Belonging_-_Peter_Skryznecki

Belonging Peter Skryznecki explores the implications of belonging in the poems “Feliks Skryznecki” and “10 Mary Street”. These two poems imply that a sense of belonging comes from the connections made with people and places, and belonging can be modified over time. Through the incorporation of word choice and poetic techniques, Skryznecki was able to convey messages of belonging to the audience. In “Feliks Skryznecki”, it is implied that Feliks had close connections with people and places. The phrases ‘loved his garden like an only child’ and ‘swept its paths, ten times around the world’ shows this implication as they contain personification and hyperbole which brings to mind Feliks’ great responsibility and dedication towards his garden therefore fostering a sense of belonging. Also, in stanza three, Feliks and his polish friends reminisced when they were still living in their home country: “...about farms where paddocks flowered...corn and wheat...horses they bred”. These phrases contain very positive verbs and imagery which indicate Feliks’ and his friends’ mutual pride of their motherland. This common pride is what connects Feliks and his friend, being that they had been through similar journeys. Similarly, in “10 Mary Street”, a sense of belonging was integrated from the connections made with the family members and the house that they lived in. In the third stanza, Skryznecki had used personification to describe the house: “The house stands, in its china-blue coat...” This description makes the house seem as though it is an individual rather than an object - it had been given life by the people who lived in it. The poet’s use of personification emphasises the emotional bonds that formed with this house by the residents over the years, therefore a sense of belonging is present in this particular perspective. Also, a sense of security established through the practises of their culture had also implied a sense of belonging. In the fourth stanza: ”For nineteen years, we lived together, kept pre-war Europe alive, with photos and letters...Kielbasa, salt herrings...vodka...” These lines suggest that the family had been trying to maintain and continue their culture and heritage by eating Polish food and drinking polish alcohol and by reminiscing by looking over photos. Furthermore, there are two instances where ‘we’ followed by a verb is used; this implies a sense of harmony and security among what the family members do within the house. Contrastingly, a sense of not belonging was created when Skryznecki reveals that the residents of 10 Mary Street eventually had to relinquish their cherished home along with their cultural heritage. In the last stanza: “Neutralized more than a decade ago, we became citizens of the soil, Inheritors of a key, that’ll open no house, when this one is pulled down.” - As the house was recognised as a family member, the persona conveyed that the family had to eventually lose a cherished family member and then to gain a false one, thus a sense of not belonging had risen towards the end of this poem. In “Feliks Skryznecki”, the poet had implied that as the son matures, his learning had changed his sense of belonging towards his cultural heritage over time. In the fifth stanza: “Growing older I remember words he taught me, remnants of a language” By saying that he remembers words that his father taught him, implies that he had forgotten them for a period of time. The placement of “remnants” after “remember” indicate that the son remembers only faintly his mother tongue, as a result, the son’s learning as he grew ‘older’ through schooling had changed his sense of belonging towards his heritage. In the poems “Feliks Skryznecki” and “10 Mary Street”, Peter Skryznecki explores the implications of belonging through the connections made with people and places. In “Feliks Skryznecki”, Feliks Skryznecki’s sense of belonging comes from his garden as that is the place where he feels most content and at ease, in contrast to the ‘outside world’ where he is obligated to work hard to put food on the table for his family. Also, his sense of belonging comes from his friends, as they share with him a mutual pride of their country. In “10 Mary Street”, the connections made between the family and their cherished home was the source of their sense of belonging. As the family had spent nineteen years residing at the address, wherein this period they maintained their ethnic roots through cultural practices, a strong sense of belonging is felt by the family and the home. Peter Skryznecki also explores the implications of belonging of the modification of the sense of belonging over time. In “10 Mary Street”, a sense of not belonging was brought into view due to the revelation that the family had to go through the painful process of assimilation. After nineteen years of the family living in harmony, belonging to this address, their sense of belonging changes as they are forced into assimilation. In “Feliks Skryznecki”, it is implied that the son’s unavoidable maturity with society’s pressures had caused him to change his perspectives of belonging towards his cultural heritage. Through the incorporation of effective word choice and poetic techniques, Skryznecki had successfully communicated ideas of belonging to the audience.