The poems 'Search For My Tongue' by Sujata Bhatt and 'Unrelated Incidents' by Tom Leonard both shows exploration of the idea that your identity is closely linked with the language you use.

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Vimal 01/05/2007

Question: Compare the ways in which two poems from this selection explore the idea that your identity is closely linked with the language you use.

        The poems ‘Search For My Tongue’ by Sujata Bhatt and ‘Unrelated Incidents’ by Tom Leonard both shows exploration of the idea that your identity is closely linked with the language you use.  

        Search For my Tongue is a poem that employs an extended metaphor throughout the poem.  The writer writes about herself being torn between two languages.  However the poem Unrelated Incidents is depicting a Glaswegian man who considers that BBC newsreaders are torn between two accents.  He believes that the news presenter applies a middle class accent when they present, but their original tone of voice is diverse.  Meaning that people only trust people who talk in an aristocratic enunciation.

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        Unrelated Incidents uses a very unique structure.  There is a maximum of 3 words in one line.  The whole poem is written vertically as if it was a building.  On the other hand Search For My Tongue is written is English first and then in the middle there are 7 lines of Gujarati and then it finishes with lines in English.  I believe the author here is trying to show how is to be torn between two languages.  

        There are different tones used in each of these poems.  Bhatt uses anger at the beginning of the poem, ‘I ...

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