Displacement & Identity

Displacement & Identity

Some of the most powerful poems in the Time and Place collection come from poets who feel caught between two places, two cultures or two versions of themselves. In this lesson we study three poems about displacement: Alvi’s “Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan,” Nichols’s “Hurricane Hits England” and Adcock’s “Stewart Island.” Each poet uses a specific moment — receiving gifts, surviving a storm, visiting a remote island — to explore larger questions about belonging and identity.

Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan — Moniza Alvi

Alvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan and moved to England as a baby. In this poem, the speaker receives clothes and jewellery from her aunts in Pakistan: a “salwar kameez / peacock-blue,” an “apple-green sari, / silver-bordered,” bangles and “embossed slippers, gold and black.” But the speaker feels conflicted — she “longed / for denim and corduroy” and feels the Pakistani clothes are beautiful but don’t suit her English life. The poem ends with her “of no fixed nationality, / staring through fretwork / at the Shalimar Gardens.”

The poem is written in free verse across seven stanzas of very unequal length, mirroring the speaker’s unresolved, jumping thoughts. Alvi uses vivid colour imagery (“peacock-blue,” “apple-green,” “candy-striped”) for the Pakistani presents, while English items (“denim,” “corduroy,” “cardigans”) are described in plain, colourless terms. This contrast suggests Pakistan is exotic and alluring but also alien, while England is familiar but dull.

Hurricane Hits England — Grace Nichols

Nichols was born in Guyana in the Caribbean and moved to England in 1977. When the Great Storm of October 1987 hit southern England, she experienced an unexpected sense of connection. The hurricane, familiar from her Caribbean childhood, had followed her to England. The poem begins in third person (“It took a hurricane, to bring her closer / To the landscape”) before shifting to first person (“Tell me why you visit / An English coast?”), marking the speaker’s emotional awakening.

Nichols addresses Caribbean storm gods by name — “Huracan,” “Oya,” “Shango” — invoking her cultural heritage and spiritual traditions. The hurricane becomes a bridge between two places: “the earth is the earth is the earth.” This epizeuxis (triple repetition) insists that place is ultimately universal — the same natural forces operate everywhere. By the end, the speaker has resolved her displacement: she belongs in England because the earth itself is connected.

Stewart Island — Fleur Adcock

Adcock was born in New Zealand but spent most of her adult life in England. “Stewart Island” describes a visit to a remote island off the south coast of New Zealand. The speaker finds a place beautiful but uncomfortable: the children collect shells and get bitten by sandflies; a seagull attacks. The landscape is vivid but alienating — the speaker is a visitor, not a native, and ends the poem having decided to leave the country.

The poem uses precise, observational language: Adcock notes the “fine bay” and “white sand,” but also the sandflies that bite the children and the seagull that attacks. Adcock does not romanticise the island; she presents it as real, detailed and slightly uncomfortable. The free verse reflects casual, exploratory thought. Unlike Nichols, who resolves her displacement, Adcock seems to remain an outsider — she appreciates the island’s beauty but does not claim it as home. This reflects her broader position as someone who left New Zealand and never quite returned.