Scribd
Upload
4 views

English Assessment 1 Transcript

The speech explores the concept of identity, emphasizing how it is shaped by memories, experiences, and relationships. Eileen Chong, an Australian poet of Chinese and Singaporean descent, uses her poetry to express her identity, particularly through her works 'Revisit' and 'Country,' which reflect her familial connections and immigrant experiences. Through various poetic techniques, Chong illustrates the complexities of identity and the impact of personal history on one's sense of self.

Uploaded by

maya.otaloracaliman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
4 views

English Assessment 1 Transcript

The speech explores the concept of identity, emphasizing how it is shaped by memories, experiences, and relationships. Eileen Chong, an Australian poet of Chinese and Singaporean descent, uses her poetry to express her identity, particularly through her works 'Revisit' and 'Country,' which reflect her familial connections and immigrant experiences. Through various poetic techniques, Chong illustrates the complexities of identity and the impact of personal history on one's sense of self.

Uploaded by

maya.otaloracaliman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Speech Transcript

What is identity? What truly makes a person who they are?


Is it how they view themselves? Or how do people view them? .
Memories, experiences, the people around us, and our own opinions shape our identity.

Eileen Chong is an Australian poet of Chinese and Singaporean descent. She immigrated to
Australia when she was in her late 20s. As a high school English teacher, she had always had a
passion for reading and writing. She was not from a very literate family, and she taught herself
how to read from cookbooks.

From her experience of teaching herself how to read with cookbooks at a young age to the
struggles of adapting to a new country, these experiences and memories have helped shape
Chong into the person she is now.
Eileen Chong expresses her own feelings, memories, and thoughts through her poetry.
She demonstrates her identity through her writing. Such examples are ‘Revisit’ and ‘Country',
both of which allude to various components of her identity.

‘Revisit’ is a poem about Eileen’s Chong relationship with her grandmother, who is suffering
from dementia. Eileen Chong describes how, even though her grandmother has a
neurodegenerative disorder, she still remembers Chong.

The structure is a villanelle, but Chong doesn't follow the structure firmly. This makes her poetry
more versatile and flexible for interpretation.
Many of the techniques used by Chong allude to her grandmother’s dementia.

By using the word "yet," Chong foreshadows the fact that she believes that her grandmother will
forget her. The poet is unsure of when her grandmother will forget her, but she knows that it will
happen.

End-stopping punctuation describes how the memories of her grandmother are cut short. They
also represent the finite time that the grandmother has. In the second stanza, all the lines end.
The sentences are simple and short. This demonstrates, additionally, the need for simple
explanations for someone who has dementia.

The phrase “She sees who I am and who I am yet to be” is repeated multiple times throughout
the poem. Every repetition of the phrase has a different tone, depending on the place in the
poem. Her grandmother has difficulty remembering the past and instead focuses on the future.
Eileen Chong’s connection to her family is a strong part of her identity, and she highlights how
she enjoys spending time with her grandmother.
“Country” is an ekphrastic poem. It responds to Dorothea Mackellar’s “My Country." Five
sections, each with a different experience, outline the various parts that someone's identity may
have.

Written from a first-person perspective, the poem seems more personal.


Much of the technique used illustrates the experiences that have shaped Eileen Chong into the
person she is now.

Punctuation is varied throughout the poem, which is similar to the flow of people’s thoughts.
Eileen Chong doesn’t follow a strict structure of punctuation and instead opts for a more
free-flowing punctuation similar to how thoughts are punctuated as we think.

Enjambment describes the suddenness of the racist encounter. “I looked at Colin, our eyes wide
with shock. Then the tears came.”. This describes how they were off-put by the moment, as if
time stopped during the line break.

Eileen Chong also uses imagery to fully illustrate her experiences that have shaped her identity
and memories. She describes the awe of the Australian landscape and how she must adjust to
moving to a new country.

While identity has many definitions and there is not one perfect example, we can all agree that
everyone has a different identity, and the various interpretations that we may have vary from
person to person. From her connection to family and the racism that she encounters as an
immigrant, Eileen Chong is able to use her poetry to demonstrate how people and memories
affect your overall identity.

Maya Otalora Caliman


8T - Ms C

You might also like