Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker Imtiaz Dharker’s poem can be read in two ways. A straightforward reading might suggest that the poem is simply a description of an incident when a pipe bursts and people run excitedly for the water. A more considered reading, however, would see the poem as being more ominous and disturbing. Under the apparent good fortune and excitement of the scene are darker ideas about the poverty and superstition of the people in the poet’s native country. It is the second reading we will be exploring in this revision programme. Either way, the attitude to water in the poem should make us in the West wonder at how much we all take for granted, and how too often we squander the earth’s resources. Dharker paints for the reader a vivid scene using visual and aural imagery. For instance, after opening with a powerful visual image, the poet goes on to make us hear the smallest noise ‘echo/ in a tin mug’, before upping the sound level with the ‘roar of tongues’ as people descend on the pipe. The title of the poem appears to be ironic. These people are not blessed - they have little water of their own. Only superstition could lead them to count this ‘municipal pipe’ burst as a blessing. In reality, it shows the poor state of the pipes, part of the city’s basic infrastructure, pipes that should be carrying water to the people. The fact that the people live in ‘huts’, that the children are ‘naked’ and that everyone is ‘frantic’ for the water tell us a lot about the living conditions. There is a lot of sensual imagery in this poem. Mainly we hear and see the unfolding scene. These details show us what the people’s lives are like. In the following table are some of the vis... ... middle of paper ... ... darker, and harder hitting. The layers of the poem reflect the way different people will see the same scene/culuture differently. Attitude The poet appears at first to be objective, describing but not commenting on the incident. And to some extent she leaves the reader to decide the feeling and meaning of the poem. Perhaps though there is horror and pity in that opening image of skin cracking ‘like a pod’. To me the poem seems like a lament for the poverty of these people and for the value system that keeps them poor, yet humble and thankful. Style Dharker uses sensual imagery to evoke the scene, and builds the rhythm of the poem into a crescendo at the bursting of the pipe. She uses an extended metaphor, comparing water to a god. She makes lines intentionally ambiguous, uncertain, so that the scene can be interpreted in more than one way.
The poem is written in the style of free verse. The poet chooses not to separate the poem into stanzas, but only by punctuation. There is no rhyme scheme or individual rhyme present in the poem. The poems structure creates a personal feel for the reader. The reader can personally experience what the narrator is feeling while she experiences stereotyping.
There are multiple examples of visual imagery in this poem. An example of a simile is “curled like a possum within the hollow trunk”. The effect this has is the way it creates an image for the reader to see how the man is sleeping. An example of personification is, “yet both belonged to the bush, and now are one”. The result this has is how it creates an emotion for the reader to feel
...he imagery of the more intensely-felt passages in the middle of the poem. Perhaps the poet is like someone at their journey's end, `all passion spent', recollecting in tranquillity some intimations of mortality?
In this poem the immigrants are upset with what they have. They called it filthy and they feel like animals in cages. But at least they have a roof over their head. But they do say its filthy and they feel like animals. At the same time America should be happy they created a good nation people want to live in. Instead of humiliating them they should make them feel welcome. As they should test to see if they are healthy they should also, make them feel at home. People leave their lives behind and lose family to come here. They need to learn, don't be upset with what you
This is one type of poverty presented by Armitage, which contrasts with the other characters in the poem who do not exhibit emotional poverty. For instance, in stanza two, lines two and three, "He was following the sun to west from east with just..."
The tone is very depressing and desperate. There were a lot of imagery in this poem as well as metaphors. Line 3, “scraping their bellies gray on the cracked shingles of slate”, is describing the clouds floating around the mountains and valley making the people in the community think that it will bring rain, but that did not happen and the black bottom clouds just gets blown away by the wind (l. 3). The poem continued with “...the houses blown open, their cellars creaking/And lined with the bottles that held their breath for years” as if the reader is currently standing in front of the crumbling house lined with dozens of jars, but none was filled with what the people were looking for (ll. 5-6). Soto then started describing the situation outside the community, “they passed by field where the trees dried thin as hat racks/And the plow’s tooth bit the earth for what endured/But what continued were the wind that plucked the birds spineless” where trees are withering, the plow becoming useless because the fields are dried up, and the birds are left with empty stomachs and the spine chilling wind (lll. 7-9). The imagery and tone of this poem end with “under the sky that deafened from listening for rain” where the people of Ocampo continued to wait and listen for the sound of thunder and rain which would become their salvation (1.
Each stanza, each line, and every word is placed so vibrantly it causes for better sentence structure and creates more of a working flow. Her writing skills are so precise it makes reading the poem that much easier and entertaining also making it easier to understand. Her word choice is nice it’s almost as if this poem was intended to be written in such a plain and simple format. Word intensity is kept to a minimal making only some words a little challenging such as, guerilla as used in line 43, which means of member of a small group or irregular fighting, or leaflets found in line 49, which is just simple printed piece of paper often folded sheets of paper. This poem, explains the ways of Americans one may select a poem as such because it reflects on American society. Americans are said to be the “ease makers” they parade all victories we’ve attained but they don’t talk about all the destruction and gore it took to get there. Provided that this poem had many intriguing lines that and one that may stick out to is “ They said they were victims, They said they were Arabs” (41-42). This line may important to one of color because it shows how stereotypical Americans can be this line has a strong way of symbolizing all the worry and freight people of non-white ethnics face on a day to day
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
This essay is anchored on the goal of looking closer and scrutinizing the said poem. It is divided into subheadings for the discussion of the analysis of each of the poem’s stanzas.
Overall I think this poem was sad as it made me feel sorry for the
The first literary device that can be found throughout the poem is couplet, which is when two lines in a stanza rhyme successfully. For instance, lines 1-2 state, “At midnight, in the month of June / I stand beneath the mystic moon.” This is evidence that couplet is being used as both June and moon rhyme, which can suggest that these details are important, thus leading the reader to become aware of the speaker’s thoughts and actions. Another example of this device can be found in lines 16-17, “All Beauty sleeps!—and lo! where lies / (Her casement open to the skies).” These lines not only successfully rhyme, but they also describe a woman who
The main line that directs the poems feelings is "The wraith of Love's sweet Rose is here, It haunts me everywhere! ". The ghost of "Love's sweet rose" is in my life and mind. The ghost of that rose is in my presents and is with her everywhere she goes.
This poem is about a servant that serves other servants. This servant has to clean up after and feed these men, and their work is never done because it is an endless cycle. This servant is of a lower status than the rest of them because the clean up after everyone, and therefore is seen as lowly and is ignored by them all. This servant is at the bottom of the social ladder and is being isolated because they are different. Then this servant goes on to tell the story of their uncle that had a cage built for him because he was crazy. They go on to say that they are glad they got away from that, they had made jokes about the cage being a jail. That even when they were there with the uncle in the attic, they were still happy enough to have a roof over their head. Even though they are deemed as worthless and lowly as the servants servant, that they will stay because they must be kept and it is better than living outside, although that would mean freedom, the roof is better than the ground. The tone of this poem is very casual, the speaker tells this seemingly sad and unfortunate story in a manner that sounds like casual conversation. This poem had a rhythm to it, that I couldn’t quite get in reading it aloud, but it’s obviously there. The rhythm helped the words flow and tell the
The poem is set out like an appeal, a cry for help. The title itself,
These poems convey life in third world slums, and the brutal, dangerous situations that people endure.