Having been raised in a small town in Wales, Gillian Clarke captures a sense of nostalgia and almost pastoral serenity in her poetry. Her writing naturally reflects her life experiences. Topics of racism, childhood, and history reflect her own struggles with identity and culture. As a Welsh girl who could only speak English, she doubted her own acceptability and value, insecurities which reappear in her poetry. Texts like "Border" more directly deal with these issues, as the poem reflects a more mature understanding of culture and community. In England, Clarke encounters racial prejudice, which causes her to lean into her Welsh heritage even more, eliminating or at least easing her previous feeling of alienation or of being an impostor.
Clarke's poems contain nuance. Since most are relatively short, they rely upon tenuous connections to clue the reader into the scene. The poem "Polar" expresses a memory of Clarke's childhood. She describes the scene ambiguously, relying upon two words -- "long ago" -- to unlock the meaning of the poem. Without understanding these words in their context, the reader will may misinterpret the scene as a person sleeping against a literal bear.
The themes of serenity and nostalgia set the tone of Clarke's poetry. She writes about the whispers of the past in many of her poems. Examples include the childhood memory of "Polar," the student searching for a master's manuscript in "In the Reading Room," and the ghost dancers of "The Titanic." Each of these brief snapshots hearken back to the preservation of memories. As if confessing a deep need or longing for the past, Clarke describes the past exclusively in the present tense.
