Poems from Different Cultures

Because the poets want to engage their readers in the issue of cultural identity, these poems use vivid imagery to illustrate the clash between two cultures. For example, in 'Search for my Tongue' we are invited to imagine a grotesque image: a woman with two tongues in her mouth, one of which is rotting. But, as she dreams, she finds that her mother tongue grows back, 'a stump of a shoot/ grows longer'. This arresting imagery sums up the clash between the two languages - the two cultures - in the speaker's background. The imagery in 'Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan' is more pleasant but just as interesting. When the speaker dresses in her Pakistani clothes, she feels out of place and uncomfortable. She says, 'I could never be as lovely/ as those clothes - I longed for denim and corduroy'. Just as the colours and fashions of the Pakistani clothes symbolise her Pakistani roots, so the familiar images of denim and corduroy suggest her English background.

Because some of the poems use the sound of words themselves to create meaning, it is important for the reader to hear them read aloud in order to understand them.

• phonetic spelling in 'Unrelated Incidents' and in 'Half Caste'
• Gujarati in 'Search for my Tongue'
• names in 'Not my Business'
• gods in 'Hurricane hits England'

Although a number of the poets use rhythm as an effect in their writing, the impact on the reader is different.

• refrain in 'Not my Business'
• rhythms in 'Half caste' and its repeated use of 'explain yuself wha yu mean' (almost a refrain)
• angry tone in 'Unrelated Incidents'
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