Search for My Tongue1.What do you think the title might mean?

2. The narrator claims that she has two tongues in her mouth. gWhat are these two tongues?

3. How does the narrator use the idea of the two tongues? Use the boxes below to help you.

The first box has been completed for you.

You ask me what I / b i I h

and lost the first one, mean/ by saying I have lost my tongueThe narrator seems to

the mother tongue,/ and could not really know the other,/ the foreign

be addressing the reader and carrying on a conversation that began b f h b f

I ask you what would you do/ if you had two tongues in your mouth

tongue

before the beginning of the poem. She is answering a question b t th i f

tongues in your mouth

about the meaning of losing her tongue. This idea reflects the idea in the titlethe title.

You could not use them both together

And if you lived in a place you had to/ speak both togetherplace you had to/ speak a foreign tongue,/ your mother tongue would rot

d d h/ I thought I spit it out/ but rot and die in your mouth/ until you had to spit it out

I thought I spit it out/ but overnight while I dream

STRUCTURE

First section deals with recognition that her ‘tongue’ is recogn t on that her tongue s losing its vitality

S d ti i itt i Second section is written in Gujerati

Third section gives a loose translation of the Gujerati f jpassage – she realises that her mother ‘tongue’ is not dead; it m g ;is just dormant because it has not been used enough.g

LANGUAGEId tif d l i th f th Identify and explain the use of the

extended metaphor in the poem.

The idea of her language being a tree or plant is being a tree or plant is

extended throughout the poempoem.

The whole poem is The whole poem is metaphorical – her ‘tongue’

is her native language is her native language which ‘blossoms’ as she

dreamsdreams.

LANGUAGE•The first stanza contains a number of descriptions and images designed to convey fear about the death of the mother tongue.

•There is an extended metaphor: the tongues represent languages. The languages might also represent cultures.The languages might also represent cultures.

•The reader is drawn into the poem in the first lines where the poet uses second person address and seems to ask a question of the uses second person address and seems to ask a question of the reader.

•The imagery of the new plant growth is seen in the last section•The imagery of the new plant growth is seen in the last section.

•Although the poem is a celebration of the •Although the poem is a celebration of the mother tongue, most of the poem is written in Standard English.

Themesh bl f h h lThe problems of coping with more than one language.

A realisation that two languages and cultures can co-existA realisation that two languages and cultures can co exist.

The beauty of one’s mother tongue in this case Gujerati

The problems of coping with more than one culture

The beauty of one s mother tongue, in this case Gujerati.

The problems of coping with more than one culture.

Love of one’s mother tongue/cultureLove of one s mother tongue/culture.

Fear of losing the mother tongue.g g

New life/hope.

Unrelated Incidents

THEMESTHEMES

•Importance of regional p gdialects/accents

•Truth not dependent on•Truth not dependent on accent/dialect

•No one correct way of talking

•Standard forms of language•Standard forms of language should not exclude others

Unrelated IncidentsUnrelated Incidents

LayoutThe poem parodies a p pnews broadcast and its layout on the page y p greflects this. It is presented as items pwould appear on an autocue that a newsreader would use.

Unrelated IncidentsLANGUAGE

Spelt phonetically:

‘nthi reasona talk wia BBC accentiz coz yi widny wahntmi ti talkmi ti talk aboot thi trooth wiavoice likvoice likwanna yooscruff.’,

The reader almost has to speak with a Scottish accent to say the poem.

Unrelated Incidents• LANGUAGE CONTD

• IronicIronic ‘yooz doant no thi troothyirsellz cawzyirsellz cawz yi canny talkright ’right.

• Straightforward vocabulary

• Focuses on relationship between language and truthyi widny thingk it wuz troo.’

• No use of capital letters – rebelling against accepted formsforms

Languagenthi reason a talk wia

iwidny wahntmi ti talk aboot thi

Yi widny thingkit wuz troo

BBC accent iz coz

trooth wia voice likewanna yoo

1wanna yooscruff 2 3

thirza right This Yi canny talkgway ti spellana right wayti tok it

is me tokn yirright way aspellin

yRight….belt up

ti tok it spellin.

4 5 6

Half-Caste Themes:

• Discrimination• Discrimination

• Dislike of terms that suggest people are suggest people are somehow incomplete

• Defence of cultural identity

Find a quotation to illustrate each of these ideas

Half-Caste STRUCTURE

Four sectionsFour sectionsIronic apology ‘Excuse me…’ron c apo ogy E cus m …Examples of where colour has been ‘mixed’ successfull been mixed successfully –

paintings, music, weatherpaintings, music, weatherAccusation against those who

sid hi ‘h lf’ sconsider him ‘half’ a personWhen people change their minds John Agard When people change their minds he will tell them,

‘d th h lf f t ’‘de other half of my story’

LANGUAGE

Caribbean dialect – to prove Caribbean dialect to prove a point about identity

Irony- ‘I, half-caste human being cast half a shadow’

First person-gives authority

Repetition - challenges the audience ‘explain yuself’

p g y

Humour - ‘england weather nearly always half-caste…’g y y

Metaphorspmusic

paintings

weather

Th n t su sts th t b us

Why does Agard use these metaphorsThe narrator suggests that because a painting by Picasso contains red and green paints it could be called a “half-caste” canvas pas it contains a mixture of colours.

Language

Why do you think Agard does not write W y y u g wthis poem in Standard English?

Why did he write it in a Caribbean dialect?

Why does he repeat particular words and phrases?

Wh t l n d i s d s h What language devices does he use and what is their effect?

Love After Love After Love

This is a very happy poem This is a very happy poem, especially in its view of the later years of life, not as a later years of l fe, not as a

time of loss but of fulfilment and recovery.

What do you think this poem What do you think this poem means?

Why does the poet imagine someone as being like two

different people at the same time? time?

How important is it for us to How important is it for us to recognize what we are really like and accept ourselves for this?

Why is the poem written to “you” rather than about “me”? you rather than about me ?

Is the poet giving advice to Is the poet giving advice to everyone?

Love After THEMESLove THEMES

•Loving yourself – if you can’t accept yourself you will not accept othersyourself, you will not accept others

•Overcoming difficulties

•New beginnings

•Roots

Love After Love

STRUCTURE

R d i k d t id hi lf Reader is asked to consider himself as through a mirror image

The poem is arranged in four stanzas, but only the p g ylast one ends with a full stop so that all the verses

flow into each other.

Three consecutive sentences begin with the command ‘Give’ Consider the effect these words haveGive . Consider the effect these words have.

Love After LoveLANGUAGE

•Conversational tone in the form of advice

•Imagery – reflections of life

•Religious associations – ‘wine’ and ‘bread’ Religious associations wine and bread

•Imperatives, ‘give’, ‘eat’ , ‘peel’ and ‘feast’ –all commands

•Many words about hospitality- sharing Many words about hospitality sharing things with others, being kind

What does his use of language tell us about how language tell us about how he thinks we should treat

ourselves?ourselves?

What is the What is the significance of wine

and bread?and bread?

What does the poet mean by ‘Feast on

lif ’?your life’?

Why does the poem use images of feasting?

H i t t i it f t How important is it for us to recognize what we are really like and g y

accept ourselves for this?

Why is the poem written to “you” rather than about “me”? rather than about me ?

I th t i i d i t ? Is the poet giving advice to everyone?

This Room

Imtiaz Dharker sees rooms and furniture as possibly limiting orimprisoning, but when change comes, it as if the room “is breaking out ofitself” She presents a bizarre vision of room bed and chairs breakingitself . She presents a bizarre vision of room, bed and chairs breakingout of the house and rising up - the chairs “crashing through clouds”.

The crockery meanwhile crashes together noisily “in celebration” AndThe crockery, meanwhile, crashes together noisily in celebration . Andwhy is no one “looking for the door”? Presumably, because there are nowso many different ways of leaving the room, without using the

ti l t P h li i th t ll l t tconventional route. Perhaps, realising that walls can also protect, no onewants to leave.

This RoomThis Room

In the poem, our homes and possessions symbolizeour lives and ambitions in a limiting sense, whilechange and new opportunities are likened to spacechange and new opportunities are likened to space,light and “empty air”, where there is an opportunityto move and grow.

LANGUAGELANGUAGEImagery – metaphor for escapeg y p p

Vigorous verbs - ‘breaking’, ‘cracking’

Vocab - suggests freedom

Onomatopoeia – ‘bang’. ‘clang’

Fi t ‘I’ First person – ‘I’

ThemesEscapep

Celebration of new beginnings

Freedom

Fear and excitement

Energy

STRUCTURE

Th d ib h b ki The poems describes the room breaking apart to allow the narrator to escape. The first stanza

makes us feel that the room is full of destructive makes us feel that the room is full of destructive force.

4 stanzas describing the room, the furniture, the ti d th ltime and the place

The poem ends with a single line.

What are the feelings in each of the verses?

What is the purpose of this?

What do you think the poet means by imagining a room breaking out of itself?imagining a room breaking out of itself?

How does the poet suggest ideas of change and How does the poet suggest ideas of change and opportunity?

This is a very happy poem - how does Imtiaz Dharker suggest her joy in it?

Does the poem give us any clues as to why this upheaval is going on, or is the cause unimportant?upheaval is going on, or is the cause unimportant?

What do you think might have caused it?

What is the effect of the images in the poem - of rooms furniture and crockery bursting into rooms, furniture and crockery bursting into

life?

This poem tells theThis poem tells the story of a man witnessing the removalwitnessing the removal of innocent people from their homes andfrom their homes and jobs. Although the writer is Nigerian whatwriter is Nigerian, what happens in the poem happens in many partshappens in many parts of the world.

Not My Business

First they came for the Communists,d I did ’t kand I didn’t speak up,

because I wasn’t a Communist.Pastor Niemoller

Then they came for the Jews,and I didn’t speak up,because I wasn’t a Jew.

We might see the poem as echoing the famous

d f P t

Then they came for the Catholics,and I didn’t speak up,

words of Pastor Niemoller. There are several variations of and I didn t speak up,

because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me

these words; no one seems sure which

version is the Then they came for me,and by that time there was no oneleft to speak up for me.

authoritative one.

by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945

Whose fault is it?

Not My Business

List the themes of this poem Indifference

OppressionSelfishness

ThemesViolenceViolence

Fear Self Preservation

C d ff d ComplacencyChoose three different words from the list and find a quotation to back up what you have said Courageto back up what you have said about it.

StructureThe first three stanzas give examples of different types of oppression.

The poem is structured in a story form with a clear ending.

The chorus shows the reader how the narrator refuses to act.

The last stanza shows that even the complacent narrator can be caught by this oppression. This provides a stark warning.

The poem is written in regular, unrhymed stanzas which help to make the structure of the story clearmake the structure of the story clear.

STRUCTURE1.How is oppression shown in the first three stanzas?

2.What effects do you think the chorus has?

4 Wh i th l t t i ifi t?

3.Why does the last stanza have no chorus?

4.Why is the last stanza significant?

Writing about PoetryThe first three stanzas of this four-stanza poem are identical

in structure. The first four lines of each describe how acquaintances of the narrator disappeared in either brutal or

mysterious circumstances.I th fi t t Ak i i b t d h d i id jIn the first stanza, Akanni is beaten and pushed inside a jeep;

Osundare uses personification to create this image, describing how the victim was 'stuffed ... down the belly' of the jeep. This suggests y j p ggthat the victim has been devoured by the oppressive regime. The

final three lines of this stanza, which are completely identical to those of the following two stanzas convey the reaction of the

Using the metaphor 'So long as they don't take the yam / From

those of the following two stanzas, convey the reaction of the narrator to this sudden, shocking event.

Using the metaphor So long as they don t take the yam / From my savouring mouth?‘, he considers that it is none of his

business. As long as it doesn't affect him directly, why should he care?

Language

The poet uses imagery of fear and violence,

‘Beat him soft like clay’

The yam is a metaphor for the f bl lif d f dcomfortable life and freedom.

The oppressors are never named (‘THEY’) toThe oppressors are never named ( THEY ) to create a sinister and frightening effect and

perhaps to suggest that oppressors can beperhaps to suggest that oppressors can be found in many places.

The matter-of-fact tone makes the oppression seem more threatening.opp ess o see o e t eate g

The rhetoricalThe rhetorical question in the chorus is ironic The readeris ironic. The reader will probably give a different answer fromdifferent answer from the one that the selfish complacentselfish, complacent narrator expects.

The chorus uses non-standard Englishstandard English –‘So long they don’t take the yam ’take the yam…

The names of the victims are mentioned to help to give a

human presence.

‘morning’ , ‘night’night ,‘day’, ‘evening’

These words suggest that the oppressors can strike at any

titime.

The jeep is a symbol of the oppressionThe jeep is a symbol of the oppression. Whenever it appears its potency strikes fear

in the hearts of the peoplein the hearts of the people

Moniza Alvi does not feel entirely at home in England, but neither does she feel she belongs to an

Asian community. She was born in Pakistan and brought to England as a baby It must be difficult to feel that to England as a baby. It must be difficult to feel that

you don’t particularly belong to any one culture.

Presents From My Aunts in Pakistan

Themes and IdeasThemes and Ideas

This poem can be compared usefully with This poem can be compared usefully with extracts from Search for My Tongue and from Unrelated Incidents, as well as with Half-Caste- all of which look at ideas of race and identity.

Wh S j tt Bh tt T L d d Where Sujatta Bhatt, Tom Leonard and John Agard find this in language, Moniza Alvi

associates it with material things associates it with material things.

The poem is written in the first person, and is p pobviously autobiographical - the speaking voice

here is really that of the poet.

Moniza Alvi contrasts the exotic garments and furnishings sent to her by her aunts with what she saw around her in her school, and with the things they asked for in return.

Moniza Alvi also shows a paradox, as she admired the presents but felt they were too exquisite for her presents, but felt they were too exquisite for her, and lacked street credibility.

Finally, the presents form a link to an alternative way of life (remote in place and time) which Ms. Alvi does of life (remote in place and time) which Ms. Alvi does not much approve: her aunts “screened from male visitors” and the “beggars” and “sweeper-girls” in gg p g1950s Lahore.

In the 21st century can we say that one of these is In the 21st century can we say that one of these is any more British than the other?

How does Moniza Alvi make use of colour and light in the poem?

How far does our identity come from the things we own - presents and possessions? own presents and possessions?

How far does it come from the way we have to live?

How well does this poem present the idea of living in (or between) two cultures?

Do British Asians suffer from a loss of identity or get Do r t sh s ans suff r from a oss of nt ty or g t the best of both worlds?

How does the poet use metaphors of clothes and jewellery to explain differences in culture? jewellery to explain differences in culture?

This poem brings together the salwar kameez and Marks & Spencer cardigans - what is the effect of hi h d ?this on the reader?

What does Moniza Alvi think of the way f lif h h l ft b hi d i L h of life she has left behind in Lahore -

both that of her relations (well-off but confined to their house and “screened f l ”) d h f h from male visitors”) and that of the

poor beggar and sweeper girls?

How does the poem's last line suggest How does the poem s last line suggest the idea that Moniza Alvi did not

belong in Pakistan?

Presents From My Aunts in Pakistan

Imagine having to leave the country of your birth and travelling to settle in a new country. List some of the things you would miss.

relatives Wh t ld b f li b t

friends

h

What would be your feelings about leaving these things behind?

home

objects j

pets

school

The poem is loosely ordered in STRUCTURE

The poem is loosely ordered in seven stanzas representing the different stages in her thinking

Th fi t fift li f th d ib th t

ff g gabout her identity.

The first fifteen lines of the poem describe the presents she has received from her aunts in Pakistan.

Lines 16-26 describe her feelings on receiving the gifts.

Lines 27-54 describes some experiences of travelling to and living in England.

The final part of the poem describes her impressions of Pakistan, the country of her birth.y

LANGUAGEThe poet pays a lot of attention to colours in the opening lines. Look carefully at the kinds of words she uses.

What impression of the clothes is she trying to create?

Alvi also uses a range of poetic devices to convey meaning.

Identify them and explain what is being suggested.

In a striking simile the writer suggests that the In a striking simile the writer suggests that the clothes showed her own lack of beauty: “I could never be as lovely/as those clothes”. The bright y gcolours suggest the clothes are burning: “I was

aflame/I couldn't rise up out of its fire”, a powerful metaphor for the discomfort felt by the poet, who “longed/for denim and corduroy”, plainer

b t f t bl d i i but comfortable and inconspicuous.

Select three of the images she creates and write down your ideas about them.