Poems from Different Cultures – 45 minutes
(English, Paper Two)
Comparison of two poems

You must:
answer the question

You should consider:
language (imagery, contrasts, metaphor and similes, vocabulary choices, tone),
structure (beginnings, endings, layout, stanzas and sequencing),
authors’ ideas and attitudes
their overall impact and your response.

You must:
compare and use cross-references (quotations and comments).

You must:
look at similarities and differences.

You will need to use connectives and phrases such as:
Similarly … in the same way … also … correspondingly … both poems … ---- is similar to ---- Just as ……
(for similarities)

whereas … on the other hand … however … in comparison with … nevertheless … in contrast … in contrast with …
(for differences)

You will also be able to use the same connectives in English Paper 1, Section A (reading) and in both sections of the English Literature examination (short stories and poems).

Example of a good GCSE essay.

The writer, Moniza Alvi, reveals her past in an autobiographical way in her poem Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan. The poem shows the reader her feelings for Pakistan, the country she was born in. The line “of no fixed nationality” sums up the tone of the poem, that because she lives in England, speaks English but is from Pakistan, she does not seem to belong anywhere.
The poem Search for my Tongue, written by Sujata Bhatt, has similar connotations to Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan, The line “I thought I spit it out” refers to the metaphor the whole poem is based on, that to speak two languages, to be a part of two cultures, is just as difficult as speaking with two tongues at once; it is impossible.
While both poems are to inform the reader about the awkwardness of being of mixed race, the authors go about it in different ways. Moniza Ali shows the contrast in cultures by making the description of her presents from her aunts in Pakistan as vivid and exciting as possible: “glistening like an orange split open” and “embossed slippers”. This creates an image in the reader’s mind of Pakistan being a vibrant, exciting place. Moniza Ali cleverly contrasts this with the clothing she herself would prefer: “jeans and corduroy” just so that she can fit in. This makes the reader empathise with her need or struggle to belong.
Sujata Bhatt uses a different technique to inform the reader about the struggle to belong. She uses the two meanings of “mother tongue”, the first meaning being the tongue you literally speak with and the second the language you first learn to speak. This is a vivid way of showing the reader how she is afraid not to remember (or to forget) her past and her native language.
Both poems use nature to help their poems come to life; in Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan Moniza Alvi uses fruits to describe the vividly coloured presents: “orange split open,’ “apple green sari”. This creates an impression of fresh colours, perhaps having connotations of something new and exciting but perhaps a bit dangerous. This is a clever technique to use as it reveals her emotions as a child: the presents were splendid yet could disturb the world she was living in.
Sujata Bhatt uses nature at first to describe the fear of losing her ”mother tongue”. One line in particular shows this idea in a vivid and disgusting way: “rot and die”. It shows that she believes she has not looked after her first language skills and now they have withered like a flower. She then uses nature to describe how, every time she thinks she has forgotten it, “it blossoms out of my mouth”. This was an effective device to use as it shows that she can never really forget; like the seasons it comes and goes but she cannot forget it completely.
Both poems are unusual and are written to inform and to entertain the reader but both have a deeper message. A quotation from Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan sums up Alvi’s poem also: “staring through the fretwork at the Shalimar Gardens” tells the reader that even though she is fully accepted in both of her cultures, she feels she will never be allowed completely to enter.
This contrasts with Search for my Tongue because Alvi seems to wish she had one nationality or another while Bhatt’s dream is to fit fully into both cultures; she speaks of “if you had both tongues in your mouth” but she knows she never will as they would be too squashed and neither would be either to work fully.

By Danielle Acock, Year 11