Island Man, Hurricane Hits England and Search For My Tongue Essay Example

At the beginning words such as 'blue surf', and the phrases 'the sun surfacing defiantly', are used. Then when she moves to England the tone changes so that it reinforces the 'Island Man' is isolated and out of place. Grace Nichols felt deeply about the Caribbean as she uses the word 'wombing' his is a strong word to use as it refers to your mothers womb.

We now know that the 'Island Man' felt safe in the Caribbean environment. The secondary theme was the sea so Grace Nichols uses repetition to show the beat of it e.g groggily groggily and muffling muffling. This is done to give the reader natural imagery. Natural imagery is used at the start of the poem. This is the positive piece of writing because they use words such 'Wild seabirds' and 'Fishermen pushing their boat out to sea'. This gives the reader a tranquil picture in their head. Nearer the end it changes to negative because everything is man-made, for example it says 'Grey metallic soar'.

The language has transformed into the opposite of the language used at the beginning. They use words such as 'dull, grey' and a viscous word 'roar'. These all give a sign of furiosity and depression. Altogether the poem ends in a negative way because it says 'his crumpled pillow waves, Island Man heaves himself, another London day'. In my mind this means that he is waving goodbye to his crumpled dreams. The next sentence uses a powerful word. The word 'heaves' shows us that he could not be bothered to go and that he has to drag himself. The last sentence 'another London day' also has

the same definition. It's a chore to live there. Its not a home its a place.

Poem 2: Hurricane Hits England.

In 'Hurricane hits England', Grace Nichols shows how the hurricane of 1987 made her feel at home. Before it hit she felt as if London was just a place. During her stay in England a hurricane hit. This made her feel at home because of the frequent hurricanes, which hit in the Caribbean. This hurricane in England is important to her and is a part of Grace due to the fact that it woke her dormant culture. She felt joyful at home and welcomed to now live in London.

At the beginning of the poem the first paragraph is written in the third person. This is done deliberately to show how she is now herself and has changed. The biggest clue towards this is ' It took a hurricane to bring HER closer'. Nearer the end of the first paragraph it personifies her culture when it states 'Her culture appears like some dark ancestral spectre'. In my head this sounds as if her culture has come to haunt her like a family ghost. Just after that line it says 'fearful but reassuring'.

This is a paradox as she contradicts herself. She is scared but at the same time it also makes her feel better. Unlike 'Island Man' when it gets to the end it turns positive. She uses the metaphor 'falling as heavy as whales' at this point she is having flash backs of her homeland Guyana this makes her happy as there is a similarity. The other metaphor, which caught my eye was 'come to break the

frozen lake within me' this implies that the hurricane took away her fake English culture and has opened the door to her real homeland culture from Guyana.

The structure of the poem is in neat paragraphs unlike 'Island Man'. This shows that her life is finally getting into place. On the other hand similar to 'Island Man' Grace Nichols has again used a secondary theme an used natural imagery. The secondary theme in this poem is the hurricane.

Poem 3: Search For My Tongue

'Search for my tongue' is similar to 'Island Man' and 'Hurricane Hits England' because they all have a secondary theme. In' Search for My Tongue' the theme is a flower. I know this because they use the words 'bud', and that the flower 'blossoms in their mouth'. This refers to their language growing back. It is an autobiographical poem by Sujata Bhatt. She was born inside the Indian State of Gujarat in 1956. In 1968 she moved to America where she learnt to speak American- English. She now lives in Germany. Her mother tongue is an important link to her family and childhood. In an interview she said 'my language is the deepest layer of my life'.

'Search for my tongue' is split into 3 sections. Lines 1-16 are about Sujata Bhatt forgetting about her language. Lines 17-30 are written in Gujurati. This makes the reader feel as if they are in Sujata's place. They are made to translate and experience Sujata's feelings.This phonetic translation is clever as it makes the reader emphasise with her. Then finally lines 30-38 are the are the translation of the Gujurati writing. This section alone has a lot of

successful devices. This is when she is translating the re-growth of her culture in her dreams. In that particular paragraph she uses repitition of grow, pace, strong imagery and extended metaphors. This shows the bud (Sujata's culture) blossoming quickly.

At the beginning of the poem the language in which the poem is written in suggests that Sujata Bhatt cannot speak English correctly and has a slight accent. This is shown hen she wrote, 'you ask me what I mean when I say I have lost my tongue'. The first section has negative language by using words such as 'lost, foreign, rot', and that she 'spits it out'. Nearer the end it changes to a positive poem as she uses words like 'bud, grows longer grows moist, grows strong veins', referring to her culture. When it changes positive it is the part of the poem where her mother tongue and culture return as she does not feel culturally alienated anymore.

Like Grace Nichols, Sujata Bhatt has also used natural imagery top represent her feelings such as tongues. The phrase 'two tongues in your mouth' has strong imagery and it makes you imagine what it would be like in the poets place.

Conclusion of 'Island Man', Hurricane Hits England and 'Search For My Tongue'.

Overall both of the poets use natural imagery. This goes to show that both are used to nature and not man made buildings. Out of all of the poems my favourite successful device used was the extract in 'Search for My Tongue', where Sujata Bhatt puts you in her position.

At the end of 'Hurricane Hits England' and 'Search for My Tongue', the poets have found their culture.

This is different to'Island Man' as he does not find out his true culture.