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Introduction

Compare the ways an event is described in Blessing with the ways an event is described in one other poem Both "Blessing" and "Night of the Scorpion" describe the reactions of a community to a sudden and dramatic event. In "blessing" a "municipal pipe" bursts leading to a "sudden rush" as "every man woman child for streets around" arrives to collect water in whatever container they can find. Their frantic rush shown through Dharker's lack of commas in this list illustrated the rarity of such an event, In a culture where there "never is enough water." The event described in "Night..." attracts a similar amount of attention. The stinging of the poet's mother by a scorpion results in "swarms" of peasants entering the family's home. This image of a swarm suggests both their great number and their unwelcome presence, perhaps because of their passive attendance in the room does nothing to help the mother. Both poems have a sense of ambiguity. ...read more.

Middle

"Blessing" is presented in four stanzas, each displaying a different atmosphere or mood. The length of the sentences varies throughout the poem, determining the pace. At the beginning the sentences are shorter, making the pace slower and perhaps symbolising the drip of water. In contrast, the sentence starting "from the huts..." is one long continuous sentence to the end of the poem, perhaps this symbolises the continuous flow of the water from the burst pipe. "Night..." has only two stanzas with the majority of the poem in the first stanza, this makes it feel more like a narrative, as if it is a story being told. The final three lines of the poem make up the second stanza. This could be the poet making a division between telling the story as remembered the experience as a young boy and reflecting on it afterwards. It also creates an anticlimactic ending to the poem, because it does not answer the question as to whether the mother survived. ...read more.

Conclusion

He describes them negatively as a "swarm of flies" which itself can be seen as religious imagery resembling the plagues. This is ironic as the peasants claim they are trying to help. I think that Ezekial is criticising the reactions of the holy man, the peasants and even his father in "Night..." while also admiring his mother's courage. Perhaps this is one reason why he presented the poem in two stanzas, to reflect the contrast between the frantic reactions of the peasants, holy man and father, and the calm selflessness that the mother displays in the second stanza. In "Blessing" I think Dharker was making the point that we in western civilisation take things for granted. Something as simple as water is seen as precious and a gift from a god in her culture. This is captured in the image of the children she uses at the end of the poem. This is an image of happiness, but the mention of their "small bones" reminds us that they are fragile, as are the lives of everyone in the community in such a hostile climate. ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Imtiaz Dharker: Blessing section.