“Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye: A Critical Analysis

Introduction: “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye

“Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye first appeared in 1995 in the collection Words Under the Words: Selected Poems. The poem explores themes of loneliness, cultural duality, and the resilience of human connection, using the extended metaphor of skin to represent the speaker’s sense of isolation and identity. Lines like “Skin remembers how long the years grow / when skin is not touched, a gray tunnel / of singleness” evoke the pain of solitude, while “Love means you breathe in two countries” reflects the speaker’s Palestinian-American heritage, embodying the coexistence of two cultural identities. The poem’s hopeful tone, as seen in “Skin had hope, that’s what skin does. / Heals over the scarred place, makes a road,” underscores the capacity for healing and connection. Its popularity stems from Nye’s accessible yet profound language, which resonates with readers through its universal themes of longing and belonging, amplified by her ability to weave personal and cultural narratives, as noted by critics who praise her for bridging distant forces with vivid imagery (Ploughshares,). The poem’s emotional depth and cultural resonance make it a compelling reflection on identity and human connection.

Text: “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye

From Words Under the Words: Selected Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye. Published by Far Corner. Reprinted with permission of the author. Copyright © 1995 Naomi Shihab Nye.

Annotations: “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye

Stanza	Explanation	Literary Devices in Stanza
Stanza 1	The skin feels lonely without touch, like a long, gray tunnel or a lost feather no one notices, living alone—eating, walking, sleeping—and waving casually but feeling unseen, like an unknown place on a map with a nose or hip like cities and a forehead like a mosque’s dome. Nye personifies the skin as a sentient entity that recalls isolation, using the “gray tunnel of singleness” to evoke monotonous solitude and the “feather lost from the tail of a bird” to symbolize something delicate and overlooked, emphasizing invisibility. The skin’s solitary routines reinforce loneliness, and the “see-you-later hand” suggests a superficial gesture hiding deeper isolation. The metaphor of the skin as a “land on the map” with “nose like a city, hip like a city, gleaming dome of the mosque” portrays the body as an uncharted, vibrant territory with cultural and sensory details like “cinnamon and rope,” reflecting Nye’s Palestinian-American heritage.	Personification, Metaphor, Imagery, Allusion
Stanza 2	The skin is hopeful, healing itself like covering a scar to form a road, and love connects two people, like living in two countries, with the skin remembering textures like silk or spiny grass in its private pocket, thankful for connections with others who travel beyond themselves. This stanza shifts to resilience and hope, with the skin’s ability to “heal over the scarred place” and “make a road” symbolizing recovery and progress. The metaphor “love means you breathe in two countries” suggests love as a dual existence, bridging identities or places, reflecting Nye’s cultural duality. Tactile memories of “silk, spiny grass” in the skin’s “secret own” pocket evoke nostalgia and intimacy, while gratitude for “travelers” and “something larger” highlights universal connections, transcending individual isolation through shared human experiences.	Metaphor, Imagery, Personification, Symbolism

Literary And Poetic Devices: “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye

Literary/Poetic Device	Example and Explanation
Personification	Example: “Skin remembers,” “skin ate, walked, slept” Explanation: The skin is given human qualities, acting as a sentient entity that feels, remembers, and performs actions. This anthropomorphism emphasizes the emotional depth of the speaker’s isolation and resilience, making the skin a central character in the poem’s exploration of loneliness and connection. Symbol: 🧡 (Orange heart: Warmth of human connection desired by the skin)
Metaphor	Example: “Gray tunnel of singleness” Explanation: Loneliness is compared to a bleak, endless tunnel, evoking a sense of monotonous solitude. This metaphor underscores the emotional weight of isolation, painting it as a confining, desolate space. Symbol: 💨 (Gray wind: Fleeting, oppressive isolation)
Extended Metaphor	Example: “Skin… never known as a land on the map, nose like a city, hip like a city” Explanation: The skin is consistently likened to a geographical landscape throughout the poem, with features like nose and hip as cities. This sustained comparison portrays the body as an uncharted territory, rich with cultural and sensory significance, reflecting the speaker’s identity. Symbol: 🏙️ (City skyline: Complex terrain of the skin)
Imagery	Example: “Gleaming dome of the mosque and the hundred corridors of cinnamon and rope” Explanation: Vivid sensory details create a visual and olfactory landscape, evoking cultural richness and sensory experience. The imagery ties to Nye’s Palestinian-American heritage, enhancing the poem’s depth. Symbol: 🕌 (Golden dome: Cultural resonance)
Allusion	Example: “Gleaming dome of the mosque” Explanation: References Islamic architecture, alluding to Middle Eastern cultural and spiritual heritage. This connects to Nye’s identity, grounding the poem in her personal and cultural context. Symbol: 🕌 (Golden dome: Spiritual and cultural depth)
Symbolism	Example: “Something larger” Explanation: Represents a universal force or shared humanity, suggesting connections beyond the individual self. It elevates the poem’s theme of transcending isolation through collective experience. Symbol: 🌌 (Starry sky: Universal connection)
Simile	Example: “Nose like a city, hip like a city” Explanation: The nose and hip are explicitly compared to cities using “like,” reinforcing the extended metaphor of the skin as a landscape. This highlights the body’s complexity and cultural significance. Symbol: 🏙️ (City skyline: Body as a vibrant landscape)
Sensory Imagery	Example: “Silk, spiny grass” Explanation: Tactile imagery of contrasting textures evokes the skin’s sensory memory, emphasizing intimate, physical experiences that linger despite isolation. Symbol: 🌾 (Grass: Tactile memory)
Enjambment	Example: “Skin remembers how long the years grow / when skin is not touched” Explanation: The thought spills over from one line to the next without punctuation, mirroring the continuous, unbroken feeling of loneliness and creating a flowing rhythm. Symbol: ➡️ (Arrow: Flow of thought)
Alliteration	Example: “Feather lost from the tail” Explanation: The repetition of the “f” sound creates a soft, delicate rhythm, emphasizing the fragility of the lost feather and, by extension, the speaker’s overlooked presence. Symbol: 🪶 (Feather: Delicate sound and presence)
Assonance	Example: “Skin ate, walked, slept” Explanation: The repetition of the short “e” sound in “ate,” “slept” creates a clipped, monotonous tone, reflecting the mundane routine of solitary life. Symbol: 🔊 (Sound wave: Rhythmic vowel repetition)
Consonance	Example: “Hundred corridors of cinnamon and rope” Explanation: The repetition of the “r” sound enhances the musicality and texture of the line, emphasizing the sensory richness of the skin’s imagined landscape. Symbol: 🎶 (Musical note: Sonic texture)
Anaphora	Example: “Skin remembers,” “Skin ate,” “Skin had hope” Explanation: The repetition of “skin” at the beginning of multiple lines emphasizes its centrality to the poem, reinforcing its role as both subject and symbol. Symbol: 🔁 (Repeat: Emphasis through repetition)
Juxtaposition	Example: “Silk, spiny grass” Explanation: The contrast between smooth silk and rough spiny grass highlights the skin’s memory of diverse tactile experiences, reflecting the complexity of human sensation. Symbol: ⚖️ (Balance: Contrasting elements)
Symbol	Example: “Feather lost from the tail of a bird” Explanation: The feather symbolizes fragility and being overlooked, representing the speaker’s sense of invisibility and loss in isolation. Symbol: 🪶 (Feather: Fragility and loss)
Tone	Example: “Skin had hope, that’s what skin does” Explanation: The hopeful tone in the second stanza shifts from the melancholy of the first, reflecting resilience and optimism, central to the poem’s emotional arc. Symbol: ☀️ (Sun: Hopeful tone)
Theme	Example: “Love means you breathe in two countries” Explanation: The theme of cultural duality is central, reflecting Nye’s Palestinian-American identity and the idea of love bridging two worlds or identities. Symbol: 🌍 (Globe: Cultural duality)
Free Verse	Example: The poem’s structure, with no regular meter or rhyme Explanation: The lack of a fixed metrical pattern allows flexibility in rhythm and line length, mirroring the organic flow of memory and emotion. Symbol: 🌊 (Wave: Fluid structure)
Synecdoche	Example: “Skin” representing the whole person Explanation: The skin stands in for the entire individual, emphasizing physical and emotional experiences of isolation and connection. Symbol: 🖐️ (Hand: Part representing whole)
Conceit	Example: The skin as a map with cities and corridors Explanation: This extended, imaginative comparison frames the skin as a geographical and cultural landscape, sustaining the poem’s exploration of identity and belonging. Symbol: 🗺️ (Map: Imaginative framework)

Themes: “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye

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🌙 Theme 1: Loneliness and Isolation: In “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye, the poet reflects on the ache of solitude through the metaphor of the body’s skin. The opening lines — “Skin remembers how long the years grow / when skin is not touched, a gray tunnel / of singleness” — vividly capture the sense of abandonment and emotional hunger that lingers in memory. The imagery of a “feather lost from the tail of a bird, swirling onto a step, / swept away by someone who never saw / it was a feather” underscores the fragility of neglected human presence, where life feels unrecognized and easily discarded. Nye emphasizes that isolation reduces the human body to a map unseen, as she laments that the skin “was never seen, never known as / a land on the map.” This theme highlights how human beings crave acknowledgment and connection, and how deep loneliness imprints itself on memory.

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🕊️ Theme 2: Identity and the Body as a Landscape: In “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye, the body is portrayed as a symbolic geography of existence, a lived landscape. The poet personifies skin as a world in itself: “nose like a city, / hip like a city, gleaming dome of the mosque / and the hundred corridors of cinnamon and rope.” This metaphorical mapping transforms the physical self into a cultural and spiritual terrain, suggesting that identity is not only personal but also communal and sacred. By invoking architectural and sensory imagery such as the “mosque” and “cinnamon,” Nye links the body to cultural memory, tradition, and belonging. The poem thus articulates that identity is carried within the body, inscribed in skin, and remembered even when unacknowledged by others.

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❤️ Theme 3: Healing and Resilience through Love: In “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye, the theme of healing emerges as the skin learns to endure and recover. Nye writes, “Skin had hope, that’s what skin does. / Heals over the scarred place, makes a road.” This metaphor of healing over wounds reflects the resilience of human beings in the face of abandonment and emotional pain. Even when marked by scars, the skin — and by extension, the self — has the capacity to regenerate and move forward. Love, for Nye, is a transformative force, captured in the profound line: “Love means you breathe in two countries.” Love doubles experience, expanding one’s life beyond isolation, allowing two lives to overlap and share breath. This theme emphasizes that love is not only a personal connection but also a broader spiritual crossing into new territories of human experience.

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🌍 Theme 4: Memory, Gratitude, and Transcendence: In “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye, memory persists as both a source of pain and a foundation for gratitude. Even after finding companionship, the speaker asserts: “Even now, when skin is not alone, / it remembers being alone and thanks something larger.” The endurance of past loneliness makes present intimacy more precious. Nye frames this gratitude in terms of travel and transcendence, suggesting that “there are travelers, that people go places / larger than themselves.” Here, human connection is portrayed as a journey into expansiveness, a step beyond the limitations of the self. The theme of transcendence suggests that love and memory combine to anchor human identity, allowing individuals to grow into something larger than their solitude.

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Literary Theories and “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye

Literary Theory	Application to “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye	Textual References
🌙 Psychoanalytic Theory	The poem explores the unconscious desires for intimacy, recognition, and healing. Skin becomes a metaphor for the psyche, haunted by loneliness but longing for love and wholeness. The scars represent repressed wounds that resurface in memory.	“Skin remembers how long the years grow / when skin is not touched”; “Skin had hope, that’s what skin does. / Heals over the scarred place”
🕊️ Feminist Theory	The body is portrayed as a site of identity and cultural memory, particularly in feminine terms of sensuality, recognition, and resilience. Nye challenges the invisibility of the body by metaphorically mapping it as a city, mosque, and corridors, reclaiming space for female embodiment.	“never known as / a land on the map, nose like a city, / hip like a city, gleaming dome of the mosque”
❤️ Reader-Response Theory	The poem invites readers to reflect on their own experiences of loneliness and love. The universality of “skin” allows different readers to connect personally, filling in the emotional spaces with their own stories of touch, loss, and intimacy.	“Love means you breathe in two countries”; “Even now, when skin is not alone, / it remembers being alone”
🌍 Postcolonial Theory	The imagery of cities, mosques, spices, and travel resonates with cultural hybridity and displacement. Nye, a Palestinian-American poet, weaves together personal and cultural geographies, suggesting that love and identity exist in “two countries,” reflecting diasporic consciousness.	“nose like a city, hip like a city, gleaming dome of the mosque / and the hundred corridors of cinnamon and rope”; “Love means you breathe in two countries”

Critical Questions about “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye

1. What is the central theme of loneliness and human connection in the poem? 🔍 “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye explores the profound theme of loneliness as an enduring state of isolation, contrasted with the redemptive power of human connection and love. The poem begins by personifying the skin as a solitary entity that “remembers how long the years grow when skin is not touched, a gray tunnel of singleness,” evoking a sense of monotonous, unseen existence where the skin “ate, walked, slept by itself” and feels “never seen, never known as a land on the map.” This imagery underscores the emotional void of disconnection, likening the body to overlooked geographical features like a “nose like a city” or “hip like a city,” suggesting a rich inner world that goes unnoticed. However, the poem shifts to hope and healing, noting that “skin had hope, that’s what skin does. Heals over the scarred place, makes a road,” symbolizing resilience and the potential for recovery. Ultimately, love is portrayed as a bridge between worlds, where “love means you breathe in two countries,” implying that genuine connection allows one to inhabit multiple emotional or cultural realms simultaneously. Even in companionship, the skin “remembers being alone and thanks something larger that there are travelers,” highlighting gratitude for relationships that expand beyond the self. Through these references, Nye conveys that while loneliness is an intrinsic human experience, connection offers a pathway to wholeness and transcendence.
2. How does the poet use personification to develop the poem’s emotional depth? 🧑‍🎨 “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye employs personification extensively by attributing human emotions and actions to the skin, transforming it into a sentient protagonist that embodies the speaker’s inner experiences. From the outset, the skin “remembers how long the years grow when skin is not touched,” granting it memory and awareness of time’s passage in isolation. It actively engages in daily life—”skin ate, walked, slept by itself, knew how to raise a see-you-later hand”—which humanizes the physical body, making tangible the abstract pain of singleness. This device deepens the reader’s empathy, as the skin feels “never seen, never known,” mirroring human desires for recognition. In the second stanza, personification evolves to convey resilience: “skin had hope, that’s what skin does,” portraying it as inherently optimistic and capable of self-healing, as it “heals over the scarred place, makes a road.” The skin also retains sensory memories—”silk, spiny grass, deep in the pocket that is skin’s secret own”—and expresses gratitude, remembering “being alone and thanks something larger.” By personifying the skin, Nye creates a vivid, relatable vessel for exploring themes of solitude and connection, allowing readers to feel the emotional weight of the poem’s narrative through a familiar yet abstracted lens.
3. What does the title “Two Countries” symbolize in relation to cultural identity? 🌍 “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye uses its title to symbolize the duality of cultural identity, particularly drawing from Nye’s Palestinian-American heritage, where love and connection enable one to navigate multiple worlds. The phrase “love means you breathe in two countries” directly references this, suggesting that intimate relationships or self-acceptance allow for a simultaneous existence in disparate cultural or emotional landscapes. This is reinforced by imagery of the skin as a “land on the map” with features like the “gleaming dome of the mosque and the hundred corridors of cinnamon and rope,” evoking Middle Eastern cultural elements blended with universal human experiences. The skin’s journey from isolation—a “gray tunnel of singleness” where it feels unseen—to gratitude for “travelers, that people go places larger than themselves” implies a border-crossing theme, where connection transcends national or personal boundaries. Nye’s portrayal of the skin remembering “being alone” yet healing to form a “road” further symbolizes the bridging of divides, reflecting how bicultural individuals often inhabit “two countries” internally. Thus, the title encapsulates the poem’s celebration of hybridity, portraying it not as conflict but as a enriching aspect of human life.
4. How does imagery contribute to the poem’s exploration of memory and healing? 🌟 “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye richly employs imagery to illustrate the interplay between memory’s lingering pain and the process of healing, creating a sensory tapestry that makes abstract emotions palpable. Tactile and visual images dominate, such as the “feather lost from the tail of a bird, swirling onto a step, swept away by someone who never saw it was a feather,” which vividly captures the fragility and invisibility of forgotten moments in solitude. The skin’s landscape is depicted with “nose like a city, hip like a city, gleaming dome of the mosque,” blending urban and cultural visuals to represent an unexplored inner world. Memory is evoked through contrasting textures—”silk, spiny grass, deep in the pocket that is skin’s secret own”—highlighting how past sensations persist even in companionship. Healing imagery emerges in “heals over the scarred place, makes a road,” transforming wounds into pathways forward, symbolizing progress and renewal. Finally, the poem’s closing gratitude for “something larger that there are travelers” uses expansive imagery to suggest a broader horizon, where memory serves not to trap but to appreciate connection. Through these images, Nye crafts a narrative that honors the skin’s enduring recollections while affirming the possibility of emotional restoration.

Literary Works Similar to “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye

• 🌙 “Alone” by Maya Angelou – Similar in its exploration of loneliness and the human need for connection.
• 🕊️ “Love After Love” by Derek Walcott – Shares Nye’s theme of rediscovering the self and healing after emotional solitude.
• ❤️ “Having a Coke with You” by Frank O’Hara – Resonates with the idea of love expanding human experience into new “countries.”
• 🌍 “The Hug” by Thom Gunn – Like Nye’s poem, it uses physical touch as a metaphor for intimacy, memory, and healing.
• ✨ “The More Loving One” by W. H. Auden – Connects with Nye’s reflection on love, longing, and the acceptance of emotional vulnerability.

Representative Quotations of “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye

Quotation	Context	Theoretical Perspective	Interpretation
“Skin remembers how long the years grow”	From the opening line of the first stanza, this introduces the personified skin as a sentient entity that holds memories of isolation.	Psychoanalytic Theory	The skin’s memory of prolonged solitude reflects the subconscious retention of emotional experiences. The phrase suggests a deep, almost bodily awareness of time’s weight in loneliness, setting the stage for the poem’s exploration of isolation as a visceral, psychological state.
“A gray tunnel of singleness”	Part of the first stanza, describing the skin’s experience of loneliness when untouched.	Existentialist Theory	This metaphor portrays loneliness as an existential void, a tunnel that confines and isolates the self. It underscores the human condition’s struggle with solitude, emphasizing the skin’s yearning for connection to escape this bleak, monotonous state.
“Feather lost from the tail of a bird, swirling onto a step”	In the first stanza, this image depicts the skin as something delicate and overlooked.	New Criticism	The feather symbolizes fragility and anonymity, with its delicate motion and unnoticed fall highlighting the speaker’s sense of being disregarded. The image’s precision invites close reading, revealing the poem’s theme of invisibility within a richly detailed sensory world.
“Skin ate, walked, slept by itself”	From the first stanza, detailing the skin’s solitary routines.	Feminist Theory	This line reflects the autonomy of the body, often gendered in literature, performing daily tasks in isolation. It suggests a self-sufficient yet lonely existence, possibly critiquing societal neglect of individual emotional needs, particularly for marginalized identities like Nye’s Palestinian-American persona.
“Never seen, never known as a land on the map”	In the first stanza, describing the skin’s feeling of being unrecognized.	Postcolonial Theory	The skin as an uncharted “land” evokes the marginalization of cultural identities, particularly Nye’s Palestinian heritage, which is often overlooked on the global “map.” This line critiques the erasure of hybrid identities, emphasizing the desire for recognition and belonging.
“Nose like a city, hip like a city, gleaming dome of the mosque”	From the first stanza, part of the extended metaphor of the skin as a landscape.	Cultural Studies	This vivid imagery maps the body as a cultural geography, blending urban and Middle Eastern elements. It reflects Nye’s bicultural identity, celebrating the richness of her heritage while highlighting the body’s complexity as a site of cultural and personal significance.
“Skin had hope, that’s what skin does”	From the second stanza, marking a shift to resilience and optimism.	Humanist Theory	This line embodies the human capacity for hope and renewal, suggesting that resilience is an inherent trait. The personified skin’s optimism underscores the poem’s humanist belief in the potential for healing and connection, even after prolonged isolation.
“Heals over the scarred place, makes a road”	In the second stanza, describing the skin’s ability to recover from pain.	Trauma Theory	The imagery of healing over scars to form a road symbolizes recovery from emotional wounds, suggesting a journey forward. It reflects the poem’s theme of resilience, where past traumas are not erased but integrated into a path toward connection and growth.
“Love means you breathe in two countries”	From the second stanza, encapsulating the poem’s central metaphor of love and duality.	Postcolonial Theory	This metaphor captures the bicultural experience of inhabiting two identities, likely Nye’s Palestinian and American roots. Love becomes a bridge between these “countries,” suggesting that emotional connections enable a harmonious coexistence of dual identities, a key theme in postcolonial literature.
“Thanks something larger that there are travelers”	From the closing lines of the second stanza, expressing gratitude for human connection.	Transcendentalist Theory	This line invokes a universal force or shared humanity, aligning with transcendentalist ideas of interconnectedness. The gratitude for “travelers” who go “places larger than themselves” celebrates collective human experiences that transcend individual isolation, reinforcing the poem’s hopeful resolution.

Suggested Readings: “Two Countries” by Naomi Shihab Nye