Search For My Tongue Flashcards

Free verse (form)

allows poet to express fluidity and unpredictability of emotions/thoughts

Extended metaphor of comparing mother tongue to a plant

its resilient + its natural + it always regrows

Second stanza (middle) of poem written in Gujarati

centre of poem = centre/ deepest part of identity. Its ingrained in her - she can't lose it. Visualises MT flooding back

Stanza 1 contrasts with 3 (structure)

Stanza 1 is about death but stanza 3 is about life.

repetition of 'grows'

emphasises how unstoppable the mother tongue is + recaptured vitality + strength of mother tongue.

triumphant tone of 'ties other tongue in knots...pushes other tongue aside'

- like a battle that mother tongue won/ completely overpowered other language.

plosives of 'rot, rot and die...spit it out.' + death imagery.

uncomfortable to reject MT/ identity decaying/ threat amplified by rep/ struggle/ violent finality speaker fears experiencing with loss of MT

imagery of 'two tongues in your mouth'

crowded, uncomfortable, unable to speak properly, perhaps overwhelming, difficulty

direct address of 'you ask me'

appealing for empathy + invites reader to consider problem + engages them

volta + ethereal imagery of 'but overnight while I dream.'

dream is escape + MT lives in deepest part of consciousnesses + beauty of MT

Tone shift

from mournful and sad (1st stanza) to triumphant (3rd stanza) - she realises that you can never lose MT

1st stanza ends with comma, second without punctuation

each leads fluidly into next. Speaker can bring both parts of identity together into integrated, complex whole

plosives of 'rot and die' + death imagery

- angry and bitter that she's losing identity/ grief and loss/ part of her is threatened.

floral imagery of life 'stump...shoot...veins'

contrasts to previous image of death and shows how unstoppable + alive MT is