Compare and contrast the 'Blessing' by Imtiaz Dharker with 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' by Moniza Alvi. How do the two poems give us an insight into other cultures?

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Compare and contrast the ‘Blessing’ by Imtiaz Dharker with ‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’ by Moniza Alvi. How do the two poems give us an insight into other cultures?

I am going to compare two poems from different cultures, one of which is ‘Blessing’ by Imtiaz Dharker which is about people living in India with very little fresh water and the other poem ‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’ by Moniza Alvi, which is in relation to girl’s heritage living in the UK who receives clothes as presents from some relatives in Pakistan.

Culture is a general term for huge range of ideas such as art, traditions, knowledge and belief that is shared b country, race or a group of people. The author of ‘Presents form my ……….’ Moniza Alvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1954. She moved to England when she was few months old. Since then she did not return to Pakistan until after the publication of ‘Present form my aunt in Pakistan’. She is the daughter of English mother and Pakistani father. ‘Presents form my ……….’ is an autobiographical poem. The speaker in the poem who is of mixed race, describe the gifts of clothes and jewelry sent to her in England by her Pakistani relatives. She is drawn to the loveliness of these things, but feels awkward wearing them. She feels more comfortable in English clothes. The poet is torn between two cultures that she feels she belongs to neither. She likes the clothes but she is embarrassed with them her knowledge to the birth place, which she left as a baby, comes to her only through old photographs and newspapers reports.

In the similar way the author of the poem ‘Blessing’, Imtiaz Dharker was also born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1954. She grew up in Glasgow and now she lives in the outskirts of Mumbai, India known as Dharvi where she works as a film maker. Dharvi is an unofficial area where millions of migrants have gathered. Dharvi is place where there is shortage of water. The poem ‘Blessing’ is set in Dharvi. It is about water, which is precious commodity to the local people of Dharvi. In the poem the water pie bursts and all the adults, old people rush out in the water to collect the precious commodity in any container they can get whilst the children play in the water.

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‘Presents form my ……….’ is with the intention of it is a long poem with seven stanzas. The poem is written in free verses and the lines are arranged loosely across the page this reflects the commotion of ‘no fixed nationality’.

The first stanza is the longest because the port is describing her clothes from Pakistan. She is intrigues in the clothes. The port uses enjambment to speed the poem up. There are traces of alliteration throughout the poem. The effect that alliteration as on the poem is that it creates the tone within the poem.

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