In Love After Love and Presents From My Aunts, the theme of self-discovery is addressed.

Compare Love After Love with one other poem and explore the theme of self-discovery in each of the poems.In ‘Love After Love’ and ‘Presents From My Aunts’, the theme of self-discovery is addressed. LAL discusses reverting back to your true self after the break down of a relationship whilst, Presents is about a teenager’s struggles of finding herself in terms of her culture.Both poems use language to convey the importance of self-discovery. In LAL, emotive language is used. For example, ‘welcome’, ‘greet’ and ‘elation’. This shows the excitement in finding yourself again.

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Presents similarly uses emotive words; however, for a much more negative approach. She ‘longed’ for the conventional ‘denim and corduroy’ and felt ‘alien’ in the ‘glistening’ salwar kameez. Her choice of vocabulary show her discomfort to the clothes and, in turn, she feels disconnected from her P Pakistani roots. Personally, I find this disheartening to see how she feels so distant from her culture, an importance part of her identity. Alternatively, in LAL religious connotations are used. It says ‘Give wine. Give bread.’ This could be used to signify the importance as ‘wine’ and ‘bread’ could be associated with the last supper or the Christian Eucharist services. Both poems also use structure to further explore self-discovery. LAL features an enjambaunt: ‘Give back your heart/to itself’. This could have been used to further reinforce the point that life goes on. LAL is also written in four regular stanzas. This could have been used to enforce the point the inevitability of ‘finding yourself’ again. Contrastingly, Presents has a more scattered, free-verse structure. This ‘all over the place’ structure could signify how her thoughts on her cultural identity are also ‘scattered’ and she is confused. This shows the importance of self-discovery as her confusion about herself is having a profound effect on her behaviour. The numerous stanzas could have been used to show how long she has felt this confusion and battled to understand herself.Both poems also use differing ideas and attitudes to show the theme of self-discovery. In LALA, the persona speaks with certainty – ‘you will’ – to gain the reader’s trust. The fact that the poem is written in second person is effective as it reaches out to the reader personally and reassures them. The speaker in the poem also uses imperative verbs, such as ‘eat’. This gives an authoritive tone and some could say that Walcott has adopted the persona of a higher being – possibly God? This is effective as people turn to God for reassurance and guidance during hard times which is just what the poem’s aim is: to reassure people that ‘after love’ they feel find happiness within them. Alternatively, Alvi’s poem features the thoughts of herself as a confused teenager. We can see this by her discomfort of the Pakistani clothes. The poem is also written in first person; it’s autobiographical. This gives the poem a more personal feel and encourages the reader to empathise with her.In conclusion, I think that both poems effectively address the theme of self-discovery. However, whilst Presents generates my empathy, LAL reaches out to me as a reader and taught me the lesson of the poem: the importance of self-discovery.

Peer Reviews

Here's what a star student thought of this essay

sydneyhopcroft

4th of Mar 2012

Quality of writing

The Quality of Written Communication is fair. Whilst there are few/no moments where the intention and meaning behind a sentence is compromised by a lack of standard form, the candidate must adhere to what is required of a GCSE English student. Writing the poems' names in shorthand - or anything in shorthand - unacceptable. Other than that, the grammar here is very good and there is a wide range of correctly-spelt terminology, showing a good knowledge of the appropriate lexes required for English analysis.

Level of analysis

The Level of Analysis shows by this candidate indicates someone operating at a high B grade who could also achieve an A grade if they managed to make their answer clearer and improved their writing standards ("Presents" and "LAL" are not appropriate substitutes for the titles of the poems). It is important that candidate address the poems by their full names and the poets by their surname (Walcott or Alvi, in this case). A number of detailed analytical points have been made, regarding the language used in the poems; there is also a good analysis of the poets' use of structure, but after that the analysis becomes vague. It's definitely there, but the extent to which it shows us anything we don't already see just by looking and reading the poem is debatable. The attention given to how Walcott uses Second Person address and, in comparison, Alvi uses First Person address is good, as it shows understanding that 'Love After Love' was written for the poet and as a guide to others and that 'Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan' is a more personal "autobiographical" account of personal frustration. However, there could be more emphasis on the context of the poems and the varying cultures that conflicted Alvi particularly, as this shows a contextual appreciation that can be hard to integrate in poetic analysis, but it certainly separate the A grades students from the A* grade students.

Response to question

This question focuses around the importance of self-discovery and awareness of self in Derek Walcott's 'Love After Love' and 'Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan' by Moniza Alvi. The candidate here shows a very well-informed knowledge of both poems, and this helps them focus not only on the poetic and linguistic devices used by the poets the generate their poems, but also the effect on the reader, and them as a recipient of the poems' message. Personal account shouldn't be considered the most important aspect of a question like this - it is an analysis after all and by nature requires objectivity, but if candidates find the time and correct circumstances to use it, and if it's done well i.e. - makes some analytical observations and comments about the effect on the reader - then it can only fortify an answer.

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