The poem Feliks Skrzynecki by Peter Skrzynecki deals with the results of migration and the consequences this has on both the composer and his father. That is conveyed through the shade of admiration of the persona towards his father traditions and the composer's own inability to retain his original ethnical heritage.
The poem conveys the isolation of the composer from his own backdrop and his failing to connect with his father's Polish culture. The imagery in "His Polish friends always shook hands too violently", an archetypal Polish characteristic, creates a feeling of unfamiliarity and alienation from the customs of Polish traditions which is reinforced in "that formal address I never acquired used to", suggesting a lack of cultural understanding and knowledge for him to affiliate with fellow Polish men. Thus, it is inescapable that he's drawn closer to the culture of Australia and is becoming more distant from his own traditions. This is evident in "I forgot my first Polish word", evoking a sense of cultural loss and his failing to preserve his original words. Through the metaphor, "Further and further south of Hadrian's Wall", the poet is moving away from the northern Western european culture and even more on the southern Australian culture.
In compare to Peter Skrzynecki, the father's individuality is established in the intro of this poem when he "held pace only with the Joneses", the utilization of Australian jargon to imply too little connection and effort to participate in the Australian community. His encounters in Europe are mutually exclusive within fellow Polish migrants and "they reminisced" and hook up with their earlier familiarities of the land they result from. The cultural barrier "Did your father ever attempt to learn English?" excludes Feliks Skrzynecki from Australian culture, however, not surprisingly challenge, he's "Happy as I have never been", in contrast to his son. The simile "like a dumb prophet" suggests that the father is unable to protect his son's ethnical history as the inescapable cultural assimilation converts Peter Skrzynecki to the practices and norms of Australian heritage.
St Patrick's College
Poem:
Impressed by the uniforms
Of her employer's sons,
Mother enrolled me at St Pat's
With never a thought
To fees and expenses - looking only
"That which was best".
From the roof
Of the secondary school block
Our Girl watched
With outstretched forearms,
Her face overshadowed by clouds.
Mother crossed herself
As she still left me at the office -
Said a prayer
For my future motives.
Under the principal's window
I caught up pine needles
Into the motto
On my breast:
Luceat Lux Vestra
I thought was a make of soap.
For eight years
I walked Strathfield's pathways and streets,
Played chasings up and down
The station's ten ramps -
Caught the 414 bus
Like a overseas tourist,
Uncertain of my destination
Every time I got off.
For eight years
I carried the blue, dark-colored and gold
I'd been privileged to wear:
Learnt my conjunctions
And Religious decorums for home work,
Was never too smart at science
But good at spelling;
Could say The Lord's Prayer
In Latin, all in a single breath.
My previous day there
Mass was offered up
For our departing intentions,
Our Female still watching
Above, unchanged by eight years' weather.
With shut eyes
I fervently counted
The seventy-eight pages
Of my Venite Adoremus
Saw equations I never understood
Rubbed off of the blackboard,
Voices at bus stops, litanies and hymns
Taking the right-hand turn
Out of Edgar Neighborhood for good;
Prayed that Mom would someday be pleased
With what she'd received on her behalf money -
That the darkness around me
Wasn't "to discover the best"
Before I let my light glimmer.
Analysis: (Yet to be checked)
Peter Skrzynecki's poem St Patrick's College conveys the alienation and isolation the narrator experiences during his years in a Catholic senior high school. The poet is initially greeted with "outstretched arms", a graphic of nurture and embracement, however, the following implication of the metaphor "Her face overshadowed by clouds" contradicts the welcoming gesture, acting as an ominous foreshadowing of Skrzynecki's future activities and the advice of a hurdle to belonging. This sense of disconnection is further expanded to his activities travelling to college within modern culture through the simile "such as a foreign traveler, Uncertain of my destination", likening his isolation to that of a foreign tourist who is uncertain and new of this place from which he can perform a feeling of security. Through the repetition of "For eight years", the amount of time is emphasised and gives the impression of his isolation being everlasting and ideas at his fighting of these years.
The poet's does not feel any attachment or need for his religious beliefs to his sense of owed. The image of the religious content material "I fervently counted the seventy-eight web pages of my Venite Adoremus" implies the unimportance of his religious education and the adjective "fervently" is ironic as it has connotations of trust and spiritual link with the catholic prices. These experiences allows Skrzynecki to question the benefits associated with a repeated and demanding Catholic education and this is highlighted in "Could say The Lord's Prayer, all in one breath", a meaningless accomplishment to express the poet's insufficient engagement with his religious education.
Towards the conclusion of the poem, the expression "Out of Edgar Road for good" implies a sense of relief and comfort experienced by Skrzynecki. His sarcastic attitude to his mother that she "would someday be pleased" with what "wasn't 'for the best'" discloses the failing of her motives for Skrzynecki to belong in university and shows that her efforts to match into culture "Of her employer's" are meaningless. The reference to the institution through the imagery of "darkness" has implications of isolation and despair experienced by the composer. This is contrasted with "I let my light sparkle" indicating that a sense of belonging is only achieved through independence and lack from university, the establishment and religion.
Ancestors
Poem:
Who are these shadows
That hangover you in a dream-
The bearded, faceless men
Standing shoulder to shoulder?
What secrets
Do they whisper into the darkness-
Why do their eyes
Never close?
Where do they point to
From the group around you-
To what star
Do their footprints lead?
Behind them are
Mountains, the tones of your river,
A moonlit plain
Of grasses and fine sand.
Why do they
Never speak-how long
Is their hang on to be?
Why would you wake
As their encounters become clearer-
Your tongue dry
As caked mud?
From over the plain
Where fine sand and grasses never stir
The wind flavor of bloodstream.
Analysis: (Okay)
In Skrzynecki's poem Ancestors, the speaker questions about his earlier traditions, its importance and his connection to it and makes an attempt to find meaning and goal in his ancestry. Through the entire poem, the composer uses some rhetorical questions to mention his disconnection from days gone by. The frequent use of what "these", "they" and "them" establishes the speaker's sense of alienation. He's someone set aside from "them" and he will not participate in "their" world.
The ancestors are joined up with as peers who support each other, position "shoulder to shoulder", yet they are simply referred to as "faceless", conveying a feeling of anonymity and recommending the poet's failing in discovering their identity. The thought of secrecy and intrigue within the band of ancestors with the utilization the question "What secrets do they whisper" indicating the composer's isolation from his traditions. Skrzynecki questions his lack of verbal communication along with his traditions which is apparent in "Why do they never speak" recommending disconnection from the family's recent. The poet's disappointment and annoyance is clear when he wakes "as their encounters become clearer", in the same way he is beginning to understand and find out the identities of his earlier ancestors.
The ancestors are referred to as "shadows", a phrase heavy with connotations, clues at the potential that the speaker's ancestors have to affect his psyche, and set up a negative and threatening build. To him they can be alien and difficult to recognize with. Through the alliteration, duplicating the "s" sound, to emphasise the eerie shade and the set up atmosphere. That is reinforced through the surroundings imagery, "mountains, the sound of the river, a moonlit plain of grasses and fine sand" where the use of "moonlight rather than sunlight increases the tone off unknown, intrigue and eeriness. This imagery is pointed out at the conclusion of the poem and resolves this poet's turmoil and internal turmoil with the suggestion that the ancestors and Skrzynecki are linked by the breeze and the "wind tastes of blood" conveys the idea of a blood connection to his ancestors.
10 Mary Street
Poem:
For nineteen years
We departed
Each morning hours, shut the house
Like a well-oiled lock,
Hit the key
Under a rusty bucket:
To school and work -
Over that still too-narrow bridge,
Around the factory
That was always using down.
Back at 5p. m.
From the polite hum-drum
Of cleaning clothes
And laying sewerage pipes,
My parents watered
Plants - grew potatoes
And rows of great corn:
Tended roses and camellias
Like followed children
Home from institution earlier
I'd ravage the backyard garden
Like a famished bird-
Until, bursting at the seams
Of me little blue
St Patrick's College or university cap,
I'd swear to stay off
Strawberries and peas permanently.
The house stands
In its china-blue coating -
With color guaranteed
For another ten years.
Lawns expand across
Dug-up beds of
Spinach, carrots and tomato.
(The whole block
Has been gazetted for industry).
For nineteen years
We lived alongside one another -
Kept pre-war European countries alive
With images and letters,
Heated with discussion
And embracing gestures:
Visitors that ate
Kielbasa, sodium herrings
And rye bakery, drank
Raw vodka or cherry brandy
And smoked like
A dozen Puffing Billies
Naturalized more
Then ten years ago
We became individuals of the soil
That was feeding us -
Inheritors of your key
That'll open no house
When that one is taken down.
Analysis: (Yet to be examined)
Despite the negative belief of belonging that is portrayed in his other works, the poem 10 Mary Avenue by Peter Skrzynecki embraces the comfort and intimacy gained from distributed experiences and shared support within the cultural group. That is conveyed through the recounts of his encounters living within the security of the composer's house and the cultural connections associated of their own environment.
The poet presents the "house" as a metaphor for the security and security it offers while the culture and worth of Skrzynecki's traditions are shared within the members of the household. This coverage is strengthened through the imagery of the "rusty bucket" to shelter the family from the social isolation of the Australian community. Through the simile "Like a well-oiled lock" a sense of familiarity is conveyed and gives the impression of an close attachment with their home. The juxtaposition of the "polite humdrum of cleaning clothes" and the simile "I'd ravage the backdrop garden like a hungry parrot" the connection between the house and the residents is highlighted, creating images of nourishment and conversation with the environment they have a home in. Reinforcing this idea, the personification in "That was feeding us" shows that the composer's house has nurtured and reinforced the family, providing refuge and comfort from the alienation and unfamiliarity of the exterior world.
Within the confinements of their residence, the conversation and camaraderie of the Polish family provides impressions of love and support, providing the responder positive images of connection and belonging. They are able to connect with each other and sympathise and "live together", keeping the thoughts, norms and prices of "pre-war Europe alive", which hints at lack of former polish traditions. Throughout the images of "Heated conversations" and the reciprocating of "embracing gestures", Skrzynecki expresses the passion and comfort experienced by the family and this is reinforced through the listing of Polish foods "Kielbasa, sodium herrings and rye breads, drank raw vodka or cherry brandy" which creates pleasant images of enjoyment and happiness distributed within the family. However, they are more "naturalized" and "citizens of the soil" suggesting their adaption into Australian culture and expressing the inevitability of the shift using their company original European traditions and the long lasting positive experiences of their house.
Migrant Hostel
Poem:
No one maintained count
Of all the comings and goings -
Arrivals of newcomers
In busloads from the station,
Sudden departments from adjoining blocks
That still left us wondering
Who would be coming next.
Nationalities sought
Each other out instinctively -
Like a homing pigeon
Circling to get its bearings;
Years and place-names
Recognised by accents,
Partitioned off at night
By recollections of being hungry and hate.
For over two years
We lived like birds of passing -
Always sensing a change
In the elements:
Unaware of the season
Whose track we would follow.
A barrier at the key gate
Sealed off of the highway
From our doorstep -
As it rose and fell such as a finger
Pointed in reprimand or shame;
And daily we passed
Underneath or alongside it -
Needing its sanction
To pass in and out of lives
That experienced only begun
Or were dying.
Analysis: (needs fixing)
Skrzynecki's poem Migrant Hostel unveils the necessity to assimilate into a foreign environment to flee the alienation and isolation suffered by the migrants during the post-war period. That is characterised by the composer's shade of disorientation, evoking a feeling of insecurity and is reinforced through the disposition of disappointment and captivity.
The idea of belonging is immediately released in the beginning, creating a sense of impermanence and dislocation. This is noticeable in "busloads" which is suggestive not only of large numbers, but of anonymity. The assonance in "comings and goings" creates a recurring image of movement and the repetition of the "ing" audio emphasises the doubt characterised through this continual movements.
A positive view of belonging is offered as highlighted in "Nationalities wanted one another out, instinctively" emphasising that connection is achieved through common culture and traditions. This is described through the simile "Like a homing pigeon" conveying the desire of comfort and mutual support that can limit the negative experiences in the migrant hostel and allows for a sense of owed and unity.
However, regardless of the associations within the migrant hostel, there are road blocks that prevent the migrants from owned by mainstream population. The simile "we resided like birds of passing" creates an image of migratory birds that are "unaware of the growing season whose keep track of we follow" and therefore, is unfamiliar to the new environment and are constantly searching for a location to belong. This establishes a sense of dislocation and uncertainty encircling where they belong and if indeed they will achieve a feeling of owed.
The "barrier at the primary gate" symbolises isolation from the outside world and functions as the obstacle to belonging. This isolation is emphasised through the image of the "highway" which symbolises their only way to connect into mainstream world. With the simile "rose and fell just like a finger" the barrier functions as a reminder they are not welcome in to the Australian community despite moving "Underneath or alongside it".
Postcard
Poem:
1
A post card sent with a friend
Haunts me
Since its arrival -
Warsaw: Panorama of the Old Town.
He demands I show it
To my parents.
Red buses on the bridge
Emerging from a place -
High-rise flats and something
Like a area borders
The river using its concrete pylons.
The sky's the brightest shade.
2
Warsaw, Old Town,
I never knew you
Except in the 3rd person -
Great city
That bombs damaged,
Its people massacred
Or exiled - You survived
In the minds
Of a dying generation
Half a world away.
They shelter you
And protect the patterns
Of your remaking,
Condemn your politics,
Cherish your old religion
And drink to freedom
Under the White Eagle's flag.
For as soon as,
I do it again, I never realized you,
Let me be.
I've seen red buses
Elsewhere
And all rivers have
An obstinate glare.
My father
Will be proud
Of your domes and towers,
My mother
Will talk about her
Beloved Ukraine.
What's my choice
To be?
I can give you
The recognition
Of eyesight and praise.
What more
Do you want
Besides
The gift of despair?
3
I stare
At the photograph
And won't answer
The voices
Of red gables
And a cloudless sky.
On the river's bank
A lone tree
Whispers:
"We will meet
Before you pass away. "
Analysis: (Yet to be checked)
The poem Postcard by Peter Skrzynecki expresses the amount of resistance of the composer to hook up with days gone by history and culture of his Western background and distances himself from the thoughts of his experiences in Warsaw. The "postcard" functions as a result in to his reminiscences to mention his failure to understand and form an mental connection to his host to origin, leading to his refusal "to answer the voices" of the postcard.
By looking at the postcard that was delivered by his friend, the composer confronts issues of cultural identification and his battles in deducing the importance of the "Old Town" in his life. The use of emotive terminology in "Haunts me" is unsettling and shows that he has received a memoire that is undesired, indicating his disconnection from his culture. The universal report on "Red buses" and "high-rise flats", the utilization of fragmentary phrases establishes a lack of connections and mental link or meaning. Reinforcing this, the personification in "I never realized you except in third person" and the repetition of the phrase "I never realized you" shows that he's distanced from Warsaw and there is a lack of personal attachment to the area. Likewise, he is unable to belong anywhere else through the implications of the rhetorical question "What's my choice to be?" evoking a firmness of uncertainty and this is backed through another rhetorical question "What more would you like besides the gift of despair?", conveying his depression from his failing to achieve a sense of owned by culture and places beyond Warsaw.
In contrast to Skryznecki's need to alienate from Warsaw, the sender's need to "show it to my (Skrzynecki's) parents" suggests that memory prompted by the postcard allows the composer's parents to value and connect with the history and culture of the European source. The poet's mom and dad are representations of "a dying technology" and that Warsaw "survived in the thoughts" of the earlier generation, leading to connections to Western european history and culture. That is reinforced through the father's glorifications of Europe's "domes and towers" and the mother's "Beloved Ukraine" to emphasise their psychological link and connection and the advice of their embrace and preservation with their traditional history and culture.
In the Folk Museum
Poem:
A darkness in the rooms
Betrays the lack of voices,
Departing from steps
And veranda rails -
Onto a neighborhood leading around Autumn
Which stands at the door
Dressed in yellowish and brown.
I check out words
That describe equipment, clothes, travel,
A Victorian Bedroom -
Hay blade, draining plough,
Shoulder yoke, package iron:
Relics from a Tablelands heritage
To remind me of a past
Which isn't mine.
The caretaker sits
Beside a winnowing machine
And knits without looking up -
Her hair's the same colour
As the greyish clay bottle
That's frigid as water to touch.
In the city Hall next door
They sing to Christ -
Of the Sabbath Day and the continuing future of Man
I make an effort to memorize
The titles of books
While "Eternity, Eternity"
Is repeated from a reader's text.
The wind flow taps hurriedly
On the rooftop and walls
And I leave without desiring your final look.
At the entranceway the old woman's hand
Touches mine
"Would you please sign the Visitor's Publication?"
Analysis: (Yet to be checked)
Peter Skrzynecki recalls feelings of alienation and cultural isolation as he reminisces on his encounters in his poem Within the folk museum and expresses his failing to hook up to Australia's rural history and heritage. The composer struggles to relate with the memorabilia within the museum, and for that reason, his presence in the museum lacks goal and becomes meaningless. The atmosphere is presented with "the absence of voices" creating a feeling of silence and stillness recommending the persona is deserted within the "darkness" of the museum.
The disjointed listing of displayed items in "machinery, clothes, carry, a Victorian Bedroom" advises a lack of engagement and gratitude of things of ethnical importance. Rather than artefacts of historical value, they are merely "Relics" that are irrelevant and insignificant to the Polish background of Skrzynecki. These items symbolically represent "a history which isn't mine" conveying his social detachment and disassociation with the Australian culture. Reinforcing this cultural barrier to belonging, the caretaker is illustrated through the image in "her hair's the same colour as the greyish clay container" and the sensory "cold as drinking water", she appears distant and unapproachable, a representation of Australian contemporary society.
In contrast, the positive depiction of a religious congregation in "they sing to Christ" creates an atmosphere of religious support and unity. However, the excluding pronoun "They" functions to split up and isolate the poet from the community.
Despite his initiatives for connecting, the repetition "Eternity, Eternity" creates a feel of everlasting separation through the frequent failure to correlate with population. The personification "wind taps hurriedly" creates a feeling of urgency and a prefer to leave. Thus, the poet has resigned from wanting to belong, he realises that it's meaningless and leaves "without seeking your final look". The unexpected confronting "touch" of the caretaker serves as your final hope for owed, however, this hope is dashed by the culturally alien demand "visitor" exposing that as a visitor, he has never connected with the historical and social displays of the folk museum and will continually be isolated from the mainstream Australian society.
