A Comparison of Two Poems Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan by Moniza Alvi and Search for my Tongue by Sujata Bhatt
In this essay, I will be showing you how the writers use their own
poetic devices within their work to their advantage and how the poets
have used different themes to overcome in their own poems.
To begin this essay, I will be presenting to you how Alvi and Bhatt
have used different viewpoints within their poems to put across their
message to the reader.
In the poem 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan', Alvi chooses to
present her work in the narrative viewpoint of the first person,
reducing the chance of her poem being a conversational one. She then
chooses to phrase her work in the past tense, so that she is getting
the reader to ponder on the characters state of mind and explore into
her past.
The poem 'Search for my Tongue' starts off in the past tense but later
converts into the present, towards the end of the poem.
Secondly, it soon becomes aware to me that, whilst comparing both
poems, the poets have used their work to portray their emotional
status' in response to almost possessing dual cultures.
In 'Presents from my Aunt in Pakistan', Alvi concentrates on cultural
dislocation, which is unquestionably the poets feelings about her
ethnic background. From quotes such as 'half-english', 'Marks &
Spencer's' and 'salwar kameez didn't impress the schoolfriend', I
begin to picture that she is caught in the middle of fashion and
popularity in England and her original, cultural traditions.
In 'Search for my Tongue', Bhatt seems to feel that she is betraying
her background by forgetting her mother tongue...
... middle of paper ...
...y felt, at some point, a loss of cultural
identity because of their longing for a traditional life.
In 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan', Alvi feels that she has lost
her countries attitude and view on life. She then decides to opt for a
more 'British' view on life and literally dumps her traditions.
In 'Search for my Tongue', Bhatt feels she has lost her native
qualities. Yet, she still uses Gujarati in her poem, so she obviously
still has her vernacular language.
In conclusion to this essay, 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan'
takes a more negative approach than 'Search for my Tongue' because it
is all about the troubles that the family faced in England, where as
'Search for my Tongue' is all about the joy of settling within a new
society but to still also remember your ethnic upbringing and
traditions.
This quote describes how Louise Halfe uses all four common elements of native literature in her writings. I have chosen to discuss two of the elements she frequently uses, Spirituality and Orality in relation to three of her poems: My Ledders, She Told Me and The Heat of my Grandmothers.
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
Kothari employs a mixture of narrative and description in her work to garner the reader’s emotional investment. The essay is presented in seventeen vignettes of differing lengths, a unique presentation that makes the reader feel like they are reading directly from Kothari’s journal. The writer places emphasis on both her description of food and resulting reaction as she describes her experiences visiting India with her parents: “Someone hands me a plate of aloo tikki, fried potato patties filled with mashed channa dal and served with a sweet and a sour chutney. The channa, mixed with hot chilies and spices, burns my tongue and throat” (Kothari). She also uses precise descriptions of herself: “I have inherited brown eyes, black hair, a long nose with a crooked bridge, and soft teeth
The author of the story was born in 1967 in London, and soon after she moved to Rhode Island in the United States. Although Lahiri was born in England and raised in the United States and her parent’s still carried an Indian cultural background and held their believes, as her father and mother were a librarian and teacher. Author’s Indian heritage is a strong basis of her stories, stories where she questions the identity and the plot of the different cultural displaced. Lahiri always interactive with her parents in Bengali every time which shows she respected her parents and culture. As the author was growing up she never felt that she was a full American, as her parents deep ties with India as they often visited the country. Most of Lahiri’s work focused on the Indian American culture and the story “Interpreter in Maladies” is a set of India and part of United States.
The three sources I have selected are all based on females. They are all of change and transformation. Two of my selections, "The Friday Everything Changed" by Anne Hart, and "Women and World War II " By Dr. Sharon, are about women’s rites of passage. The third choice, "The sun is Burning Gases (Loss of a Good Friend)" by Cathleen McFarland is about a girl growing up.
The two poems successfully bring about the emotions of sadness and loss by conflicting feelings dealing with death. Both the poems are narrated from the parent’s view addressing his or her child that has died or is about to, and this brings about emotions of grief in the reader as well.
In all three poems there are images of duality; generally the image of duality is used in order to understand the "self", namely it is used for self-definition. The "other" functions as a tool to reflect the "self." So, the double images can be considered as a kind of mirror to see the reflection of the "self." Therefore, the double images will be scrutinized in this essay in order to argue that the woman in these poems reflect their doubles as an alienated characters from the society. These women poets try to put forward the alienation of women in their works with images of dualities or personifications.
A Comparison of ‘Search for my Tongue’ by Sujata Bhatt and ‘Ogun’ by Edward Kamau
The opening of the poem the woman is explaining why painting her nails red is sophisticated “Because a bit of colour is a public service”(1). In line two Satyamurti calls attention to the role of women in the society and in the family- that while they are not being paid for work they do everyday of their lives, it should not be neglected. She acknowledges by “Because I am proud of my hands”, she is explaining that women ar...
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”.
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.
In class we have been studying poetry, and the two poems I have chosen to compare are “In a Brixtan Markit” and “Not My Business”.
In “The Road Not Taken” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” written by Robert Frost, there are two poems that can be compared together to gain new insight into their deeper meaning. In these two poems Robert Frost illustrates the journey of two contrasting travelers, who are given choices along the way to explore their decisions and thought processes. These carpe diem, seize the day, poems presents options for the travelers that are negative, but in the end implies to persevere. In “The Road Not Taken” the setting takes place in the woods, where the speaker has two roads and contemplates one at a time (“Road”). While in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” the setting travels from a village to the woods, where the speaker stops between
The Hindi film music not only offered a new space to Urdu poetry, ensured its per formative presence in the cultural landscape and bring up its heritage but also transformed it in the process, keeping it in tune with the cultural environment in India. Hindi film music provides refuge to Urdu poetry in many different ways .Here ,we look at some of these : the utilisation of Urdu poems, both classical and contemporary ,in Hindi cinema ;the incorporation of Urdu poetic idioms in songs; the influence of Urdu poetry on songs and the mutual impact of films on Urdu poetics s; and the deployment of famous Urdu poetical phrases and couplets in lyrics.
However, the objective of this essay is to focus on a particular era. Therefore, I am going to focus on the contemporary period (Adhunuk Kal) of Hindi poetry. The reason to explicitly choose contemporary era of hindi poetry is to bring forth the different