At the beginning of stanza 2 “I am” is repeated because she wants us to know that she is the main person in the poem and that she’s the one that has been let down. This makes you feel guilty un-necessarily.
The verb crushed is used because she feels that she has been harshly treated like a bit of dirt trodden on in the street. In this stanza “not knowing” is repeated twice because she is telling this man that he walked all over her without realising what he was doing.
“I am the one you crushed!”
This could also be a cry for recognition because she thinks that she is a nameless person who is not known to most and she is scared that she will be another nameless face lost in the crowd.
“Custom and tradition” is being voiced in the next line by Kishwar Naheed telling us that she was forced to do something against her will because she is a women and has to do what the male sex tells her to do. This tells me she comes from a country where women have no control over what happens to them or equal rights. This also tells me that this man is either her father, her husband or some other close relation such as brother or cousin as they will have control over the way she behaves.
The line “ not knowing that light cannot be hidden in darkness” is a metaphor because light and darkness cannot be in the same place at the same time. She is trying to say that light being herself cannot be put to one side or forgotten about. This also links to the next line “Remember me.” She doesn’t want the man to forget her and tries to imprint herself on his brain.
The next four lines relate to sexual imagery.
“ I am the one in whose lap you picked flowers and planted thorns and embers not knowing that change cannot smother my fragrance”
The word lap relates to sexual imagery because the lap is a sexual part of the body and to be in or near someone’s lap means that you must be close. The words 'thorns' is often related to pain and 'embers' could mean that although she has lost her virginity she has been left with bitter remains or no baby.
The verb to be smothered is used in Stanza 2 to represent the feeling of death or loneliness. She’s telling us that nobody can kill her voice and nobody can stop her living.
Kishwar Naheed uses short lines for effectiveness because she thinks that smaller sentences will be more memorable and will have a deeper effect. “I am” is repeated again at the start of the verse because she wants us to believe and think completely about her because she is trying to tell her story.
Line 2 “Whom you brought and sold,” tells us that firstly that she’s an educated women because she uses whom which is proper English. Secondly “brought and sold” could mean that she has a price over her head, maybe her family or owners sell her as a slave, also she may be forced into prostitution.
The word “chastity” in line 3 of stanza 3 means virginity. This tells us that she was probably forced into prostitution because virginity is lost when you first have sex and Kishwar Naheed speaks so coldly of it that it was probably lost against her own will.
Line 5 and 6 of stanza 3 is “that I can walk on water when I am drowning” This tells me that she is invincible and can do anything in her own mind if she was set loose. “When I am drowning” is a religious metaphor which is often used when someone feels happy and in conquerable, this tells me that despite being used she is still happy because she knows or feels that she will break free some day. This stanza tells me that the value of virginity in Asian Countries is not high. They care more about money rather than there religious feelings.
“I am is repeated yet again because she is trying to reinforce the fact that she wants us to know that she is the main focus of the poem. Throughout this stanza she is speaking to her father. I know this because she mentions dowry (to buy a wife.) This tells me that the man she is talking about in the poem is her father. Married off means when a father lets another man marry his daughter for a certain amount of money. If there are numerous bidders then whoever usually pays the most will get his daughters hand in marriage. She uses the word 'burden' as if she is some mere object who can be bought and sold to the highest bidder and has no thoughts and feelings for herself.
The lines “not knowing that a nation of captive minds cannot be free” are used in this stanza. 'Captive' is often referred to as being a prisoner. She tells us 'that nations minds' are held prisoner and therefore there bodies are held captive too. This means that no one is free.
She uses very short lines in a short stanza because words are not needed to say how she is feeling and the mood is projected through her words. The poet is using the word 'commodity' in the poem by saying that she is the object that you bought and sold.
'Chastity, motherhood and loyalty' are all listed to tell us of all the things she can do and all the things broken and ruined by this man. Her virginity was given away, her motherhood was probably forced upon her and her loyalty forced to be used wrongly.
“Now is the time for me to flower free” tells me that her prospective has changed. She is free from evil and that she now wishes to look to the future not backwards at her past.
In the last three lines she reinforces the fact that she is not a slave and that she would never stoop so low as to be half-naked, selling socks and shoes. She repeats 'no' twice in the last line to reinforce the fact she is determined to be her own women. This is a strong positive ending, which tells me she feels triumphant with the fact that she has told the world about her misgivings and now nothing can stop her.
Now I shall examine “woman work” by Maya Angelou. The poem is about a woman’s struggle to be a wife, parent and woman. She tells how she has to cook, clean and look after the children.
The poet begins verse one with a list of jobs because she is telling us how she slaves as a mother, wife and woman. She’s telling us all the jobs that she is sick of doing.
“I’ve got the children to tend, the clothes to mend, the floor to mop, the food to shop.”
I think that she feels that her work is tiresome, undermining and pointless. I think this because she talks negatively about her work throughout Stanza 1.
“I’ve got the shirts to press,”
The word got means that she has to do something and if she has to do something then you wouldn’t be happy about being pushed around.
I think that the poet repeats “I” over and over again because she wants to emphasize the fact that she has to clean the hut and she’s got the children to tend to. This also makes us think about the fact that she is the one they are talking about in the poem.
The effect of having no full stops is that she is trying to get across that it is a never-ending list, which runs endlessly on. The effect of the rhyming couplets is that it makes the poem seem more like a poem rather than a story because a list is mostly used in a story or shopping list.
The alliteration in the poem is to make it seem like a sharp cutting action in the line “ the cane to be cut”
The reading of the poem is fast reflecting the pace of her day. The structure changes in the next four verses changers because it appeals more to mother nature and is made up of four line stanzas. The rhyme scheme is A
B
C
B
Both the B’s are the rhyming couplets for this verse.
These changes come about because she is trying to appeal to nature for assistance. She also wants to change this because she wants a break from routine.
“Fall softly, dewdrops and cool my brow again.”
This means that if something changes in her life then she can be cooler which links to the line “and cool my brow again”
“Shine on me, Sunshine
Rain on me, Rain”
She pleads for change in the weather, which would cool her or make her feel better. In the first two lines of stanza 2 there is alliteration of the letters S and R.
This has the effect of our attention being brought to the fact she wants change in her life.
In Stanza 3 she appeals to nature to cool her down. This suggests her jobs or surroundings are hot and botherful. She uses the contrasts of hot and cold because they are two totally different elements. If you want complete change then you would want to be at the complete other end of the scale and if this happens then she would have a different life and this is why she uses hot and cold.
“Let me float across the sky till I can rest again”
Line 3 and 4 of stanza 3 show that she craves relaxation because she talks about how she wants to float and this is always slow and therefore relaxing. She also talks about resting which is dream like and therefore relaxing.
The first two lines are totally different to the second two.
“Storm blow me from here with your fiercest wind let me float across the sky till I can rest again.”
The implication of violence and aggression shows strength of her character because she feels so strongly about it she really wants change and lets all her aggression wash over her.
'Storm, blow and fiercest' are all strong aggressive words which are totally different to float and rest, which are soft, peaceful words. This tells me she is so frustrated that she doesn’t know what to do. This tends to make me feel that she wants to die because floating in the sky refers to angels, which are obviously dead. Death is her only release in her opinion.
Stanza 4 appeals to nature; it also has images of nature being a friend to her. It asks nature to be nice to her for example she asks it to be calm and this makes me think that if you ask someone something for a favour they are likely to be a friend.
The stanza has a positive image of the snow, which she remembers well. She goes on to say that she has had a kiss in the cold weather. This is a repeated request for coolness.
“Cold icy kisses and let me rest tonight.”
Alliteration is used in this stanza to emphasize this request for coolness.
“Cold icy kisses.”
The sound of C is used as alliteration in this line. However she ends this stanza with a line of sadness in her words. She just wants to die and be left alone.
“Let me rest tonight”
Stanza 5 starts with another list. It’s a list of natural elements and of natural life. It’s just a routine list of jobs/chores that Mother Nature has to do.
“You’re all that I can call my own.”
This tells us that she has a harsh reality of life/work. She knows she is bound to do this for the rest of her life and she is just sick of it. She seems to find console in writing- it gives her a way out. It has a very poetic language in its appeal, she’s looking to nature to ease her life almost dream like vision.
I feel that the message in the poem is that she wants to have a new life and is trying to spread the message about what she and thousands of others go through every day.
In conclusion I think the main points of the poems are that women in foreign countries suffer hugely and many are just looking for a way out. They can’t look to the future and use Mother Nature as a friend and someone to relate to.
The poets use Mother Nature to show how they struggle. They use this imagery to take them away from their individual nightmares or in the case of Kishwar Naheed she uses nature to describe how people have hurt her.
“I am the one in whose lap you picked flowers and planted thorns and embers.”
'I am not that women' tells us how she has been treated where as 'Woman work' tells us how she is suffering at this moment. Kishwar Naheed seems to have broken free of her personal torture where as Maya Angelou is still living through the hell.
In the poems both women seem to be discriminated against because of there sex. This means that males have taken advantage of both women. Although both women are free physically Maya Angelou like Kishwar Naheed may have broken free mentally because she will not let them get the better of her.
There is a sense of injustice in both poems because both have been treated badly and both have found themselves in situations, which have made them mentally scared. Both women have strong senses of compassion and this is showed in their appeals to nature.
My views of both poems are that both have been abused mentally by the opposite sex and their fellow peers. Both the poems are depressing and talk about there misfortunes and neither really have a strong future. I think the poems were written to appeal to our emotions and I think it has worked because I feel sorry for both women.
