“Originally” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Originally”

“Originally” Summary

“Originally” Themes

• 

  The Pain of Growing Up

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-24
• 

  Emigration and Identity

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-24

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Originally”

• Lines 1-3

  We came from ...
  ... of the wheels.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-8

  My brothers cried, ...
  ... holding its paw.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-11

  All childhood is ...
  ... you know stays.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-14

  Others are sudden. ...
  ... you don’t understand.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-16

  My parents’ anxiety ...
  ... , I said.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-19

  But then you ...
  ... skelf of shame.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-21

  I remember my ...
  ... like the rest.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  Do I only ...
  ... And I hesitate.

  

  

  

  

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“Originally” Symbols

• 

  Snakes

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 19-21: “I remember my tongue / shedding its skin like a snake, my voice / in the classroom sounding just like the rest.”
• 

  Rivers

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 21-23: “Do I only think / I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space / and the right place?”
• 

  The Blind Toy

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 7-8: “I stared / at the eyes of a blind toy, holding its paw.”

“Originally” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “came,” “country,” “red room”
  • Line 2: “fell,” “fields”
  • Line 3: “father’s,” “to,” “turn”
  • Line 4: “brothers,” “bawling”
  • Line 5: “city”
  • Line 6: “street”
  • Line 9: “Some,” “slow”
  • Line 13: “big,” “boys”
  • Line 14: “worms,” “words”
  • Line 18: “seeing,” “swallow,” “slug”
  • Line 19: “skelf”
  • Line 20: “skin,” “snake”
  • Line 22: “speech,” “sense”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “fields”
  • Line 3: “wheels”
  • Line 8: “eyes,” “blind”
  • Line 11: “no,” “know,” “Others,” “sudden”
  • Line 14: “worms,” “words”
  • Line 15: “loose,” “tooth”
  • Line 16: “head,” “said”
  • Line 17: “then,” “forget,” “change”
  • Line 18: “brother,” “slug”
  • Line 19: “shame”
  • Line 20: “its,” “skin,” “snake”
  • Line 22: “space”
  • Line 23: “place”
  • Line 24: “strangers,” “hesitate”

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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  Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “which fell through the fields, our mother singing”
  • Lines 5-7: “the city, / the street, the house, the vacant rooms / where we didn’t live any more.”
  • Lines 13-14: “leading to unimagined pebble-dashed estates, big boys / eating worms”
  • Lines 20-21: “shedding its skin like a snake, my voice / in the classroom”
  • Lines 21-23: “Do I only think / I lost a river, culture, speech, sense of first space / and the right place? ”

• Colloquialism

  

  

  

  

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  Where colloquialism appears in the poem:

  • 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.”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2: “room / which”
  • Lines 2-3: “singing / our”
  • Lines 6-7: “rooms / where”
  • Lines 7-8: “stared / at”
  • Lines 10-11: “avenue / where”
  • Lines 13-14: “boys / eating”
  • Lines 15-16: “tooth / in”
  • Lines 18-19: “only / a”
  • Lines 19-20: “tongue / shedding”
  • Lines 20-21: “voice / in”
  • Lines 21-22: “think / I”
  • Lines 22-23: “space / and”

• Sibilance

  

  

  

  

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  Where sibilance appears in the poem:

  • Line 9: “Some,” “slow”
  • Line 10: “standing”
  • Line 11: “stays”
  • Line 18: “seeing,” “swallow,” “slug”
  • Line 19: “skelf,” “shame”
  • Line 20: “shedding its skin,” “snake,” “voice”
  • Line 21: “classroom sounding just,” “rest”
  • Line 22: “lost,” “speech,” “sense,” “first space”
  • Line 23: “place”
  • Line 24: “strangers ask”

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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  Where metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-3: “a red room / which fell through the fields, our mother singing / our father’s name to the turn of the wheels.”
  • Line 9: “All childhood is an emigration.”

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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  Where repetition appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “our own country”
  • Lines 4-5: “Home / , / Home / ,”
  • Line 16: “our own country”
  • Line 17: “But then you forget, or don’t recall, or change,”

• Simile

  

  

  

  

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  Where simile appears in the poem:

  • Lines 15-16: “My parents’ anxiety stirred like a loose tooth / in my head.”
  • Lines 19-21: “I remember my tongue / shedding its skin like a snake, my voice / in the classroom sounding just like the rest.”

“Originally” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Bawling
• Vacant
• Emigration
• Resigned
• Estates
• Pebble-dashed
• Skelf

• (Location in poem: Lines 4-5: “My brothers cried, one of them / , / Home / , / Home / , ”; Line 4: “bawling”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Originally”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Originally” Speaker

“Originally” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Originally”

More “Originally” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Short Biography — Read about Carol Ann Duffy's life and work, and find links to more of her poems.

  • Duffy's Coronavirus Poetry Project — Learn about Duffy's initiative to collect poetry about the pandemic.

  • A Reading of Another of Duffy's Poems — Read an analysis of another of Duffy's poems, "Vocation," which asks questions about autobiographical poetry—some of which might be relevant to "Originally," too!

  • An Interview with Duffy — Listen to Duffy give an interview about her position as British Poet Laureate. She was the first (and so far, the only) woman elected to the role.

  • In the Poet's Voice — Watch Duffy perform her own poetry.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Carol Ann Duffy

  • A Child's Sleep

  • Anne Hathaway

  • Before You Were Mine

  • Circe

  • Death of a Teacher

  • Demeter

  • Education For Leisure

  • Elvis's Twin Sister

  • Eurydice

  • Foreign

  • Havisham

  • Head of English

  • In Mrs Tilscher’s Class

  • In Your Mind

  • Little Red Cap

  • Mean Time

  • Medusa

  • Mrs Aesop

  • Mrs Darwin

  • Mrs Faust

  • Mrs Icarus

  • Mrs Lazarus

  • Mrs Midas

  • Mrs Sisyphus

  • Penelope

  • Pilate's Wife

  • Pope Joan

  • Prayer

  • Pygmalion's Bride

  • Queen Herod

  • Quickdraw

  • Recognition

  • Salome

  • Standing Female Nude

  • Stealing

  • The Darling Letters

  • The Dolphins

  • The Good Teachers

  • Thetis

  • Valentine

  • Warming Her Pearls

  • War Photographer

  • We Remember Your Childhood Well

  • Work