blessing and pfap review
...w desperate these people are, and how lucky we are as water, which they fantasise for and we take for granted, isn’t a huge part of our lives, unlike them. Water is very precious there - the poem tries to convey this and capture the beauty and preciousness of life and of human dignity. The poem has four stanzas of different lengths. The lines of the poem are also of different lengths. It is written in free verse, using some rhyme (pod/god, ground/found/around) and some half rhyme (huts/pots, sings/bones). Moniza Alvi was born in Pakistan in 1954 and had an English upbringing as she moved to England as a baby, which is stated in her poem. Although she lived in England, she never felt full English or in fact even full Pakistan. More torn between both communities, which is what the poem is reflected and based on. Due to her never knowing her background fully, she believes it is important to know where you came from. In my opinion, she uses the poem to put across how she longs to be like everyone else, as she doesn’t feel ‘normal’ and would have loved to have had a set community and background. Although we wouldn’t be working on this poem and have such an imaginative piece of writing if she wasn’t as she is. Alvi’s father is Pakistani and her mother is English. She never knew her father’s language, or even his or her life in Pakistan. She did, although, learn about Pakistan, and that style of community through for example newspapers and photos. Just like Dharker’s poem uses a lot of visual images, as she is attracted and is interested by these. She had never been back to Pakistan before she wrote the poem so she could only use photos to describe how and what Pakistan was like. The poem is mainly biographical and was written to be as if she was 13, in 1st person, Dharker’s poem differs in this way, as she wrote it as an adult and in 3rd person. To show how she was feeling, in her muddled ideas and feelings she changed the line and stanza length to have it going everywhere. Alvi was always aware of her Asian background but could never relate to Pakistan as her hometown, just 2nd hand knowledge. I personally enjoyed her writing of ‘Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan’ as it seems alive and can see the image she is painting with words. Firstly, I will analyse ‘Blessing’ by Imtiaz Dharker. The title ‘Blessing’ in my mind says a lot about the poem, before and after you have read it. As the word blessing can have a variety of meanings, in this instance it is what the people are thankful for, although hidden behind it, also blessing can be used in religion; as a way one worships. Dharker starts the poem very blunt, harsh, short and factual. This reflects of harshness and bluntness, until the blessing of water appears, for example, “The skin cracks,” is a vivid, powerful image, which can also have a variety of meanings – ambiguous, and also very direct. Th...