IGCSE English Lit Poem - Search For My Tongue

What is 'search for my tongue about'

it is a poem expressing what it is like to live in a foreign country and the speakers fears about losing her original language and cultural identity

what themes are found within 'Search for my tongue'

language, culture, identity, loss

what is the form and structure found within 'Search for my tongue'

-three stanzas of unequal length with the second in another language

-it is written in free verse with lots of enjambment which expresses the freedom of language and natural speech pattern emulating the poems theme of language and conversation

what effect does bringing in her second language bring

By bringing in her second language 'Gurarati', it shows how easy it is to move between languages while forcing the reader to feel confused and unable to understand, so they experience what she has felt

-underneath the language shows how to pronounce it which draws attention to the audible quality of language

what poems could be compared with 'Search for my tongue'

Blessing (identity, culture, loss)

Poem at Thirty nine (loss, identity)

War photographer (isolation, loss, death)

what effect does this poem have on the reader

It addresses the second person so it puts the reader into her position. By adding her second language it also immerses the reader into her language making them imagine her own personal experience while also emulating a conversational tone

analyse the title - Search for my tongue

-the imperative verb 'search' assumes and involves the reader while also suggesting something is missing

-the pronoun 'my' gives ownership and a personal feel to the poem

analyse - 'I have lost my tongue'

-this metaphor implies something physical but is actually discussing her original language. This portrays the idea that her language is part of her, and plays a big part in her identity

analyse - 'I ask you, what would you do if you had two tongues in your mouth, and lost the first one, the mother tongue and could not really know the other, the foreign tongue

-'i ask you' addresses reader firmly

-the questions describes an interaction between two languages where after moving to a different country, you lose your mother tongue but do not know the culture or belong to the other language

analyse - '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"

-the modal verb 'had' suggests a lack of choice

-the metaphor describing how your mother tongue would die is expressed through rotting. This is a graphic way of describing suggesting the process was painful with the repetition of rot emphasising this

-the monosyllabic staccato onomatopoeic 'spit it out' is harsh and emulates the sound of spitting

analyse - 'overnight it grows back, a stump of a shoot grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins

-this is explaining how her mother tongue and culture will always win and always be her true self

-the metaphor describing the language as a physical entity makes it alive and is represented through growing

analyse - 'Everytime i think I've forgotten, I think I've lost my mother tongue, it blossoms out of my mouth'

-her language is always rooted inside her, the metaphor of it blossoming out of her mouth shows that it also brings new life