Feliks Skrzynecki

PETER SKRZYNECKI

Overview
Feliks Skrzynecki is the poets father and this
poem is a tribute to his dignity and stoicism in
the face of loss and hardship. Feliks individual
journey from Europe to Australia, from one
culture to another, echoes through the poem
and it is clear that the impact of the journey is
as strong for the son as it is for the father.

Issues /themes
Migrant experience within Australia and the
struggles of assimilation for the older
generations.

Identity and self Feliks identity has been

forged by Polish culture.

Optimistic outlook despite obstacles.

Journey of emigration taken as a decision of the
intellect.

Vocabulary
Perimeter = outer boundary
Sods = chunks of ground/ earth
Reminisced = remembered/ recalled the past
Remnants = small remaining pieces
Geraniums = bright, orange flowering plants, non-native
Cypress = non - native trees to Australia
Tenses = forms of verbs (present, past, future)
Gallic War = The Roman General Caesars account of the war in Gaul, written in
Latin

Hadrians Wall = A wall marking the northernmost border of Roman Britain, built
during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (76-138 AD) and extending right across
northern Britain to keep out invading Scots

Keeping pace with the Joneses = This is a variation of the expression keeping up
with the Jones, an expression that means to compete with ones neighbours in the
acquisition of consumer products. Jones is a common surname in Australia

Stanza 1

My gentle fatherKept pace

only with the JonesesOf his
own minds making Loved
his garden like an only child,
Spent years walking its
perimeterFrom sunrise to
sleep.Alert, brisk and silent,
He swept its pathsTen times
around the world.

Establishes a tone of
respect and admiration
from the poet towards his
father.
Feliks unconcerned with the
consumer competitiveness
of his neighbours. Journey
has allowed him to value
life.
Sibilance
Simile to show how
: creates
he cared for his
a soft
garden. His garden is
mood
a reflection of his own
personal sanctuary as
Hyperbole: His experience
he remembered it in
of displacement after the
Poland.
war has led to his chosen
state of positive isolation in
a

Stanza 2
Hands darkenedFrom cement,
fingers with cracksLike the sods
he broke,I often wondered how
he existedOn five or six hours
sleep each night Why his arms
didnt fall offFrom the soil he
turnedAnd tobacco he rolled.

Personal perspective of the

poet, establishes the hardships
Feliks faced during his journey
both in Europe and Australia.

Synecdoche
hands arms
reinforces his hard
labour and acts as
a reminder of all
the manual labour
in his life.
Simile
establishes
his character
as a hard
working man.

Tone of curiosity
and wonder from the
poets point of view =
view regarding his
father.

Stanza 3
His Polish friendsAlways shook
hands too violently,I thought
Feliks Skrzynecki,That formal
addressI never got used to.
Talking, they reminiscedAbout
farms where paddocks
floweredWith corn and wheat,
Horses they bred, pigsThey
were skilled in slaughtering.
Five years of forced labour in
GermanyDid not dull the
softness of his blue eyes

Reflection
s of their
pasthome life
back in
Europe.
Alien to
the poet.

his forced labour was possible in a prisoner of war

camp, a labour camp or a concentration camp
during World War Two. Tenderness is evoked by
the connotations of Peters description of his
father, suggesting the strength of his character
in refusing to be discouraged by external
circumstances.

negative
connotations of
violently
heighten the
sense of Peters
discomfort in this
situation. This
feeling of
alienation signals
the beginning of
Peters
movement from
his Polish
heritage as a
young person,
but also the
natural
movement of a
child away from
their parents as
they grow up.
(inner journey)

Stanza 4
I never once heardHim
complain of work, the
weatherOr pain. When
twiceThey dug cancer out
of his foot,His comment
was: but Im alive.
The painful connotations of the verb
dug highlight Felikss stoicism in his
direct
speech, but Im alive. His identity is
firmly established as brave and resilient in
the face of many obstacles, in contrast to
Peters later reflections on his shifting
identity.

1st person
pronoun
indicates the
personal
observations
made by the
poet his
fathers
journey.
The use of triples
workweather
Pain indicates the
hardships
faced during his life
journey.

The enjambment
makes emphasis fall
heavily on
unknowingly,
highlighting Peters
lack of involvement
in his cultural
inheritance impact of
journey. of the
unflattering his
description

Stanza 5
Growing older, I
Remember words he
taught me,Remnants of
a languageI inherited
unknowingly The curse
that damnedA crew-cut,
grey-hairedDepartment
clerkWho asked me in
dancing-bear grunts:Did
your father ever attempt
to learn English?

clerk conveys Peters contempt for

this mans prejudice and vindicates
Felikss decision to live in an
isolated world where he is
comfortable.

Condescending tone and rhetorical

question indicates the racist
attitudes experienced by Feliks and
the poet.

Dialogue used by the

Department clerk to
show the obstacles
Feliks and Peter needed
to overcome in

Stanza 6
On the back steps of his
house,Bordered by golden
cypress,Lawns
geraniums youngerThan
both parents,My father
sits out the eveningWith
his dog, smoking,
Watching stars and street
lights come on,Happy as I
have never been.
Feliks self-sufficiency and contentment contrast to
Peters discontent: Happy as I have never been.
This is
ironic, considering that Felikss life has been more
difficult. Felikss capacity to enjoy life has come
through his experience of suffering. His mind has
been broadened to understanding what really matters
in life. This is the impact of his journey.

A harmonious
atmosphere is
created through
the
accumulation
of positive
images: My
father sits out in
the evening/
With his dog,
smoking,/
Watching stars
and street lights
come on

Stanza 7
At thirteen,Stumbling
over tenses in Caesars
Gallic War,I forgot my first
Polish word.He repeated it
so I never forgot.After
that, like a dumb prophet,
Watched me pegging my
tentsFurther and further
south of Hadrians Wall.

Simile: dumb indicates he

could no longer speak

This wall symbolises the barrier between father

and son, and the barrier that Peter self-imposes
as a result of this journey and the hardships he
faces. He uses a cultural allusion as Feliks
watches his son like a dumb prophet, embrace
English culture and history whilst rejecting his
Polish heritage in his eagerness to assimilate.