To One Coming North

The poem’s message addresses the experience of migrating to northern lands away from the racism of the south, capturing an essential element all diasporas fleeing conflict. The poem does not simplify or negate the complex experience of migration, acknowledging that even if the homeland is a place of oppression and violence, for the migrant, it may continue to hold a particular allure of beauty and familiarity. Flight from the homeland may be a necessary and irreversible choice, but the choice does not mean that migrants will not long for their homes, as does the audience in “To One Coming North.”

Further, the north, which is the location of the new home for the migrant audience, is not presented as an obvious paradise. In the poem’s context, the north is both a magical snowy landscape and a “wind-worried void” (Line 6). The immigrant will have to create a new life here, from scratch, and the process may not be an easy one. Thus, the poem does not ignore the realities of diaspora and the flight from conflict and oppression.

Despite the feelings of longing and nostalgia that are possible, there are clear reasons why very few immigrants return for good to the lands they left behind.