Poems From Other Cultures and Traditions - From 'Search For My Tongue' Tatamkhulu Afrika, Maqabane.

Poems From Other Cultures and Traditions From 'Search For My Tongue' Tatamkhulu Afrika, Maqabane (1994) When you read this poem, bear in mind that language and the use of the mother tongue (our own language, the one we were brought up speaking) are very important to any individual. We all take it for granted that we can use our language if we live where we were born. We don't even have to think about it. But when you go to live in another country you have to learn another language, and it can be very confusing. The use of another language, one that is not your own, often functions on an emotional level. Also, after a while you start mixing the two languages. This is the problem faced by the speaker in this excerpt. Those of you who were not originally English speaking will recognise the dilemma expressed in this excerpt! Read the poem once or twice. Go through it slowly after that, in your mind relating the use of language (tongue) to the physical tongue. Some of you will, of course, recognise and understand the Gujerati in the centre of the extract. For some of you this will be your mother tongue! But most of you will be unable to decode it. So there will be many different reactions to reading this poem. I wish I were present to hear these reactions! Point of view Here we have a first-person speaker addressing 'you'. There appears to be a conversation going

  • Word count: 9630
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Compare Search For My Tongue by Sujata Bhatt, Hurricane Hits England by Grace Nichols and Presents from Aunts in Pakistan by Moniza Alzi.

Search For My Tongue by Sujata Bhatt, Hurricane Hits England by Grace Nichols and Presents from Aunts in Pakistan by Moniza Alzi 'Search For My Tongue', by Sujata Bhatt is a forceful poem describing her experience of being caught between two cultures. This poem expresses how she feels that she has lost her mother tongue while speaking the foreign language within which she now lives, but in her dreams it grows back. Similarly, 'Hurricane Hits England', by Grace Nichols describes how she felt alone in England, a foreign country to her, and the delight when the hurricane struck as it brought back memories of her origin. 'Present from my Aunts in Pakistan', by Moniza Alvi also describes the difficulties in being caught between two cultures. In this, she is torn between the bland British culture she lives in and the more exotic culture of her aunts from Pakistan, who send her luxurious gifts she feels she cannot use in Britain. All three poems mentioned above involve a deliberate use of language to help convey their message, one of which is the use of imagery within the poem. The poems contain detailed descriptions to help the reader create a mental image, and hence they can associate more with the poem. In 'Search for My Tongue', Sujata Bhatt compares the growth of her tongue to a flower growing, describing it as "a stump of a shoot" and "the bud opens". This use of imagery

  • Word count: 1285
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Compare the ways that culture and identity are presented in ‘From Search For My Tongue’ and ‘Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan'.

Compare the ways that culture and identity are presented in 'From Search For My Tongue' and 'Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan. In this essay I will compare in what ways that culture and identity are respected in 'Presents From My Aunts in Pakistan' and 'From Search for My Tongue'. To do this I will identify the several techniques the two writers used and what points are made in the poems. The poems are slightly different in the way they are written though as 'From Search for My Tongue' only concentrates on language, 'From My Aunts in Pakistan' focuses on many aspects of living in a different culture. The first point I would like to make is how both the writers feel that they no longer belong to a country. They feel confused to their identity and how to behave. In 'From Search For My Tongue' Bhatt feels that she has lost her mother tongue because she has to adapt to another culture and language 'You could not use them both together even if you thought that way' which means that even though she wants to be able to speak her mother tongue as well as the foreign one she can't. This compares with 'Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan' because Alvi writes about how the girl can't feel Pakistani even though she desperately wants to feel the transformation 'My costume clung to me and I was aflame, I couldn't rise up out of its fire, half-English, unlike Aunt Jamila' this is when she

  • Word count: 529
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

'Hurricane Hits England' and 'Search For My Tongue' comparison

'Hurricane Hits England' and 'Search For My Tongue' comparison Search for my tongue and Hurricane Hits England both explore the ideas of identity and a sense of belonging, though using different methods, and in a different sense all together. Search for my tongue uses a tongue and hurricane hits England uses a hurricane to explore the poems. A tongue and hurricane is effective because it gives the reader something to visualise in their mind, rather than just saying language in search for my tongue. A hurricane also reflects the mayhem in the character's mind. A hurricane and tongue are similar, as they both are typical of the characters' original home. Search for my tongue opens by being very personal with the reader by saying 'you ask me what I mean by saying I have lost my tongue'. This opens a close relationship between the reader and the character. Also this indicates to the reader that the character is confused, as the character opens an opportunity to answer the question that was never asked. Enjambment indicates growing frustration particularly in the next few lines of the poem, possibly because people don't understand her, even though she speaks a language she learnt so people would understand. She then continues in the poem by directly laying the dilemma before them, and demanding what they would do. This opening proves to be striking, because it allows the

  • Word count: 746
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Compare what you are shown about the importance of identity in 'search for my tongue' and 'half caste'.

Compare what you are shown about the importance of identity in `search for my tongue' and `half caste'. In the poem `Search for my Tongue' Sujata Bhatt shows her importance of identity in several different ways. When she explains she loses her mother tongue over her other language, she is losing part of herself, her home language/ her culture. "If you had two tongues inside your mouth and you lost the first one, the mother tongue." This tells us she is forgetting it and so the importance of identity comes from culture and language. In English, we use the word 'tongue' to mean 'language' as well as your actual 'tongue'. The poet compares knowing two languages to having two tongues in your mouth, which she calls 'the mother tongue' (her original language) and 'the foreign tongue' (the new language she has learnt). She is afraid that the mother tongue might wither away ('rot and die') like a plant with no roots. But in the last part of the poem, the mother tongue seems to grow back during the night, and 'push the other tongue aside'. It's like when she dreams, she dreams in Gujarati, and this keeps the language alive for her. The image of two tongues growing in your mouth is weird, and a bit worrying. You can imagine how it would feel. But then it 'blossoms' which projects something beautiful. She also uses imagery in an extended metaphor to help the reader

  • Word count: 1055
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Poems from Other Cultures and Traditions - Explain how two Poets from your Selection to Present Cultural Differences

:) English C/W - Poems from Other Cultures and Traditions :) Explain how two Poets from your Selection to Present Cultural Differences There are many cultural differences within different religious groups, and people originating from different countries or regions. The selection of poems shows some of these different experiences and views. Moniza Alvi, in her poem "Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan", shows how two cultures integrated in her personal experiences, by the marriage of her Pakistani father and English mother, as well as her experiences away from her own county. "Search for my Tongue" by Sujata Bhatt also shows the cultural differences that she felt when living in another country, and felt she may lose part of her identity if she forgot her own language. When living in a foreign country, it is easy to forget your own cultural values as you try to fit into new surroundings, and this issue is explored in different ways by both the poets. Alvi, in "Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan" describes the gifts of clothing she receives in England from Pakistani relatives, but does not feel entirely comfortable in them. She longs for "demin and corduroy", worn in England, and is uncomfortable with her background, which she is not entirely familiar with, probably due to her mixed race, and feels she does not belong entirely in either country. In "Search for my Tongue", Bhatt

  • Word count: 761
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Discuss the ways in which culture and identity are presented in 'search for my tongue' and 'presents from my aunts in Pakistan'

Discuss the ways in which culture and identity are presented in 'search for my tongue' and 'presents from my aunts in Pakistan' In this essay I aim to discuss the ways in which culture and identity are presented in 'search for my tongue' and 'presents from my aunts in Pakistan' The first poem, 'search for my tongue' is written by a woman called Sujata Bhatt who was born in nineteen fifty six, in Ahmedabad, India. She emigrated to the United States of America in nineteen sixty eight. She is a very successful poet and translator of Gujarati and English and if that was not enough she is now living in Germany. Search for my tongue is a very unique poem as it suddenly changes from English to Gujarati half way through. The poem is about language and the effect of language when living in a different place with people speaking different languages. The word 'tongue' means two things. The first is the language one speaks and the other is the more obvious tongue in your mouth. Although this poem may have autobiographical content, its concerns have a much wider relevance. The first paragraph of 'Search for my Tongue' is written in the second person, which suggests a level of detachment. "You ask me what I mean by saying I have lost my tongue" is the first sentence of 'Search For My Tongue'. It is written as a reply to a question and the word tongue is used as a conventional

  • Word count: 1745
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

In both Search for my Tongue by Sujata Bhatt and Half Caste by John Agard strong imagery is used to present ideas and feelings, mainly those of identity.

In both Search for my Tongue by Sujata Bhatt and Half Caste by John Agard strong imagery is used to present ideas and feelings, mainly those of identity. Both poets use metaphors to show their feelings towards the aspect of their identity in which they feel strongly about. Search for my Tongue as a whole is an extended metaphor for the persona re finding her language and identity. Negative imagery is very apparent in the first stanza; the author uses metaphors to present that the persona feels she is forgetting her home language. "mother tongue would rot, rot and die in your mouth" The metaphor 'mother tongue' is used to symbolize the first language of the persona. Personally, I think the use of [the adjective] 'mother' is very apparent as a person's mother is usually of great importance to them and the persona is comparing her language and identity to how one would feel about their parents: irreplaceable. In contrast, the third stanza of this poem is very positive. Imagery like "the bud opens in my mouth" is used to represent that her first language is re-growing and blossoming within her. The persona realises that no matter where she lives or what language she speaks, her identity will always remain the same. Metaphors are used differently in Half Caste; Agard uses imagery of mixed things and shows them as beautiful while comparing them to mixed race people

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 729
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Discuss the feeling of displacement in Islandman.

DISCUSS THE FEELING OF DISPLACEMENT IN ISLAND MAN. COMPARE AND CONTRAST WITH ONE OTHER POEM OF YOUR CHOICE. Island Man is by Grace Nichols. It is about a man who originates from the Caribbean but still dreams of his homeland, and wakes up to the sound of the sea on the sand and the caw of wild birds. He now lives in London and faces the reality of the North Circular and the monotony of Britain. The poem of my choice is Search for my Tongue, which was written by Sujata Bhatt. It is about what it is like to have to be able to speak a different language to her own, and what it would be like to lose it. By the end of the poem she is convinced it will be part of her wherever she goes. I chose it because it is very like Island Man in that in both situations the poet thinks something has been lost for good, but it comes back all the time during their sleep. There are also contrasts in both poems, which illustrate the poet's point more so. The opening five lines of both poems make interesting reading. Island Man starts off with a very majestic and idyllic scene, with the waves lapping against the shore. It is in these first few lines that our island man shows a feeling of displacement, just in the environment he is in. The first stanza goes as follows:- '....wakes up to the sound of blue surf in his head the steady breaking and wombing....' The man in question in the

  • Word count: 1115
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

The Use of Imagery in Search for my Tongue and Blessing

The Use of Imagery in Search for my Tongue and Blessing In both of the poems, 'Search for my Tongue' and 'Blessing' the poets use imagery in interesting ways to describe two totally different things; in Search for my tongue the poet uses the image of a plant to describe how the person's first language comes back to her, and in Blessing the poet describes the water pipe bursting as a sort of miracle. The poem Search for my tongue is about how a student from America believes she has lost her first language because she has been speaking English since she was small. The poem asks us in the first section what would we do if we had two languages and lived in a place where we would have to speak the foreign language? She then answers this question by saying that the 'mother tongue' or first language would, "Rot and die in your mouth until you had to spit it out." This shows that the poet feels very strongly about loosing her original language. In the second section, which is written in Gujerati, it seems to be more poetic and flows better when reading it. The last section is describing how her first language the Gujerati has come back to her and describes it as how a flower would grow and blossom. The poem Blessing is about how in a very dry and hot country where it hardly ever rains, where they imagine the smallest amount of water crashing into a tin mug the water pipe which

  • Word count: 1055
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay