Spanish Town

The speaker tells us plainly that this poem takes place "right 'way in 'panish Town" (12). Spanish Town was the first European settlement on the conquered island that settlers named Jamaica, and was for many years the capital of the Island. Spanish Town is a center of urban life, and has had trouble with crime and poverty throughout its history. The speaker identifies strongly as a part of this setting: born in Spanish Town, she insists that she belongs there in a way the bobby does not.

The Mountain

The other setting in the poem is imagined. The speaker accuses the bobby of coming from "naked mountain-kin" (29). Unlike herself – who was born in the city, and belongs there – the bobby comes from a rural and impoverished area. There, he and his family faced natural hardships and the threat of starvation. The speaker argues that he is therefore not...