I found reading ‘The Fat Black Woman goes Shopping’ a bit difficult because it is written in colloquial style. The constant use of “de” would sound much better if it is read with a Caribbean accent. The voice of the narrator in ‘Invitation’ sounds confident because using oxymoron the writer has used the narrator’s weight to describe her beauty. Moniza Alvi also uses words from her second language like “chador”, which makes the poem more cultural and different from Grace Nicholas poems or any other poems. In ‘I would like to be a dot in a Painting by Miro’ I think the narrator here sounds confused whether she wants to be the same as everyone else or different. But in the end she decides being different is better as it is more interesting. ‘Throwing out my Father’s Dictionary’ has a narrative tone and the enjambment helps it. This is effective as the sad mood is set because the poem has a hidden story behind. This is that her father had to accept English as his second language and had to learn to live with this for the rest of his life. I think the dictionary is used as a metaphor for his second language.
The poem ‘Invitation’ has an irregular form as it is split in two sections. ‘Epilogue’ is a quatrain. The persona of this poem is about someone from Caribbean moves to live in England. But I think the deeper meaning of this poem is ‘The Middle Passage’. Not many of Grace Nichols’ poems use punctuation so most of the poems are enjambment. I think he has written these poems like this because he wants us to concentrate on the content of the poems. Comparatively, Moniza Alvi’s poems have a more regular form. For example, in ‘Fish’ each stanza has two lines. I think this is written in this way as this poem is sensual and can transcend other cultures as well. Although, not all her poems are written in regular form for example, “Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan” she has written in an irregular form because I think this is a personal poem to her.
Imagery from ‘Invitation’ really stood out to me because it is very sensual for example, “ my breasts are huge exciting amnions of watermelons”. This is central to what the poem is trying to say that is, even if someone is fat you should treat him or her with respect and not make fun of his or her size. In ‘Hurricane Hits England’ the poet has used rhetorical questions to conjure and atmosphere of melancholy and makes us think about the hurricane. “Embossed slippers, gold and black points curling”, “an apple-green sari” are just some of the words used to describe the presents from ‘Presents from me Aunts in Pakistan’. She also uses oxymoron in this poem, “the cruelty and the transformation” to show that she has mixed feelings. This adds to my understanding that the Pakistani culture is very colourful. In ‘ Throwing out my Father’s Dictionary’ personification is used, “words grow shoots in the bin”. This suggests that new words are growing maybe into a different language or culture.
The two poets have some similarities in their style of writing. They use the metaphorical of cultural identity through sensitive descriptions using the five senses. Their poems are written in first person so we know what the narrator feels like thus, making the reader more involved. The persona of both the poets reminds the reader the poems are related to their culture in some way making it different from other poems. The use of emotive language and voice helps to set the mood of the poems. Imagery is a very strong technique used by Moniza Alvi and Grace Nichols to create strong images of their culture in the readers mind.
After researching that Grace Nichols wrote a book about ‘Fat Black Woman’ I obviously think he likes writing about ‘Fat Black Woman’ because I think he is trying to prove his point. I think he is trying to teach society that you shouldn’t judge others by their looks. He emphasis this through using his emotive language and makes the reader feel empathy towards the ‘Fat Black Woman’. On the other hand, I think Moniza Alvi considers herself more English than Pakistani because in ‘Throwing out my Father’s Dictionary’ she says “I daren’t inscribe my name” to show her respect for her father and it implies that isn’t her culture. In the end, both poets’ messages are quite similar which is that culture and traditions are part of who you are and you should be proud of it.
I really enjoyed reading the poems. Grace Nichols really made me understand the Caribbean environment from ‘Island Man and ‘Hurricane hits England’. She has also made her point clear about not judging others by their looks, which I agree with, because I think its what inside that counts. I can relate more to Moniza Alvi’s poems because I come from India. The Pakistani culture and the Indian culture are quite similar. The saris, the Salwar Kameez, the henna are just some of the things that can be related to both, the Indian and the Pakistani culture. The poem that I most enjoyed was ‘I Would like to be a Painting by Miro’ because I really liked the idea of using the painting to reflect her message of being different. It is surreal and creates a positive effect on the reader’s mind.
