Who is this Peter Skrzynecki guy?
All of this information is adapted and modified from a presentation by the wonderful Karen Yager. Thanks Karen
What do you need to do?
HSC Examination Rubrics
In your answer you will be assessed on how well you:
demonstrate understanding of the concept of belonging in the context of your study
analyse, explain and assess the ways belonging is represented in a variety of texts
organise, develop and express ideas using language appropriate to audience, purpose and context
AOS-Immigrant Chronicle
Skryznecki’s poems reflect the plight of migrants who experience feelings of dislocation and alienationin their new country, and the dilemma of their descendants who are caught between the culture of their parents and the country they now live in. In their quest to find a place where they belong, these descendants, such as Skryznecki who came to Australia from a foreign land as a child, often reject their cultural heritage, and question their own cultural identity.
Skryznecki consistently communicates feelings of dislocation and alienation. All of his poems reveal this tension between belonging and not belonging. However, the last poem does signify a modification of Skryznecki’s attitude towards belonging as he finally accepts his Ukrainian (mother’s) and Polish (step father’s) heritage.
Personal Response:
The possibilities presented by a sense of belonging to, or exclusion from the text and the world it represents –do the students connect with the poems?
May be influenced by the different ways perspectives are given voice in or are absent from a text –the mother?
AOS Concepts:
How Skryznecki’s and the student’s perspectives are shaped by personal, cultural, historical and social contexts
Child of migrants fleeing from a war-torn, fractured Europe in 1949
Two years at Parkes Migrant Centre
Began writing meditative poems about the landscape and his teaching experiences in 1964
Immigrant Chronicle 1975 first time he wrote about the migrant experience and his very personal feelings of dislocation and alienation
Perception refers to the interplay of recognition and interpretation and is influenced by our preconceived ideas, memories, experiences and senses. It can alter and even distort how we view the notion of belonging.
Skrzynecki's Poetry
Poetry is an ideal medium for exploring the notion of belonging as it is an apt vehicle for communicating personal feelings and attitudes.
The title Immigrant Chronicle, suggests that we are being presented with an historical record of a migrant experience, yet the poems are autobiographical and very personal suggesting Skryznecki’s alienation from the experience.
His choices have been influenced by his ambivalent disconnection to his homeland, his relationship with his parents and own sense of identity.
He conveys his assumptions about belonging through his representations of his relationship with his family and their friends, his ideas about the displaced migrant and the child of migrants who seeks to belong to the new world, and the events that he focuses on.
Aspects of belonging:
The potential of the individual to enrich or challenge a community or group: the child who rejects his cultural heritage
Represent choices not to belong, or barriers which prevent belonging: Prejudice, rejection of cultural heritage
The way attitudes to belonging are modified over time: Skrzynecki by the end of anthology has come to accept the call of his cultural heritage
The prophetic last four lines of ‘Postcards’ signify that although Skryznecki denies emphatically the call of his birthplace and his cultural heritage, he will always be connected to Europe; communicating his reconciliation with his Polish/ Ukrainian identity and legacy, and his acceptance that he does belong.
His voice resonates because of his repeated use of the first person and the structure of the sentences in the stanzas that replicate how we relay memories to others
The imagery is evocative, and the alliteration and assonance give the poems a quiet, reflective rhythm
In your answer you will be assessed on how well you:
demonstrate understanding of the concept of belonging in the context of your study
analyse, explain and assess the ways belonging is represented in a variety of texts
organise, develop and express ideas using language appropriate to audience, purpose and context
AOS-Immigrant Chronicle
Skryznecki’s poems reflect the plight of migrants who experience feelings of dislocation and alienationin their new country, and the dilemma of their descendants who are caught between the culture of their parents and the country they now live in. In their quest to find a place where they belong, these descendants, such as Skryznecki who came to Australia from a foreign land as a child, often reject their cultural heritage, and question their own cultural identity.
Skryznecki consistently communicates feelings of dislocation and alienation. All of his poems reveal this tension between belonging and not belonging. However, the last poem does signify a modification of Skryznecki’s attitude towards belonging as he finally accepts his Ukrainian (mother’s) and Polish (step father’s) heritage.
Personal Response:
The possibilities presented by a sense of belonging to, or exclusion from the text and the world it represents –do the students connect with the poems?
May be influenced by the different ways perspectives are given voice in or are absent from a text –the mother?
AOS Concepts:
How Skryznecki’s and the student’s perspectives are shaped by personal, cultural, historical and social contexts
Child of migrants fleeing from a war-torn, fractured Europe in 1949
Two years at Parkes Migrant Centre
Began writing meditative poems about the landscape and his teaching experiences in 1964
Immigrant Chronicle 1975 first time he wrote about the migrant experience and his very personal feelings of dislocation and alienation
Perception refers to the interplay of recognition and interpretation and is influenced by our preconceived ideas, memories, experiences and senses. It can alter and even distort how we view the notion of belonging.
Skrzynecki's Poetry
Poetry is an ideal medium for exploring the notion of belonging as it is an apt vehicle for communicating personal feelings and attitudes.
The title Immigrant Chronicle, suggests that we are being presented with an historical record of a migrant experience, yet the poems are autobiographical and very personal suggesting Skryznecki’s alienation from the experience.
His choices have been influenced by his ambivalent disconnection to his homeland, his relationship with his parents and own sense of identity.
He conveys his assumptions about belonging through his representations of his relationship with his family and their friends, his ideas about the displaced migrant and the child of migrants who seeks to belong to the new world, and the events that he focuses on.
Aspects of belonging:
The potential of the individual to enrich or challenge a community or group: the child who rejects his cultural heritage
Represent choices not to belong, or barriers which prevent belonging: Prejudice, rejection of cultural heritage
The way attitudes to belonging are modified over time: Skrzynecki by the end of anthology has come to accept the call of his cultural heritage
The prophetic last four lines of ‘Postcards’ signify that although Skryznecki denies emphatically the call of his birthplace and his cultural heritage, he will always be connected to Europe; communicating his reconciliation with his Polish/ Ukrainian identity and legacy, and his acceptance that he does belong.
His voice resonates because of his repeated use of the first person and the structure of the sentences in the stanzas that replicate how we relay memories to others
The imagery is evocative, and the alliteration and assonance give the poems a quiet, reflective rhythm