A comparison of two cultural poems by John Agard and Sujata Bhatt.
The two poems that will be studied are: "Half Caste" by John Agard and "Search for my Tongue" by Sujata Bhatt. Agard has written his poem to raise awareness that mixed raced people are just as important as single coloured people. Agard was born on the 21st June 1949 in British Guyana. He worked as a journalist there before moving to England in 1977; where he worked as a: playwright, poet, short storey and children's author. He now lives in southeast England. Bhatt has written her poem because she wants to encourage people not to drop their mother tongue but to keep using it. She was born in India wit Gujarati being her native language; she writes many poems in both English and Gujarati. Bhatt learnt English when she moved to America with her family. She now lives in Germany.
Agard's poem has an irregular structure; consisting of five stanzas, each of varied length. The first and last stanza may be undersized because the beginning is an introduction and the ending is similar to a final conclusion. Perhaps the second stanza is the longest because Agard dives into more detailed and explained points where he tries to understand what people mean by the word 'half caste'. Many of the lines are very short; consisting of only two or three words these short lines might symbolise Agard's short temper. This makes the poem quite jarring and gives the impression of someone speaking.
The two poems that will be studied are: "Half Caste" by John Agard and "Search for my Tongue" by Sujata Bhatt. Agard has written his poem to raise awareness that mixed raced people are just as important as single coloured people. Agard was born on the 21st June 1949 in British Guyana. He worked as a journalist there before moving to England in 1977; where he worked as a: playwright, poet, short storey and children's author. He now lives in southeast England. Bhatt has written her poem because she wants to encourage people not to drop their mother tongue but to keep using it. She was born in India wit Gujarati being her native language; she writes many poems in both English and Gujarati. Bhatt learnt English when she moved to America with her family. She now lives in Germany.
Agard's poem has an irregular structure; consisting of five stanzas, each of varied length. The first and last stanza may be undersized because the beginning is an introduction and the ending is similar to a final conclusion. Perhaps the second stanza is the longest because Agard dives into more detailed and explained points where he tries to understand what people mean by the word 'half caste'. Many of the lines are very short; consisting of only two or three words these short lines might symbolise Agard's short temper. This makes the poem quite jarring and gives the impression of someone speaking.
