Choose two poems, where the writer reveals strong feelings about their culture or tradition.

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Choose two poems, where the writer reveals strong feelings about their culture or tradition.

The poems, ‘For search For My Tongue’ and ‘Half-Caste’ are poems, which concentrate on one major factor: culture. Although the poets may hold opposing stances, these are expressed in an effective and distinctive manner. Both John Agard of ‘Half-Caste’ and Sujata Bhatt of ‘For Search For My Tongue’ talk passionately of their culture and tradition in emotive language.

        Firstly I will discuss an idealistic yet cultural poem: ‘For Search For My Tongue’. An unordinary poem using Gujrati, phonetic Gujrati and ordinary English language structure. The poem is concerned with mother tongue (Gujrati), and how the first tongue is put on back burner; as a foreign tongue needs to be spoken. The language of the poem is like plait; this has been shown with the use of the metaphors in a rather dramatic style.  Unique style and hypothesis needs to be tested. [email protected]  

        Secondly the poem entitled ‘Half-Caste’: here the author takes a rather dramatic tone, although there is humour but is sarcastic and cynical. The author is a victim of prejudice and looks for acceptance as a person and explanation from those who have been prejudiced towards him.  He authenticates the poem to a certain extent by illustrating his concerns by challenging the faces of prejudice.

        Although the poem ‘For Search For My Tongue’ has been written in two very contrasting styles, Sujata Bhatt, the author creates a sense of panic and uncertainty. Panic because she has a worry about losing the ability in speaking her mother tongue:

‘if you had two tongues in your mouth,

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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 ...

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