With close reference to the language and imagery of the two poems studied show how each
The two poems I have studied and am going to write about are “Search For My Tongue” by Sujata Bhatt and “Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan” by Moniza Alvi. Both of these poems are about two women who talk about how they’ve had to adapt and deal with the experience of living between two cultures. The two poets talk about how they find it hard to adjust to their new surroundings. ... A and lived there for many years, where she learnt and studied English. ... The extract I have studied, which is a part of a longer poem, was written when she was studying English at university in America, and when she started to worry that she might lose her first language. ... In Search For My Tongue, the poet, Sujata Bhatt, explains to us about the difficulty she faces every day and what it is like to speak and think in two languages. ... In the first part she explains to us how hard it is for her to speak and know two languages. In the second part she explains how she remembers her native language in her dreams while she is sleeping. ... She finds it hard to have to use the language she had adopted, and that is a little strange to her. She feels that by using this language, and not her mother tongue, she is neglecting her mother tongue. ... Her mother tongue is the language that is most important to her. It is more than just a language to her. ... I can relate to what she’s feeling as I speak two languages, Welsh and English. ... We seem to think that because we spoke the language for many years, we think it is not possible to start losing it. Most of us have probably not been in a similar situation to Sujata Bhatt, of living in a foreign country that uses a different language, but if we did we would find the situation very confusing and strange. ... I have not lost my mother tongue but I do fear that in the future I will begin losing the language that I relate better to and feel most comfortable with. I feel this because not many people speak the language of our country anymore. ... She feels as if her adoptive language is taking over and does not leave a place for her mother tongue. ... It’s the language she feels she can connect with the most. It’s the language she feels most comfortable using and talking. It has always been a big part of her identity, and by losing the language, as she feels is happening, it seems that she is losing her identity and a big part of herself. She explains that the adoptive language is very alien to her. ... “ I ask you, what would you do if you had two tongues in your mouth,” She tells us this to show to us how uncomfortable it feels for her to have to know two languages. She does not physically have two tongues in her mouth of course, but imagine if you did. ... She feels as if she cannot use both of the languages and seeing as she lives in her adoptive country she only speaks her adoptive language. She tells us; “ and lost the first one, the mother tongue, and could not really know the other ” She feels she is losing her first language and that the second is alien and strange to her. She does not understand or associate with her second language, as much as she associates with her first. ... This is important in this piece because it shows to us that she has not lost the language which she first thought she had lost. ... She explains that in her dreams she remembers the language she thought she had lost. ... She compares the language to a flower or a plant. ... “ it grows back, a stump of a shoot grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins, ” From these images you can clearly see how strong and better the language grows back.