Belonging
- Submitted by: maryannesmith
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- Category: English: Poetic Works
- Date Submitted: 03/18/2016 09:45 PM
- Pages: 3
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person belongs wherever he or she chooses. Discuss with relation to the texts that you have studied, and at least 1 supplementary text.
Our idea of belonging and affinity is a result of the choices that we make. We feel a sense of acceptance wherever we choose to belong. This is explored in Peter Skrzynecki’s poems Feliks Skrzynecki and 10 Mary St, through the poet’s depiction of the relationship between his father and himself. SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS…
It is only through our own personal choice that we choose to belong, or in some cases, not belong.
Skrzynecki’s poem Feliks Skrzynecki explores the concept of belonging, highlighting that man has the choice to include himself in a community, or to live in isolation. Through the cultural independence of his father, the poet underlines man’s choice in whether he belongs or not. The garden, “loved like an only child”, is a symbol for Poland, the homeland of the persona’s father. His powerful, almost familial affinity with his homeland underlines his choice to not accept Australian culture, but instead to seek solace in his own world. This attachment, as the audience is told that the poet’s father has “swept its [the garden’s] paths ten times around the world.” Such hyperbole emphasizes Feliks’ strong connection with his garden: it is the only place in his world in which he truly belongs. Feliks is juxtaposed with his son, who begins to lose touch with his father’s culture. The persona, while “stumbling over tenses in Caesar’s Gallic War…forgot his first Polish word”. The Polish language is a motif for his belonging in his father’s world: the persona has begun to lose touch with his culture, and has chosen to belong in Australian culture. He is moving “further and further south of Hadrian’s Wall”, a historical allusion which is symbolic of the cultural barrier between the persona and his father. The further the persona immerses himself in Australian culture, the more disasscosciated he is...
Our idea of belonging and affinity is a result of the choices that we make. We feel a sense of acceptance wherever we choose to belong. This is explored in Peter Skrzynecki’s poems Feliks Skrzynecki and 10 Mary St, through the poet’s depiction of the relationship between his father and himself. SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS…
It is only through our own personal choice that we choose to belong, or in some cases, not belong.
Skrzynecki’s poem Feliks Skrzynecki explores the concept of belonging, highlighting that man has the choice to include himself in a community, or to live in isolation. Through the cultural independence of his father, the poet underlines man’s choice in whether he belongs or not. The garden, “loved like an only child”, is a symbol for Poland, the homeland of the persona’s father. His powerful, almost familial affinity with his homeland underlines his choice to not accept Australian culture, but instead to seek solace in his own world. This attachment, as the audience is told that the poet’s father has “swept its [the garden’s] paths ten times around the world.” Such hyperbole emphasizes Feliks’ strong connection with his garden: it is the only place in his world in which he truly belongs. Feliks is juxtaposed with his son, who begins to lose touch with his father’s culture. The persona, while “stumbling over tenses in Caesar’s Gallic War…forgot his first Polish word”. The Polish language is a motif for his belonging in his father’s world: the persona has begun to lose touch with his culture, and has chosen to belong in Australian culture. He is moving “further and further south of Hadrian’s Wall”, a historical allusion which is symbolic of the cultural barrier between the persona and his father. The further the persona immerses himself in Australian culture, the more disasscosciated he is...