Homing (Liz Berry)

This section provides analysis for the poem Homing by Liz Berry. Homing by Liz Berry is a poignant poem about identity, heritage, and the significance of regional accents. It explores the speaker’s connection to their mother’s Black Country dialect, which the mother had suppressed to conform to societal expectations. Through vivid imagery and metaphor, Berry highlights the importance of reclaiming one's cultural roots, specifically through language and accent, and how these elements are tied to identity and belonging. You can read the poem below followed by detailed analysis.

Homing by Liz Berry

For years you kept your accent
in a box beneath the bed,
the lock rusted shut by hours of elocution
how now brown cow
the teacher’s ruler across your legs.

We heard it escape sometimes,
a guttural uh on the phone to your sister,
saft or blart  to a taxi driver
unpacking your bags from his boot.
I loved its thick drawl, g’s that rang.

Clearing your house, the only thing
I wanted was that box, jemmied open
to let years of lost words spill out –
bibble, fittle, tay, wum,
vowels ferrous as nails, consonants

you could lick the coal from.
I wanted to swallow them all: the pits,
railways, factories thunking and clanging
the night shift, the red brick
back-to-back you were born in.

I wanted to forge your voice
in my mouth, a blacksmith’s furnace;
shout it from the roofs,
send your words, like pigeons,
fluttering for home.

Analysis of Homing by Liz Berry

Themes

Identity and Accent: The poem explores the theme of identity, particularly through the speaker’s mother’s accent, which she kept hidden for years. The accent is a representation of her heritage and background, which she had to suppress due to societal pressures. This suppression reflects how individuals may feel forced to conceal parts of their identity to fit into mainstream culture.

"For years you kept your accent in a box beneath the bed" suggests that the mother deliberately hid her accent, a metaphor for hiding her true identity.

Cultural Heritage: The accent is also a symbol of the mother’s cultural heritage, specifically the Black Country of England. The speaker longs to reclaim this part of her mother’s past, associating the dialect with the industrial history and working-class roots of the region.

"I wanted to swallow them all: the pits, railways, factories" connects the accent to the region’s industrial heritage.

Suppression and Reclamation: The poem reflects the tension between suppression and reclamation of identity. The mother’s accent was suppressed due to the stigma attached to regional dialects, as suggested by the elocution lessons and the teacher’s ruler. In contrast, the speaker wishes to reclaim and celebrate this aspect of her mother’s identity.

"Clearing your house, the only thing I wanted was that box" indicates the speaker’s desire to recover her mother’s lost words and accent.

Connection Between Language and Place: Language is portrayed as deeply connected to place and history. The mother’s accent is not just a way of speaking but is tied to the industrial landscape of the Black Country. The speaker views the accent as a vital link to her mother’s origins and to the working-class community she came from.

"I wanted to forge your voice in my mouth" shows the speaker’s wish to embody and continue this connection to place through her mother’s accent.

Key Imagery and Symbols

The Box: The box is a powerful metaphor for the suppression of the mother’s accent and, by extension, her cultural identity. It symbolises how regional dialects were often hidden away to conform to a more socially acceptable form of speech.

"For years you kept your accent in a box beneath the bed" highlights how the mother kept her accent tucked away, as if it were something to be ashamed of.

Coal and Industry: The imagery of coal, factories, and railways ties the accent to the industrial history of the Black Country. These images represent the hard-working, working-class background of the mother, and by associating these images with the accent, Berry suggests that the dialect is a crucial part of this heritage.

"consonants you could lick the coal from" creates a vivid image of how the accent is physically linked to the industrial landscape of the region.

Pigeons and Homing: The title "Homing" refers to the idea of returning home or finding one's roots. The final image of the mother’s words being sent out like pigeons is a powerful metaphor for returning to one’s origins and embracing one’s true identity.

"send your words, like pigeons, fluttering for home" connects the act of reclaiming the accent with a sense of returning home to one’s cultural roots.

Blacksmith’s Forge: The metaphor of a blacksmith’s forge symbolises the speaker’s desire to forge her mother’s accent in her own voice, suggesting that language and identity can be reshaped and passed down through generations.

"I wanted to forge your voice in my mouth, a blacksmith’s furnace" reflects the speaker’s determination to reclaim and preserve her mother’s accent.

Structure and Form

The poem is written in free verse, which mirrors the fluidity of speech and accent. The lack of a regular rhyme scheme or metre reflects the natural, organic quality of the Black Country dialect, suggesting that it cannot be easily contained or formalised.

The structure is mostly composed of short lines, which creates a conversational tone and reflects the intimacy of the speaker’s thoughts and feelings towards her mother’s accent.

The poem’s progression from the suppression of the accent to its reclamation mirrors the speaker’s emotional journey as she seeks to reconnect with her mother’s cultural heritage.

Tone

Reflective and Nostalgic: The tone of the poem is reflective, as the speaker looks back on her mother’s decision to suppress her accent. There is a sense of nostalgia as the speaker yearns to reconnect with this lost part of her mother’s identity.

Affectionate and Rebellious: The speaker expresses affection for her mother’s accent, describing it as something she loves and values. At the same time, there is a rebellious undertone as the speaker rejects the idea that the accent should be hidden or suppressed, celebrating it instead.

Key Quotations for Analysis

"For years you kept your accent in a box beneath the bed"

This metaphor suggests that the accent was something to be hidden away, possibly out of shame or societal pressure, highlighting the tension between regional identity and conformity.

"the lock rusted shut by hours of elocution, how now brown cow"

This line reflects the pressure to conform to standard English pronunciation through elocution lessons, which were designed to erase regional accents.

"consonants you could lick the coal from"

This vivid image links the Black Country accent to the region’s industrial history, suggesting that the dialect is as much a part of the landscape as the coal mines.

"I wanted to forge your voice in my mouth, a blacksmith’s furnace"

The metaphor of the blacksmith’s forge represents the speaker’s desire to reshape and reclaim her mother’s accent, showing the importance of preserving cultural identity through language.

"send your words, like pigeons, fluttering for home"

This final image of pigeons returning home symbolises the speaker’s desire to return to her roots and celebrate the Black Country dialect as an essential part of her heritage.

Context

Liz Berry is a poet from the Black Country, a region in the West Midlands of England known for its strong industrial history and distinctive dialect. The Black Country accent has often been stigmatised as "rough" or "uneducated," and many people from the region have felt pressure to adopt standard English pronunciation to fit in. In Homing, Berry explores these themes of linguistic and cultural suppression, drawing on her own experiences and those of her community to celebrate the beauty and power of regional dialects.

"Homing" is a moving exploration of language, identity, and heritage. Through rich metaphor and imagery, Liz Berry celebrates the beauty of the Black Country accent and reflects on the pressures to suppress regional identities. The poem encourages readers to think about the ways in which language is tied to place and history, and the importance of reclaiming and honouring one's cultural roots. The speaker’s desire to embrace her mother’s accent suggests that regional dialects are not something to be hidden or ashamed of, but rather cherished as an essential part of one’s identity.

You can find analysis of all the AQA Worlds and Lives Anthology Poems here.