poems from other cultures.sevrch for my tongueppt

8/9/2019 Poems From Other Cultures.sevrch for My Tongueppt

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Search for my Tongue

To understand the

poem

To explore the themesand poetic devices used

by Bhatt


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hJQsvoY6VU


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ThemesIsolation/alienation: to feel like

you dont belong; to feel

separate from the rest of

society.


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Bit of background

Sujata Bhatt grew up in India and

emigrated to the US with her family when

she was about 12yrs old.Although she mostly speaks and writes in

English, her Gujarati language has always

been very important to her.

Search for my Tongue explores the ideas

of a divided heritage.


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Video

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/e

nglish_literature/poetry_slideshow/search/

photoplayer.shtml

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ogKoIBx

Q4I


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The title .

Search looking for something that youhave lost; something that you want to find

Tongue - a) muscle in your mouth!

b) mother tongue (first language)


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You ask me what I mean

by saying I have lost my tongue.

I ask you, what would you doif you had two tongues in your mouth,

and lost the first one, the mother tongue,

Direct

address


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and lost the first one, the mother tongue

Feeling

alone


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Two tongues

represent two

languages

This is how she

feels: she feels

like she has a

tongue for each

language that she

speaks


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Connection with

family and roots, but

she feels it is lost


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And could not really know the other,the foreign tongue.

you could not use them both together

even if you thought that way.

She doesnt feel as

close to her second

language as she does

her mother tongue


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In the poets

case, English


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Have to

choose one or

the other


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And if you lived in a place you had to

speak a foreign tongue,your mother tongue would rot,

rot and die in your mouth

until you had to spit it out.

Repetition

of rot for

emphasis -

Image of

decay

shows herdisgust at

the thought

of losing

her mother

tongueImage of her tongue rotting because it isnt

used anymore

Repetition


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And ifyou lived in a place you had to

speak a foreign tongue,your mother tongue would rot,

rot and die in your mouth

until you had to spit it out.

People who dont know what

this feels like.

English is the

foreign tongueto her


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(munay hutoo kay aakhee jeebh aakhee bhasha)

(may thoonky nakhi chay)

(parantoo rattray svupnama mari bhasha pachi

aavay chay)

(foolnee jaim mari bhasha nmari jeebh)

(modhama kheelay chay)

(fullnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh)

(modhama pakay chay)

Mother

tongue

dominatesthe poem

interrupts

the English

Phonetic

spelling

but NOT

translated

here

Returning to a safe

place

Gujarati gives

this part of the

poem a

magical, dream-

like quality

At night, a

private time,

the mother

tongue isnourished

Gujarati reasserting itself

pride in her language

Dream has

a double

meaning

her native

language

comes back

to her when

she is

asleep anddreaming,

but it is also

her dream

to speak it


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I thought I spit it out

But overnight while I dream

Grammatical mistake should be spat it

out shows lack of familiarity with the

language / rejection of rules


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I thought I spit it outBut overnight while I dream

A sense that things are

going to change:

maybe things arent

going to be as bad as

she thought.


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I thought I spit it outBut overnight while I dream

In her

subconscious


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Gujarati section

Readers can see her other language visualrepresentation of both English and Gujarati together.

Readers can understand what it feels like when you arepresented with a language that you dont understand.

It grows out of the middle of the poem as she realisesthat she hasnt lost it at all.

The Gujarati section means the same as the English thatfollows it; they are a translation of each other

Understanding the meaning of language is an importanttheme


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It grows back, a stump of a shoot

Grows longer, grows moist, grows strongveins,

It ties the othertongue in knots,

The bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth

Use of commas gives this extract a

breathy, excited almost panicky feel

representing the re-growth as

unstoppable

Tongue-tied

expresses

her

confusion

Rule of three different

kinds ofgrowth


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It ties the other tongue in knots,

The bud opens, the bud opens in my mouthGetting bigger and

more powerful as it

grows

The tongue is

beginning to

sound like a

plant.

Repetition


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Extended metaphorThe comparison between the

tongue and a plant/flower

continues to the end of the poem

this is why its called an

extended metaphor.


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The bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth

Words that make you think of

plants: plant imagery


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The bud opens, the bud opens in my mouthHer language is

like a blossoming

flower that is

growing out of her

mouth.

The mother tongue is

actually stronger than

her second language


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It pushes the other tongue aside.

every time I think Ive forgotten,I think Ive lost the other tongue,

it blossoms out of my mouth.

Your roots stay the same

even if your place in the

world changes

Released from within like a

flower replacing a weed


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It pushes the other tongue aside.

every time I think Ive forgotten,I think Ive lost the mother tongue,

it blossoms out of my mouth.

Stronger than

she thought!

Ends more

positively than it

started.blossoming and

rot are two

contrasting

words: life and

death

Personification

of the tongue


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What is the poem saying to the

reader?

1. Your background and your roots willalways stay with you, even as you growup. You wont forget where you came

from.2. A persons language is very important to

them: how would you feel if you were inthe same situation at only 12yrs old?

3. Its very difficult to fit into one culturewhen you have come from another.


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Ravi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

-URtZfIgKAU&feature=related


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