Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Saturday, 5 September 2015
HOW DOES THE THE SPEAKER FROM 'I COME FROM' CREATE A SENSE OF IDENTITY?
In the poem 'I Come From' (Robert Seatter), the speaker begins to build up his persona with a series of language and structural techniques.
The most obvious and literal approach the speaker uses is the opening words and title of the poem, "I come from". The sheer simplicity of this line reflects his identity as your background really moulds your persona. He also uses this line to structure a somewhat chaotic self expression of his identity. This could indicate how the speaker has tried to apply this to his lifestyle as he's trying to inject some structure or form into something as turbulent as the world he lives in.
Most of the poem seems to be a collection of recalled memories, such as "I come from Chambers Etymological Dictionary" and "11+". Memories are like the foundations of who we are, they influence our actions and separate us from the rest of man kind.
However, the types of phrases that are used in the poem could apply to a lot of people and Seatter utilizes this to begin to build up a personality from a series of disconnected memories that when tied together, connect to create a rather specific yet relate-able personality.
The structure is used to further empathize the identity created by the speaker in the poem. I would describe the arrangement of the poem as a stream of conciousness and Seatter has smartly used this to grasp the concept of emotional intimacy. This is because that at times, when something is formal and purposefully structured, it takes away the freedom and expression of something or someone. Obeying rules or conforming to a set of guidelines isn't a a true reflection of who you are.
The first two lines of the poem read: "I come from a suburb waiting forever for the train to London". This is not a very specific line for someone describing their identity and could apply to anyone living in a suburb.
The word "suburb" describes a place that is neither in the city or in the country leaving a sort of unknown gap between two places. This suggests that at the start of the poem, the speaker doesn't really know who he is and the details get more definitive as we go on through the text - almost like journey.
Seatter really brings attention to the observation of trains. If the speaker is not waiting for one, indicated on the last line, he's listening to "the sound through the night of trains, trains, trains". The most critical part of information is the idea of trains starts the poem and ends the poem. This relates to the concept before that the speaker is going on a journey and whilst on it, he starts gathering and collecting memories. They start off quite vague, i.e: "graffiti, fog on the platform" to getting quite precise, such as "and a man who followed me back from the library". I think this is a perfect representation of someone going on a journey to find themselves and adds to the idea of creating, or finding your own character.
In conclusion, Seatter creates a sense of identity by using a gradual climax of specific language to paint a picture of the speakers personality. He creates a polite individual who says "please and sorry one hundred times over" and someone who is comes "from kindness".
He allows the reader to go an odyssey with the speaker and I think not only has he created the speakers identity but he also concedes the reader to create an identity too.
The most obvious and literal approach the speaker uses is the opening words and title of the poem, "I come from". The sheer simplicity of this line reflects his identity as your background really moulds your persona. He also uses this line to structure a somewhat chaotic self expression of his identity. This could indicate how the speaker has tried to apply this to his lifestyle as he's trying to inject some structure or form into something as turbulent as the world he lives in.
Most of the poem seems to be a collection of recalled memories, such as "I come from Chambers Etymological Dictionary" and "11+". Memories are like the foundations of who we are, they influence our actions and separate us from the rest of man kind.
However, the types of phrases that are used in the poem could apply to a lot of people and Seatter utilizes this to begin to build up a personality from a series of disconnected memories that when tied together, connect to create a rather specific yet relate-able personality.
The structure is used to further empathize the identity created by the speaker in the poem. I would describe the arrangement of the poem as a stream of conciousness and Seatter has smartly used this to grasp the concept of emotional intimacy. This is because that at times, when something is formal and purposefully structured, it takes away the freedom and expression of something or someone. Obeying rules or conforming to a set of guidelines isn't a a true reflection of who you are.
The first two lines of the poem read: "I come from a suburb waiting forever for the train to London". This is not a very specific line for someone describing their identity and could apply to anyone living in a suburb.
The word "suburb" describes a place that is neither in the city or in the country leaving a sort of unknown gap between two places. This suggests that at the start of the poem, the speaker doesn't really know who he is and the details get more definitive as we go on through the text - almost like journey.
Seatter really brings attention to the observation of trains. If the speaker is not waiting for one, indicated on the last line, he's listening to "the sound through the night of trains, trains, trains". The most critical part of information is the idea of trains starts the poem and ends the poem. This relates to the concept before that the speaker is going on a journey and whilst on it, he starts gathering and collecting memories. They start off quite vague, i.e: "graffiti, fog on the platform" to getting quite precise, such as "and a man who followed me back from the library". I think this is a perfect representation of someone going on a journey to find themselves and adds to the idea of creating, or finding your own character.
In conclusion, Seatter creates a sense of identity by using a gradual climax of specific language to paint a picture of the speakers personality. He creates a polite individual who says "please and sorry one hundred times over" and someone who is comes "from kindness".
He allows the reader to go an odyssey with the speaker and I think not only has he created the speakers identity but he also concedes the reader to create an identity too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)