Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The speaker of the poem is poet herself
Point of view: first person
Form and Meter
free verse
Metaphors and Similes
"wide-eyed Eng Lit type
from a sun-scalded colony"
-referring to the Welsh critic whom she addresses
Alliteration and Assonance
"from a sun-scalded colony"-repetition of /s/
Irony
The entire poem is an ironic response to a critic who questions the poet's cultural identity:
"Stamp my papers,
lease me a new anxiety,
grant me a visa
to the country of my birth."
Genre
lyric poetry
Setting
N/A
Tone
cynical, ironic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: the speaker of the poem/poet herself; Antagonist: Welsh critic/western society
Major Conflict
The Welsh critic believes he knows the poet without actually knowing her, his knowledge is based on stereotypical information about her culture.
Climax
The speaker of the poem uses cynical tone to encourage the addressee of the poem to "remake" her, to "teach" her "how to belong".
Foreshadowing
Usage of line such as "you believe you know me", "you imagine you've cracked my deepest fantasy" foreshadows the following lines which are used to prove that presuppositions in those are wrong.
Understatement
The poet's meaning and identity is understated with stereotypical presuppositions by the addressee:
"You imagine you’ve cracked
my deepest fantasy –
oh, to be in an Edwardian vicarage,
living out my dharma
with every sip of dandelion tea
and dreams of the weekend jumble sale…"
Allusions
"reading my Keats – or is it yours –"
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Arbiter of identity
Personification
N/A
Hyperbole
"while my country detonates
on your television screen"
Onomatopoeia
N/A
