1.What do you think the title might mean? 2. The narrator claims that she has two tongues in her mouth. What are these two tongues?

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2 Search for My Tongue 1.What do you think the title might mean? 2. The narrator claims that she has two tongues in her mouth. What are these two tongues?

3 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 mean/ by saying I have lost my tongue The narrator seems to be addressing the reader and carrying on a conversation that began before the beginning of the poem. She is answering a question about the meaning of losing her tongue. This idea reflects the idea in the title. I ask you what would you do/ if you had two tongues in your mouth and lost the first one, the mother tongue,/ and could not really know the other,/ the foreign tongue

4 And if you lived in a place you had to/ speak a foreign tongue,/ your mother tongue would rot You could not use them both together

5 rot and die in your mouth/ I thought I spit it out/ but until you had to spit it out overnight while I dream

6 STRUCTURE First section deals with recognition on that her tongue is losing its vitality Second section is written in Gujerati Third section gives a loose translation of the Gujerati passage she realises that her mother tongue is not dead; it is just dormant because it has not been used enough.

7 LANGUAGE Identify and explain the use of the extended metaphor in the poem. The idea of her language being a tree or plant is extended throughout the poem. The whole poem is metaphorical her tongue is her native language which blossoms as she dreams.

8 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 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 reader. 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.

9 The problems of coping with more than one language. Themes A realisation that two languages and cultures can co-exist exist. 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/culture. Fear of losing the mother tongue. New life/hope.

10 Unrelated Incidents THEMES Importance of regional dialects/accents Truth not dependent on accent/dialect No one correct way of talking Standard forms of language Standard forms of language should not exclude others

11 Unrelated Incidents Layout The poem parodies a news broadcast and its layout on the page reflects this. It is presented as items would appear on an autocue that a newsreader would use.

12 Unrelated Incidents Spelt phonetically: LANGUAGE n thi reason a talk wia BBC accent iz coz yi widny wahnt mi ti talk aboot thi trooth wia voice lik wanna yoo scruff., The reader almost has to speak with a Scottish accent to say the poem.

13 Ironic Unrelated Incidents LANGUAGE CONTD Straightforward vocabulary yooz doant no thi trooth yirsellz cawz yi canny talk right. Focuses on relationship between language and truth yi widny thingk it wuz troo. No use of capital letters rebelling against accepted forms

14 Language n thi reason a talk wia BBC accent iz coz 1 i Yi widny thingk widny wahnt it wuz troo mi ti talk aboot thi trooth wia voice like wanna yoo scruff 2 3 thirza right This Yi canny talk way ti spell is me tokn yir Right.belt up ana right way ti tok it right way a spellin

15 Half-Caste Themes: Discrimination Dislike of terms that suggest people are somehow incomplete Defence of cultural identity Find a quotation to illustrate each of these ideas

16 Half-Caste John Agard STRUCTURE Four sections Ironic apology ogy Excuse me Examples of where colour has been mixed successfully paintings, music, weather Accusation against those who consider him half a person When people change their minds he will tell them, de other half of my story

17 LANGUAGE 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 Humour - england g weather nearly always half-caste

18 Metaphors music paintings weather

19 Why does Agard use these metaphors The narrator suggests sts that t because a painting by Picasso contains red and green paints it could be called a half-caste canvas as it contains a mixture of colours.

20 Language Why do you think Agard does not write this 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?

21 Love After Love This is a very happy poem, especially in its view of the later years of life, not as a time of loss but of fulfilment and recovery.

22 What do you think this poem means? Why does the poet imagine someone as being like two different people at the same time? 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? Is the poet giving advice to Is the poet giving advice to everyone?

23 Love After Love THEMES Loving yourself if you can t accept yourself, you will not accept others Overcoming difficulties New beginnings Roots

24 Love After Love STRUCTURE Reader is asked to consider himself as through a mirror image The poem is arranged in four stanzas, but only the last 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 have.

25 Love After Love LANGUAGE Conversational tone in the form of advice Imagery reflections of life 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

26 What does his use of language tell us about how he thinks we should treat ourselves? What is the significance of wine and bread? What does the poet mean by Feast on your life? Why does the poem use images of feasting?

27 How important t 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? Is the poet giving i advice to everyone?

28 This Room Imtiaz Dharker sees rooms and furniture as possibly limiting or imprisoning, but when change comes, it as if the room is breaking out of itself. She presents a bizarre vision of room, bed and chairs breaking out of the house and rising up - the chairs crashing through clouds. The crockery, meanwhile, crashes together noisily in celebration. And why is no one looking for the door? Presumably, because there are now so many different ways of leaving the room, without using the conventional route. Perhaps, realising i thatt walls canalso protect, t noone wants to leave.

29 This Room In the poem, our homes and possessions symbolize our lives and ambitions in a limiting sense, while change and new opportunities are likened to space, light and empty air, where there is an opportunity to move and grow.

30 LANGUAGE Imagery metaphor for escape Vigorous verbs - breaking, cracking Vocab - suggests freedom Onomatopoeia bang. clang First person I

31 Themes Escape Celebration of new beginnings Freedom Fear and excitement Energy

32 STRUCTURE 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 force. 4 stanzas describing the room, the furniture, the time 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?

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

34 This poem tells the story of a man witnessing the removal of innocent people from their homes and jobs. Although the writer is Nigerian, what happens in the poem happens in many parts of the world. Not My Business

35 Pastor Niemoller We might see the poem as echoing the famous words of Pastor Niemoller. There are several variations of these words; no one seems sure which version is the authoritative one. First they came for the Communists, and didid didn t speak up, because I wasn t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn t speak up, because I wasn t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn t speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me. by Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945 Whose fault is it?

36 Not My Business List the themes of this poem Indifference Oppression Selfishness Violence Themes Fear Self Preservation Choose three different words from the list and find a quotation to back up what you have said about it. Courage Complacency

37 Structure The 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 clear.

38 STRUCTURE 1.How is oppression shown in the first three stanzas? 2.What effects do you think the chorus has? 3.Why does the last stanza have no chorus? 4Wh 4.Why is the last stanza significant? ifi

39 Writing about Poetry The 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. In the first stanza, Akanni is beaten and pushed inside id a jeep; Osundare uses personification to create this image, describing how the victim was 'stuffed... down the belly' of the jeep. This suggests that 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 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?

40 Language The poet uses imagery of fear and violence, Beat him soft like clay The yam is a metaphor for the comfortable life and freedom.

41 The oppressors are never named ( THEY ) THEY) to create a sinister and frightening effect and perhaps to suggest that oppressors can be found in many places. The matter-of-fact tone makes the oppression o seem more threatening.

42 The rhetorical question in the chorus is ironic. The reader will probably give a different answer from the one that the selfish, complacent narrator expects. The chorus uses non- standard English So long they don t take the yam

43 The names of the victims are mentioned to help to give a human presence. morning, night, day, evening These words suggest that the oppressors can strike at any time.

44 The jeep is a symbol of the oppression. Whenever it appears its potency strikes fear in the hearts of the people

45 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 you don t particularly belong to any one culture. Presents From My Aunts in Pakistan

46 Themes and Ideas 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. Where Sujatta Bhatt, Tom Leonard and John Agard find this in language, Moniza Alvi associates it with material things. The poem is written in the first person, and is obviously autobiographical - the speaking voice here is really that of the poet.

47 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, 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 not much approve: her aunts screened from male visitors and the beggars and sweeper-girls in 1950s Lahore.

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

49 How well does this poem present the idea of living in (or between) two cultures? Do British Asians suffer from a loss of identity ty or get the best of both worlds? How does the poet use metaphors of clothes and jewellery to explain differences in culture? This poem brings together the salwar kameez and Marks & Spencer cardigans - what is the effect of this on the reader?

50 What does Moniza Alvi think of the way of life she has left behind in Lahore - both that of her relations (well-off but confined to their house and screened 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?

51 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 friends home objects pets school What would be your feelings about leaving these things behind?

52 STRUCTURE The poem is loosely ordered in seven stanzas representing the different stages in her thinking about her identity. The first fifteen lines of the poem describe the presents she has received from her aunts in Pakistan. Lines describe her feelings on receiving the gifts. Lines 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.

53 LANGUAGE The 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.

54 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 colours 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 but comfortable and inconspicuous. i

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