Immigrants at Central Station
“Immigrants at Central Station” is a poem about the collective immigration experience shared by a group of migrants. The journey undertaken in this poem is very emotional, and this is portrayed by the use of imagery, such as the phase “Families stood / Keeping children by their sides”. The poem, once again by its strong use of imagery, demonstrates and illustrates the fear that surrounds the migrants. The experience which this poem recounts is very empty and confusing for the subjects. The poem symbolizes a very emotional climatic point in the migration experience, and it depicts family as a human strength – that with the comfort. Love and support of family, people can get through anything.
Skrzynecki uses alliteration (“…With dampness that slowly / Sank into our thoughts…”), personification (“The air was crowded”, “…But we ate it all: / The silence, the cold, the benevolence”, “Time waited”, “Space hemmed us against each other…” “…time ran ahead…”) and similes (“Like Cattle bought for slaughter”, “Like a word of command”, “Like a guillotine / Cutting us off from the space of eyesight”) to illustrate the intensity and the uncertainty of the poem. “The air was crowded” This personification demonstrates that the atmosphere was full of fear and anticipation. “But we at it all: the silence, the cold, the benevolence” This personification suggests a tense atmosphere. The simile “Like cattle bought for slaughter” suggests a feeling of entrapment, with a pre – determined future.
War is a central theme which is depicted in many of the language techniques, such as “Like cattle bought for slaughter”, which gives a strong allude to the genocide the Nazis inflicted on the Jews by the way of the Holocaust, and this is an indication of the common emotion which is shared by the immigrants – fear. These immigrants have been forced to leave behind their world, their old lives. This creates an uncertain element about the future. The feel detached from life, as if they have lost their identity, as they “Watch pigeons/ That watched them.” Likewise, “Like a word of command” strongly relates to the traumatizing concentration camps set up by the Nazis at the beginning of World War Two. As such, this then makes the tone depressive as it conveys feelings, once again, of entrapment, anxiety and fear. The tone is portrayed by dark, lonely words such as silence, cold and dampness.
This poem strongly depicts the concept of the future – and time. Time is represented by the train “along the glistening tracks” – this indicates that life, and time, go on as so too must we. This creates better understanding of the value of the love, comfort and support of family. It also presents the idea that while they have left behind a war time period, there is a whole world out there which can offer so much more. The immigrants within this poem, however, show reluctance to move ahead with their lives because the fear that they lived through is still fresh and will forever haunt them.
I am after some notes on Peter Skrzynecki's poetry from "Immigrant Chronicle", more especially teh poems "Crossing the Red Sea", "Immigrants at Central Station", and "Leaving Home". It would be really good if those notes could include some examples and techniques. 
