Search 4 ma tongue Structure The poem is written in three sections: y y y 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: y y y It is a part of the body - the part you speak with. It has also come to mean the language that you speak. The phrase 'lost my tongue' (line 2) is used in a colloquial sense to mean that someone is tongue-tied and does not know what to say.

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 y y y 'would rot / rot and die' (line 13) 'it grows back' (line 31) 'grows strong veins' (line 32) Why it is like a plant plants die in the wrong environment Why do you think this image is so successful? Look at the contrasts it includes: 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? In what tone of voice do you think the poem should be read? y y y 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. For each poem: y y y y Make it clear what the poet is writing about. Refer to anything you know about the context of the poem which helps you to understand the poems. Remember to comment in detail about how the poem is written, referring to particular words and phrases. What do you think the poet has to say about the past, and the way it relates to the present? If you would prefer to concentrate on just Sujata Bhatt's poem at this stage, write for 20 minutes. In writing about this poem, you could include short paragraphs about: y y y Her personal experience of two cultures. The way the poem moves between two languages. The image of the two tongues in this poem. If you want to practise writing a full answer, you could also write about the poem by Chinua Achebe, Tutamkhulu Afrika, Imtiaz Darker, Nissim Ezekiel or Lawrence Ferlinghetti. When writing about two poems, you should try to end by making a comparisonbetween the two. In what ways are the poems similar - in the style of language, or in ideas? In what ways are they different?

Half caste
Structure The poem is written in five stanzas of varying lengths. Look carefully at the gaps between the stanzas (lines 38/39, 47/48 and 50/51). Why do you think the poet left these gaps, when the sentence seems to run on into the next stanza? The lines throughout the poem are quite short, perhaps to hammer home the message. Language

When you read the poem, you will notice that certain phrases (eg 'Explain yuself, half') are repeated or echoed, which builds up a pattern in the language. Do you think that this repetition is a successful way of strengthening the impact of his argument? The poem relies on comparisons to make us see how stupid it is to judge things that are in contrasting colours as only 'half' worthy. He uses examples of great and famous artists (Picasso and Tchaikovsky). What is the effect of this? He also uses the weather as an example of something that is full of contrasting colour. Think about what the poet is doing when he uses the phrase 'overcast' (line 20). It sounds like the same word as 'caste' with an 'e', but is actually an entirely different word. Do you think this adds to the humour of the poem? Agard said: 'I think humour can be very powerful. Humour breaks down boundaries, it topples our self-importance, it connects people, and because it engages and entertains, it ultimately enlightens.' The poet has decided not to use standard English in this poem. y He doesn't use the standard form of punctuation. This is partly because it's a poem that is written to be performed aloud. Agard said: 'Sometimes I think no punctuation can be effective because if the words are floating in space it gives the reader a chance to punctuate with their own breath...' He uses the lower case where standard English would use capital letters. Even proper names - like 'picasso', or 'tchaikovsky' - are written in this way. What effect does this create? He writes in a Caribbean dialect -'yu' instead of 'you', for example, or 'dem' for 'them'. Why do you think Agard chose to write 'Half-Caste' in 'non-standard' form?

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. For each poem: y y y y Make it clear what the poet is writing about. Refer to anything you know about the context of the poem which helps you to understand the poems. Remember to comment in detail about how the poem is written, referring to particular words and phrases. What do you think the poet has to say about the past, and the way it relates to the present? If you would prefer to concentrate on just John Agard's poem at this stage, write for 20 minutes. In writing about John Agard's poem, you could include short paragraphs about: y y y What the poet has to say in this poem. The style in which the poem is written. How the two are connected.

Presents for aunts in Pakistan

y y What is 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' about? The speaker in the poem, who is of mixed race, describes the gifts of clothesand jewellery sent to her in England by her Pakistani relatives.

y y y y y

She is drawn to the loveliness of these things, but feels awkward wearing them. She feels more comfortable in English clothes - denim and corduroy. She contrasts the beautiful clothes and jewellery of India with boring English 'cardigans/from Marks and Spencer'. She tries to remember what it was like for her family to travel to England. Her knowledge of her birthplace, which she left as a baby, comes to her only through old photographs and newspaper reports. She tries to imagine what that world might be like. Glossary Words salwar kameez sari mirror-work prickly heat Lahore fretwork Meaning Loose trousers and tunic, traditionally worn by Pakistani women. The traditional dress worn by women in India and some parts of Pakistan. Asian clothing is often decorated in lots of tiny round mirrors. Severe itching caused by the heat. The poet's birthplace in Pakistan. Decorative panelling, with cut-outs so you can partly see through it.

Shalimar Gardens An ornamental park in Lahore. 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. Listen to the difference, for example, between: I longedfor denim and corduroy and I longed for denim and corduroy Explain how the arrangement of I...tried to glimpse myselfin the miniatureglass circles... helps us to picture what the girl is doing

magery and sound

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). The poem is full of associated, sometimes contrasting, images. Here are two lists of words that describe things to do with Pakistani culture and things associated with English culture. Pakistani

Picture courtesy of Subhash Chandran

y y y

'A salwar kameez peacock-blue' 'Glistening like an orange split open' 'The presents were radiant in my wardrobe' English

Picture courtesy of Jason R. Kessenich

y y

'denim and corduroy' 'cardigans from Marks and Spencer' Add to the lists and think about the words that the poet has chosen. 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.

y y y y y

Picture courtesy of Faisal Jamil

y y

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?

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. For each poem: y y y y Make it clear what the poet is writing about. Refer to anything you know about the context of the poem which helps you to understand the poems. Remember to comment in detail about how the poem is written, referring to particular words and phrases. What do you think the poet has to say about the past, and the way it relates to the present? If you would prefer to concentrate on just Moniza Alvi's poem at this stage, write for 20 minutes. In writing about Moniza Alvi's poem, you could include short paragraphs about: y y y 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.

Hurricane hits England

What is Hurricane hits England about?

y y y y

A woman, living in England, is woken by a hurricane. Addressing the wind as a god, she asks what it is doing creating such havoc in this part of the world (stanzas 2-5). She then speaks of the effect the storm has on her personally. She feels somehow unchained, and at one with the world. She feels that the hurricane has come with a message to her, perhaps to tell her that the same forces are at work in England as in the Caribbean.

Structure The poem is written in eight stanzas of varying lengths. The lines are also of varying lengths. Perhaps this helps us to see how unpredictable the hurricane is - and how unpredictable the woman's thoughts are. The first stanza of the poem is in the third person; the reader is introduced to the woman. However, most of the poem is written in the first person - we hear the voice of the woman experiencing the hurricane. Language

Hurrican from space

Do you think the style of language changes in stanza two, when we hear the woman's own voice? y o There are a number of contradictions in the poem: For example, the poet says that the raging wind is "Fearful and reassuring' "(line 7). At first sight, these two words do not seem to make sense together - it's what we might call a paradox. How can something be both'fearful' and 'reassuring'? What do such contradictions suggest about the poet's feelings? The speaker asks the gods she imagines in the hurricane a series ofquestions(line 1327), but doesn't answer them directly. She asks: o o 'Why does the hurricane visit/An English coast?' Why do 'old tongues' - the winds of the hurricane she remembers from her childhood appear in new places? o Why is there 'blinding illumination' (lightning) when simultaneously the hurricane causes 'darkness' by blowing down power lines? Is there anything that is also illuminated in herself? o Why does the hurricane cause trees to be uprooted? Is there anything in her own life that becomes 'uprooted' as a result of the hurricane? In each of these four questions, she is trying to make sense of what is happening. The last question, which has its own line, appears to be the question to which the others have led up to:

"O why is my heart unchained?" This question is a different sort of question from the others. It is much more personal. She is talking specifically about the effect of the hurricane on herself rather than the effect of the hurricane on the landscape.

Attitude, tone and ideas

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. Tone How do you think the poem should be read? y y y In an excited way, to show how thrilled the woman is by the hurricane and the effect it has on her? In a mournful way, to emphasise how much she misses the place of her birth? In a grateful way, because the storm has reminded her of where she came from and helps her to realise that the same forces are at work in England? Select a short quotation to justify your choice. Ideas Although the hurricane was very violent and destructive, it has created something positive inside the woman. She finds it liberating as well as disturbing: she 'rides the mystery' of the storm, and feels that a 'frozen lake' inside her is being broken up. Her heart is 'unchained' by the storm. 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. For each poem: y y y y Make it clear what the poet is writing about. Refer to anything you know about the context of the poem which helps you to understand the poems. Remember to comment in detail about how the poem is written, referring to particular words and phrases. What do you think (each) poet has to say about the experience which the poem describes? If you would prefer to concentrate on just Grace Nichols' poem at this stage, write for 20 minutes. In writing about Grace Nichols' poem, you could include short paragraphs about: y y y What you know about Grace Nichols which seems relevant to the question. How she describes the storm, and how this relates to her identity. What the experience of the storm has enabled her to understand.