“Island Man” was written by the poet Grace Nichols, who was born in Guyana but moved to England in 1977. Like Nichols, the man in the poem is an immigrant from the Caribbean. Each night, he dreams of his home in the West Indies, only to “come[] back” each morning to the harsh reality of his London surroundings. The poem expresses the homesickness immigrants can feel in a new country, while also suggesting that many immigrants keep their home alive within themselves and thus never truly leave it behind. Nichols first published “Island Man” in her 1984 collection, The Fat Black Woman’s Poems.
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The Full Text of “Island Man”
The Full Text of “Island Man”
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“Island Man” Summary
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“Island Man” Themes
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Immigration, Homesickness, and Identity
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-19
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Island Man”
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Before Line 1
(for a Caribbean ... of the sea)
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Lines 1-5
Morning ...
... breaking and wombing -
Lines 6-10
wild seabirds ...
... small emerald island -
Lines 11-13
he always comes ...
... grey metallic soar -
Lines 14-15
to surge of ...
... North Circular roar -
Lines 16-17
muffling muffling ...
... crumpled pillow waves -
Lines 18-19
island man heaves ...
... Another London day
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“Island Man” Symbols
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The Island
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Before Line 1: “for a Caribbean island man in London”
- Line 2: “island man wakes up”
- Line 10: “his small emerald island”
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Emeralds
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 10: “of his small emerald island”
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Green and Gray
Where this symbol appears in the poem:- Line 10: “his small emerald island”
- Line 13: “a grey metallic soar”
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“Island Man” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Imagery
Where imagery appears in the poem:- Line 3: “the sound of blue surf”
- Lines 6-10: “wild seabirds / and fishermen pushing out to sea / the sun surfacing defiantly / from the east / of his small emerald island”
- Lines 12-13: “sands / of a grey metallic soar”
- Line 14: “surge of wheels”
- Line 15: “dull North Circular roar”
- Line 17: “crumpled pillow waves”
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Juxtaposition
Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:- Lines 1-10
- Lines 11-19
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Metaphor
Where metaphor appears in the poem:- Line 5: “the steady breaking and wombing”
- Line 17: “crumpled pillow waves”
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Anaphora
Where anaphora appears in the poem:- Line 12: “to sands”
- Line 14: “to surge of wheels”
- Line 15: “to dull North Circular roar”
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Repetition
Where repetition appears in the poem:- Line 2: “island man”
- Line 11: “comes back,” “groggily groggily”
- Line 12: “Comes back”
- Line 16: “muffling muffling”
- Line 18: “island man”
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Personification
Where personification appears in the poem:- Line 8: “the sun surfacing defiantly”
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Assonance
Where assonance appears in the poem:- Line 4: “head”
- Line 5: “steady”
- Line 7: “sea”
- Line 8: “defiantly”
- Line 9: “east”
- Line 13: “soar”
- Line 15: “North,” “roar”
- Line 16: “muffling muffling”
- Line 17: “crumpled,” “waves”
- Line 19: “day”
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Alliteration
Where alliteration appears in the poem:- Line 3: “sound,” “blue,” “surf”
- Line 5: “steady,” “breaking,” “wombing”
- Line 6: “wild,” “seabirds”
- Line 7: “sea”
- Line 8: “sun surfacing”
- Line 10: “small”
- Line 12: “sands”
- Line 13: “soar”
- Line 14: “surge”
- Line 15: “Circular”
- Line 18: “heaves himself”
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Consonance
Where consonance appears in the poem:- Line 3: “sound,” “blue,” “surf”
- Line 4: “head”
- Line 5: “steady,” “breaking,” “wombing”
- Line 6: “wild,” “seabirds”
- Line 7: “fishermen pushing,” “sea”
- Line 8: “sun surfacing”
- Line 9: “east”
- Line 10: “small emerald island”
- Line 11: “groggily groggily”
- Line 12: “sands”
- Line 13: “grey,” “soar”
- Line 14: “surge”
- Line 15: “North Circular roar”
- Line 16: “muffling muffling”
- Line 17: “crumpled pillow”
- Line 18: “heaves himself”
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“Island Man” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Breaking and wombing
- Defiantly
- Metallic
- Surge
- Dull
- North Circular roar
- Muffling
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(Location in poem: Line 5: “breaking and wombing”)
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Island Man”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Island Man” Speaker
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“Island Man” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Island Man”
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More “Island Man” Resources
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External Resources
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Grace Nichols Discussing and Reciting “Island Man” — Listen to the poet talk about how she came to write “Island Man” and how it connects to her own experience as an immigrant in the UK. Nichols goes on to recite the poem in the last minute of the video.
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Audio of Poems by Grace Nichols — Read more about Grace Nichols’ work and listen to her read six of her poems at the Poetry Archive in the UK.
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The Windrush Generation — Learn more about Caribbean immigration to the UK in this British Library page on the Windrush Generation, a generation of immigrants from the West Indies who migrated to the UK in the wake of World War II. This timeline and associated resources discuss how Caribbean immigrants played a key role in rebuilding England following the war. The poet, Grace Nichols, also migrated from the Caribbean to England, in 1977.
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British Treatment of Caribbean Immigrants — The poem depicts England as a harsh and unwelcoming place for the “island man”; learn more about the British Government’s treatment of Caribbean immigrants in this article from CNN.
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Biography of Grace Nichols — Learn more about Grace Nichols’s life and work in this biographical article from the British Council of Literature. This page also includes a critical essay on Nichols's work.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Grace Nichols
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