Summary
Summary North West poem analysis
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North West poem analysis and annotations
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StudentsNorth- West
The poem begins in medias res, which could
reflect that Duffy is in the middle of her life Collective pronoun ‘we’ allows us to
and she is now returning to Liverpool- implies understand that the speaker is with
some sort of obstruction or anxiety that might someone and not alone
in the past have prevented this return The verb ‘grieves’ creates a tone of melancholy-
establishes her sadness- the Mersey ferry is
personified, suggesting it is in sympathy with the
speaker
Wanting to re- create her past- colloquial
However it is we return to the water’s edge The verb ‘drifts’ signifies the distance between her and
Where that ferry grieves down by the Pier Head, her past. She is struggling to recreate it
We do what we always did and get on board. This caesura impacts this distance- the ferry is drifting-
an example of a transferred epithet or hypallage.
The city drifts out of reach. A huge silvery bird,
A kiss on the lip of the wind, follows our ship. May be an echo of the famous liver- bird carving
This is where we were young, the place no map on the Mersey chambers, a distinctive feature of
Or heritage guide can reveal. Only an X on a wave the Liverpool skyline
Marks the spot, the flowers of litter, a grave Perhaps the ‘gulls’ echo the huge silvery
For our ruined loves, unborn children, ghosts. bird
We look back at the skyline wondering what we lost
In the hidden streets, in the rented rooms,
Melancholic- death related
No more than punters now in a tourist boom. imagery. Perhaps she associates her
Above our heads the gulls cry yeah yah yeah. city with sadness because of past
Frets of light on the river. Tearful air. dark memories
Metaphor =
romantic. Perhaps Mystery- much like X
the speaker is Litter = usually associated with marks the spot + treasure
remising about dirt + bad smells, here the
past romantic flower of litter metaphor is an At the volta, the
affairs that she oxymoron, + indicates how time scale
may have had with nostalgia. What was once of no changes to the
someone back value becomes positive in The caesura marks the volta present and o
home retrospect the protagonists
who ‘look back’
Refers to the song ‘she loves you’ by the and assess ‘what
‘frets’- creates a negative
beatles, representative of the era and we lost’
mood- given that journeys like
these stir contradictory, mixed culture of the city of Liverpool at the time
feelings- imagery is thus when Duffy was young. It forms a dramatic
accurate climax
Summary
The city has now changed, the streets no longer resembling what she remembered from her childhood.
All those days spent there, ‘ruined loves, unborn children, ghosts’ all become palpable for the poet. The
city of Liverpool comes to embody the past. Duffy feels a deep sense of connection to her city. Yet, she is
constantly drifting away, both physically on the ferry and emotionally over the course of her life. The
poem ends on a solemn note, ‘tearful air’ entirely representing the tone of Northwest
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