In contrast, ‘My Gran Visits England’ seems to have an even lighter tone as ‘Gran’ is just a visitor to England and Grace Nichols is simply showing ‘Gran’s’ naivete at being in a new country.
‘She’d hardly put her suitcase down
When she began a digging spree
Out in the back garden
To see what she could see’
Here the rhyming tone suggests ‘Gran’s’ simpler perspective. She thinks you can tell what a place is like by digging up the soil. As a visitor she only sees the outside shell of the country and can’t dig deep enough to find out what the country is really like. She is eager to have her photo taken by ‘a rose’ which is a symbol of England, but she doesn’t seem to notice as ‘a slug passed by her toes’, (which could symbolise the ugly part of the country that she doesn’t see) which again suggests her enthusiasm at visiting a new country.
Finally, ‘Island Man’, has a much more depressing tone compared with the others. The man’s feeling of alienation seems to be much stronger here and he has a bigger struggle to simply get out of bed on a day to day basis.
‘Island man heaves himself
Another London day’
The word “heaves” is a key word in this quote as it conveys a struggle, a chore and almost a great boredom. “Another” also shows boredom and a chore - each day for Island Man is exactly the same as the previous one. As in “Wherever I Hang” there is a feeling of loneliness and a wanting to go back home in “Island Man”. This is conveyed through the nostalgia Island Man feels for his Island and Environment, especially as he wakes up every morning thinking about the sound of the “blue surf” and the “sun surfacing defiantly”. This suggests that the rhythm of the sea is still part of his roots and that he misses it – especially in contrast to ‘dull North Circular roar’.
The imagery and symbols Grace Nichols uses in the poems also show the difference between the two cultures and reinforce the theme of immigrants feeling ‘torn’. In ‘Wherever I Hang’ ‘de humming-bird splendour’ and ‘my calypso ways’ are warm and colourful images which contrast with ‘de misty greyness’ of England. The image of people ‘pouring from the de underground like beans’ is a wonderful simile that suggests crowding and lack of space in contrast to the images of sea and space which are associated with the Caribbean in the poems. Like ‘Wherever I Hang’ the ‘blue surf’ and the ‘small emerald island’ in ‘Island Man’ also show the colourful side of the Caribbean in contrast to the ‘grey metallic soar to surge of wheels’ in ‘Another London day’.
In each of these three poems, Grace Nichols has used structure to convey each character’s state of mind and to reinforce the already discussed themes of alienation and enthusiasm.
For example, “Island Man”, as mentioned already, is a very lonely and depressed character. This fact is enhanced by the confusing structure of the poem, as it doesn’t seem to have much of one. What structure there is, is very loose. It seems like “Island Man” could possibly be just a dream or thought in the character’s head that he has had in his confusion.
5 Lines
3 Lines
3 Lines VERY LOOSE STRUCTURE
4 Lines
3 Lines
1 Line
The poem “My Gran Visits England” however has a very clear structure; it has four lines in each verse and a couplet at the end. Grace Nichols could be trying to show that the “Gran” is very content and happy with where she is and is definitely not as confused (if she is confused at all) as “Island Man”.
4 Lines
4 Lines
4 Lines
4 Lines MUCH MORE ORGANISED STRUCTURE
4 Lines
4 Lines
2 Lines
Grace Nichols has presented the idea that “Island Man” is having a bad time where he is living and his thoughts are very confusing and incomplete almost as if he is panicking. He really knows what England is like as he has lived there for a while, whereas “Gran” is simply visiting and does not know what the country is really like. Maybe this is why she is so happy at staying.
The structure for “Wherever I Hang” tells us a lot about the poem. It has two verses, the first with 15 lines and the second with 13 lines. It then finishes with an important couplet and then a fairly humourous line to finish. The long verses at the beginning show that the lady coming to live in England is so shocked about the country she has to spread all the things she has to say about it into 2 long verses. The first verse tells us what she sees and feels in England and the second tells us how she is changing. The final couplet tells us what she feels about her move to England. This is a very important couplet as is the one in “My Gran Visits England” and the last line in “Island Man” as they all tell us a lot about the character. The last line in “Island Man” really seems to enhance his boredom. The ending couplet in “My Gran” again shows her naivete just to make sure you noticed it earlier on in the poem. Finally the couplet in “Wherever I Hang” just proves how surprised the woman is about England and tells us that she wants to go home.
Grace Nichols has made the reader (me) feel a range of emotions in these three poems. When I first read ‘Wherever I Hang’ I felt quite confused about the poem and I had to read it two or three times before I really understood it. When I eventually did understand it I felt very sorry for the woman in the poem as it seems to me she is sad she has left her ‘Calypso ways for the ‘English life’.
“I still miss back-home side”…
“Yes divided to de ocean Divided to de bone”
The first quote tells me that she still misses her old home in the Caribbean and has a longing to go back home. The second quote says to me that now she has left her home she feels confused and ‘divided’ even her supports have been damaged.
“Island Man” is also quite a sad poem and I understood it the first time I read it. I think it is more depressing than “Wherever I Hang” as “Island Man” has lived there for quite a long time now so he really does miss his “emerald island”. He still dreams about his old home and this for me makes it sadder because his beautiful dream always gets interrupted by the “dull north circular roar”.
“He always comes back…groggily groggily
Comes back to sands
Of a grey metallic soar
To a surge of wheels
To a dull north circular roar.”
This quote is showing us the man waking up in the morning and how he always comes back, he never gets to stay at his island. All the beautiful sand turns grey and metallic as he wakes up to “Another London day”. I feel very sorry for the man as I imagine it is probably like the feeling you get when you wan to go back after coming back from a holiday, except much worse.
I smile when I read “My Gran” because I get a real feeling of understanding as “Gran” reminds me of my own gran. I can relate to the annoyance that the grandchild gets at her grans naivete.
“She’d hardly put her suitcase
when she began a digging spree
Out in the back garden
To see what she could see”
This really enhances the grans naivete as she thinks you can tell what a place is like by digging up the earth. This makes me fell quite happy and want to smile as it reminds me so much of my own Gran.
