“If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up
as a different person?” -
“Identity is such a crucial affair that one shouldn't rush into it.”
Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan and Search for my tongue both show people thinking about their 'roots'.
How does each poem convey their thoughts and feelings?
Compare the two poems, 'Presents from my aunts in Pakistan' and 'Search for my tongue' -
Both poems shows people thinking about their roots and how each poem conveys their thoughts
and feelings.
Answer: Both poems reveal ideas and feelings about their identity. In ‘Presents from my
Aunts in Pakistan’ and ‘Search for my Tongue’, the poets put across the conflict they must
abide with when having a different cultural background to that which currently surrounds
them.
A range of feeling and attitudes are also present right through both poems. In ‘Search for
my tongue’, the poet conveys her feeling of uncertainty. To further emphasise this, a note
of confusion is present right through the poem. For instance, at the start of the poem the
poet asks “what would you do if you had two tongues in your mouth” and near the end, in
line 38, the poet declares “I think I’ve lost my mother tongue”. In my opinion, here the
poet makes an attempt to reassure herself that having two tongues has made her a
stronger person rather than a social outcast. However, this isn’t the case with ‘Presents
from my Aunts in Pakistan’. In this particular poem, Moniza Alvi is deliberately informative
and commanding. It’s as if the sole purpose of the poem is to educate the reader about the
grief she has to put up with and how she does not feel like a member of society. The
quotes “and I was there – of no fixed nationality” and “My salwar kameez didn’t impress
the schoolfriend” are just some examples of her feeling of isolation. The impact that this
has is that it gives the reader a feeling of guilt and sorrow.
Another thing to note is the structure of the poems. They both seem to have a rather
diverse layout; in ‘Search for my Tongue’, the structure is fairly dense because the poem
consists of three full-length stanzas, whereas in ‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’ there
are seven short stanzas. I think the reason why Sujata chooses to have three long stanzas
is to accentuate on the visual outcast (the Gujarati scripture) and to also make the piece
conversational. The poem ‘Search For My Tongue’ directly addresses the reader numerous
times. For example, the quotes “if you had two tongues in your mouth” and “if you lived in
a place you had to speak a foreign tongue” show this. In fact, the poem opens with the
phrase “You ask me”. These lines are dialogical and have a major impact on the rest of the
poem. It creates a more personal atmosphere which will therefore appeal to the reader’s
emotions – escalating on the level of sympathy gained by the poet. On the other hand, the
poet who wrote ‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’ could have perhaps uses shorter
stanzas to show that she cannot speak fluently due to the cultural and social mix. It also
shows that her life is broken up into sections which don’t overlap; this could signify that
the two cultures are completely separate and do not tie in well together.
To conclude, both Moniza Alvi and Sujata Bhatta reveal similar ideas and feelings about
having two fixed nationalities. I found the poem ‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’
particularly interesting because it showed the evil whims of modern day society and the
effects one may have from this................?
To conclude, both Moniza Alvi and Sujata Bhatta reveal similar ideas and feelings about
having two fixed nationalities. I found the poem ‘Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan’
particularly interesting because it showed the evil whims of modern day society and the
effects one may have from this. I thought the tragic end to the poem was amazing as it
showed that there was literally a physical barrier stopping her from being part of Pakistan,
and thus giving the poem a more factual tone overall.
In tro: Both poems explore and explain the fact of coping with two unlike cultures. We will be looking at how
each poet conveys their thoughts and feelings about their culture through their poems. We will also explore
the way the poets explore their 'roots'. Our group will also attempt to look at the following points in the
poems: the similarities and differences in the poems, the structural and presentational devices used and the
poet's use of language. Both poets show through their poems how problematic it can be to be from a
different culture and live in a peculiar environment. In Sujata Bhatt's poem, 'Search for my tongue' she
...gifts but feels awkward wearing them because she is more comfortable in English clothes. The poem is full of
associated, sometimes contrasting images. An example of a contrasting image is '... of no fixed nationality staring
through fretwork in the Shalimar gardens.' Fretwork is basically decorative carving and the Shalimar gardens is an
ornamental ark in Lahore, her hometown. The girl describes how life in England differs from life in Pakistan. She talks
about the salwar kameez as 'alien' but wanting cardigans from Marks and Spencer's. The way the women live is
somewhat different from that of England. For example her aunts were in shaded rooms, screened from male visitors
whereas the women in England go out freely. Last but not least she feels that she has lost her Pakistan identity.
There are many words and phrases in the poem that would agree with this statement. Some of which ...
intro ;
Both poems shows people thinking about their roots and how each poem conveys their thoughts and
feelings. In this essay I will be evaluating two poems from different cultures and traditions. Both poems
'Search for my tongue' and 'presents from my aunts in Pakistan' are about true identity and searching for
your roots. 'Presents from my aunts in Pakistan' is mainly about a girl who is of mixed race and how she
describes the gifts of clothes and jewellery sent to her in England by her Pakistani relatives. There is no
rhyme scheme and the poem is written in free verse. Free verse simply means that the phrases are
arranged loosely across the page. It is divided into stanzas of varying length. The girl contrasts the beautiful
clothes and jewellery of India with English clothing
Everyone has an identity; your age, personality and gender make up who you are. Your native language
and culture can affect how you see yourself and how others look at you. In “Search for my Tongue” it is
the poets original language that is central to her identity, whereas in “Presents from my Aunts in
Pakistan”, how she dresses and her family customs are the important ideas of identity.
The two poets structure their poems in very different ways to express their feelings about
their different languages, cultures and what makes up their identity. “Search for my Tongue” uses three
main stanzas to explain her problem. Lines 1-15 describe her being fluent in two languages, English and
an Indian language, Gujarati. Sujata Bhatt uses the picture of having
to explain it accurately. The middle stanzas, (Lines 16-30) in Gujarati are when she is dreaming in her
mother tongue. The final stanza, (Lines 31-end) is a translation of the Gujarati and describes her mother
tongue growing back everytime she feels she has lost it. This structure shows the problem of her identity
with the Gujarati in the middle, as it is her main problem. In contrast, “Presents from my Aunts…” has a
very random structure with varied line lengths to reflect on the poet’s confusion over her identity.
At the start of “Search for my Tongue” the poet uses a conversational tone like she is talking to the reader
for example,
“you ask me what I mean… I ask you, what would you do”
whereas, in “Presents from my Aunts…” uses conflict at the beginning to describe how Pakistan and
England contrast in every way possible. Like the bright colours of the salwar kameez, “peacock blue and
another glistening like an orange split open” are very different from the mainly dulled colours of Western
clothes she preferred to wear.
The middle stanza of “Search for my Tongue” in Gujarati is shown visually and emphasises a big
difference from English. It is also spelled phonetically in English so we can read it and see its difference to
English. Instead, “Presents from my Aunts…” uses the poet’s lack of knowledge about Pakistan to create
pain and uncertainty of where she belongs. Moniza Alvi feels uncomfortable when she tries on the
Pakistani clothes and feels an “alien in the sitting room” making her feel out of place in England.
Both poems use metaphorical language to show their ideas on their identity and language. “Presents from
my Aunts…” uses metaphors like
Each poet uses different poetic techniques to add effect to their poem. In “Presents from my Aunts…” she
uses the line “candy stripped glass bangles snapped, drew blood” to suggest how like the bangles broke
so did her links with Pakistan. “My mother cherished her jewellery- Indian gold, dangling filigree. But it
was stolen from our car”. This could show how the theft of her mother’s jewellery in England could be a
metaphor for England stealing her Pakistani identity.
However “Search for my Tongue” uses many different techniques to add effect to the feelings within in the
poem. The repetition of
“Rot, rot and die in your mouth” and spit it out, I thought I spit it out’
strengthens the unpleasant image of a tongue dieing inside you. The final stanza has many uses of plant
imagery implying the two fighting tongues to be alive and growing stronger. The mother tongue is
described as a growing plant where it says “grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins”. Also the
repetition of “grows” and the word “strong” makes the mother tongue sound healthy and well built. The
repetition of “the bud opens- the bud opens in my mouth” shows suspense as the mother tongue trys to
take over the other. The poet then shows the native tongue as part of nature with a strong life of its own
with “it pushes the other tongue aside”. The final line “it blossoms out of my mouth” is the plant metaphor
completed with the image of the plant bursting out as a flower. “Search for my Tongue” is different from
“Presents from my Aunts…” as it uses many poetic techniques to give it its effect and to make it
believable. Whereas, “Presents from my Aunts…” uses mainly ideas of objects and people to compare
England and Pakistan. Although they are both different in this way the way they use poetic techniques
they still give a similar effect of feeling left out and different from people around them.
There are many similarities between how the two poets express their feelings. The woman in “Search for
my tongue feels uncertain of her real identity and thinks that by living in another country she may lose her
Indian culture and language. Similarly, the teenage girl in “Presents from my Aunts…’ feels she does not
know her “real” self and seems an
Both poets also feel stuck between different cultures and out of place in their countries. The difference
between the two poems is that in “Search for my Tongue” the woman’s tongue returns to her when she
thinks she has lost it,
However in “Presents from my Aunts…” the teenage girl never finds her “real” self and still longs
I enjoyed both of these poems but I preferred “Presents from my Aunts…” as I felt I could relate to it
better. This is because Moniza Alvi’s description of the confusion of her identity can be understood by
many of us, regardless of our background. Whereas, I feel “Search for my Tongue” is only easy to
understand if you have your own experience of her problem.
Read more: http://bookstove.com/poetry/searching-for-identity/#ixzz180udocko
In "Search for my Tongue" and "Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan", the poets are conveying to the reader the
strong feelings they have about their roots, and how it affects them in everyday life.
Both poems talk of women who have Asian roots, but are now living in other countries.
In Search for my Tongue the poet tries to express to the reader, how very strange it feels to have been brought up
with one language, and to have to give it up to make space for a new language.
Her language is something very important to her, it isn't just a language but it also represents her culture and identity.
The poet feels that, because, she has had to speak this new language, and live a new way of life, that she is losing
her native language, culture and identity.
The poet conveys her feelings by using strong images that show exactly how she feels.
>From this stanza you can really picture the native, unused tongue, rotting, a
Moniza Alvi was born of mixed parentage, her father being Pakistani and her mother English.
She was born in Pakistan but moved to England at a young age. This poem expresses her
confusion in her search for her identity. The tradtional clothes that her aunts sent her from
Pakistan are a symbol of a part of her, but only a part of her, and one that she does not feel
entirely comfortable with.
The first stanza describes the clothes that were sent: two 'salwar kameez' outfits, which
consist of a tunic dress and trousers. The beautiful vivid colours are described, the second one
with the simile 'glistening like an orange split open'. Alvi tells us that the style of the salwar
trousers changed, just as fashions in England change: they were 'broad and stiff, / then narrow.'
The aunts also sent oriental pointed slippers, described as 'embossed', 'gold and black', as though
they were very decorative. There were also bangles that were 'Candy-striped', but Alvi relates
how these broke and 'drew blood'; this seems to be symbolic perhaps of the fact that her life in
Pakistan was cut short. The first stanza ends with a description of a green, silver-bordered sari
that the writer received as a teenager.
The second stanza relates how Alvi tried on these clothes 'each silken-satin top' - but felt 'alien'
in her sitting-room. There is a definite sense here that the two cultures conflicted. Alvi seems to
have felt a degree of inferiority when she says 'I could never be as lovely / as those clothes'. She
wanted the 'denim and corduroy' that were typical of England. She describes how the Pakistani
clothes 'clung' to her and uses the metaphor 'I was aflame', but, unlike the phoenix, she could not
rise from the fire, and thus could not take on the Pakistani identity. She contrasts herself with one
of her aunts, emphasising that she herself was 'half English, / unlike Aunt Jamila'.
The shorter third stanza focuses on a camel-skin lamp owned by her parents. Here again, there is
a conflict of ideas: Alvi wanted the lamp, but looking at it in her room she simultaneously
thought of the cruelty involved in making the lamp and admired its colours which she describes
with the simile 'like stained glass'.
Stanza four switches to a comment on Alvi's English mother who 'cherished her jewellery'. The
jewellery was Indian, and it was stolen from the family car; this perhaps symbolises the fact that
the mother did not belong to the Asian culture. Alvi then alludes once more to the Pakistani
clothes
Structure
The poem is written in three sections:
• The poet expresses how hard it is for her to know two languages, but neglect the
one she feels most belongs to her.
• She explains these ideas in Gujarati.
• She then translates her thoughts for us into English (so lines 31-38 mean
something similar to lines 17-30), showing that although her 'mother tongue'
dies during the day, it 'grows back' in her dreams at night, becoming strong and
producing 'blossoms'.
Language
Now think about the language that is used in the poem.
How many meanings does the word 'tongue' have in the poem? Consider these:
Imagery
Read the poem carefully and see where Sujata Bhatt plays with these meanings. For
example, she imagines that knowing two languages is like having 'two tongues in your
mouth' (line 4).
The poet compares her tongue to a plant, as she develops her ideas. This is called an
extended metaphor. The lists below describe some of the ways in which her mother
tongue is compared to a plant. Try to complete the second list, using the phrases in the first
one as a guide:
Mother Tongue
• Some of the imagery is quite startling, when she imagines that the 'mother
tongue' might 'rot and die in your mouth' (line 13), as the second ('foreign')
language takes over.
• The lost tongue grows back at night when she dreams in Gujarati - like a plant
that seems to have died, but then starts to bud and grow strong and beautiful
('blossoms') again.
Why do you think that the poem begins in a colloquial way (using everyday language), but
uses such striking imagery towards the end?
Sound
Try reading it aloud. The Gujarati script is transliterated into a phonetic English version in
brackets, so even if you don't know any Gujarati, you can still have a go.
If the poem says more or less the same thing twice, might it just as well be written in one
language only? What do you think would be lost if the Gujarati disappeared?
Tone
• Mournfully, because she feels that she has 'lost' her 'mother tongue'?
• Angrily, because she feels forced to use her 'foreign tongue' when she does not
really want to?
• Triumphantly, to show that she regains her beautiful 'mother tongue' at night in
her dreams?
Select a short quotation to justify your choice.
What do you think the poet wants us to see about the importance of a mother tongue to
someone living in a different culture?
Teacher's note
If you are ready to practise writing a full answer, you should spend 40 minutes on this, and
write about two poems. In the exam itself, you will only have 30 minutes for this question.
In writing about this poem, you could include short paragraphs about:
When writing about two poems, you should try to end by making a comparison between
the two. In what ways are the poems similar - in the style of language, or in ideas? In what
ways are they different?
Answer 1
The poem contains lots of similes and metaphors (imagery), similes is when you use
like and metaphors is when you don't use like. I liked the line about spitting it out
(tongue) it reminded me of a horror film.
Examiner's Note:
• First sentence: pointless
• Second sentence: personal response, but needs developing
• Treatment of how the poem is written is poor - suggests G/F grade
Answer 2
The whole poem is about tongues really, there are lots of images of tongues. Sujata
describes her mother tongue as if it was something growing in her mouth, which gets
bigger or smaller. She thinks that if she doesn't speak Indian from day to day it will
die away. It's like, use it or lose it. But it never actually disappears because at night
the tongue 'blossoms out of my mouth', so it's come to life again.
Examiner's Note
Examiner's Note
• Glossary
Words Meaning
salwar kameez Loose trousers and tunic, traditionally worn by Pakistani women.
sari The traditional dress worn by women in India and some parts of Pakistan.
Words Meaning
fretwork Decorative panelling, with cut-outs so you can partly see through it.
The poem is written in free verse: the phrases are arranged loosely across the page. It is
divided into stanzas of varying length.
Try reading the poem aloud. How does the arrangement of the lines influence your reading?
When there is no set pattern to a poem, the writer can always break a line to create
emphasis.
and
The poem is a sequence of personal memories. I is repeated a lot in the poem. When
we are remembering things, our minds often drift from one image to another, in the way
that the poem does, and sometimes surprise us by fixing on odd details - like the 'tin boat',
perhaps (line 54).
Here are two lists of words that describe things to do with Pakistani culture and things
associated with English culture.
Pakistani
English
• What strikes you most strongly about the way the clothes from Pakistan are
described in the first stanza? How are the colours described?
• Why are English things referred to in such an ordinary way?
• How does the England she knows contrast to the 'fractured land throbbing
through newsprint' of Pakistan?
• How else does life in England differ from life in Pakistan (especially for a
woman)?
• Does the girl feel that all the Pakistani objects 'fit' into an English way of life?
The final image in a poem tends to carry a particular significance - it's the one our
imagination is left with.
• The speaker imagines herself 'there' in Lahore - somewhere she has been only in
her thoughts.
• However, she is 'of no fixed nationality'. This sounds a slightly threatening
phrase (there's a similar one - 'of no fixed abode' - which is used in law courts
when the defendant is homeless). Can you link this phrase with other words
earlier in the poem?
• The speaker imagines herself staring 'through fretwork' at the beautiful Shalimar
Gardens. Why is this such an effective image to end on?
Tone
Much of the meaning of a poem is conveyed by the attitude it expresses toward its subject
matter. 'Attitude' can be thought of as a combination of the poet's tone of voice, and the
ideas he or she is trying to get across to the reader.
In writing about Moniza Alvi's poem, you could include short paragraphs about:
• The poet's personal history, and how this links with the situation described in the
poem.
• The imagery of Pakistan and the imagery of England.
• What the poem says about the girl's thoughts and feelings
The girl in the poem doesn't quite know what to think about the presents. The way
she describes them makes them sound beautiful
peacock-blue
and
but also slightly dangerous, because the bangle 'drew blood', and she felt 'aflame'
when she put them on. They make her feel 'alien in the sitting room', when your
sitting room should be where you feel at home. The clothes remind her that she is
'half-English', which makes her feel uncomfortable. At the same time, she says the
clothes are 'radiant in the wardrobe' - even though she isn't wearing them, they
seem full of light and beauty compared with her other things. She is drawn to the
rich colours, the same as she is drawn to her mother's jewellery and her parents'
camel-skin lamp
She realises that all this is part of her own family's past, and another side of her
identity. At the end of the poem, she tries to imagine how it might have been if she'd
lived in Lahore instead, and wonders would she have been more or less at home in
the other half of her background?
Examiner's Note:
• develops the ideas more fully than the other two candidates
• describes carefully the contrasted emotions
• connects the clothes to broader feelings about identity
• suggests an A grade candidate?