The Importance of Elsewhere
The Importance of Elsewhere - meaning Summary
Belonging Defined by Place
The poem contrasts two settings to explore belonging and identity. In Ireland the speaker’s foreignness creates clarity: difference becomes a reason for connection, and sensory details underline separateness that is nevertheless manageable. Back in England, familiarity removes that protective “elsewhere”; shared customs make rejection harder and more consequential. The poem argues that being an outsider in another place can paradoxically make social contact easier than living amid unexamined belonging.
Read Complete AnalysesLonely in Ireland, since it was not home, Strangeness made sense. The salt rebuff of speech, Insisting so on difference, made me welcome: Once that was recognised, we were in touch Their draughty streets, end-on to hills, the faint Archaic smell of dockland, like a stable, The herring-hawker's cry, dwindling, went To prove me separate, not unworkable. Living in England has no such excuse: These are my customs and establishments It would be much more serious to refuse. Here no elsewhere underwrites my existence.
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