How do the poets represent the importance of 'roots' in their poetry?
Consider how the social and cultural identity of the poets is paramount
to the development of the main themes.
Other Cultures
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How do the poets represent the importance of 'roots' in their poetry?
Consider how the social and cultural identity of the poets is
paramount to the development of the main themes.
The four poems that I will be comparing all describe how the poets
feel about their roots, background and cultural heritage. Although
they are all based on the same issue, they have many different
features that are quite different.
John Agard is the author of 'Half-Caste'. He was born in Guyana and
then moved to Britain in 1977. In 'Half-Caste' the poet is feeling
discriminated and he wants to put across that he is one person and by
calling him half-caste, they are taking away half of his identity.
The author of 'Search For My Tongue' is Sujata Bhatt. She was born in
India in 1956 and then moved to the USA in the 1960s. She now lives in
Germany. In 'Search For My Tongue' the poet can speak two different
languages, her original language and her second language, English. She
is saying that her original language is being forgotten, but then
discovers that it is returning and progressing.
'Nothing's Changed' was written in South Africa in 1997 by Tatamkhulu
Afrika. The poem is autobiographical and was written after apartheid
had been abolished in 1994. In 'Nothing's Changed' the poet is saying
that even though apartheid had been abolished, he still feels that
racism is still around him and he feels that nothing has changed.
Moniza Alvi wrote 'Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan'. She was born
in Pakistan in ...
... middle of paper ...
...ates this she
also wants to be able to feel the same way about her new home in
Britain. Even though she says she is,
'of no fixed nationality',
the poet still knows in her heart that she wants to celebrate and be
proud of her roots in Pakistan.
From reading and understanding the four poems, I have learnt that
people from ethnic backgrounds can face terrible hardship and that
even after large amounts of discrimination drilled into their heads,
they still feel proud of their roots and identity. However I have also
learnt that by having their roots discriminated against, losing their
roots or even not knowing what exactly their roots are, can deeply
sadden the people and make them irritated. People react differently to
these and we should acknowledge that to make people in situations like
those in the poems to feel happier and at ease with themselves.
25, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois. She was an African American woman, who from a young age had
...latively normal and happy life with her family in their new home in Vermont by adjusting to her new mental environment.
was born in Vienna, Austria in 1909, where she lived with her parents until the
move from house to house. She is miserable in all of them, but they are
During her life event, her family journey to the America for reason of setting up of the
left China in 1944. Her mother was married to another man at the time and had two twin
helped support the struggling couple. They divorced in 1942. She lived in Carmel Valley, CA after and died February 8, 1983.
before moving on to work as a commercial artist and a teacher. She married a fellow artist
Chicago and then moved to Grand Rapids when she was 2 years old. Her father
Explore how two of the poems you have studied deal with the theme of looking back on a relationship The two poems I have chosen to explain are Piano by D H Lawrence and In Mrs Tilchers Class by Carol Ann Duffy I have chosen these two. poems because they both tell us about the same sort of memory, i.e. of a good time in their childhood. Moving on to the mood of the poem. Both poems are very emotional and Although they are both happy memories, the emotions vary, for example. in Piano the poem is very sad and nostalgic 'till the heart of me.
Mukherjee came from the very British post-colonialism city of Calcutta, India. The inspiration of her sister and her own strong self-confidence led
"Harlem" was written by Langsatn Hughes. This poem is focusing on the American-African neighborhood "Harlem" in New York City in mid-twenties while the society was filling with discriminations and racism. "My Father as A Guitar" was written by Martin Espada. In the poem, the speaker is comparing his father, who has a heart problem, with a guitar. "Charon 's Cosmology" was written by Charles Simic in 1977. This poem is mainly about a ferryman, whose job is to transfer souls of dead. These three poems have different themes, however, the speaker all used some literary devices to express their thoughts to readers.
In the period 1914-1916 she lived in a cave in Sikkim, near the Tibetan border, learning spirituality, together with the Tibetan monk Aphur Yongden, who became her lifelong traveling companion, and whom she would adopt later. From there they trespassed into Tibetan territory, meeting the Panchen Lama in Shigatse.
her home because she unwilling to accept life without him. She is scared of losing things and life
She was a pioneering and creative educationist. The school she founded in Kolkata, the sakhawat