The poem Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan, by Moniza Alvi, is about a girl who has emigrated from Pakistan to Britain
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan The poem "Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan", by Moniza Alvi, is about a girl who has emigrated from Pakistan to Britain. In the poem, she describes the presents her Pakistan aunts send her, and how she left her home country at a young age. It is set in England in the present day. The form of the poem seems to be quite random - the stanzas are irregular and there is a mixture of short and longer lines. The poet makes use of dashes to indicate pauses when reading aloud, along with regular full stops. There are many different types of language used in the poem. An imaginative simile is "glistening like an orange split open", in reference to the girls' salwar kameez. This conveys an image of brightness and freshness. If an orange was cut in half, you would be able to see all the juice inside, shining and sparkling. This could perhaps relate to decorative jewels on the salwar kameez. A metaphor is used when the girl speaks about a war involving her country - she refers to it as "a fractured land". The word "fractured" is usually used when talking about broken bones. The girl may feel that although it is her country that is broken, she feels broken inside. In the first sentence, "snapped" is onomatopoeia - it creates an effect of something actually being snapped through what the word sounds like. Rhyme is not used in the poem, but repetition
.Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan by Moniza Alvi
.'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' by Moniza Alvi We have studied the poem 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' by Monzia Alvi; she was of a mixed parentage. Her farther was Pakistani and her mother was English. She was born in Pakistan but then moved to England long before she could even remember. It is very difficult for people to move from one culture to another and having to adapt can be tough. This poem expresses her confusion and her search of her true identity throughout her life. The Pakistani clothes that her aunts send to her symbolise a small part of who she is expected to be, and a part she doesn't feel at-all comfortable with. Her poem is mostly about living in one culture but having long lost roots and memories from another. It describes her journey as she searches all aspects to try and reveal her true identity. Because she has no memories of her birthplace her poem describes how she desires to just fit in with everyone else and just feel almost unnoticed and 'normal'. 'Presents' is an autobiographical poem and is written in free verse. The lengths of the stanzas vary throughout as well as the line lengths which are thrown randomly across the page. Alvi uses these poetic strategies to show how she varies from confusion to resignation about where she belongs and her feelings of alienation. There are end stopped lines to describe her sudden emotions. It