s intention
Duffy reflects the speaker’s shock on finding herself in a place where her accent is “wrong” by using a short, sharp sentence
Unfamiliarity with her speaker’s new surroundings is emphasised by Duffy’s use of a long sentence, which meanders as if it has lost direction
Lines 15-16
“My parents’ anxiety stirred like a loose tooth
in my head. I want our own country, I said.”
Translation
The speaker conveys her awareness of her parents’ anxiety
She expresses her desire to be in the place they have all come from
Duffy’s intention
Duffy uses the metaphor of “a loose tooth / in my head” to convey the discomfort and constant awareness of her speaker’s parents’ anxiety
The sense of belonging to the place they have come from, rather than the place they have moved to, is emphasised by Duffy’s repetition of “our own country”
Lines 17-19
“But then you forget, or don’t recall, or change,
and, seeing your brother swallow a slug, feel only
a skelf of shame.”
Translation
The sense of belonging elsewhere is gradually eroded in different ways
The speaker sees her brother behave in the same way as the “big boys” and only feels a splinter (“skelf”) of shame that he has changed
Duffy’s intention
Duffy shows how her speaker’s sense of belonging elsewhere grows weaker as memories become fainter
The speaker feeling “only” a little ashamed of her brother illustrates her gradual adjustment to her new home
Lines 19-21
“I remember my tongue
shedding its skin like a snake, my voice
in the classroom sounding just like the rest.”
Translation
The speaker’s accent changes until it sounds like all the other children’s
Duffy’s intention
Duffy uses a natural simile, “shedding its skin like a snake”, to convey her speaker’s natural and inevitable development of a different accent
Lines 21-24
“Do I only think
I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space
and the right place? Now, Where do you come from?
strangers ask. Originally? And I hesitate.”
Translation
The speaker asks herself what she lost when she moved: was it only her geographical location, her culture, or her sense of being at home in her birthplace?
Now, when strangers ask her where she comes from “originally”, she hesitates because she is no longer certain
Duffy’s intention
Duffy’s use of the rhetorical question about what her speaker has lost highlights the sense that it wasn’t “only” the elements she identifies
Instead, what the speaker has lost is a sense of a stable identity, as Duffy shows in her hesitation when answering the question “Where do you come from / [...] Originally?”
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 ‘Originally’ and demonstrates the methods and reasons for Carol Ann Duffy’s choices of:
Form
Structure
Language
Form
‘Originally’ is an account of a life-changing event in the narrator’s life, which transformed her sense of identity.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Childhood and identity | The poem recounts the narrator’s experience of moving from Glasgow to Stafford in England as a child and how it changed her sense of identity | Duffy begins the poem with the narrator and her family travelling to their new home; this offers an immediate perspective on the narrator’s feelings about the move. The poem follows the narrator’s gradual adjustment to her new circumstances and their effect on her |
Structure
The structure of the poem illustrates the speaker’s journey, both geographically and in terms of the changes to her identity.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Change and identity | ‘Originally’ has three regular stanzas with similar line lengths:
| Duffy shows the narrator’s journey and how it brought about changes in her identity:
|
The speaker’s feelings and responses are emphasised by the structure of the poem:
| Duffy shows how her speaker’s responses alternate between shock and uncertainty at her new experiences, challenges and changing identity |
Language
Carol Ann Duffy uses vivid imagery, repetition and metaphor to present her speaker’s experience of loss and changed identity, and to project a child’s perspective.
Theme | Evidence | Poet’s intention |
|---|---|---|
Loss and identity | Vivid and emotive imagery describes how the child speaker feels about leaving her home:
| Duffy shows her speaker’s sense of powerlessness and loss during her family’s move south |
Repetition emphasises the speaker’s sense of belonging and a shared family identity:
| Duffy projects her speaker’s sense of her family’s shared identity and the loss of their shared origins | |
Duffy uses a striking metaphor to describe the inevitable loss and changes in identity entailed in growing up: “All childhood is an emigration.” | Duffy reflects on how the journey from childhood to adulthood always involves change and loss, just like emigration | |
Duffy uses imagery connoting her speaker’s altered behaviour:
| Duffy details the changes her speaker experiences and reflects on how the journey away from her original home affects her sense of identity and causes confusion over who she truly is |
Understanding the poem
Showing a clear understanding of the poem’s main ideas and themes is central to gaining good marks in your SQA National 5 English exam. Aim to demonstrate your thoughtful engagement with the way Duffy uses techniques to get her meaning across. The following main themes of ‘Originally’ are explored below:
Identity
Loss
Identity
‘Originally’ presents a vivid account of how Duffy’s move from the Gorbals in Glasgow to Staffordshire in England affected her sense of identity
Duffy shows how changes in her physical environment, the behaviour of the people around her and her accent made her lose her certainty about who she was:
She details the ways in which she often felt physically disempowered and lost, as well as estranged by her different accent
Duffy explores how growing up is an experience just like emigration, because becoming an adult means leaving behind one’s childhood identity:
In her case, the experience of exchanging one identity for another was made more intense by moving to another country
The changes to Duffy’s sense of identity are so profound that, later in her life, she experiences internal conflict or confusion when people ask her where she is from “originally”
Loss
Duffy explores the different losses involved in relocating as a child:
The loss of a familiar home, familiar streets, friends and ways of speaking and interacting
Duffy portrays her changed circumstances as a loss of family identity too:
At the beginning of the poem, she describes her family’s home in Glasgow in terms of “we” and “our”, but as she changes this sense of shared identity is lost
A sense of loss, shame and betrayal of her roots is hinted at when Duffy sees her brother adjusting to their new home and social norms:
Her use of Scottish dialect may be an attempt to reconnect with her origins and reclaim what she has lost
She associates her own changing accent with a snake, a recognised symbol of betrayal and loss
Finally, when Duffy reflects on exactly what she lost, she concludes that it was more than her homeland or culture: it was a sense of stable identity
Examiner Tips and Tricks
In the Critical Reading exam, you must write about two different genres. If you choose a Carol Ann Duffy poem for the Scottish text question (Section A), you cannot write about Duffy or any other poem in the critical essay question (Section B). Your Section B answer must be on a different genre.
Linking the poems
Students often use Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry to answer the Scottish texts section of the SQA National 5 Critical Reading exam. If you choose, though, you can write your critical essay question on Duffy’s poetry instead.
If you decide to write about Duffy for the Scottish text section, the final question asks you to demonstrate a wider understanding of her poetry. That means linking more than one poem together by focusing on her ideas and how she communicates them (her techniques).
The six poems Carol Ann Duffy poems on the SQA syllabus are:
‘Before You Were Mine’
‘Originally’
‘Mrs Midas’
‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’
‘Medusa’
‘Havisham’
Here are some parallels between the six poems, organised by shared themes:
Theme: Identity and change | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
‘Before You Were Mine’ | ‘Originally’ | ‘Mrs Midas’ | ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ | ‘Medusa’ | ‘Havisham’ |
Identity shaped by motherhood, as a once carefree woman’s sense of self is transformed by responsibility | Identity altered by childhood displacement, as migration and language loss reshape the speaker’s sense of belonging | Identity as a wife is lost and reshaped when her husband’s greed destroys their marriage | Identity develops through coming of age, as childhood innocence gives way to growing awareness | Identity becomes distorted and destructive as jealousy and self-loathing consume the speaker | Identity is consumed by betrayal, leaving the speaker trapped in bitterness and revenge |
Theme: Loss | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
‘Before You Were Mine’ | ‘Originally’ | ‘Mrs Midas’ | ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ | ‘Medusa’ | ‘Havisham’ |
Loss of youth, freedom and time; a daughter mourns the mother’s lost self | Loss of homeland, language, and sense of identity | Loss of love, intimacy, and trust through greed and regret | Loss of innocence as the child transitions to adulthood | Loss of love and humanity as jealousy consumes the speaker | Loss of love and sanity following rejection and isolation |
Theme: Relationships | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
‘Before You Were Mine’ | ‘Originally’ | ‘Mrs Midas’ | ‘In Mrs Tilscher’s Class’ | ‘Medusa’ | ‘Havisham’ |
Mother–daughter relationship shaped by love and sacrifice, as the daughter reflects on her mother’s lost independence | Family relationships are challenged by migration, cultural change and emotional distance | A marital relationship is destroyed as greed leads to emotional separation and regret | A supportive teacher–pupil relationship provides care and guidance during childhood | A romantic relationship is corrupted by jealousy, suspicion and obsession | A relationship defined by betrayal leaves the speaker trapped in bitterness and emotional fixation |
Sources:
‘Originally’ by Carol Ann Duffy (opens in a new tab)
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