Search For My Tongue by Sujata Bhatt.

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Search For My Tongue by Sujata Bhatt

The Context Of The Poem

Sujata Bhatt was born in the Indian state of Gujarat where her mother tongue was Gujarati. Later she moved onto United States where she learnt English. In and interview, she says " I have always thought of myself as an Indian who is outside India". Her mother tongue is for her and important link to her family and to her childhood. " That's the deepest layer of my identity".

What Is The Poem About

. The poet explains what it is like to speak and think into two languages.

2. She wonders whether she might lose the language she began with.

3. However, the mother tongue remains with her in her dreams.

4. By the end, she is confident that it will always be part of who she is.

Structure & Sound

The poem is written three sections:

. The poet expresses how hard it is for her to know two languages but neglect the one that she feels most belongs to her

2. She explains these ideas in Gujarati.

3. She then translates her thoughts for us in English (so line 31-38 mean something similar to lines 17-30), showing that although her mother tongue dies during the day, it grows back in her dreams at night, becoming strong and producing blossoms.
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Try reading it aloud. Each line of Gujarati script is followed by a phonetic English version in brackets, so even if you don't know any Gujarati, you can still have a go.

Do you notice any kind of patterning in the sound of the Indian language? If the poem says more or less the same thing twice, might it as well be written in one language only? What do you think would be lost if the Gujarati disappeared?

Language

Now think about the language that is used in the poem. How many meanings does ...

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