How Does Grace Nichols Create a sense of Cultural Identity through her poetry?

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English Essay- How Does Grace Nichols Create a sense of Cultural Identity through her poetry?

By James Patney 11U

Grace Nichols was born in Georgetown, Guyana where she was brought up. She later moved to London. When she moved to London she felt as though she was living in an alien world and did not approve of London. Grace Nichols was longing for a cultural identity in Britain and she tends to describe Britain negatively and the Caribbean positively.

Throughout Grace Nichols’ poems she applies her own dialect of Creole, which is the official dialect of the Caribbean, where she originated. She also uses Creole because she feels as though she should preserve it. She maintains that the language is ‘genuinely exciting’ and that Creole’s aspects are very vivid which concludes her to believe that there is no equivalent in the English language.

The poem ‘Praise Song For My Mother’ is based upon memories Nichols has of her late mother from childhood and the style of the poem is simple to reflect this. The style is also based upon snapshots and a reminiscence of the Caribbean e.g. ‘sunrise to me, rise warm and streaming’, which is associated with the hot climate countries.

The mood throughout the poem of ‘Praise Song For My Mother’ is very emotional and repetitive. This mood is established because the poet intends to mourn the fact that her mother has passed away. The poem is also repetitive, ‘replenishing replenishing’. The poet may have opted for this because it brings a sense of childhood because as a young child would repeat a words. Nichols wants to use this affect because the repetitive content relates to a child’s attitude, which will then recall the memories Nichols had of her mother when she was a child.

The repetitive nature of  ‘replenishing replenishing’ also explicitly states and emphasises the point that her mother kept giving to her, which may also allow us to say what a good mother she was to Nichols.

In the penultimate stanza of ‘Praise Song For My Mother’ there are different images used for many reasons. Grace Nichols throughout this poem describes her mother by using imagery related to the Caribbean.

The stanza begins by saying how Nichols’ mother was her ‘fish’s red gill to her’. This enhances how special her mother was because her mother has given her life and in order to breathe fish require gills. Nichols continues by saying how her mother was ‘the crab’s leg to her’. This statement may have two meanings. It could imply how the crab’s leg is a popular dish in the Caribbean, which will be reminiscent of her roots, culture and mother. It may also be extended to mean how her mother was the supportive crutch to her. Nichols again relates her imagery to the luscious food of the Caribbean by stating how her mother was ‘the fried plantain smell’ to her which again is a dish associated with Caribbean and is obviously a childhood memory of her mother’s cooking. Nichols also uses natural imagery through the water, sun and the moon to reflect what her mother was like. She says that her mother was ‘the flame trees’ and the ‘sunrise to me’. The natural imagery is very effective it simply reflects the natural love between mother and daughter, and also indicates the natural process of death.

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Nichols also uses a series of metaphors throughout the poem. She says that her mother was ‘water to me’. Here the metaphor says how her mother was important, just as water is essential to life and growth. The metaphor is also extended; by saying her mother was ‘deep and bold and fathoming’. The reason for this is to tell us how influential and understanding her mother was. She carries on saying how her mother was ‘moon’s eye to me’. This again is natural imagery but also stating how her mother was the moon’s eye to her: watchful and protective. A ...

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