“An Old Woman” starts with the lines “An old woman grabs hold of your sleeve and tags along.” The internal rhyme of “tag” and “grab” emphasises
the idea that the woman is seen as a nuisance. She just wants a fifty paise coin and she will take you to the horseshoe shrine but you’ve seen it already but yet she still “hobbles along” and “tightens her grip on you shirt.” You go to get rid of her “you turn around and face her with a air of finality.” But at this point the ‘you’ changes perspective totally and he wonders how this woman has survived for so long.
When the woman turns to face the man and says “what else can an old woman do on hills as retched as these?” everything changes. It gives you the image that the woman has survived wars and droughts and famine. The poet says you can see “clear through the bullet holes she has for eyes.” Then it goes on “and as you look on the cracks that begin at her eyes spread beyond her skin.” because of the droughts her skin is all dry and cracked. “And the hills crack,” because of the dryness, “And the temples crack,” because of the religious wars, “And the sky falls” because everything caves in around the old woman. “With a plate glass clatter around the shatter proof crone who stands alone.” She’s standing tough on her own, though everything she’s been through, she’s still alive. Here the poet compares the woman to plate glass that “clatters”. I think this is effective because it shows that she is very strong and she has lasted all these years.
“Blessing” ends with “and the naked children screaming in the liquid sun, their highlights polished to perfection, flashing lights, as the blessing sings over their small bones.” The tone of the ending is completely different from the beginning because at the beginning everyone is hoping for water but nothing happens until the pipe bursts then everyone jumps up with “frantic hands” and the mood just changes as soon as it bursts.
Just as “An Old Woman” takes place near the horseshoe shrine, “Blessing” has a religious theme. Imtiaz Dharker likens her “Blessing” to the sun coming out in England and making people felling happy. The title “Blessing” links with other religious expressions. I think this adds effects to the poem.
The metaphor at the end of “An Old Woman” is good to add to the effect, “And you are reduced to so much small change in her hand” it just makes it seem that the writer feels so low. The woman was begging him for money and now he feels no bigger than “small change” in her hand.
Both poems make interesting language choices. The poems contrast in that in the “An Old Woman” the poet tries to make a picture of the old woman but in “Blessing” the poet sets an atmosphere around all the people. There is also a religious setting or place but in “Blessing” the poet just uses words to express a sense of religion.
Out of the two poems, “An Old Woman” means the most to me because it just pictures the old woman in you head and the bullet holes for eyes. The poet is a graphic artist as well as a poet and to me this picture he creates in words expresses that he want you to imagine the old woman in your head, and he does it well.
