The second stanza describes the new way of living that they must adapt to. This stanza is more direct. It uses simple, short sentences, for example, “Others are sudden. Your accent wrong.” The language also becomes uglier, as Duffy says that she saw “big boys eating worms”. This shows us her unpleasant reaction to her new, strange surroundings. Duffy describes her parents’ anxiety with a simile, comparing it with the stirring of a loose tooth. This shows the uneasiness of their situation. Stanza two ends with Duffy repeating that she wants to return back to her own country. It seems that they have moved from a place that is familiar, warm, and secure, to a place which feels unfamiliar, foreign, and hostile.
The beginning of stanza three, immediately gives us the impression that they have adapted to the new country, and that she doesn’t like it. “But then you forget, or don’t recall, or change” this quotation shows the poet’s sense of self-doubt. She is disappointed that they are easily blending in this new place, and forgetting their culture, their accent, and everything about where they originally belong. The alliteration in “seeing you brother swallow a slug, feeling only a skelf of shame”, shows that the writer is angry that her brother is trying to blend into his new surrounding, by copying their disgusting habits. The rhyme of “first space” and “the right place” explains that the first space, which is where they are originally from, is where they are supposed to be.
Carol Ann Duffy says that now, if she is asked “where do you come from?” she hesitates, and asks: “Originally?” This is a very suitable ending for this poem, as it shows that she has a crisis of identity. She does not know who she is or where she belongs any more.
The tone of this poem all the way through seems to show a sense of depression and regret for the poet. She does not like her new life, and is longing to return back to her old home, where she knew everything around her, and she felt safe in her surroundings.
I feel sympathy towards Duffy, because I know the feeling of having to leave my home country that I have spent my whole life in. It was not a pleasant feeling, but I had no choice. I felt that everything around me was different, and that everything was wrong, and this is what Duffy feels here.
