Comparing Where the Scattering Began and Wherever I Hang

After analysing “Where the scattering began” by merle Collins and “Wherever I hang” by Grace Nichols, I found that both poets displayed the subject of adjusting to another culture effectively but, in very different ways. Grace Nichols used a very light hearted and simple style which I think reflected her relaxed attitude to life. This poem opens the reader’s eyes to her relaxed culture through the simple language. All though the poem is clear in its context, for some of the readers it can be quite hard to understand if the accent is not known.
The dialect gives the readers an insight to the dialect of the poet herself and the Caribbean culture is also displayed in the warm inviting tone; this suggests that the culture is friendly and welcoming. I noticed that the poet included repetition of nouns to add emphasis at the beginning of the poem. Grace Nichols quotes: “I leave me people, me land, me home. ” Perhaps the poet is generally conveying that she has come from a completely different world, and reveals to the readers that she regrets leaving her country because she includes specific happy memories of her home.
The humming-bird could possibly be a metaphor of the beauty she sees within her country; this colourful, small, modest bird could essentially represent the country through the eyes of Grace Nichols. She Quotes: “I forsake the sun and the humming-bird splendour” But she sees England as a land of hope and possibility. Gradually as the poem progresses she “becomes accustomed to the English life” and “changes her calypso ways”.

Cleverly as she becomes adjusted to the different culture, the poet’s language changes also, this is to emphasise the fact that her habits have changed. This poem illustrates the confusion of adjusting to another culture, even after many years, when she begins to become more accustomed to an English life, she still feels divided between her home and England. The confusion is displayed before the readers in one line: “To tell you the truth, I don’t really know where I belaang”