Discuss the issue of Cultural Identity in Grace Nichols Poetry.
Discuss the issue of Cultural Identity in Grace Nichols Poetry
Focussing on: Praise song for my mother
Fat Black Woman
Tropical Death
Grace Nichols puts the image across that the issue of culture is extremely important to her. Through her poems we understand that she is confused of her identity.
Grace Nichols was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1950 and grew up in a small country village on the Guyanese coast in the West Indies.
She worked as a teacher and journalist and as part of a diploma in communications at the University of Guyana, she spent time in some of the most remote areas of Guyana, a period that influenced her writings and initiated a strong interest in Guyanese folk tales, Amerindian myths and the South American civilisations of Aztec and Inca.
She came to Britain in 1977 with her partner, the poet John Agard. They now live on the coast of Sussex. She wrote a collection of originals Caribbean nursery rhymes, 'No Hicory, No Dicory, No Dock,' with him and has edited several anthologies as well as writing her own collections and performing regularly.
Through her personal background we come to a conclusion that the issue of culture is so important to Grace Nichols because of the sudden change in her culture when she moved to the UK and because all her childhood memories, family and friends are all in the Caribbean.
'Praise Song For My Mother', 'Fat Black Woman' and 'Tropical Death' link together and portray the fact that her culture is so important to her, through Grace Nichols use of language in these three poems.
Firstly we are reminded of her childhood memories when we read 'Praise Song for my Mother',
'...Go to your wide futures, you said...'
This quote shows how when she was young, in the Caribbean, her mother said this to her. It allows her to live her life and did not prevent her form learning. Grace Nichols is now standing alone represented by this one last line.
Then her experiences of adulthood are reflected when we read 'Fat Black Woman'
'...Exchanging slimming glances...'
This quote shows how in the U.K sales assistance are more concerned with appearances instead of welcoming they disregard her feelings.
Lastly finishing off with death and her desire to return home in 'Tropical death'.
'...Brilliant Tropical death yes...'
Affirming that death is some thing to celebrate. Grace Nichols wants people to physically react to death; she wants a fuss and outpouring of emotion. She feels that wailing and emotional reaches allow people to rejoice in life and grieve. This is a direct contrast to European attitudes to funerals.
She uses a number of techniques to express her feelings. Grace Nichols uses a range of dialect Creole to standard / posh English.
She uses these contrasting dialects in all three poems, she also uses a lack of punctuation, and this is because she wants readers to read the poem as it comes to them and not to be restricted in the pace.
In all three poems grace Nichols uses a mixture of Creole and Standard English. She uses these contrasting dialects to show us how her environment has changed; she keeps reminding us of her ...
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She uses a number of techniques to express her feelings. Grace Nichols uses a range of dialect Creole to standard / posh English.
She uses these contrasting dialects in all three poems, she also uses a lack of punctuation, and this is because she wants readers to read the poem as it comes to them and not to be restricted in the pace.
In all three poems grace Nichols uses a mixture of Creole and Standard English. She uses these contrasting dialects to show us how her environment has changed; she keeps reminding us of her cultural identity and how it will never change.
Throughout the poem 'Tropical Death' Grace Nichols uses different adjectives to describe the contrast between England and the Caribbean.
'...Not a cold sojourn...'
She uses the word 'cold' to describe blackness and sadness.
In contrast to this she describes the Caribbean as
'...Brilliant...'
She also uses the alliteration
'...Heat/hibiscus...'
To evoke exotic, warm tropical weather. This warm death is much more positive then the cold one of Europe.
Throughout all three poems grace Nichols uses dialect,
'...De weather so cold...'
The fact that she uses Creole shows the cross between European and Caribbean as she uses Creole to show how the weather is so cold in England, this is an oxymoron In 'Tropical Death', in the title we are given an instant contrast between the Caribbean and Europe. 'Tropical' gives us heat colour and a happy image reminding us of the Caribbean, whereas, on the other hand 'Death' gives us coldness blackness and sadness.
All throughout 'Tropical Death' Grace Nichols uses the phrase,
'...Fat black woman want...'
Repetition of 'want' is like a chant and is helped to keep the rhythm going.
The effect of all the language in all three poems is quite extreme because as soon as we read these poems her feelings are reflected instantly and we know how she feels.
The lack of punctuation allows us to read the poems at our own pace, which is what she wants, because she thinks that everything in the UK is in routine so she doesn't want us to be restricted.
'...A polite hearse withdrawal...'
This quote shows us that European funerals emotions are controlled and stifled, she wants people to feel free and react however they want this is why she uses a lack of punctuation.
All three poems are balanced out with negative and positive imagery. The positive imagery in all three poems highlights how important her life in the Caribbean was and how she has a desire to return.
Grace Nichols uses a metaphor, to compare herself to the sun,
'...Flow like breezy sunlight...'
This quote brightens up ' Fat Black Woman' as all through the poem there is criticism and negative imagery of the UK. In 'Fat Black Woman', when it comes to the middle of the poem Grace Nichols uses alliteration of positive imagery,
'...Bright and billowing...'
Alliteration adds lift and warmth to the poem and makes you smile.
Both these quotes from 'Fat Black Woman' give us a quicker rhythm and an image of a warm, free and colourful place. Before we even read the poem 'Tropical Death' we instantly know that this poem is colourful as the title gives it away.
We get a very positive image from the use of colour in 'Tropical Death',
'...Brilliant tropical...'
The idea and image of Caribbean funerals is put across as people celebrating and lots of colour. 'Praise Song for my Mother' is full of positive imagery also,
'...Water to me...'
This is a visual image of water and life and instantly reminds us of the colour blue and we think of Caribbean straight away because of the blue seas.
'Praise Song for my Mother', the fourth stanza is a snapshot of smells, images and colour of youth and her memory of her mother-
'...You were
The fish's red gill to me
The flame trees spread to me
The crab's leg
The fried plantain smell
Replenishing replenishing...'
There is a lot of positive imagery in this stanza, 'fish's red gill' is the colour of life, and she compares her mother to this, this is ironic as she is dead. 'Red gill' is also the idea of breathing, this is also ironic, because her mother isn't breathing anymore and she is referring her mother to that, in this stanza there is also alliteration 'replenishing, replenishing' this gives us the image of her mother being a good person, who is the reason why she is alive.
All throughout 'Praise Song for my Mother' Grace Nichols is comparing her mother with lots of effective positive imagery. She is concerned with her identity even after her death. She wants to return to her Caribbean origins after her death. In this poem childhood memories are shown through snapshot memories of her mother.
The weather in all three poems is shown clearly through lots of poetic techniques. In 'Fat Black Woman' there is one description of Grace Nichols comparing 'Fat Back Woman' to weather.
'...To flow like breezy sunlight...'
A simile is used to show us how bright and radiant she is and reminds us of the Caribbean, we can imagine what she is like through this simile.
In 'Praise Song for Mother' Grace Nichols is constantly using similes comparing her mother with lots of positive imagery,
'...You were sunrise to me...'
This positive imagery of the sunrise gives us the idea of growth and nurturing. This is very well put across as using sunshine makes us imagine, it puts a positive image in our heads. Constant comparison between the Caribbean and London makes the Caribbean lifestyle sound much more attractive.
The Caribbean lifestyle seems more attractive as death is described as,
'...Brilliant tropical...'
This puts the image across that there are celebrations and it is colourful, all throughout 'Praise Song for my Mother' Grace Nichols is reminding herself of all her childhood memories with her mother, everything which she compares against is all positive imagery.
She also positively describes the attitude of Caribbean people.
'...In the bloom of her peoples blood rest...'
It's a kind of sense of identity to her; although her mother has passed away she still feels the need to return to the Caribbean, joining her forefathers returning to the heart of her family.
In all three poems there is a lot of negative imagery of the UK. Colour is a big part of the negative imagery.
In 'Tropical Death' she describes the UK funerals as a
'...Cold sojourn...' and
'...In some north Europe far/forlorn...'
The idea of funerals is put across as cold, grey and bleak and the second quote is describing how she feels lonely in the UK.
Comparing this to Caribbean death, it is the complete opposite as Caribbean deaths are colourful and happy.
The weather in the UK is cold and almost always winter, in the first poem instantly she reminds us of the weather.
'...Shopping in London winter...'
This negative start delivers discomfort, as whenever she is describing Caribbean, the weather seems bright, and this is the complete opposite.
The British lifestyle isn't attractive at all as Grace Nichols describes it, it seems as everything is in order and you aren't free. Most of the negative imagery towards UK and British people is in 'Fat Black Woman'.
Attitudes of people isn't welcoming,
'...Exchanging slimming glances...'
The sales assistances are more concerned with appearances instead of welcoming, the Caribbean is the opposite as they welcome everyone and don't disregard people's feelings.
In 'Fat Black Woman' after the second stanza there is a pause and a short sentence,
'...Lord is aggravating...'
Her annoyance is emphasised by the pause between this line as if she is talking to the reader.
At the end of the poem there is also another short sentence creating the same effect,
'...Nothing much beyond size 14...'
This is a mocking effect, mocking London for its narrow-minded attitude.
The separated rhythm shows inability to accommodate those who don't conform to the stereotype.
She also uses ambiguity and repetition in the same line in 'Fat Black Woman'
'...Journeying and journeying...'
Repetition emphasises the effort of shopping, her search for clothes that fit her, or so for her constant search for home.
She also brings out her feelings through the structure of the poems. She uses short sentences to create a more mocking effect.
In 'Fat Black Woman' she uses a short sentence at the end without any punctuation,
'...Nothing much beyond size 14...'
This allows readers to read at their own pace and also shows her annoyance as she ends the poem on a negative note.
The structure of 'Tropical Death' is straightforward although in the fourth stanza she uses repetition
'...First night
Third night
Nine night...'
Repetition imitates heartbeat or drum beat, she has a desire to return to her African roots.
The layout of the third poem 'Praise Song for my Mother' resembles her childhood four simple stanzas all begin with ' you were' this simple repetition is to represent her childhood.
It is made clear that Grace Nichols is constantly in search for a sense of cultural identity through her poetry as she uses ambiguity and constant comparison of the UK and Caribbean to make the Caribbean lifestyle sound much more attractive, this is why I have come to a conclusion that she feels more comfortable in the Caribbean, this is made clear through her poetry as she is always giving us negative imagery of the UK and positive of the Caribbean.
Sadia Rahman Mrs Wynne