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by Miriam Wei Wei LoPrescribed for HSC English 2024–2027 (NESA) · Last reviewed Miriam Wei Wei Lo is an Australian poet whose mother is of Anglo-Irish descent and whose father is Malaysian Chinese, a dual heritage that sits at the centre of her writing. She is based in Western Australia, where she writes and teaches creative writing.

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Home is a free verse poem by Miriam Wei Wei Lo, an Australian poet of Anglo-Irish and Malaysian Chinese heritage. Across three sections it explores hybrid identity and what 'home' really means. It is studied in HSC English Standard Module A: Language, Identity and Culture, within the Contemporary Asian Australian Poets anthology.

Overview

Part 1

Throughout her free verse poem, Wei Wei Lo captures the complexity of having a hybrid identity (her mother was of Anglo-Irish lineage, while her father was Malaysian Chinese). From the outset of her poem, Wei Wei Lo foregrounds her view that 'home' is not necessarily just a physical place, but rather an abstract idea that means different things to different people.

Her struggle to derive a clear sense of self is reflected in the title of the first section, '1. One Day I Will Find It.' In this first section, the poet conjures an image of a faraway, mysterious place called 'home,' wherein her Eastern and Western heritages have fused perfectly, and she is able to see her true sense of self, unobscured by the tensions that exist between her Eastern heritage and Western backdrop to her upbringing. She concedes that discovering this place will be difficult, but that when she does arrive 'home,' she will be protected from the negative aspects of those aforementioned identities, such as the poverty associated with her Malaysian Chinese heritage and the historical and contemporary exploitation done by her Western ancestors to people throughout the world.

Part 2

The second section, '2. Without Warning.' draws on intense and evocative Christian imagery to demonstrate the awesome power of language; 'translating this corrupt language of my body, the dark, bitter words of my heart, into the pure language of that other place.' It is important to note that Wei Wei Lo's use of Christian imagery is inspired by her own personal faith. In this section, the poet depicts the experience of repairing her connections to her ancestral and cultural heritage through language as a spiritual experience – one that is removed from the real world.

Part 3

In the final part, '3. A Place to Return To,' the speaker returns from that spiritual world to her family home in Australia. The language used by the poet to describe this setting is in obvious contrast to that employed to explore the spiritual experience of part two; she details how her father was 'born into a single room / that housed his whole family.' That this section is grounded in realism and reality reflects the extent to which the poet has found a stable sense of 'home' and feels grounded by it. The 'white jasmine rampant over the fence' thus metaphorically represents how her sense of self flourishes as a result of that renewed understanding of what 'home' truly is.

Context

Miriam Wei Wei Lo is an Australian poet whose mother is of Anglo-Irish descent and whose father is Malaysian Chinese, a dual heritage that sits at the centre of her writing. She is based in Western Australia, where she writes and teaches creative writing. Her Christian faith also informs her work, which explains the spiritual and biblical imagery that runs through the second section of Home. The poem appears in the anthology Contemporary Asian Australian Poets (2013), the collection prescribed for HSC English Standard Module A: Language, Identity and Culture. Like the other poems selected from the anthology, Home speaks to the experience of negotiating identity across cultures in multicultural Australia, tracing a movement from dislocation towards belonging that many migrant and second-generation Australians will recognise. Reading the poem alongside its companion pieces helps students see how different poets respond to similar questions of language, faith, family and place.

Cultural Assumptions

The Cosmopolitanism of Multiculturalism

Wei Wei Lo's exploration of the complexities of having a hybrid identity is rooted in the cosmopolitanism of multiculturalism. For her, identity is derived from her Anglo-Irish and Malaysian Chinese ancestral and cultural heritages. They are both equally important, though wildly different sources that inform her sense of self and her view of the world.

Turbulence of Assimilation

Wei Wei Lo's difficulty with assimilating is captured through her abstraction of the idea of 'home' and her examination of it. We can chart her process of assimilation through the different titles used for each part, while the consequences are explored within those sections. Ultimately however, the metaphorical language of the garden scenes towards the end of her poem reflect that she ultimately views this otherwise straining process as an opportunity for growth.

Quote Table

  • “and the mulberry tree, that foreigner / so completely at home, growing taller each year.”

    Technique
    Visual imagery, Juxtaposition
    Idea
    Negotiation with and establishing of a physical connection to home

  • “An image so bright and complete / it can only be seen with eyes tight shut. As in prayer. / As in sleep - a dream that outlives reality.”

    Technique
    Simile, Anaphora, Religious imagery
    Idea
    Individual’s relationship with home, Connection and physical disconnection from home

  • “No children are raped there. / No one eats while others go hungry.”

    Technique
    Juxtaposition, Anaphora
    Idea
    Instability of home

  • “Into the pure language of that other place”

    Technique
    Metaphor
    Idea
    Role of poetry and language in forming cultural identity/understanding and home

  • “‘We’re going home!’ They must mean this place.”

    Technique
    Exclamatory tone, Juxtaposition
    Idea
    Consequences of assimilation, Connection and disconnection from home

  • “It will be a skyscraper, fifty storeys tall. / It will be the smallest, most picturesque cottage.”

    Technique
    Anaphora, Juxtaposition, Visual imagery
    Idea
    Paradoxical image of home

  • “One day I will find it / I’ll follow the smell of food: fried ikan balls, roast lamb, mangoes”

    Technique
    Olfactory imagery, Accumulation
    Idea
    Disconnection with home and culture

More Contemporary Asian Australian poetry

Contemporary Asian Australian Poets - Visual Aid

Visual aidContemporary Asian Australian Poets
Poems
Themes
  • The Turbulent Process and Equally Disorienting Consequences of Assimilation
  • The Power of Nostalgia, Memory and Storytelling to Form a More Complete Sense of Self
  • The Cosmopolitanism of Multiculturalism
Context
  • White Australia Policy
  • Racism
  • Influx of Asian immigrants to Australia in the mid-1970s
  • The repeal of the White Australia Policy gave way to increased interest in making Australia a more multicultural nation, and emigration to Australia by foreigners was heavily advocated for by the government and businesses.
Quotes: Nostalgia, Memory and Storytelling and their Ability to Shape Identity
  • "Eyes, lips, hands conjoined: the umbilical cord restored." Final stanza of "This is where it begins". Metaphor, cumulation
  • "And as I do jigsaw-puzzle pieces of memory lock together, my past made whole." The fourth stanza of "Mother" whereby the persona is attempting to understand his mother's past, metaphor
  • "It was a little strange, / as if from a world I hadn't inhabited but had heard stories about" The second stanza of "Translucent Jade" where the persona considers and questions their connection to their culture. simile

Frequently Asked Questions

Which module is Home by Miriam Wei Wei Lo studied in for the HSC?
Home is studied in HSC English Standard Module A: Language, Identity and Culture, as part of the Contemporary Asian Australian Poets anthology.
Who wrote Home?
Home was written by Miriam Wei Wei Lo, an Australian poet whose mother is of Anglo-Irish descent and whose father is Malaysian Chinese.
What is Home about?
The poem explores hybrid identity across three sections, moving from the search for an idealised 'home', through a spiritual experience of language, to a grounded return to the poet's family home in Australia.
What are the main ideas in Home?
Key ideas include the cosmopolitanism of multiculturalism, the turbulence of assimilation, and the view that 'home' is an abstract idea rather than just a physical place.
What techniques should students focus on in Home?
Focus on the free verse structure, the three titled sections, the Christian imagery of the second section, and garden metaphors such as the 'white jasmine' that closes the poem.

Same module

More Module A texts

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