3 simple ways to increase your English marks

1. Feed your English-baby with time!

English is the forgotten child. It’s always crouched next to the dinner table starving whilst its greedy brothers and sisters Maths, History, Physics, Chemistry, Physical Education etc. stuff themselves with turkey and pie. English picks up a few scraps here and there but soon…it dies. L

Increasing your English-study time is one of the most obvious and easiest yet most effective ways to improve your English marks. As an English tutor, however, I can tell you that very few students will give English the time it deserves.

Here’s a simple rule to remember:

Study-time = marks.

Again:

STUDY-TIME = MARKS!

It’s that simple.

Of course this is true for all subjects; but it’s especially true in English because it’s often such a forgotten subject that even a slight increase in its study time will lead to a significant increase in marks.  For instance, if you add an extra 2 hours a week outside of class time to your English studies, you’re like to score yourself an extra two or three marks in the exam.

So what can you do? Practically speaking, commit to a half-hour a day, for four days a week, of English study at home. Your English baby will grow into a strong healthy….whatever.

2. Know the purpose of each module!

I often ask my students if they know what the marking criteria are for the Area of Study are? What about module A, B, C?

Almost every time their response is some variation of:

           K

To understand why this point is important: imagine you go to a café and when the waiter comes over you order a strawberry milkshake. A few minutes later, the waiter comes back and places a bowl of fried prawn rice in front of you. You’re like, “What?!” Then you eat it anyway nom nom nom…What’s the point though? You DIDN’T ORDER FRIED RICE!

It’s the same in English-studies. The teachers and the curriculum ask for one thing. The students then deliver something completely different. Even if the essay you write is awesome and yummy like prawn fried rice; it’s not that strawberry milkshake the teachers wanted. And the teachers have an allergy to prawns so THEY WILL MARK YOU DOWN.

Each module in English has a specific task that you need to do. These tasks are not the same for each module. For example, in the Area of Study, you have to show the marker that you understand the concept of belonging and the way (the techniques) these concepts are expressed. In Module A, on the other hand, you have to compare contexts and show the markers that you know how the time, place, literary period that a text was written in can influence how a text is written/understood. These are completely different tasks! But students often don’t know what they need to do in order to get the marks in a specific module. To be fair, I’ve found this is often because many English teachers don’t emphasise/explain this point to students. Ultimately, however, students can make big improvements in their marks if they seek out the purpose of each module and match their response to it.

In short, if you don’t know what these tasks are, you can write an excellent essay…and still get a poor/average mark  L

Here’s what you can do:

A.      Read the curriculum points (they’re always given out on assessment handouts or you can find them on the BoS website or by google searching)

B.      Ask your teacher: they HOPEFULLY should know what you need to do

3. Use past papers/practice exams

Imagine if you want to learn to play tennis.  You organise a lesson and when you arrive the coach tells you to sit down on the court. Then she brings out a whiteboard and spends an hour talking about how to play to tennis. She draws diagrams of proper tennis technique: how to position your feet, position the racquet and so on. She does this every week for ten weeks and by the end you’ve never even felt a racquet. Would you be an awesome tennis player now?

Of course you would….NOTTTTT!

You get better at tennis by, funnily enough, practicing playing tennis! Similarly, you get better at English exams by doing practice papers! It’s that simple!

You can have all the head-knowledge but if you haven’t written a practice essay before you go into your exams you’re unlikely to do as well than you could have if you’d at least attempted a practice paper.

Here’s a simple strategy to cover this point:

A.      Pick a practice question that seems broad and not too specific (past-papers are on BoS site)

B.      Spend two-three hours writing up a reasonably refined essay (use your notes)

C.      Go through other practice papers and write up a PLAN on how you would answer the question (what are your three points, what quotes would you use etc).

D.      If you have time, write up a couple of practice essays under exam conditions (45 minutes)

Total time: ~ 5 hours for awesome mark potential!

You don’t have to do all of the A-D: but at least do B – it will help your tennis exam performance immensely!

To summarise, English isn’t rocket science. It’s not the mysterious black box students sometimes think it is. If you follow the above three suggestions you’re going to put yourself in the best position to do well in English.

HAVE A STRAWBERRY MILKSHAKE AND REMEMBER….YOU CAN DO IT!

Tldr: To do well in English:

1.       Devote more study time to it (at least 2.5 hours per week out of class time)

2.       Know the specific requirements of each module (check the curriculum, ask your teacher)

3.       Do practice papers before the exam 

St Patrick’s College: Different Perceptions of Belonging

Individuals often have differing ideas on what it means to belong. For one person, conforming to a social group or practice may be a source of comfort and security. For another person, being forced to conform to the same group may feel alienating and depressing.

In St Patrick’s College, the persona’s mother has very different ideas about belonging than the persona. For the persona’s mother, the deeply religious and formal academic environment of the school offers her son the opportunity to belong to Australian culture and the Catholic religion. The persona, on the other hand, does not comprehend, or find belonging the school’s values and beliefs. Thus his mother’s attempt to help him belong is ironically alienating.

The description ‘impressed by the uniforms’ in the first stanza is used to show how the persona’s mother believes her son is finding belonging whereas in reality he is feeling repressed and disconnected.

The technique of accumulation in ‘voices at bus stops, litanies and hymns’ shows that the persona has not developed many close relationships or emotional connections at the school. The abstract and impersonal noun ‘voices’ shows he may not have had many close friends at the school. Furthermore, the detached description of ‘litanies and hymns’ shows that the persona has little interest in these activities and is simply going through the motions. In this way the poem shows how a lack of belonging to place can lead to a lack of belonging to the people and activities in our lives. Again, the subtext of the poem is that whilst these activities may have been considered the epitome of belonging for the persona’s mother, they were actually alienating for the persona.  

In the final stanza, the poem finishes with an ironic yet optimistic tone. On the one hand, the persona uses irony when he ‘Prayed that Mother would someday be pleased.’ The persona has no real connection to the school’s religion but he still hopes that his mother’s sacrifice of time and money will eventually pay off. His sense of belonging to his family is far stronger than his connection to the school. 

This is further conveyed in the contrasting imagery of the ‘darkness around me’ with the final line, ‘I let my light shine.’ The persona is using irony because the school's motto means 'let your light shine.' It is only now that the persona is free from the school that he can begin to find a sense of belonging in new places, and in doing so find a renewed sense of belonging to himself. The persona’s graduation is no doubt for his mother the ultimate attainment of belonging to culture and religion. For the persona, however, it simply marks his liberation from alienation and disconnection. 

The description of 'her employer's sons' shows the great effort and expense the persona's mother is going through in order to give her son the chance to belong to a more privileged social class. This shows how we may often need to sacrifice our time, our effort and our money to give ourselves, or others, the chance to belong. However, even if we do so, we may still fail, as the persona is isolated and alienated at the school.

The dialogue of the persona's mother in the first stanza, which is repeated in the final stanza, 'what was best,' expresses the mother's hope of her son belonging to a more privileged social class. However, the phrase takes on an ironic meaning as the persona feels that the school was not 'for the best' at all. In this way, Skrzynecki uses dialogue, irony and idiomatic language to show the way in which our commonly held perceptions of what it means to belong can often be mistaken. Belonging is thus shown to be mediated by individual preferences, values and beliefs. It is not always something which can be bestowed on others according to our own social paradigms and life preferences.

Finally, the persona uses the imagery of 'mother crossed herself' to convey her sense of belonging to religion which again contrasts with the persona's alienation from it. This is shown in the recount that he 'could say the Lord's prayer / In Latin, all in one breath.' For the persona, religion is a mechanical and routine process and ostensibly he may appear to belong to religion through his recitals of prayers and the singing of hymns, he actually has no deep or significant emotional connection to it. 

St Patrick’s College: Lack of Belonging to Place

    Places, such as schools, have not only a unique physical environment, but also a set of practices and experiences associated with them. When we feel alienated from a place, we may feel alienated from that place’s landscape and the physical objects within it, as well as the place’s people and their ways of life.

    The persona feels alienated from his school, St Patrick’s College, and as a result he feels directionless and unhappy. In the second stanza, the persona uses juxtaposition and imagery when contrasting the statue of Mary who has ‘outstretched hands,’ - suggesting she is welcoming - with the image of her face which is ‘overshadowed by clouds.’ This shows that even though a place may appear physically welcoming, we may still feel alienated from it and perceive the environment as cold and unwelcoming.

     The persona’s alienation from the formality and rigidity of the prestigious Catholic school is shown in the imagery of ‘I stuck pine needles/Into the motto/On my breast.’ Instead of respecting and deferring to the school motto, the persona feels inclined to play with it, ‘Under the principal’s window,’ no less. This shows how alienation from a place can lead us to reject the values and beliefs associated with that place. It is possible that if the persona felt a greater connection to the school, he would have embraced its perspective on religion and education. Instead, he rejects its perspective on life and academia. 

      The lack of belonging to the school’s ethos of religion, and formal academia, is further emphasised in the persona’s use of humour when describing the way he confused the school’s motto, ‘Luceat Lux Vestra’ with a brand of soap. The allusion to formal learning expressed in the Latin motto contrasts starkly with the persona’s interpretation of it, underscoring his feeling of being misplaced and alienated.

      Similarly, the persona draws on the irony of the school’s motto, ‘Let Your Light Shine,’ which contrasts with the persona’s growing sense of personal darkness and sense of disconnection. 

      The repetition of the phrase, ‘eight years’ has the effect of emphasising how long and dreary the persona’s time at the school felt to him. This shows how lack of belonging to a place can make us feel despondent and unmotivated.

      The persona’s alienation from place extends beyond the school and includes the surrounding suburb of Strathfield. The simile, ‘Like a foreign tourist’ highlights the way in which the persona feels like an outsider, unable to connect or fully the understand the place’s people and their culture.

      The persona’s distance from the religious practice at the school is shown in the anecdote, ‘Could say the Lord’s prayer/ In Latin, all in one breath.’ Instead of embracing and enjoying the religious experience, the persona wants to rush through it so that it can be over and done with. 

      The repetition and call back to the imagery of ‘Our Lady still watching…unchanged,’ conveys the fact that the persona has remained alienated from the school after his eight years there. Belonging to a place does not always occur simply by spending extended periods of time there. Whilst the school’s physical sphere may be more familiar to the persona, he still feels a sense of psychological distance and disconnection from it. 

Notes on Belonging: Feliks Skrzynecki

A. Belonging to Culture and Place 

 - Culture and place are intimately connected. Often our culture is determined by the place we grow up. It is our memories of places and their associated lifestyles that forms the basis of our identity
.
 - Belonging to a culture is important for our identity, our sense of who we are. It can shape our values, beliefs and life decisions. When we live in new countries with very different lifestyles to our own, as many immigrants do, we may feel distant and alienated from our cultures. We may feel that our very selves have been undermined. In other words, alienation from our culture, can lead to alienation from ourselves.

 - In order to prevent this alienation, many immigrants, such as Feliks, try to maintain links to their culture. These links may be physical reminders of home as well as relationships with those people who share our culture. - In the poem, Feliks may feel alienated from the vastly different Australian culture and landscape. He therefore he creates a part of polish culture in his garden.

 - The simile, ‘Loved his garden like an only child’ shows how much Feliks cherishes his Polish heritage. Like a child, the garden can give Feliks’ life meaning, purpose and connection. This is further emphasised in the hyperbole of ‘He swept its paths/Ten times around the world’ which shows just how much time and effort Feliks is willing to sacrifice in order to feel a sense of belonging to his Polish culture.

 - Our belonging to a culture determines the way we live our lives and the way we spend our time. Feliks’ Polish culture has given him a deep connection with the land and physical labour. Even though he is in Australia, probably urban Sydney, Feliks’ culture still influences him to maintain a lifestyle of discipline and physical labour. This shows just how permanent and robust our belonging to culture can be: we cling to our own ways of life as they form part of who we are.

- In the poem, the pastoral imagery of ‘hands darkened/From cement, fingers with cracks’ combines with the simile, ‘Like the sods he broke’ to show that Feliks has deep links to the land and finds belonging in the physical work he performs.

- His strong work ethic and optimistic outlook no doubt stem from his cultural background where hard work was a way of life. Even though Feliks may live a relatively relaxed life in the Australian environment, Feliks maintains his belonging to Polish culture through his stoic and yet optimistic attitude. In the anecdote of ‘When twice/ They dug cancer out of his foot’ the persona uses contrast between the seriousness and solemness of cancer and Feliks’ simple and upbeat response of, ‘but I’m alive’ to show the way that Feliks derives strength from belonging to his culture.

 - Belonging to Culture determines the connections we make in many areas of our lives. Although Feliks is in a new country, he chooses friends that share his cultural background and experiences. In this way, culture acts as a conduit or the common ground that allows us to find belonging in friends and family.

- In the poem, Feliks and his friends reminisce about Polish life. The imagery of ‘paddocks flowered/ With corn and wheat’ shows how memories can help to maintain our belonging to friends and culture, even if we are far from home. The use and repetition of the collective pronoun they’ in the third stanza, when describing Feliks and his friends, emphasises how the persona, who does not share Feliks’ memories or experiences, remains an outsider to the Polish part of his father. In this way, the poem illustrates how culture - as well as providing a source of connection - can also be a source of alienation to those who are unfamiliar with the cultural norms.

 B. Belonging to Family

- Our family are often those who are closest to us. They help to form our identity as they live physically near to us and also form some of our closest emotional relationships. In other words, family helps to shape our values, beliefs and experiences. When we find belonging in family we can experience a strong sense of security and support. Belonging to family can also provide us with happy experiences and memories.

 - On the flip side, a sense of alienation from family members, due to family conflicts, physical separation or cultural differences, can lead to a sense of loss and a lack of a strong identity.

 - In the poem, the persona laments the way in which his life in Australia, and his immersion in Australian culture, leads to a growing alienation from his father.

 - Language begins to form a barrier between the persona and his father. Language is the means through which we connect and find belonging in others. However, the juxtaposition in the final stanza between the persona ‘stumbling over tenses in Caesar’s Gallic War’ while he ‘forgot his first Polish word,’ shows how the persona is becoming increasingly educated in Australian ways of thinking whilst losing his ability to find connection and belonging in his father. This is further emphasised in the simile, ‘like a dumb prophet’ which shows the way in which Feliks is aware that the persona’s Australian language and heritage is acting as a barrier between the two of them, but that he is powerless to stop it.

 - This idea is cemented in the final two lines where the persona uses the metaphor of ‘pegging my tents…further and further south of Hadrian’s wall.’ This allusion to Hadrian’s wall seems to symbolise the fact that as the persona drifts from the strength of his father’s Polish culture and heritage, he is at the same time beginning to forge a stronger sense of belonging to Australian language and culture.

 - The persona does not make a conscious choice to alienate himself from his father and his heritage. This is shown when the persona states that he learnt remnants of a language ‘unknowingly,’ that is without conscious choice. Furthermore, the persona uses metaphor and rhetorical question when quoting the department clerk who, ‘in dancing-bear grunts,’ asked, ‘Did your father ever attempt to learn English?’ The persona suggests the clerk is ignorant and does not understand the difficulty of learning a new language at Feliks’ advanced age. In this way, the poem illustrates how we may not always choose to know a particular language or belong to a particular culture – rather belonging to a culture may be bestowed upon us according to our family, and the place in which we grow up.

 C. Conclusion

 - The poem Feliks Skrzynecki emphasises the way in which belonging to culture can form our identity and give us a sense of who we are. We will go to great lengths to maintain our sense of belonging to a culture even if we are placed in a foreign environment and even if he we have to invest great time and effort in maintaining the connection. The poem also illustrates the importance of belonging to family and the way in which differences in culture and language can serve as a barrier to belonging to others, especially family members. We may often be powerless to stop alienation from our family because, due to events such as immigration, we cannot always choose to belong to the same culture to which they belong.

HSC Standard/ESL: Educating Rita and Sticks and Stones - Speech

There are many different types of belonging such as belonging to a social class and a group of friends. However, most important is belonging to self. When we feel alienated from ourselves we may feel unhappy and try to find belonging in alcohol, material things and education.

In Educating Rita by Willy Russell, Rita is from a working class background and wants to become educated. As a student of Open University she meets Frank, a university lecturer who will be her tutor.

Firstly, the play discusses belonging to a social class. Rita, is a member of working class however she feels doesn’t belong because it meaningless. Rita says that what she learns about art and literature ‘feeds her’ inside. This metaphor shows that belonging to the educated class is as important as food for Rita. Frank also feels like doesn’t belong to the educated social class because it is dishonest and unoriginal. When talking to Rita he uses the techniques of metaphor and descriptive language to call it ‘shrill and hollow and tuneless.’

Secondly, Educating Rita shows us that belonging to self is the most important form of belonging. Rita’s mother explains her unhappiness by saying ‘We could sing better songs than those.’ Songs in this sense are a metaphor for life which has become boring and unfulfilled. Rita’s mum belongs to a social class but she is crying because she knows that she does not belong to herself as she knows she is not truly reaching her potential.

Finally, Educating Rita also shows us the effects of alienation. We may try and find a sense of belonging in things like material goods or alcohol. Rita uses the metaphor of a ‘disease’ to show how the working class may try to buy things like a ‘new dress’ but it will never bring happiness. In this way, ER shows how belonging to ourselves is more important than belonging to a social class.

The short story sticks and stones by Annii Miethke shows how harmful alienation can be. The story is about a ‘large’ girl, Nola, who always get taunted by her peers. Eventually, the children drive Nola to commit suicide. The story discusses aspects of belonging.

Firstly, it discusses belonging to a group of friends. Nola’s friends always made fun of her and never stopped trying to embarrassing her. The children use the simile ‘Nola, you are as big as a house’ to alienate her. Onomatopoeia ‘tick….tick….’ shows how even a small sense of alienated can grow and expand over time.

Secondly, the story shows how harmful it can be when we are alienated from ourselves. The metaphor ‘a melted pat of butter’ shows how Nola’s sense of identity has been destroyed. She is described as a ‘beach-ball wreck, washed up on deserted sands.’ This imagery shows how Nola’s lack of belonging to self has left her unhappy and alone.

From these two texts we can see how important a sense of belonging is to our happiness and fulfillment. We can never find a sense of belonging through external things like material goods and education, but only through belonging to ourselves.

Australian Vision - Sea Change - 2010 HSC Exam Question:

2010 HSC Exam Question: What elements of your prescribed text are used to create a distinctly Australian vision? In your answer refer to your prescribed text.


An Australian vision is a representation of Australian culture, values and ways of life. In particular, it is a perspective on how Australians think and behave and the way they view their communities, their environments and themselves. The series Sea Change presents Australian visions of life in a coastal community, family life and law order. The song ‘I am Australian,’ written by Bruce Woodely and Dobe Newtown, represents Australia’s history and social unity. Both texts use a variety of techniques to convey distinctly Australian visions.

A ‘seachange’ is a move from the busy and frantic lifestyle in the city to a more relaxed and peaceful life in a coastal community. This idea is shown in the opening credits of Seachange by the quick montage of city images and the fast paced music. This then contrasts with the slow-panning over a blue ocean and open landscapes while the fast beat music is replaced by slow chords. The close-up image of the ‘Bridge Closed’ sign highlights Pearl Bay’s seclusion away from the busy city. These techniques suggest an ideal Australian vision where community relationships and a balanced lifestyle is preferred over long work hours and material success.

In the episode, ‘Manna from Heaven’ we see the way that family life is an important aspect of Australian vision. Pearl Bay is infested with Phillipine Bora and Laura searches for her beliefs about what’s important in her life. In the scene where Laura is cleaning the kitchen with her daughter Miranda sitting on the ground, a ‘two-shot’ is used to create a sense of closeness between the two characters. This effect is emphasised by the dialogue when Laura tells an anecdote of how Miranda believed in angels when she was young. The background sound effect of waves and birds creates a sense of peace which suggests that Laura has found happiness in her family life. A similar idea is conveyed in the episode ‘Law and Order’ where Laura reconciles with her sister. A close-up of Laura’s hand on her sister’s shows her willingness to be close to her. Rupert’s rhetorical question, ‘He’s still our cousin isn’t he?’ shows how important the family relationship is. This is furthered by the upbeat background music which creates a positive tone and the long-shot of all the family members standing closely together. In this way, family relationships are shown to be an important part of the Australian vision.

The episode, ‘Law and Order’ illustrates a distinctive vision of the Australian legal system. The bridge became opened and so the court was going to be moved to Port Deakin. The residents engage in a ‘civil disobedience campaign’ so that they could save the courthouse. Meredith takes a gun and Western show-down music is played in the background and slow motion is used. This shows how Meredith is prepared to fight to keep the courthouse local. The dialogue of a rhetorical question, ‘Will somebody take some bloody notice?’ and the strong colloquial language shows Meredith is genuinely upset about the closure. Meredith points out the irony in the way that the opening of the bridge will lead to the closing of the court and ‘us all being deserted.’ The townspeople protect Meredith’s identity saying, ‘I don’t think she looks at all familiar.’ This shows how friendship and community can sometimes be stronger than legal rules. This idea is emphasised by the over-the-shoulder shot showing Meredith sitting down and the other characters in a circle around her.’ In this way, the legal system is shown to be an integral part of the town’s identity and Australian life.

The song, ‘I am Australian’ presents a vision of Australian history and multiculturalism. The song describes how Australians have different pasts but are united in being Australian. The first verse refers to the Aboriginal ‘dream-time’ and the ‘dusty red soil plains.’ This imagery describes Australia’s history and landscape of deserts and dusty roads. The use of idiom in ‘I’m a bushy, I’m a battler’ shows how many Australians worked hard to survive the harsh environment of early Australia. The chorus ‘We are one, but we are many’ is a paradox to show that even though Australians come from many different cultural backgrounds they still feel connected to each other. The repetition of the collective pronoun ‘we’ further emphasises this idea. Finally, the use of a background choir during the chorus suggests a vision of unity through multiculturalism in Australia.

In this way, the series Seachange and the song 'I am Australian' present distinctly Australian visions. Seachange shows the attractiveness of life in a coastal town, the important role of family and the legal system in Australian society. The song ‘I am Australian’ shows Australian history and its unique multicultural community. These visions of Australia are all unique and represent different parts of Australian life and culture.

I Had Been Hungry All These Years

Summary/introduction

The persona, who has been poor and ‘hungry’ for years, finally gets to experience a coveted meal in what is impliedly an upmarket restaurant. However, the persona finds the experience of the ‘ample bread’ to be ‘ill and odd’ and thus reflects on the way that we may often covet something which, once we receive it, disappoints us. The contrast between the persona’s initial cravings and their subsequent disappointment shows the way in which we may wish to belong to a social class or social group, but ultimately find that it is incongruous with our true selves. Furthermore, it appears that there may be a comment about the importance of belonging versus the superficial satisfaction of our wants. We may desire wealth and riches, but it’s the sense of connection to others and the community in which we live which is what we truly seek.

Stanza 1

o The state of being ‘hungry’ is a metaphor for the persona’s lack of belonging in their initial social class and their desire to belong to another, more wealthy, class.
o The verb ‘trembling’ may indicate the apprehension we feel when we relinquish our previous connections and attempt to start them anew.
o The adjective ‘curious’ suggests that the wine is unfamiliar and novel and thus underscores the way the persona does not really feel a sense of belonging to the new environment. ‘Curious’ wine – because it is strange and unfamiliar.
o The use of the first person gives insights into the persona’s feelings and emotions about her new experience. It seems significant that the persona ‘drew the table near’ as this shows the persona is actively seeking to connect with her new environment.

Stanza 2

o The imagery of ‘turning, hungry, lone’ conveys the persona’s lack of belonging. The hyperbole in ‘I could not hope to own’ shows at once how distant is the prospect of belonging to this social class. This comments on the way that not belonging can often be a vicious cycle. That is, we may feel so disconnected from say a social class that it leads to an attitude that we will never belong to it. This attitude then leads us to take actions which prevent us from ever belonging.
o The window is a barrier between the persona and the world they want to inhabit. It is a metaphor for the way that social forces such as wealth, education and personal networks may prevent us from attaining a stronger sense of belonging.

Stanza 3

o The persona expresses how the ‘ample bread’ was qualitatively different to the ‘crumb’ and this suggests the way in which our ideas about belonging can often contradict our experience. That is, we may think that attaining a certain amount of wealth will lead to a greater sense of belonging and acceptance but find that in reality excessive material wealth does not necessarily lead to a greater sense of inner belonging and may in fact hinder it.
o The juxtaposition of ‘ample bread’ and ‘crumb’ highlights how different the persona’s two worlds are.
o ‘The birds and I’ demonstrates the persona is beginning to understand the connections and sense of belonging she had in her previous social class. It also demonstrates that the persona has a connection and sense of belonging to nature. Perhaps the simplicity of ‘Nature’s dining room’ is compensated by camaraderie and companionship.
o The persona shares the crumb with nature – suggesting that she finds a sense of belonging in that act of sharing. It’s that sense of connection and community that she experienced with nature that she lacks in the restaurant, even though the food is ample.
o The metaphor of Nature’s dining room underscores the persona’s belonging to nature. The personification of Nature as a provider and nurturer underscores the close connection to nature.

Stanza 4

o It’s the plenty that hurts the persona. She feels ‘ill and odd.’ This shows how a feeling of alienation can be detrimental to our mental and physical health.
o This idea is continued through the metaphor of the ‘berry of a mountain bush’ being separated from its natural environment. The harsh, unnatural and barren road will ultimately destroy the berry. The contrast between the soft, succulent and juicy berry with the hard, dry and rough road accentuates how harmful lack of belonging can be.
o ‘Transplanted’ is a non-natural intervention and not a result of natural consequences. In other words, the persona feels as though he/she has been grafted into circumstances that feel uncomfortable and foreign.

Stanza 5

o ‘Nor was I hungry.’ The persona realises that she can never obtain a sense of belonging from only material wealth or social class/status. Indeed, these words seem to suggest that the persona has discovered an internal sense of belonging to herself, which is independent of the material world. Once the internal sense of belonging has been met, the desire to try and substitute this belonging with external possessions diminishes markedly.
o Furthermore, we may never realise how much we belong to a certain group or way of life until we are removed from that way of life.
o There is an irony in the last line ‘the entering takes away.’ The entering reduces hunger not because the food nourishes the person or sates their hunger. Rather, it leads to the understanding that the food (material wealth) can never satisfy our hunger and we are free to discover a more genuine, internal sense of belonging.
o That is, when we can eliminate material wealth as a source of belonging, we are free to discover where it truly lies. Yet again in other words, it is not so much that material wealth per se that hinders belonging. Rather, it is the desire for material wealth and the expectation that material wealth alone will provide belonging that actually prevents us from belonging to ourselves. In short, the poem suggests that many of us look for belonging in all the wrong places!

Links to belonging

1. Belonging to social class

o The persona initially feels disconnected to her social class and desires to belong to a more wealthy class. The metaphor of the window shows how social barriers often prevent this transition. Somehow, the persona overcomes these barriers and experiences the ‘curious wine’, only to find that instead of providing the belonging the persona sought, the new social class makes her feel isolated.
o The ‘ample bread’ is positively harmful because the persona realises that she no longer feels the connection to nature and to the simple life that she once lived. The metaphor of the berry being ‘transplanted’ to the road conveys the sense of alienation and disconnection the persona feels in this world.

2. Belonging to self

o The persona realises that desire and ‘hunger’ for more can actually hinder belonging. At first, the persona believes that entering another social class will be satisfying. Ironically, far from satisfying the persona, the experience leads to an understanding that seeking belonging in externalities can actually lead to alienation.
o From my perspective, the poem shows the way that true belonging comes from personal integrity and strength of character. Incidentally, these characteristics are likely to lead to material success anyway. The key is that in this approach material wealth is a pleasant side-effect, rather than an end in itself.