West Indian carpenter - What the poem is about.

What the poem is about * The poem describes the workshop and daily life of a highly skilled West Indian carpenter (lines 1-20). * His livelihood is threatened by imported steel and formica furniture (lines 21-26). * On Sundays, the carpenter becomes a sculptor, carving out of his imagination wooden figures which resemble the effigies of old African gods (lines 27-47). * He is reminded of Africa and feels anger. How the poem is written Structure and sound The poem is arranged in couplets (pairs of lines), but there isn't a regular pattern to these couplets. The line endings don't always come where we would expect them. The sense seems to 'cut' suddenly from one line to the next: The knuckles of his hands were sil-/ vered knobs of nails hit, hurt and flat-/ tened out with blast of heavy hammer. This creates a kind of unpredictability in the movement of the lines. It makes us read them more tentatively. We have to find our way through the poem. What does this suggest about the carpenter? The poem is full of sounds: * Make a list of all the alliteration you can find in the poem. What's the effect? 'it shone like his short-sighted glasses' (line 4) 'nails hit, hurt' (line 6) Can you hear the sound of the plane gliding over the wood and the harsh banging of the hammer? * There is some repetition of sounds in the poem too: 'dug out / wood out' (lines 1-2) 'hurt

  • Word count: 1309
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

The poems 'Search For My Tongue' by Sujata Bhatt and 'Unrelated Incidents' by Tom Leonard both shows exploration of the idea that your identity is closely linked with the language you use.

Question: Compare the ways in which two poems from this selection explore the idea that your identity is closely linked with the language you use. The poems 'Search For My Tongue' by Sujata Bhatt and 'Unrelated Incidents' by Tom Leonard both shows exploration of the idea that your identity is closely linked with the language you use. Search For my Tongue is a poem that employs an extended metaphor throughout the poem. The writer writes about herself being torn between two languages. However the poem Unrelated Incidents is depicting a Glaswegian man who considers that BBC newsreaders are torn between two accents. He believes that the news presenter applies a middle class accent when they present, but their original tone of voice is diverse. Meaning that people only trust people who talk in an aristocratic enunciation. Unrelated Incidents uses a very unique structure. There is a maximum of 3 words in one line. The whole poem is written vertically as if it was a building. On the other hand Search For My Tongue is written is English first and then in the middle there are 7 lines of Gujarati and then it finishes with lines in English. I believe the author here is trying to show how is to be torn between two languages. There are different tones used in each of these poems. Bhatt uses anger at the beginning of the poem, 'I ask you, what would you do if you had two

  • Word count: 654
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Unrelated Incidents' by Tom Leonard and 'Search for my Tongue' by Sujata Bhatt are two poems that give people an

'Unrelated Incidents' by Tom Leonard and 'Search for my Tongue' by Sujata Bhatt are two poems that give people an incite into how a person is perceived by others, by the way that they speak. 'Unrelated Incidents' is about how the BBC newsreaders all talking in Standard English and will not have a Scottish person reading the news because the viewers will not understand there accent, Tom Leonard views this as discrimination and shows his dislike to this attitude in his poem. 'Search for my Tongue' is about Sujata Bhatt's personal experiences with learning another language and having to speak in a foreign tongue and forgetting about the mother tongue which is the original language. When Sujata thinks that she has finally lost her mother tongue she starts to hear it again in her dreams. The layout of the poem 'Unrelated Incidents' is set out in an unusual way because of the poem talking about the BBC newsreaders. When the newsreaders reads out the news they read it off of autocue and this is how the poem is set out. When first looking at 'Unrelated Incidents' it is difficult to read because of the spellings of the words. The poem is written phonetically and not in Standard English. Tom Leonard says in line 27-30 'this is me token yir right way a spellin.' Leonard also uses colloquial which is slang he uses it in the last line with 'belt up' he does this to mock the way the news

  • Word count: 1234
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

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

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

  • Word count: 1498
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Comparing Cultures and Traditions in Poetry

Comparing Cultures and Traditions in Poetry When you start to break down barriers within poems you begin to discover political and cultural differences, and how they should be addressed. It is important to look at, and discuss structure, language and imagery in order to compare the two poems fully. The two poems "Search for my tongue" and "Not my business" are both written by poets from very different backgrounds and cultures, looking to get their point across. Bhatt emphasises in his poem the on-going concerns of dying traditional languages and the fact that if you learn a new language, your old language could fade away. Osundare a Nigerian poet describes the growth of tyranny and if people ignore this growth, the tyranny will grow and grow till you become directly involved with it, Osundare's poem is based upon Pasto Neimaller's speech about Nazis in WWI and how they forcibly removed Jews from their homes. Both the poems adopt irregular poetic structures to the more "traditional" way. Bhatt writes the poem "Search for my tongue" as if it were a speech, speaking to the reader and telling the reader about issues that he faces as a dialect. There are no separate verses, just one long verse split up by phonetic translation of Gujarati. Enjambment is also used to maker poem flow much easier, increasing feeling that he is talking to us. Osundare writes the poem like a native

  • Word count: 699
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Search for my Tongue.

Search for my Tongue Sujata Bhatt tells us about the difficulties that she has speaking with a new tongue when her old tongue starts to rot away in her mouth with her new tongue pushing it out of the way and trying to take over. 'Your mother tongue would rot, rot and die in your mouth until you had to spit it out". This means the author has stucked between two languages and the new language (English) is making her lose mother tongue (Gujarati). Having two tongues this poet feels that she is totally confused and makes her to forget her mother tongue while she speaks English. She also tried to think and dream both languages at the same time but she couldn't. She has dreamt in Gujarati and transliterated into English. At the end of the poem her feelings changes a bit because she describes over the night her confidence grows back even stronger than before, but while she dreams it grows back, stump of a shoot grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins, it tries the other tongue in knots. This means she highlights the difficulties being part of two cultures. The dominant culture is always the mother tongue (her Gujarati culture is always the influences of the American lifestyle). The shape of the poem has divided into three parts: ? First part of the poem explains her conflict with loosing her mother tongue and learning a new foreign tongue. ? Second part of the poem is

  • Word count: 619
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’ by Moniza Alvi, and ‘Search for my Tongue’ by Sujata Bhatt

Comparing Poems I have decided to compare in detail 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' by Moniza Alvi, and 'Search for my Tongue' by Sujata Bhatt, because these are the two poems that I find most interesting. I shall begin by discussing them individually in some (hopefully not too much) detail. 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' is a very cultural poem, focusing on the differences between Pakistani and English cultures. Generally, Pakistani culture is seen as more lavish than that of England, and this poem expresses that in the type or clothing worn by each culture. Pakistani clothing is described as lovely, clearly shown in line 18-19 "I could never be as lovely as these clothes". Alvi, describing the elaborate clothing worn by Pakistani women, goes on to say "I couldn't rise out of its fire, half English" (Line 24-25). The poet also says, "I longed for denim and corduroy". She is saying that she feels more comfortable in the simple clothes worn by English women, and doesn't think she could live up to the Pakistani clothing. The clothing in this poem is used as a metaphor for the cultures of our two nations, and so she is in fact saying that she feels more comfortable in England that in Pakistan, but Pakistani culture is more elegant and beautiful than that of England. The story in the poem is that a girl is taken from Pakistan to England when she is very young, and

  • Word count: 739
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Search for My Tongue Sujata Bhatt Possible themes: Identity; Living between two cultures; Language; Race.

Search for My Tongue - Sujata Bhatt You ask me what I mean by saying I have lost my tongue. I ask you, what would you do if you had two tongues in your mouth, and lost the first one, the mother tongue, and could not really know the other, the foreign tongue. You could not use them both together even if you thought that way. And if you lived in a place you had to speak a foreign tongue, your mother tongue would rot, rot and die in your mouth until you had to spit it out. I thought I spit it out but overnight while I dream, (munay hutoo kay aakhee jeebh aakhee bhasha) (may thoonky nakhi chay) (parantoo rattray svupnama mari bhasha pachi aavay chay) (foolnee jaim mari bhasha nmari jeebh) (modhama kheelay chay) (fullnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh) (modhama pakay chay) it grows back, a stump of a shoot grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins, it ties the other tongue in knots, the bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth, it pushes the other tongue aside. Everytime I think I've forgotten, I think I've lost the mother tongue, it blossoms out of my mouth. Search for My Tongue - Sujata Bhatt Possible themes: Identity; Living between two cultures; Language; Race. Facts Quotes/facts Explanation/effects Content . The poet writes about losing her tongue = forgetting how to speak her Mother tongue. 2. But then, as she dreams, her mother tongue

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1314
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Show How The Poets Sense Of Cultural Identities Is Explored In Two Of The Poems You Have Studied

Show How The Poets Sense Of Cultural Identities Is Explored In Two Of The Poems You Have Studied Cultural identity remarks upon: place, gender, race, history, nationality, language, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and ethnicity. Culture, as a social practice, is not something that individuals possess. Rather, it is a social process in which individuals participate, in the context of changing historical conditions. As an historical reservoir, culture is an important factor in shaping identity some critics of cultural identity argue that the preservation of cultural identity, being based upon difference, is a divisive force in society, and that cosmopolitanism gives individuals a greater sense of shared citizenship. Sujata Bhatt was born in 1956 in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat, where her mother tongue was Gujarati. Later, her family lived for some years in the United States, where she learned English. She now lives in Germany. She has chosen to write poems in English, rather than Gujarati. But a number of her poems, including this one, are written in both languages. This poem is part of a longer poem "Search for my Tongue"; written when she was studying English at university in America and was afraid she might lose her original language. In an interview, she says:" I have always thought of myself as an Indian who is outside India." Her

  • Word count: 1315
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Comment on the poem 'Charlotte O'Neil's Song' from 'Passengers' by Fiona Farrell

Emily Walker 10A Comment on the poem 'Charlotte O'Neil's Song' from 'Passengers' by Fiona Farrell Fiona Farrell wrote this poem as a result of events in the nineteenth century, where thousands of women escaped to New Zealand, away from their busy hardworking jobs to start new lives. Farrell used nineteenth-century ship records to discover the name, age and occupation of Charlotte O'Neil. The ship records showed that Charlotte O'Neil was a seventeen-year-old general servant travelling on the 'Isabella Hercus' in 1871. The poem has been formed from good use of imagination so that the reader can imagine what life was like for Charlotte O'Neil. The character, O'Neil in the poem is hardworking and seems to be always busy, for example, 'I polished your parquet floor, I scraped out your grate and I washed your plate and I scrubbed till my hands were raw' this shows that Charlotte O'Neil worked at the best standard that she possibly could. However, by the end of the poem she seems to have built up confidence and she makes it clear that she is fed up of working hard, like when she says 'you can bake your bread and make your bed and answer your own front door.' She states that she is never coming back by saying 'But now you're on your own, my dear. I won't be there anymore.' I think the purpose of this purpose is to show that servants have feelings and that they are not just

  • Word count: 762
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay