Poems from Other Cultures
Both 'Search For My Tongue' and 'Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan'
deal with the idea of inner conflict or confusion. 'Search For My
Tongue' concerns coming to terms with living in a foreign country and
feeling disconnected from your cultural background. However, 'Presents
From My Aunts In Pakistan' shows how contact with the old environment
can make integration into the new one difficult.
'Search For My Tongue' suggests that the poet feels she has lost an
important part of herself that she feels she needs to recover to feel
her self again. The poet says,
'Lost the first one, the mother tongue, and could not really no the
other'.
The original language is associated with being nurturing, protecting,
loving. The second language is seen to be alien meaning she doesn't
feel she belongs to the English culture. The poet feels it is not
possible to fully understand or become completely part of another
culture.
There is a suggestion that some people would not be allowed to speak
their own language, that a foreign language has been imposed.
'If you lived in a place you had to speak a foreign tongue'.
The choice of words Sujata Bhatt uses makes the original language
sound like something disgusting like phlegm, 'You had to spit it out'.
This may suggest the foreigners saw the way the original language as
something inferior to their own language.
The two languages are imagined as being in a battle, 'It ties the
other tongue in knots'. Clearly this can be seen to refer to colonial
powers and independence with the invader being defeated. The first
language/ culture is shown to be lasting, 'Every time I think I've
forgotten it blossoms out of my mouth' and in the flower imagery is
thought of here as something natural, beautiful and eternal.
The language of the poem is approiapately ordinary and conversational,
'You ask me', 'I ask you'. Until after line 12 the main technique in
the poem is the use of the tongue as a metaphor for language, culture
In ‘Presents From My Aunts in Pakistan' and 'Half Caste', the poets Moniza Alvi and John Agard uses first person narrative to protest and express their feeling of not belonging to a place. It describes their feelings of being recognized as having no fixed nationality by demanding answers. Present for my aunts in Pakistan talks about receiving gifts from her Pakistani aunt and asking questions on whether she belongs in Pakistan or England. She thinks she does not fit in the Pakistan clothes her aunt sent her, but neither does she with denim. Half-Caste is about the speaker asking someone to explain what they mean for calling him Half-Caste. It describes some events that are utilized to question us. The speaker speaks in a demanding tone with
lust. To his Coy Mistress is a pure lust one even though in parts may
which is perhaps what the girl in the poem was lacking as a child and
During the time period of the emancipation proclamation multiple black authors were becoming educated enough to write works of poetry. Such works have influenced and persuaded the minds of white people all over America to this very day. It also gave their own people a work of art to turn to for their own history. The poets have ventured into modern day eras also, and still have the same topics at hand. The main idea of these poetry pieces was on their ancestors in Africa but also of course of the modern problem of slavery. Langston Hughes was the first influential black poet. Lucille Clifton and Colleen McElroy are modern poets but is a black woman who has other views on slavery but also very similar looks on their historical past. All of the poets all mentioned their historical background in Africa. Langston Hughes, Lucille Clifton, and Colleen McElroy all wrote about their ancestors and of slavery, and some of the same references were of the rivers, and the connection between the people even though they are literally worlds apart; a difference between the poems was the desire for freedom and the freedom that was already existing in the modern day poetry of Lucille Clifton and Colleen McElroy.
The lyric poems in the ancient times are presented in the first person point of view. Since lyric poetry expresses the personal and emotional feelings of a speaker, Sappho’s poems, Abu Nawar’s verses, Egyptian poems, and Neo-Christian Aztec poems explore the emotions of the speakers as they describe their culture, lifestyle, and tradition. These verses depict the passion, love, and perspectives of the ancient civilizations
Often times, writers have their own unique source of inspiration. Many write about what they know, what they have seen, or where they have been. Literature comes from all over the world and every piece contains a hint about the period and place it was written in. The authors of lyric poems have their own special way of demonstrating his or hers’ culture and way of life. Poems derived from Greece, China, and Egypt are different in their own ways due to the fact that beliefs and practices vary in each region. Some areas emphasize traditional values whereas some encourage adaptation to contemporary practices. Ways of life and romances are depicted in various manners because beliefs are not the same throughout the world nor are they written in the same era as shown by authors from China, Egypt, and Greece.
Suppression of women has occurred in all societies. Damage created by societal repression ranges from psychological damage to physical damage. The suppression of women is not only perpetrated by men, often other women support the cultural traditions which are damaging, as they themselves grew up within the confines of those social norms. Marge Piercy, a feminist activist, writer and poet makes a statement against social norms damaging to women with her poem, "A Work of Artifice". After reading the poem, one can certainly appreciate the fact that many norms embraced as acceptable for a woman causes physical and psychological damage to their total health. Through "A Work of Artifice", Piercy delivers a poignant message to societies everywhere.
Reading is part of everyday life, but understanding what you have read is something less common. There are a lot of different types of literate that you can read. One of the most popular types of reading that people do would be to read poetry, but almost everyone that reads poetry reads the most common type; the ones that rhyme and are easy to read. These are very good poems, but when you begin to read different types of poetry you start to figure out that a lot of it seems to be nonsense and this is not the case. “Poetry might be defined as the clear expression of mixed feelings.” (Auden) This is a very good point because poetry is something that seems to be very clear, until you get to feelings and everyone has different feelings. Poetry is something that can be written in a lot of different ways, in fact there is even poetry about how to write poetry. Archibald MacLeish and Marianne Moore all manage to tie in how poetry is supposed to work in their own poetry. They both do have conflict in some of their ideas in how to write poetry and some ideas are the same. Marianne Moore, and Archibald MacLeish share the same love and passion for poetry but have different opinions on how they should be different.
2. What are the symbolic significances of the candy store in Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "The Pennycandystore Beyond the El" (Geddes, 318)?
Many may consider poetry to be a language of its own: full of feelings, emotions, and perceptions. All of us have our own experiences & sentiments; therefore we all have the ability to write our own poetry from our background without even realizing it. In my opinion, I do not think that the importance of American poetry should be stressed just to college students; I believe that our society as a whole should care about American poetry. Throughout history, poetry has been considered to be important, not only for entertainment purposes, but because of its unique value and the readers ability for their own interpretation. Not every single reader will walk away with the same perception of a poem; poetry is deeper than reading an encyclopedia. For example, if a student were to write a research paper on a specific animal, they may be able to look up facts about their diet, habitat, lifespan, etc. All of this information is for practical purposes; we may be able to grasp their lifestyle, however not their soul… a poem can turn this living creature into something majestic; or the total opposite. Behind poetry are experiences: beauty and ugly, customary and weird, good and bad. While I may look at a poem about hunting as beautiful and wonderful, my girlfriend would probably read the same poem and think it was disturbing and unnecessary; we may have read the same exact poem, but our past experiences allow us to have different views. This brings me to my main point, who is the reader and what type of poem is it? It may not always be something one can relate to, or even understand, but that does not mean we should not care. Poetry has evolved into something special over the years in America; readers and writers, who never even realized the...
sonnet form to write a poem about death, as the poems were for a lover
Moving Between Different Cultures in Poetry For my essay I will be looking at two poems which deal with the experience of moving between different cultures, these are Half-Caste and Search for My Tongue. These poems are written from experience. John Agard the author of Half-Caste was born in Gugana and moved to Britain in 1977. He is half-caste himself and his poem expresses his feelings about the term half-caste. Sujata Bhatt the authoress of Search for My Tongue was born in India in 1956, her family moved to the United States of America in the 1960's and she now lives in Germany.
The title of the poem is ''Blessing'' and the poet is called Imtiaz Dharker. In my essay I will be looking at how the poet describes a culture different from our own and explaining how the poet brings this culture to life through his use of poetic techniques. The poem is set in a third world country which is in desperate need for water. A municipal pipe bursts and suddenly there is a flurry of people rushing to get that much desired water.
Poetry by William King, Martyn Lowery, Andrew Marvell, Liz Lochhead, John Cooper Clarke and Elizabeth Jennings