What kind of poem is it?
'Search for My Tongue' is a personal, emotional poem about language and identity. The use of the personal pronoun "I" suggests it is about her own experience. Identity is important in the poem as her fears of losing her first language are about a key part of what makes her who she is.
Metaphors and ideas
The poem uses the tongue in your mouth as a metaphor to explore the idea of having both your mother tongue and a second language:
"I ask you, what would you do
if you had two tongues in your mouth."
This quotation emphasises that, for the writer, being able to speak two languages has led to difficulties. "I ask you" involves the reader in her situation, making the reader empathise with Bhatt about speaking a foreign language so much that she fears she is losing her mother tongue.
The metaphor of two tongues, her mother tongue and the second language, is extended throughout the poem and relates to the themes of possible death and rebirth of her language.
The development of the poem
The poem moves from explaining what it's like to lose your mother tongue:
"your mother tongue would rot,
rot and die in your mouth
until you had to spit it out"
to showing the joy of rediscovering it, saying:
"it grows back...
the bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth,
it pushes the other tongue aside."
The repetition of the word "rot" in the first quotation accentuates the negative feelings of the speaker while "spit it out" creates a powerful image of someone disposing of something disgusting. Images of regrowth in the second quotation suggest something familiar and secure returning.
The tone of the poem
The narrator moves from initial feelings of grief and loss:
"your mother tongue would rot,
rot and die in your mouth..."
to feeling joy in her own language:
"it ties the other tongue in knots
the bud opens ...
it pushes the other tongue aside."
Here it seems that she is joyous that her mother tongue returns and becomes strong again. The speaker also uses the word "blossom" to describe the first language returning, conveying a happier tone.
Poetic techniques
Repetition of certain words such as 'tongue', 'grows', 'bud' and 'mouth' works powerfully to emphasise the ideas of the poem:
"it grows back, a stump of a shoot
grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins..."
The repetition of "grows" emphasises the idea of a new beginning, a new life. Describing the different stages of growth creates a positive image of rebirth in the reader's mind, conveying the idea that the speaker's first language returns slowly when she did not think it would.
It is interesting for Lisa Kanae to use three different voices in her book, Sista Tongue. The structure of Sista Tongue is different from standard books as if to make her words flow and become active. Her message still holds truth in today’s society. In many homes, younger generations face the inadequacy of being unable to understand their mother tongues while their parents struggle with learning English. Code-switching is natural for bilingual people and those that speak to other sub-cultures. Lisa Kanae’s different voices are similar to
This can be seen in the fourth line, “very prickly, a penalty” as if words were a “black art” of mystery. In setting a secretive tone, the speaker makes it sound as if one needs to be careful with what they say. Another example of alliteration can be seen in the tenth line, where the speaker states, “strengths or squinched,” identifying those words as “peculiar.” Not only that, but the speaker would “squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well” in the “silent, startled” September. In the love for blackberries, the speaker also is displaying their love for learning and life with the use of the
The poem begins by establishing that the speakers’ father has had more than enough to drink. “The whiskey on his breath/ Could make a small boy dizzy.” These lines (1, and 2) help in the development of the poem because they set ...
The form of the poem is open because there are no specific instances where the lines are similar. The words in each stanza are divided into each of the three growth stages or personal experiences. Each stanza is composed of words that present a logical flow of growth through the entire poem. The words in the poem do not rhyme and the lines are different lengths.
Throughout ‘To the Welsh Critic Who Doesn’t Find Me Identifiably Indian’, Arundhati Subramaniam argues that the “the business of language”, or the language that one speaks, should not dictate one’s identity. This becomes crucial in her poem as she uses this argument in response to a Welsh Critic, who does not identify her as being Indian. The poem substantiates her perspective of language through various techniques. For instance: Subramaniam reinforces the critic’s cultural assumptions in a defiant tone; she questions him, repeatedly, about language and eventually she challenges him, insisting he should explain to her how he would receive her as “Identifiably Indian”.
...new right away I could relate it since English is my second language. In this poem there is a combination of the two languages I know, English and Spanish, which then converts into a new language Spanglish. Many Latino teenagers and children, like me, speak English at work and school and speak Spanish mostly when they are at home. Therefore, the way we Latino people speak is almost like the way Ms. Valdez wrote this poem. This poem is also a reality in the lives of those who migrate to the United States. Many immigrants see that everything is different and new. They also see that they have to slowly adapt to the new environment. Through Gina’s choice of words and imagery, she makes the Latino audience feel more serene with the American Language and culture. All of the humor, imagery, and similes used in this poem made this poem much more enjoyable and relatable.
of the difficulty in acceptance. In the first few stanzas the poet creates the impression that she
All of them have an effect on how the reader understands the meaning of the poem, and how well the poem’s message comes across. Repetition is used in the second and fourth line of Because She Would Ask Me Why I Loved Her, to draw the reader’s attention to those words repeated, and make them value the meaning of the lines that contain that repetition more. The couplet in lines 1-2 says, “If questioning would make us wise /No eyes would ever gaze in eyes”. The repetition is of the word “eyes” and it draws attention to the line; which means if they questioned why they loved each other, they would never look at each other the same way (they would no longer be together). This is a very important message that is carried throughout the poem, which is why the use of repetition is so important. Personification is used in the last line of the first stanza, where it describes kissing as two mouths “wandering”: “No mouths would wander each to each.” This connection between a human action and lips, which cannot actually wander, is a way for the author to describe kissing in a more descriptive way that provides interest and depth to the poem. Assonance is also used to alter the flow of a line, like it does in the first line of the concluding stanza: “Then seek not, sweet, the "If" and "Why"’’. “Seek” and “sweet” both contain the “ee” sound, as well as alliteration, to change how the line flows, and get the reader to read that line in a certain way. Having the lines in a poem flow easily makes it cohesive and complete. Lastly, alliteration is used in this poem to emphasize those words and the meaning of the line they belong to: “For I must love because I live”. That third line in the last stanza has the repeated “L” sound at the beginning of the two most important words in that line, which
this poem. I believe it is mainly what the poem is about. To make the
There is a lot of sensual imagery in this poem. Mainly we hear and see
Language is like a blooming flower in adversity – they are the most rare and beautiful of them all as it struggles to express itself. It blooms and flourishes in strength, awe, and passion as the riches of thought is imbibed from the seed and into a finished beauty. For others, a non-native person speaking in a language that they are not familiar with sprouts out like a weed – the way its thorns can puncture sympathy and comprehensibility. Amy Tan, however, addresses the nature of talk as being unique under its own conditions. In Tan's “Mother Tongue”, she discusses how her mother's incoherent language is “broken” and “limited” as compared to other native English speakers. When focusing on Amy Tan, she grows noticeably embarrassed with her mother's lack of acuteness in the language, which then influences Tan to “prove her mastery over the English language.” However, she soon learns from herself and -- most importantly -- her mother that a language's purpose is to capture a person's “intent, passion, imagery, and rhythm of speech and nature of thought.” With such an enticing elegance...
The first time Kingston had to speak English in kindergarten was the moment silence infiltrated her world. Simple dialogue such as “hello” or asking for directions was hell for her because people usually couldn’t hear her the first time she asked, and her voice became weaker every time she tried to repeat the question (422). No matter what, speaking English just shattered her self-esteem.
Tan recently knew about the different type of Englishes she uses daily. When speaking to a group of people about her book,
In “The Language of Silence,” Kingston was a Chinese immigrant who was timid in her early years of school. The thought of having her voice heard in class made her feel insecure to read or even shed a word outside of class. Kingston mentions, “When I went to kindergarten and had to speak English for the first time, I became silent.”(167) In other words, because she couldn’t speak English fluently, she began to use silence to protect herself from sounding “dumb.” She knew that the English language that came out of her mouth, differed from everyone else's. For children who possess another language, challenges will be presented in school because not only we have to learn the material, but we have to learn an unknown language to us. Perhaps just like Kingston, I struggled to find my place in the English language. When I was little, Spanish was the language I dominated which made me feel really smart. My feelings changed when English was introduced to my life. I encountered myself in a puzzled world, with beautiful pieces because English is a beautiful language, but I just didn’t
When one of the children says that they resemble darkness monsters, this shows that they can feel the burden the older generations are lacing on them. The same case applies to formation of language which is done through imitation. The children pick what they feel comfortable to use so long as it is comfortable with their mothers. Mother Tongue is used to show the relationship of the child and the mother and the manner in which they influence one another (Satrapi).