and lost the first one, the mother tongue,’
Here the audience is given a negative imagery of the poet. In the first section of this poem, the poet shows the importance of her Gujarati culture and the fear of losing her mother tongue, which to her means losing her identity: she says;
‘And if you lived in a place yu had to
speak a foreign tongue, your mother tongue would rot,
rot and die in your mouth’
In the opening section Bhatt talks about the situation she’s in about having two cultures: a mother tongue and a foreign tongue and feels her identity is under threat because what she feels is that what one speaks is to some extent what he is.
‘And if you lived in a place you had to
speak a foreign tongue,’
Looking at the different styles and moods of the poem, ‘For Search For My Tongue’ here the reader can see that it is written in two very contrasting styles, Standard English and Gujrati as well as phonetic Gujrati:
‘(munay hutoo kay aakee jeebh aakee bhasha)’ phonetic Gujrati.
There isn’t much use of punctuation, the basic: full stop, use of brackets and commas. The words in the bracket are direct in terms of being phonetically spoken. The use of the bracket not only help the reader understand the sentiments of the author but establishes how her thoughts.
‘For Search For My Tongue’, has been split into three sections. In the opening section, the scene is created immediately:
‘You ask me what I mean
by saying I have lost my tongue.’
Here the author immediately tells the reader what the poem is about in a relaxed, casual but in a sense that it is hesitant and vague language style and corresponds it with the subsequent line in simple language. With the worry of the language being portrayed as ‘grows back’…’grows longer’…’bud opens in the mouth’, are all examples, which create positive imagery of the rediscovery mother tongue. The first section of the poem is in many terms negative:
‘your mother tongue would rot,
rot and die in your mouth
until you had to spit it out.’
As in the first section, the author talks about discovering the loss of her mother, the ability to not speaking it anymore due to having to adapt a new tongue, foreign. A tongue, which is suited by the environment. The second section, gives the reader an insight of the authors dream, in which Bhatt discovers her mother tongue, realising it was never lost, just and been put on the back burner. The dream is in phonetic Gujrati, so those who can’t read Gujrati have the help of the written terms. This section of the poem shows that the author is relieved to find that that her mother tongue still remains there. The final section is in comparison with the first section as the began with a negative tone, the author expressing the loss of her mother tongue:
‘by saying I have lost my tongue.’
And the final section ending in a positive tone, as she has rediscovered her tongue in her dream. The tone takes a merriment tone:
‘I think I’ve lost the mother tongue,
it blossoms out of my mouth.’
She feels reassured. In the last section, there is a key metaphor:
‘the bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth,’
The language is a plant, like a plait. It grows from the rot, grows longer and forms stronger than before:
‘grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins,
it ties the other tongue in knots,
the bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth,’
the poem remains reliable as this could happen to anyone, in a sense that what one speaks to some extent who the person is. Bhatt was at a stage where she thought she had lost her identity as person.
Unlike, the previous poem, ‘Half-caste’, takes a very serious, realistic and pleading tone, although there is humour which is more cynical and sarcastic, which is used to get point across that ‘half-caste people are the same as anyone else in the community. This poem is written in a form of prejudice. This poem, in my opinion is more serious and dramatic than ‘For Search For My Tongue’, a desperate man demanding an explanation for being a victim of prejudice. The language used in simple but there is a dialect, a Caribbean dialect.
John Agard, to get his point across about half-caste, he uses images to point other well-known mixtures of half-caste:
‘yu mean when Picasso
mix red an green
is a half-case canvas/’
this is one of his interpretation of well known mixtures which people of society welcome with open arms, then why is there a voice of prejudice when a there is a person who belongs to two races. Agard takes a bitter, angry and frustrating tone to match his feeling of being a victim.
The presentational device used for this poem is formal: it has rhythm and rhyme. The rhyme scheme used is not expected, as the poem is written in a form of prejudice.
The use of sarcasm and mocking tone:
‘Excuse me
standing on one leg
I’m half-caste’
The author here wants attention, and introduces the subject of half-caste. Then the author goes on to demanding an explanation to why people are objective towards those who are half-caste, they seem to have no objections for any other object but humans.
‘explain yuself
wha yu mean
when yu say half-caste’
From this one can see that Agard has been a victim of prejudice. He challenges the person who spoke so rudely of him.
‘ Ah listening to yu wid de keen
half of mih ear’
Here Agard is asking for prejudices to review their stance to see factors through his eyes. He does however use sarcastic humour to get his point of racism and prejudice across. ‘Half-caste is a rather challenging poem, a through out the poem there is repetition of:
‘Explain yuself
wha yu mean’
Agard challenges those who speak against half-castes, and asks them to give their interpretation of half-casts.
‘Half-caste’, is written in non-standard English, just like did Sujata Bhatt and is adapting a Caribbean accent. There is no punctuation besides the basic, though however the reader creates the punctuation and tone as he reads the poem aloud.
If to summarise, between the poems, the author’s, manage to demonstrate the relationship between the poems, in different but effective ways. ‘Half-caste’, Agard creates a victimising and frustrated imagery about those who are prejudice. Although there are corresponding styles are used and throughout the poem there remains one mood created, I feel the author was cynical to a point and manages distinctively to make his intended point. In contrast to ‘For Search For My Tongue’, Bhatt seems very uncertain as she feels she has lost the ability to speak her mother tongue and in contrast with Agard who seems very confident as he challenges those who are prejudice. He also is confident about his background, as is Bhatt. I think that Agard wants the reader to envisage how what he feels and what he has to say are two different things using non-standard English and phonetic Caribbean accent. However it is repetitive in that he creates humour, which is rather cynical.