Poems From Different Cultures Guide

8/7/2019 Poems From Different Cultures Guide

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What To Look For in a PoemNB make sure you have markup turned on (under the view toolbar) tosee the annotations

Island Man by Grace Nichols

Morningand island man wakes upto the sound of blue surfin his headthe steady breaking and wombing

wild seabirdsand fishermen pushing out to seathe sun surfacing defiantlyfrom the east

of his small emerald islandhe always comes back groggily groggily

Comes back to sandsof a grey metallic soar

to surge of wheelsto dull North Circular roar

muffling mufflinghis crumpled pillow wavesisland man heaves himself

Another London day

Comment: Rhythm sounds likewaves on shore

Comment: made-up word tosuggest the nurturing nature of sleep and the sea like a womb.

Comment: Vocabulary of thesea line break here emphasisesthis word at the end of the line -seabirds

Comment: Lots of sibilant ssounds in this poem, suggestingthe sound of the sea.

Comment: defiantly, like theway the island man refuses toforget his homeland

Comment: Powerful description gem-like description

Comment: Repetition suggeststhe waves doesnt want to wakeup

Comment: Pun on sounds/ sands

Comment: City vocabulary

Comment: We expect roar, buthe uses soar suggest seabirds mixing up images just liked theman is of mixed nationality

Comment: Mixing up images

Comment: Named a part of London

Comment: Roar rhymes withsoar above suggesting thecircular movement of the wheels

mentioned in the line between,returning to the same sound

Comment: Repetition - sea

Comment: The effort of leavingthe dream it has taken up to hereto leave the sea imagery behind,the dream of his original home haslingered. He can never leavebehind his past

Comment: Concrete line thereality of London the sea hasbeen left behind


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Not my Businessby Niyi Osundare

They picked Akanni up one morningBeat him soft like clayAnd stuffed him down the bellyOf a waiting jeep.

What business of mine is itSo long they dont take the yam from my savouring mouth?

They came one nightBooted the whole house awakeAnd dragged Danladi out,Then off to a lengthy absence.

What business of mine is itSo long they dont take the yamFrom my savouring mouth?

Chinwe went to work one dayOnly to find her job was gone:No query, no warning, no probe Just one neat sack for a stainless record.

What business of mine is itSo long they dont take the yamFrom my savouring mouth?

And then one eveningAs I sat down to eat my yamA knock on the door froze my hungry hand.The jeep was waiting on my bewildered lawnWaiting, waiting in its usual silence.

Comment: Powerful image flesh beaten soft like clay

Comment: Personification makes the jeep seem like a hungryperson or monster

Comment: Nice choice of word

the sibilant s sound suggestssalivation

Comment: Word choicesuggests the door being booted inby the soldier

Comment: Alliteration doublehard consonants suggest hardaction

Comment: a litote anunderstatement, sinister herebecause the absence means death

Comment: Repeated phrase central concern of the narrator

Comment: A normal situation,contrasting with the horror of thenext three lines

Comment: Bitter not fair

Comment: So hes kept it up tohere ironic that he still doesntget to eat need to think aboutpolitics

Comment: personification

Comment: the narrator isbewildered the lawn is reflectinghis feelings

Comment: repetition for effect-sinister


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IMPORTANT - in the exam you will have to compare a specificpoem from one Cluster (named in the question) with a poem (ormore than one poem) of your choice from any other Cluster.Knowing the themes and concerns of each poem is vitaltherefore if you are to pick the best poem to write about.

I have divided the poem analysis up using a system of questionand answers

What is it about?What do I need to know about the author?What poetic features are noteworthy?What are the key themes in the poem?Do I want to use it in the exam?

Cluster 1

Edward Kamau Brathwaite Limbo

What is it about? - In the 18 th Century European countries took African peopleand traded them as slaves they were carried in the holds of ships dark,cramped, dirty and diseased places. While the slaves were on the ships theyinvented the limbo dance as a way of keeping themselves fit whilst chained tolong iron bars. Today the dance remains a cultural tradition in the West Indieswhich you might see if you go and visit the area.

Limbo can refer to a special dance where people pass under a pole byleaning backwards. It can also refer to empty space (Im in limbo people say,when they dont know what to do!). In the poem the ambiguity of the wordLimbo (the fact that it can mean different things) is exploited. By going intoslavery, the Africans are passing into a world where they mean nothing (limbolike me); on the slave ship they enter the limbo dance as a way of maintainingtheir culture onboard.

What do I need to know about the author? - Kamau Braithwaite is a West Indianwriter he often writes about how powerful countries have taken over smallercountries and exploited them.

What poetic features are noteworthy? The repetition of the word, limbo is key tothe meaning of the poem (see above). It provides the musical beat of the poem,like the music that is played during the limbo dance. The word stick is also usedambiguously to mean both the limbo stick which is passed under and the stick ofthe slavers. The word, dark is also used a lot which suggests the void that islimbo, but also the misery and darkness of being a slave.


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Sound is vital in the poem (its a limbo dance!). Onomatopoeia is used in,drum stick knock for example. The, drummer is frequently mentioned. Therhythm is very strong (look at lines 3-6).

The structure of the poem is in two parts and describes a journey. Theslaves are on the ship, and then arrive at their destination and step onto the,burning ground. The

downdowndown

and the similar use of the word, up suggests (visually on the page) both theslaves movement beneath the limbo stick and their movement down into and upout of the hold of the slave-ship.

What are the key themes in the poem? How cultures interact, one cultureenslaving another, the history of African people brought into western society, howcultural identity is maintained despite relocation, culture represented throughmusic

Do I want to use it in the exam? YES! Its an easy poem to talk about and goodfor comparisons, though make sure you analyse it closely, otherwise you mayfind yourself without enough to write!


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Tatamkhulu Afrika - Nothing's Changed

What is it about? This poem depicts a society where rich and poor are divided.In the apartheid era of racial segregation in South Africa, where the poem is set,laws, enforced by the police, kept apart black and white people. The poet looksat attempts to change this system, and shows how they are ineffective, makingno real difference. District Six is the name of a poor area of Cape Town (one ofSouth Africa's two capital cities; the other is Pretoria). This area was bulldozed asa slum in 1966, but never properly rebuilt. Although there is no sign there, thepoet can feel that this is where he is: ...my feet know/and my hands.

What do I need to know about the author? Afrika lived in District Six duringapartheid and was actively involved in opposing it.

What poetic features are noteworthy? The structure is clearly divided into sixstanzas, appropriate for the clearly divided apartheid society and for a poemabout District Six.

The rhyme of, heels, seeds and weeds perhaps suggests the footstepsthat the stanza begins with.

The second stanza concentrates on strong images of body parts, perhapssuggesting how closely the poets existence is tied to the place.

The third stanza uses angry words like, brash, flaring which shows thepoets anger leading up to the gatepost and the injustice of the whites only inn.Note the pun on the word, inn meaning both a place to stay and the act of

entering. The alliteration of, guard at the gatepost draws attention to this part ofthe poem which holds the key issue.The fourth stanza contains images of, glass which is a good image for

the invisible barrier of apartheid separating white and black people. The line, Nosign says it is echoes the line in the second stanza; in apartheid it is what is NOTsaid that is important ie. people in power dont like to talk about the division ofwhites and black but it happens all the same.

The fourth stanzas, crushed ice white glass belongs to the rich whiteareas and contrasts with the fifth stanzas plastic tables top that is for the poorblack people. The line, its in the bone suggests that this divide is the result ofpeoples bodies, their race and colour.

The sixth stanza again shows anger, a desire for, a stone, a bomb tobreak the glass and symbolically to end the separation between white and black.

Yet the last line, nothings changed suggests that the author has little hope thatsuch an action would make things better. A pessimistic ending.

What are the key themes in the poem? How cultures interact, one cultureenslaving another, culture trying to prevent itself from mixing with another

Do I want to use it in the exam? POSSIBLY! Its a poem that requires someknowledge of the context, but there is a lot to talk about if you know the issues.


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Grace Nichols - Island Man

What is it about? The subtitle really explains this simple poem - it tells of a manfrom the Caribbean, who lives in London but always thinks of his home.

What do I need to know about the author? Nichols was born in Guyana and nowlives in Sussex. She claims to feel at home in both places, and lives in twoworlds, like island man.

What poetic features are noteworthy?See annotated fully annotated poem above.

What are the key themes in the poem? People split between cultures, culturesmixing and interacting, people establishing their identity through culture Do I want to use it in the exam? YES! Its an easy poem that is rich with imageryto discuss.


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Imtiaz Dharker - Blessing

What is it about? This poem is about water: in a hot country, where the supply isinadequate, the poet sees water as a gift from a god. When a pipe bursts, theflood which follows is like a miracle, but the blessing is ambiguous - it is suchaccidents which at other times cause the supply to be so little.

What do I need to know about the author? We have a clear sense of the writer'sworld - in her culture water is valued, as life depends upon the supply: in the west,we take it for granted. This is a culture in which belief in a kindly god is seen asnatural, but the poet does not express this in terms of any established religion(note the lower-case g on god). She suggests a vague and general religiousbelief, or superstition. Note that she uses the word, congregation to suggest acrowd, a term more normally used in a religious context.

The water is a source of other metaphors - fortune is seen as a rush (likewater rushing out of the burst pipe), and the sound of the flow is matched by thatof the people who seek it - their tongues are a roar, like the gushing water. Mosttellingly of all, water is likened to silver which crashes to the ground. In India(where Ms. Dharker lives), in Pakistan (from where she comes) and in otherAsian countries, it is common for wealthy people to throw silver coins to theground, for the poor to pick up. The water from the burst pipe is like this - a short-lived blessing for a few. But there is no regular supply of silver. And finally, thelight from the sun is seen as liquid - yet the sun aggravates the problems ofdrought.

What poetic features are noteworthy? The opening lines of the poem compareshuman skin to a seedpod, drying out till it cracks. Why? Because there is neverenough water. Ms. Dharker asks the reader to Imagine it dripping slowly into acup; her voice here is strong, as if she were showing the reader around herhomeland. When the municipal pipe (the main pipe supplying a town) bursts, itis seen as unexpected good luck (a sudden rush of fortune), and everyonerushes to help themselves. But the end of the poem reminds us of the sun, whichcauses skin to crack like a pod - today's blessing is tomorrow's drought. Thepoet celebrates the joyous sense with which the people, especially the children,come to life when there is, for once, more than enough water.

The poem has a single central metaphor - the giving of water as ablessing from a kindly god. The religious metaphor is repeated, as the

bursting of the pipe becomes a rush of fortune, and the people who come toclaim the water are described as a congregation (people gathering for worship).The poem is written in unrhymed lines, mostly brief, some of which run on,

while others are end-stopped, creating an effect of natural speech. The poetwrites lists for the people (man woman/child) and the vessels they bring(. ..with pots/brass, copper, aluminium,/plastic buckets). The poem appeals tothe reader's senses, with references to the dripping noise of water (as if thehearer is waiting for there to be enough to drink) and the flashing sunlight.


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The poem ends with a picture of children - naked and screaming. Thesense of their beauty (highlights polished to perfection) is balanced by the ideaof their fragility, as the blessing sings/over their small bones. This also suggeststhe fragility of a world dependent on water.

What are the key themes in the poem? The differences between cultures, howclimate and situation affect peoples lives and their outlook.

Do I want to use it in the exam? PROBABLY. This poem has lots of imagery totalk about, but it is so simple there might not be enough to write unless you havesufficient background knowledge.


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Lawrence Ferlinghetti - Two Scavengers in a Truck, TwoBeautiful People in a Mercedes

What is it about? Quite simply, the rich-poor divide, the culture of the rich andhow it differs to the culture of the poor. The Beautiful people in the title isperhaps written with a mild sense of irony - as this phrase was originally coinedby the hippie movement in 1967 (maybe earlier) to refer to the flower childrenwho shared the counter-culture ideals of peace and love. The couple in the poemare not beautiful people in this sense but wealthy and elegant. In the poem thetwo cultures are juxtaposed (put side-by side) and it almost seems for a momentas if they might mix and interact. However, at the end they are still divided. Is it

ever going to be possible to truly bridge cultural gaps?What do I need to know about the author? Born in New York (a city with a greatrich-poor contrast), as a teenager he was arrested for petty theft. Thieves arepeople that arguably try to bridge the rich-poor divide, as they may be poorthemselves but exist through the world of the rich. Cities, more than any othergeographical location, are places where cultures mix and interact; you often hearthe term, cultural melting-pot to describe such cosmopolitan areas.

What poetic features are noteworthy? The poem is deceptively simple - in placesit is written as if in bright primary colours, so we read of the yellow garbagetruck and the red plastic blazers, we get exact details of time and place, andwe see the precise position of the four people: all waiting at a stoplight and the

garbage collectors looking down (literally but not metaphorically) into the elegantopen Mercedes and the matching couple in it. The details of their dress and haircould be directions for a film-maker.

Ferlinghetti contrasts the people in various ways. The wealthy couple areon their way to the man's place of work, while the scavengers are coming home,having worked through the early hours. The couple in the Mercedes are cleanand cool; the scavengers are dirty. But while one scavenger is old, hunched andwith grey hair, the other is about the same age as the Mercedes driver and, likehim, has long hair and sunglasses. The older man is depicted as the opposite ofbeautiful - he is compared both to a gargoyle (an ugly grotesque caricature usedto decorate mediaeval churches, and ward off evil spirits) and to Quasimodo (thename means almost human) the main character in Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame .

The poem moves to an ambiguous conclusion. The two scavengers seethe young couple, not as real people, but as characters in a TV ad/in whicheverything is always possible - as if, that is, with determination and effort, thescavengers could change their own lifestyle for the better. But the adjectiveodorless suggests that this is a fantasy - and their smelly truck is the reality.

The poem also considers the fundamental American belief that all menare created equal - and the red light is democratic, because it stops everyone. Itholds them together as if anything at all were possible/between them. They areseparated by a small gulf and the gulf is in the high seas of democracy - which


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suggests that, with courage and effort, anyone can cross it. But the poet startedthis statement with as if - and we do not know if this is an illusion or a realpossibility. The American belief in equality is often thought to be false, asAmerica is not an equal society.

Visually the poem is split horizontally down the page. This perhapssuggests the divided society that is at the heart of the poem. The poem alsolooks quite messy as a result, which perhaps suggests the jumble of the city, themess also reflected in the scavengers truck.

The vocabulary is vital to understanding. The words for the scavengersinclude, grey iron hair, grungy and red plastic blazers which suggests the poorquality of the world they inhabit. By contrast, the beautiful peoples world ismade up of a, three-piece linen suit, an elegant couple and a casually coifedblond woman.

What are the key themes in the poem? Cultures mixing and interacting, culturesdivided by wealth, bridging cultural gaps

Do I want to use it in the exam? YES, theres lots to talk about, and lots ofimportant issues for discussion.


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Nissim Ezekiel - Night of the Scorpion

What is it about? In this poem Nissim Ezekiel recalls the night his mother wasstung by a scorpion. The poem is not really about the scorpion or its sting, butcontrasts the reactions of family, neighbours and his father, with the mother'sdignity and courage.

What do I need to know about the author? Born in Bombay, Nisim Ezekiel wouldhave observed the practiced Hindu religion around him (he was not a Hinduhimself). Hinduism believes in reincarnation after death, a persons soul isreborn in another body such as an animals, maybe even a scorpions. Theanimal that the person becomes in his next life is defined by how much good orbad was done in the last life. Lesser animals were thought to have sinned in aprevious life. In the poem, the poets mothers pain was thought to be cleansingher or sin, ready for her next life.

What poetic features are noteworthy? The scorpion (sympathetically) is shownas sheltering from ten hours of rain, but so fearful of people that it risk(s) the rainagain after stinging the poet's mother.What follows is an account of various superstitious reactions:

the peasants' efforts to paralyse the Evil One (the devil, who is identifiedwith the scorpion);

the peasants' belief that the creature's movements make the poison movein his victim's blood;

their hope that this suffering may be a cleansing from some sin in the past(your previous birth) or still to come (your next birth).

The poison is even seen as making the poet's mother better through hersuffering: May the poison purify your flesh/of desire and the spirit ofambition/they said. The poet's father normally does not share such superstitions(he is sceptic, rationalist - a doubter of superstition and a believer in scientificreason). But he is now worse than the other peasants, as he tries every curseand blessing as well as every possible antidote of which he can think. The holyman performs rites (religious ritual actions) but the only effective relief comeswith time: After twenty hours it lost its sting. After all, when facing death, it istempting to try every solution possible.

The conclusion of the poem is its most effective part: where everyone elsehas been concerned for the mother, who has been in too much pain to talk (she

twisted...groaning on a mat) she thinks of her children, and thanks God thescorpion has spared them (the sting might be fatal to a smaller person; certainlya child would be less able to bear the pain).

Ezekiel's poetic technique is quite simple here. The most obvious point tomake is the contrast between the very long first section, detailing the franticresponses of everyone but the mother, and the simple, brief, understatedaccount of her selfless courage in the second section. The lines are of irregularlength and unrhymed; the lines are not end-stopped but run on (this is sometimesknown as enjambement ).


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Instead of metaphor or simile the images are of what was literally present (thecandles and the lanterns and the shadows on the walls). The poem is in the formof a short narrative. One final interesting feature to note is the repeated use ofreported (indirect) speech - we are told what people said, but not necessarily intheir exact words, and never enclosed in speech marks. The poem may surpriseus in the insight it gives into another culture: compare Ezekiel's account withwhat would happen if your mother were stung by a scorpion (or, if this seems abit unlikely, bitten by an adder, say).

Some comments about Nissim Ezekiel that you might find helpful in relation toNight of the Scorpion are these: he writes in a free style and colloquial manner(like ordinary speech); he makes direct statements and employs few images.The title of the poem seems more fitting almost to an old horror film - do you thinkit is a suitable title for the poem that follows?

What are the key themes in the poem? The difference between cultures andreligions, how the culture here contrasts with the western culture we inhabit.Do I want to use it in the exam? Probably NOT. The poem is not particularly richin poetic features to talk about, and you need background knowledge aboutHinduism to make full sense of it.


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Chinua Achebe - Vultures

What is it about? This is one of the most challenging poems in the anthology.The vultures of the title are real birds of prey but more important, perhaps, forwhat they represent - people of a certain kind.

The poem introduces us to the vultures and their unpleasant diet; in spite ofthis, they appear to care for each other. From this Achebe goes on to note howeven the worst of human beings show some touches of humanity - theconcentration camp commandant, having spent the day burning human corpses,buys chocolate for his tender offspring (child or children). This leads to anambiguous conclusion:

on the one hand, Achebe tells us to praise bounteous providence thateven the worst of creatures has a little goodness, a tiny glow-wormtenderness;

on the other hand, he concludes in despair, it is the little bit of kindredlove (love of one's own kind or relations) which permits the perpetuity ofevil (allows it to survive, because the evil person can think himself to benot completely depraved).

We are reminded, perhaps, by the words about the Commandant at Belsen,that Adolf Hitler was said to love children and animals.

What do I need to know about the author? Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian writer,but has a traditional English-speaking liberal education: the poem is written in ahighly literate manner with a close eye for detail.

What poetic features are noteworthy? The poem is in the form of free verse, inshort lines which are not end-stopped and have no pattern of stress or metre.Achebe moves from

images of things which are actually present, to the imagined scene of the commandant picking up chocolate for his

children, to the final section of the poem in which appears the conventional

metaphor of the glow-worm tenderness in the icy caverns of a cruelheart.

In studying this poem, you should spend a lot of time in making sure youunderstand all of the unfamiliar vocabulary. Look out, also, for familiar wordswhich are used in surprising ways, because of their context . For example, we

read of the commandant going home...with fumes of human roast clingingrebelliously to his hairy nostrils - it is as if he wants to get rid of the smell (put itout of nose and mind) but the smell refuses to go away, rebelling against hisauthority: something he cannot command.

As you think or write about the first part of the poem, you should try todescribe in your own words the different things on which the vultures feed, whilelooking for the evidence of the birds' love for each other. The vulture is a creatureabout which we will have ideas before we read; because it feasts on corpses, ithas come to symbolise anyone or anything that benefits by another's suffering.


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(The vultures here are shown far less sympathetically, for example, than thescorpion in Nissim Ezekiel's poem.)

How does the poet try to make the reader feel disgust towards the vultures?Is this fair?

The ending of this poem is highly ambiguous - the poet recommends bothpraise for providence and then despair (because the little bit ofgoodness in otherwise evil things allows them to keep going, inperpetuity). Which of these conclusions do you think the poet feels morestrongly, if either?

Chinua Achebe refers to Belsen, the Nazi death camp - do you think this isa powerful way of suggesting evil, or might readers now and in the futurenot know what Belsen is or what happened there? (Some younger readersmay know of it mainly because Anne Frank died there, at the age of 15.)

The poet could be contrasting the natural world of the vultures with the humanworld of the Commandant. In some way they are different, in some wayssimilar. The last words of the poem are, perpetuity of evil which suggeststhat evil is ever-lasting. Does evil exist in the human and animal world both?Perhaps all animals (including man) cannot help but do what they do

What are the key themes in the poem? This is an odd inclusion in the anthology,as it doesnt entirely fit in the idea of different cultures. Arguably it is drawingsimilarities between the worlds of animals and humans. By saying that perhapsgood and evil are not so different, the poem is perhaps drawing an analogy withhow world cultures are rarely that different.

Do I want to use it in the exam? Probably NOT. This poem doesnt fit neatly inthe anthology and will be a difficult poem to use in comparisons.


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Denise Levertov: What Were They Like?

What is it about? This is a famous poem, written in 1971, as a protest againstthe Vietnamese War (1954-1975. This was originally a civil war betweencommunist North and capitalist South Vietnam; the south received support fromwestern countries, notably the USA. In 1973 President Nixon withdrew the USforces, in 1975 the armies of North Vietnam were victorious, and the country wasreunited the following year. More recently, Vietnam has adopted democraticgovernment and opened itself up to visitors from the west.)

What do I need to know about the author? Denise Levertov protested in publicagainst the war, and spent time in jail. In the poem, inspired by the violence ofthe US bombing campaign, she imagines a future in which the people have beendestroyed and there is no record or memory of their culture. (In the light of theNazis' genocide of European Jews, this was not an unreasonable fear.) In fact,the people and culture of Vietnam are thriving today but attempted genocide(now we call it ethnic cleansing) has devastated Cambodia, Ruanda andBurundi and the former Yugoslavia.

What poetic features are noteworthy? The poem is in the form of a series ofquestions, as a future visitor might pose them to a cultural historian. Thequestions might seem straightforward, but the answers are revealing. Togetherthey create a sympathetic portrait of a gentle, simple peasant people, living adignified if humble life amid the paddy fields. This contrasts with the violent

effects of war, as children are killed, bones are charred and people scream asbombs smash the paddy fields. The final lines of the poem show how utterly thepeople have been forgotten - the report of their singing (of which there is norecord) is hopelessly vague - it resembled, supposedly, the flight of moths inmoonlight - but no one knows, since it is silent now.

The poem shows the Vietnamese as rather childlike, innocent andvulnerable - a way of seeing them that seemed to be confirmed by some eventsin the war, lie the destruction of the forests with napalm, and by the notoriousphotographic image of a naked burning child running from her devastated village.But the people of Vietnam eventually proved more resilient than in this well-meaning but rather patronising western view. On the other hand, it was protestslike that in the poem that changed US public opinion, so that President Nixonwithdrew their forces from combat - which helped the Northern Communist forces

win the war, and reunite Vietnam by force.The answers are curiously mysterious, riddle-like. The first answer twiststhe question about stone lanterns to make a point about how war meant that thepeoples, light hearts turned to stone. This twisting of the question suggests thatthe respondent has their own agenda: perhaps he wishes to make a bitter pointabout the war, or perhaps he is merely sad. The second answer again twists thequestion to a bitter end. The third answer comes in the form of a proverb, Sir,laughter is bitter to the burned mouth. Oriental culture is full of a love for hidden


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meanings, and proverbial sayings that require wisdom to understand. The fourthanswer follows the same pattern of quizzical bitterness.

The fifth answer is different. Rather than a riddle we are presented with asorrowful image of what happened in the war. This is far more direct than theprevious responses, suggesting the savagery of war. The sixth answer becomesenigmatic again and we get the strong image of the peoples singing being like,the flight of moths in moonlight, a potent image of a peaceful nation and of thelost memory of them.

When describing the people (as opposed to war) much of the poem usesvocabulary that suggests insubstantial things, dream, echo and moths. Thissuggests the fading of the memories. By contrast the harsh reality of war isrepresented through more substantial words, bombs, scream and burned.The rich culture of Vietnam at peace is represented through culturally-specificwords such as, jade and silver and, blossom.

A rhetorical question is used (who can say?) to suggest the fact that therespondent does not have all the answers. This adds to the atmosphere ofmystery and uncertainty. There is a sadness to a question that can never beanswered.

What are the key themes in the poem? How cultures interact (ie. war and theconsequences), how culture can be lost over time

Do I want to use it in the exam? POSSIBLY. This is not the easiest of poemsbut there is lots to talk about if you know a little background and there areopportunities for very sophisticated responses.


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Cluster 1

Sujata Bhatt: from Search for My Tongue

What is it about? This poem (or rather extract from a long poem) explores afamiliar ambiguity in English - tongue refers both to the physical organ we usefor speech, and the language we speak with it. (Saying tongue for speech isan example of metonymy). In the poem Sujata Bhatt writes about the tongue inboth ways at once. To lose your tongue normally means not knowing what to say,but Ms. Bhatt suggests that one can lose one's tongue in another sense. Thespeaker in this poem is obviously the poet herself, but she speaks for many whofear they may have lost their ability to speak for themselves and their culture.

She explains this with the image of two tongues - a mother tongue (one'sfirst language) and a second tongue (the language of the place where you live).She argues that you cannot use both together. She suggests, further, that if youlive in a place where you must speak a foreign tongue then the mother tonguewill rot and die in your mouth.

The final section of the poem is the writer's dream - in which her mothertongue grows back and pushes the other tongue aside. She ends triumphantlyasserting that Everytime I think I've forgotten,/I think I've lost the mothertongue,/it blossoms out of my mouth.

Clearly this poem is about personal and cultural identity. The familiarmetaphor of the tongue is used in a novel way to show that losing one's language(and culture) is like losing part of one's body. The poet's dream may besomething she has really dreamt overnight but is clearly also a dream in thesense of something she wants to happen - in dreams, if not in reality, it ispossible for the body to regenerate. For this reason the poem's ending isambiguous - perhaps it is only in her dream that the poet can find her mothertongue. On the other hand, she may be arguing that even when she thinks shehas lost it, it can be found again. At the end of the poem there is a strikingextended metaphor in which the regenerating tongue is likened to a plant cutback to a stump, which grows and eventually buds, to become the flower whichblossoms out of the poet's mouth. It is as if her mother tongue is exotic,spectacular or fragrant, as a flower might be.

The poem's form is well suited to its subject. The flower is a metaphor forthe tongue, which itself has earlier been used as a (conventional) metaphor, forspeech. The poet demonstrates her problem by showing both mother tongue(Gujarati) and foreign tongue (English), knowing that for most readers these willbe the other way around, while some, like her, will understand both.

The poem will speak differently to different generations - for parents,Gujarati may also be the mother tongue, while their children, born in the UK,may speak English as their first language. The poem is written both for the page,where we see the (possibly exotic) effect of the Gujarati text and for readingaloud, as we have a guide for speaking the Gujarati lines.


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What poetic features are noteworthy? Ms. Bhatt rewrites lines 15 and 16 inGujarati, followed by more Gujarati lines, which are given in English as the finalsection of the poem. For readers who do not know the Gujarati script, there isalso a phonetic transcript using approximate English spelling to indicate thesounds.

There are some strong images here (spitting out your tongue!), especiallythe image of the re-growing tongue which is metaphorically compared to a, bud.

There is also a questioning style, you ask me, I ask you as if the authoris responding to a difficult question by throwing it back at the reader.

What do I need to know about the author? Born in India but studied and workingin USA, now lives in Germany with husband. She writes in English. She isintrigued how various languages co-exist in the mind, how they interact,interfering but also enhancing one another. In many parts of the world whereEnglish, though not the native language, has become the peoples first language,foreign words are seamlessly integrated into the English. Thus in Singaporepeople speak a fashionable slang called, Singlish which contains Chinese andMalay words within its English dialect.

What are the key themes in the poem? Language here is symbolising culturalidentity and how it never really dies no matter where you live. The theme is ofcultures interacting, clashing but also enhancing one another.

Do I want to use it in the exam? YES. There is only a limited amount of closeanalysis that can be done, but you can discuss the issue the poem raises (ie.Should people maintain their original language when they move to anothercountry or integrate and learn the new language) until you are blue in the face!


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Tom Leonard: from Unrelated Incidents

What is it about? Have you ever wondered why newsreaders always sound posh?Why do you never get someone with a cockney accent, or a Scottish accent likehere? Well so does Tom Leonard!

This poem uses non-standard English to explore notions of class,education and nationality. The poem is a phonetic (by the sounds) transcriptwhich shows how a Glaswegian Scot might speak. The poet imagines the BBCnewsreader smugly explaining why he does not talk lik/wanna you/scruff -though in this version, of course, he is doing just this. The writer takes on thepersona of a less educated or ordinary Glaswegian, with whom he clearlyidentifies.

The most important idea in the poem is that of truth - a word whichappears (as trooth) three times, as well as one troo. The speaker in the poem(with whom the poet seems to sympathize) suggests that listeners or viewerstrust a speaker with an RP (Received Pronunciation) or BBC accent. He claimsthat viewers would be mistrustful of a newsreader with a regional accent,especially one like Glaswegian Scots, which has working-class or even (unfairly)criminal associations in the minds of some people.

What do I need to know about the author? Tom Leonard is a Scot who loves hiscountry and resents the way the English have dominated it. This is his way ofhaving a go at what is considered the correct way of speaking.

The poem is humorous and challenges our prejudices. Leonard may be a

little nave in his argument, however: RP gives credibility to people in authority orto newsreaders, because it shows them not to favour one area or region - it ismeant to be neutral. The RP speaker appears educated because he or she isaware of, and has dropped, distinctive local or regional peculiarities. And thoughRP is not spoken by everyone, it is widely understood, much more so than anyregional accent in the UK. Tom Leonard's Glasgow accent would confuse manylisteners, as would any marked regional voice. RP has the merit of clarity.

However, why should RP have become the standard way of speaking?Why not the Glaswegian accent?

What poetic features are noteworthy? The poem is set out in lines of two, threeor four syllables, but these are not end-stopped. The effect is almost certainlymeant to be of the Autocue used by newsreaders (the text scrolls down the

screen a few words at a time).The poem seems puzzling on the page, but when read out aloud makes bettersense. Remember that it is written in phonetics to suit the Scottish accent. AScot may find it easier to follow than a reader from London, say. Again, the waywe write English is designed to portray the phonetics of a Southern English accent, not any other regional accent (this is me tokn yir/ right way a/ spellin). Isthis fair? Tom Leonard obviously thinks not (this is ma trooth/ yooz doant no/ thi trooth/ yirsellz cawz/ yi canny talk/ right). The poem is light-hearted however,


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rather than truly angry, and at the end he just says, belt up as if the issuealready bores him.

What are the key themes in the poem? How one culture (English) has come todominate another (Scottish) through its dominance in the language, how we write,and how it should be spoken.

Do I want to use it in the exam? MAYBE. Only use it if you understand thecomplicated argument about which regional dialect is considered correct andhow Leonard is attacking that concept. If you do, theres lots to talk about,certainly in terms of the issues.


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John Agard: Half-Caste

What is it about? This poem develops a simple idea which is found in a familiar, ifoutdated phrase. Half-caste as a term for mixed race is now rare. The termcomes from India, where people are rigidly divided into groups (called castes )which are not allowed to mix, and where the lowest caste is considereduntouchable. In the poem John Agard pokes fun at the idea. He does this

with an ironic suggestion of things only being half present, by puns, and by looking at the work of artists who mix things. It is not clear whether Agard speaks as himself here, or speaks for others.

The poem opens with a joke - as if half-caste means only half made (readingthe verb as cast rather than caste), so the speaker stands on one leg as if theother is not there. Agard ridicules the term by showing how the greatest artistsmix things - Picasso mixes the colours, and Tchaikovsky use the black and whitekeys in his piano symphonies, yet to call their art half-caste seems silly.

Agard playfully points out how England's weather is always a mix of lightand shadow - leading to a very weak pun on half-caste and overcast (cloudedover). The joke about one leg is recalled later in the poem, this time bysuggesting that the half-caste uses only half of ear and eye, and offers half ahand to shake, leading to the absurdities of dreaming half a dream and castinghalf a shadow. The poem, like a joke, has a punchline - the poet invites hishearer to come back tomorrow and use the whole of eye, ear and mind. Thenhe will tell de other half/of my story.

Though the term half-caste is rarely heard today, Agard is perhaps rightto attack the idea behind it - that mixed race people have something missing.Also, they often suffer hostility from the racial or ethnic communities of bothparents. Though the poem is light-hearted in tone, the argument of the last sixlines is very serious, and has a universal application: we need to give people ourfull attention and respect, if we are to deserve to hear their whole story.

What poetic features are noteworthy? The form of the poem is related to itssubject, as Agard uses non-standard English, in the form of Afro-Caribbeanpatois. This shows how he stands outside mainstream British culture. There is noformal rhyme-scheme or metre, but the poem contains rhymes (wha yumean...mix red an green). A formal device which Agard favours is repetition:Explain yuself/wha yu mean, for example. The poem is colloquial, written as if

spoken to someone with imperatives (commands) like Explain yuself andquestions like wha yu mean. The punctuation is non-standard using the hyphen(-) and slash (/) but no comma nor full stop, not even at the end. The spellinguses both standard and non-standard forms - the latter to show pronunciation.The patois is most marked in its grammar, where verbs are missed out (Ahlistening for I am listening or I half-caste human being for I am half-caste).

When you write about the poem you should perhaps not use the termhalf-caste except to discuss how Agard presents it. If you need to, use a termlike mixed race. For older readers, especially those aware of the (now


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scientifically discredited) racial theories of the Nazis, this poem seems powerfuland relevant. And in Britain today, resistance to mixed-race couples (who mayhave mixed-race children) is as likely to come from an Asian or Afro-Caribbeanparent as from a white Anglo-Saxon family. (In some ethnic groups, there isenormous family pressure to marry within the community.) Younger readers,especially in cosmopolitan communities, may wonder what the fuss is about.

What do I need to know about the author? Yes, John Agard is indeed of mixedrace origins. Born in Guyana and emigrated to Britain. But hey, you alreadyguessed that right?

What are the key themes in the poem? Cultures mixing and how this should notbe seen as a bad thing.

Do I want to use it in the exam? YES, lots of meaty issues and poetic devices totalk about. Not hard either.


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Derek Walcott: Love after Love

What is it about? This poem is about self-discovery. Walcott suggests that wespend years assuming an identity, but eventually discover who we really are -and this is like two different people meeting and making friends and sharing ameal together. Walcott presents this in terms of the love feast or Eucharist of theChristian church - Eat...Give wine. Give bread. And it is not clear whether thisother person is merely human or in some way divine.The poem begins with the forecast of the time when this recognition will occur - amoment of great happiness (elation) as you...greet yourself and each willsmile at the other's welcome.The second stanza suggests that one has to fit in with others' ideas oraccommodate oneself to the world, and so become a stranger to oneself - but intime one will see who the stranger really is, and welcome him or her home. Oureveryday life is seen, therefore, as a kind of temporary disloyalty, in which oneignores oneself for another - but all along it is the true self, the stranger whohas loved you and who knows you by heart.And when this time comes, then one can recall and review one's life - look at therecord of love-letters, photographs and notes, and what one sees in the mirror -and sit and feast on one's life.

What do I need to know about the author? A man who spans several cultures.

What poetic features are noteworthy? The poem is written in the second person -

as if the poet addresses the reader directly. It is full of imperative verbs(commands) sit, give, eat, take and feast. The poet repeats words orvariants of them - give, love, stranger and life. This is a very happy poem,especially in its view of the later years of life, not as a time of loss but of fulfilmentand recovery. The words are therefore of happy things.

There is no rhyme, which perhaps suggests the need and joy in differencethat the poem champions.

The central line is, each will smile at the others welcome whichexpresses in a very concise way the shared nature of the feeling. The poemconfuses identities deliberately, you will greet yourself arriving/ at your own door,in your own mirror. This is appropriate for a poem that is saying differencedoesnt matter (ie. that were all the same really).

Feast on your life, is a strong image and very uplifting.

What are the key themes in the poem? Again that it is a good thing for culturesto mix, that the world will be a better place if we all get along, peace love andunderstanding

Do I want to use it in the exam? PROBABLY. Its an easy poem, good forcontrasts with others, but is there enough to talk about if its your main poem?


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Imtiaz Dharker: This Room

What is it about? This is a quite puzzling poem, if we try to find an explicit andexact interpretation - but its general meaning is clear enough: Imtiaz Dharkersees rooms and furniture as possibly limiting or imprisoning one, but whenchange comes, it as if the room is breaking out of itself. She presents this ratherliterally, with a bizarre or surreal vision of room, bed and chairs breaking out ofthe house and rising up - the chairs crashing through clouds. The crockery,meanwhile, crashes together noisily in celebration. And why is no one lookingfor the door? Presumably, because there are now so many different ways ofleaving the room, without using the conventional route.

One's sense of self is also confused - we say sometimes that we are allover the place, and Ms. Dharker depicts this literally, as well - she cannot find herfeet (a common metaphor for gaining a sense of purpose or certainty) andrealizes that her hands are not even in the same room - and have taken on a lifeof their own, applauding from somewhere else.

We do not know the cause of this joyful explosion, but it seems to bebound up with personal happiness and fulfilment - it might be romantic love, but itcould be other things: maternity, a new job, artistic achievement, almost anythingthat is genuinely and profoundly life-changing.

The poem works very much like an animated film - the excited pots andpans suggest the episode in Disney's Fantasia of the Sorcerer's Apprentice . It isa succession of vivid and exuberant images, full of joy and excitement. (Even ifone does not enjoy the poem, the reader might like to know what made the poet

feel like this - and perhaps give it a try.)What do I need to know about the author? Born in Pakistan and grew up inGlasgow. Is this getting predictable or is it just me?

What poetic features are noteworthy? My interpretation is that this poem is aconceit (an extended metaphor) for something else. It is suggesting that it isimportant not to be limited to your own culture (the room) but to break out andexperience the world and all the cultures it has to offer (to mix cultures).

The line, my hands are outside, clapping is on its own because this doesindeed suggest being outside. Maybe the author has succeeded in mixingcultures, getting outside the box of the familiar, and is celebrating his joy withapplause. However its a confusing time for us all, and this is symbolized by the

disruption of a familiar symbol of domestic security (a room!).What are the key themes in the poem? Cultures mixing and not being restrainedto themselves, this being seen as a good thing.

Do I want to use it in the exam? POSSIBLY. This is not an easy poem but if youunderstand it then you can make yourself look very clever with good analysis.


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Not my Business: Niyi Osundare (see annotation atstart of document)

Moniza Alvi: Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan

What is it about? This poem can be compared usefully with the extracts fromSearch for My Tongue and from Unrelated Incidents , as well as with Half-Caste -all of which look at ideas of race and identity. Where Sujatta Bhatt, Tom Leonardand John Agard find this in language, Moniza Alvi associates it with materialthings. The poem is written in the first person, and is obviously autobiographical -the speaking voice here is really that of the poet.Moniza Alvi contrasts the exotic garments and furnishings sent to her by heraunts with what she saw around her in her school, and with the things they askedfor in return. Moniza Alvi also shows a paradox , as she admired the presents, butfelt they were too exquisite for her, and lacked street credibility. Finally, thepresents form a link to an alternative way of life (remote in place and time) whichMs. Alvi does not much approve: her aunts screened from male visitors and thebeggars and sweeper-girls in 1950s Lahore.The bright colours of the salwar kameez suggest the familiar notion of exoticclothes worn by Asian women, but the glass bangle which snaps and drawsblood is almost a symbol of how her tradition harms the poet - it is not practicalfor the active life of a young woman in the west.

What do I need to know about the author? The idea of living in two cultures isseen in the voyage, from Pakistan to England, which the poet made as a childand which she dimly recalls. This is often a symbol of moving from one kind oflife to another.

What poetic features are noteworthy? In a striking simile the writer suggests thatthe clothes showed her own lack of beauty: I could never be as lovely/as thoseclothes. The bright colours suggest the clothes are burning: I was aflame/Icouldn't rise up out of its fire, a powerful metaphor for the discomfort felt by thepoet, who longed/for denim and corduroy, plainer but comfortable andinconspicuous. Also she notes that where her Pakistani Aunt Jamila can rise upout of its fire - that is, look lovely in the bright clothes - she (the poet) feltunable to do so, because she was half-English. This may be meant literally (she

has an English grandmother) or metaphorically, because she is educated inEngland. This sense of being between two cultures is shown when theschoolfriend asks to see Moniza Alvi's weekend clothes and is not impressed.The schoolfriend's reaction also suggests that she has little idea of what Moniza -as a young Pakistani woman - is, and is not, allowed to do at weekends, despiteliving in Britain.

Obviously the vocabulary is important here, the lists of exotic things (andforeign words for them) showing the exoticness of the place theyve come from.


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The form of the poem on the page is jumbled left and right, messy, like apile of different objects.

What are the key themes in the poem? The difference and diversity of cultureand how it is represented through language and things.

Do I want to use it in the exam? NO. There is only a limited amount to talk about,though you could usefully use it as a comparison piece.


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Grace Nichols: Hurricane Hits England

What is it about? The central image in this poem is not the poet's invention butdrawn from her (and other people's) experience. The hurricanes that sometimesstrike England as destructive storms really do bring the Caribbean (or its weather)to Britain - they retrace the poet's journey from the west, and recall her ownorigins.

What do I need to know about the author? The poem begins in the third person(note the pronouns her and she) but changes in the second stanza to a first-person view as the poet speaks of herself, and addresses the tropical winds. Thespeaker here could be anyone who has made this journey, but Grace Nichols isprobably speaking for herself in the poem. The poem is written mostly as freeverse - there is no rhyme scheme; stanzas vary in length, as do the lines, thoughthe first line of the poem is a perfect pentameter.

What poetic features are noteworthy? The poem is interesting for its range ofvocabulary. Ms. Nichols uses the patois form Huracan and names the gods(Oya and Shango) of the Yoruba tribe, who were taken as slaves to theCaribbean in times past. She connects this to the modern world, as she namesthe notorious Hurricane Hattie (of October 1961). There is interesting word playin reaping havoc - a pun on the familiar phrase wreaking (making or causing)havoc. The poem also brings together the four elements of earth, air (wind), fire(lightning) and water.

But the most striking things in this poem are the images and symbols from thenatural world, which explain the poet's relationship to the Caribbean and toEngland. The wind is called a howling ship - howling we expect to find withwind, not ship. (Technically, this is a transferred epithet.) But the wind is like aship in having travelled across the ocean. This nautical image is echoed later bythe comparison of felled trees to whales. The reference to an ancestralspectre calls to mind the worship of the spirits of ancestors, a practice the slavestook from Africa to the West Indies. Here the ghost of the ancestor is perhapsrebuking the poet for leaving the Caribbean.

In the fourth stanza, Ms. Nichols contrasts the massive power of thenatural electricity of lightning with the electricity generated by man. The electricalstorm cuts off the mains electricity, plunging us into further darkness. This maybe the literal darkness of England in winter, or a metaphor for the poet's dismay

at leaving her homeland.The fallen trees (which lie around in England after a tropical storm) areseen by the poet as like herself, uprooted from her home. The wind bringswarmth to break (the ice of) the frozen lake in her - as if the English weatherhas caused her to lose touch with her emotions. (Associating one's mood withthe prevailing weather is a well-established poetic convention, sometimes knownas the pathetic fallacy. Here pathetic means to do with feelings [Greek pathos ]. Itis a fallacy [mistaken belief] because our moods do not literally control the


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weather (unless we have special magical powers), though often the weatherdoes influence our moods!)

Perhaps the most powerful image, from a Caribbean writer, is that whichhas its own line, where Grace Nichols asks: O why is my heart unchained? Inexpressing her sense of joy, after the storm has hit England, she recalls theimage of freed slaves being released from the chains in which they have beenheld. Here she shows awareness of her historical culture.

Note that again, the Hurricane is a conceit, an extended metaphor forsomething else, in this case the poets journey to England.

The last line, the earth is the earth is the earth perhaps suggests thatdespite all mans difficulties, nature continues, life goes on and is greater than allof us.

What are the key themes in the poem? Cultures mixing, clashing, interacting.Like The Room this poem describes how destructive and tricky this process ofcultural integration can be.

Do I want to use it in the exam? YES. An easy idea and ideal for comparisonwith The Room.

Poems From Different Cultures Guide

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Transcript of Poems From Different Cultures Guide