Look We Have Coming to Dover (2007)

Daljit Nagra

Daljit Nagra

• Indian parents who migrated to England in the 1960s just before he was born.

• Born in Sheffield in 1966 and brought up there and in London.

• Poetry explores the challenging experiences of first and second generation Asians in Britain and presents a modern Britain.

• Often uses the language of ‘Punglish’ – Indian English influenced by the Punjab – to mix cultures and languages.

• Poetry is often humorous.

Research • Very hard to understand and analyse.• Sort of dialogue with the poem ‘Dover Beach’ written 100

years earlier by Matthew Arnold.– About the beauty of Dover beach but the withdrawal of religion

from England and the descent into conflict and disorder he thinks must follow.

• Nagra’s poem also dramatizes a withdrawal, as one idea of England is replaced with another.

• A lot of information, experience, narrative and feeling all packed into this poem – very carefully webbed and hard to pick apart.

The poem (initial thoughts)

• About immigrants coming to Britain (Indians) – reflecting and celebrating it.

• Erratic rhyme scheme and odd rhythm, plus confusing mix of words could mirror the experience of the immigrants in a land where traditions and customs are very important – strange and confusing to them.

• Very complex, intimidating poem – very difficult language.

• Language reflects the dialect and vocabulary of a multi-racial language.

Title• “Look We Have Coming to Dover” – Mimics the way Indians speak • humorous but with an underlying tone expressing how

mean it is to laugh at their accents and the possible conflict they had to face by people doing so.• Metaphor for how the Indians had to face the racism

and conflict. – “have” – to own or posses – the own Dover, could

be the immigrants feeling excited at first as they see land, their new home that they can call theirs shining with hope.

First Stanza• “So various, so beautiful, so new”

– as if these are the aspects the poem will comment on.– Not just the environment but also the difference in people, the beauty of variety

and the freshness.• “stowed in the sea” – imagery of the immigrants hidden away in their boats.• “invade”

– Could represent how the immigrants feel as they are coming into this new country.– Or how the British viewed them coming in – invading upon jobs, society and

culture.• Disgusting introduction into Britain – their first experience, they obviously

dislike the coast.– “alfresco lash of diesel-breeze” – powerful whip– “gobfuls of surf” – huge, dangerous and scary to the immigrants in their boats

• “lording” the tourists feeling powerful and as if they own the place contrasting to the hiding, scared immigrants who are there to stay.

Second Stanza• “seagull and shoal life vexin their blarnies”

– Emphasises the dislike of the coast– Could also be symbolising the words being thrown at them by the

British people – upsetting them.• Very strong imagery of the immigrants “huddled” against

the “yobbish rain” passing the “scummed cliffs” – Creates a very unwelcoming, unfamiliar and violent environment

of which these “huddled” immigrants have to endure. • “escape, hutched in a Bedford van” – very uncomfortable

but their escape from the coast they find so horrible.– “Bedford van” – how specific it is makes the poem much more

personal and as if someone is telling you, live, their own experiences and impressions.

Third Stanza• “seasons or years we reap inland”

– Time goes on and they move away from the coast and the horrible first impressions

– “reap” – pull in – they begin to pull in their dreams, hopes and plans of creating a better life for themselves.

• “unclocked by the national eye or stab in the back” – Not really noticed by the country and the people– Not betrayed, picked on or celebrated, just being for the moment as they figure

things out.• “whistling asthma of parks”

– Negative connotations – as if the country is however still causing difficulties for them.

• Both “burdened” and “ennobled”– Have weight upon their backs as they try to make a life in this new place but

they feel powerful and royal with the opportunity that they have to chase a dream.

Fourth Stanza• “swarms of us” – makes a comparison to insects who come in in swarms.• “grafting” – joining together of two bits of a plant

– They are joining together – making plans, building up• “in the black in shot of the moon’s spotlight”

– Still hiding in the shadows with the light from the moon but getting ready to come out.

• “banking on the miracle of sun – span its rainbow”– Waiting patiently as they know one day soon the sun will come out and it will all

be worth it.– Taking a shot in the dark hoping it will lead them to the sun

• “passport us to life”– Could represent them coming here – the passport allowing them to travel to

Britain and begin a new life.– Or could represent them waiting to get their British passports/residencies to

fully begin to live here and become part of society.• “hoick ourselves, bare-faced for the clear”

– Only then can they lift themselves up out of the shadows and hiding and present themselves as true citizens and part of England and truly live.

Fifth Stanza• Here there comes a shift and a leap in time• “imagine” – asking the reader to imagine this, hardly believing it is actually true.• “blair’d in the cash of our beeswax’s cars”

– They have money therefore have found jobs– Have created a life for themselves as time passed

• “my love and I”– Met someone – possibly started a family – created a proper life in the country.

• “,free,”- the caesura before and after the word makes it stand out – They are finally free of the bad life that they came from, free from hiding and they are open and

happy.• “raise our charged glasses” – celebrating • “unparasol’d tables”

– Either become used to the weather – showing how they’ve adapted and accepting life here.– Or the sun has literally and metaphorically come out

• “East” – they’re looking East from Dover – towards home• “babbling our lingoes”

– As they have done throughout the poem – “babbling” – happy, excited connotations

• “flecked by the chalk of Britannia!”– They’ve been influenced in culture and in language by English – why their lingo now has English

words too– They raise their glasses in celebration to Britannia.