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Search for my Tongue
To understand the
poem
To explore the themesand poetic devices used
by Bhatt
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hJQsvoY6VU
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ThemesIsolation/alienation: to feel like
you dont belong; to feel
separate from the rest of
society.
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Bit of background
Sujata Bhatt grew up in India and
emigrated to the US with her family when
she was about 12yrs old.Although she mostly speaks and writes in
English, her Gujarati language has always
been very important to her.
Search for my Tongue explores the ideas
of a divided heritage.
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Video
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/e
nglish_literature/poetry_slideshow/search/
photoplayer.shtml
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ogKoIBx
Q4I
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The title .
Search looking for something that youhave lost; something that you want to find
Tongue - a) muscle in your mouth!
b) mother tongue (first language)
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You ask me what I mean
by saying I have lost my tongue.
I ask you, what would you doif you had two tongues in your mouth,
and lost the first one, the mother tongue,
Direct
address
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You ask me what I mean
by saying I have lost my tongue.
I ask you, what would you doif you had two tongues in your mouth,
and lost the first one, the mother tongue
Feeling
alone
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You ask me what I mean
by saying I have lost my tongue.
I ask you, what would you doif you had two tongues in your mouth,
and lost the first one, the mother tongue
Two tongues
represent two
languages
This is how she
feels: she feels
like she has a
tongue for each
language that she
speaks
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You ask me what I mean
by saying I have lost my tongue.
I ask you, what would you doif you had two tongues in your mouth,
and lost the first one, the mother tongue
Connection with
family and roots, but
she feels it is lost
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And could not really know the other,the foreign tongue.
you could not use them both together
even if you thought that way.
She doesnt feel as
close to her second
language as she does
her mother tongue
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And could not really know the other,the foreign tongue.
you could not use them both together
even if you thought that way.
In the poets
case, English
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And could not really know the other,the foreign tongue.
you could not use them both together
even if you thought that way.
Have to
choose one or
the other
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And if you lived in a place you had to
speak a foreign tongue,your mother tongue would rot,
rot and die in your mouth
until you had to spit it out.
Repetition
of rot for
emphasis -
Image of
decay
shows herdisgust at
the thought
of losing
her mother
tongueImage of her tongue rotting because it isnt
used anymore
Repetition
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And ifyou lived in a place you had to
speak a foreign tongue,your mother tongue would rot,
rot and die in your mouth
until you had to spit it out.
People who dont know what
this feels like.
English is the
foreign tongueto her
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(munay hutoo kay aakhee jeebh aakhee bhasha)
(may thoonky nakhi chay)
(parantoo rattray svupnama mari bhasha pachi
aavay chay)
(foolnee jaim mari bhasha nmari jeebh)
(modhama kheelay chay)
(fullnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh)
(modhama pakay chay)
Mother
tongue
dominatesthe poem
interrupts
the English
Phonetic
spelling
but NOT
translated
here
Returning to a safe
place
Gujarati gives
this part of the
poem a
magical, dream-
like quality
At night, a
private time,
the mother
tongue isnourished
Gujarati reasserting itself
pride in her language
Dream has
a double
meaning
her native
language
comes back
to her when
she is
asleep anddreaming,
but it is also
her dream
to speak it
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I thought I spit it out
But overnight while I dream
Grammatical mistake should be spat it
out shows lack of familiarity with the
language / rejection of rules
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I thought I spit it outBut overnight while I dream
A sense that things are
going to change:
maybe things arent
going to be as bad as
she thought.
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I thought I spit it outBut overnight while I dream
In her
subconscious
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Gujarati section
Readers can see her other language visualrepresentation of both English and Gujarati together.
Readers can understand what it feels like when you arepresented with a language that you dont understand.
It grows out of the middle of the poem as she realisesthat she hasnt lost it at all.
The Gujarati section means the same as the English thatfollows it; they are a translation of each other
Understanding the meaning of language is an importanttheme
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It grows back, a stump of a shoot
Grows longer, grows moist, grows strongveins,
It ties the othertongue in knots,
The bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth
Use of commas gives this extract a
breathy, excited almost panicky feel
representing the re-growth as
unstoppable
Tongue-tied
expresses
her
confusion
Rule of three different
kinds ofgrowth
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It grows back, a stump of a shoot
Grows longer, grows moist, grows strongveins,
It ties the other tongue in knots,
The bud opens, the bud opens in my mouthGetting bigger and
more powerful as it
grows
The tongue is
beginning to
sound like a
plant.
Repetition
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Extended metaphorThe comparison between the
tongue and a plant/flower
continues to the end of the poem
this is why its called an
extended metaphor.
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It grows back, a stump of a shoot
Grows longer, grows moist, grows strongveins,
It ties the other tongue in knots,
The bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth
Words that make you think of
plants: plant imagery
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It grows back, a stump of a shoot
Grows longer, grows moist, grows strongveins,
It ties the other tongue in knots,
The bud opens, the bud opens in my mouthHer language is
like a blossoming
flower that is
growing out of her
mouth.
The mother tongue is
actually stronger than
her second language
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It pushes the other tongue aside.
every time I think Ive forgotten,I think Ive lost the other tongue,
it blossoms out of my mouth.
Your roots stay the same
even if your place in the
world changes
Released from within like a
flower replacing a weed
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It pushes the other tongue aside.
every time I think Ive forgotten,I think Ive lost the mother tongue,
it blossoms out of my mouth.
Stronger than
she thought!
Ends more
positively than it
started.blossoming and
rot are two
contrasting
words: life and
death
Personification
of the tongue
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What is the poem saying to the
reader?
1. Your background and your roots willalways stay with you, even as you growup. You wont forget where you came
from.2. A persons language is very important to
them: how would you feel if you were inthe same situation at only 12yrs old?
3. Its very difficult to fit into one culturewhen you have come from another.
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Ravi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
-URtZfIgKAU&feature=related
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