After the Second World War substantial waves of immigration to the United Kingdom from the Caribbean were needed to meet the labour shortage in an expanding economy.

While this meant economic opportunity for many, the experience of immigrants was complex and varied. Educated West Indians hoping for professional advancement faced a barrier of racial prejudice, many were blocked from renting or buying good houses. Many, like the Island Man who is the subject of Grace Nichols' poem, were lonely and isolated, and found it difficult to cope with cold, wet winters.

So in this poem ‘Island’ is a metaphor, not only for the place he has come from and the island in which he is living, but also represents his isolation and loneliness.

In the poem Island man sees vivid images in his dreams and suffers home-sickness. Nichols describes his emotions on waking to the sound of traffic on the North Circular Road — an impersonal and intimidating duel carriageway — and stark buildings. London for him is friendless, grey and cold.

Structure
The poem comprises six stanzas of unequal length, from five lines to the concluding single line stanza. The lines themselves are also of unequal length. There is no regular rhyme scheme, but Nichols includes some rhyme, for example, ‘soar’ and ‘roar’ in stanza four, and ‘sea’ and ‘defiantly’ in stanza two. These give the poem unity and cohesion.

Language and Imagery
The language is uncluttered and straightforward, a single unpunctuated stream of consciousness to convey the tedium of the man’s life. The depressed mood is created by a serious of images, contrasting the greyness of North London with the warmth and colour of his former home.

For further reading: Andrea Levy’s Novel ‘Small Island’