This poem can be linked to any of the Different Cultures anthology poems which deal with language, but it's also about losing one's culture, so it can be compared to the poems about that.
I've never been able to speak two or more languages fluently, so it's hard for me to imagine how the poet must feel, but her image of having "two tongues in your mouth", her metaphor for speaking two languages, conjures up something from a horror film.
Moreover, instead of saying that she might forget how to speak her mother tongue (gujerati), she says it might "rot and die" in her mouth. Again, this suggests a horror film to me - imagine having your tongue rotting away!
A good site for revising this poem is:
22 comments:
As you have said you only speak one language fluently and I think this may affect your view of the poem. As we are constantly reminded in current newspapers why we fear immigrants, "because we fear the unknown." Could it be that you fear the thought of having this new quality and this is why you associate the poem with horror films which create fear in the viewer?
I quote, "you had to spit it." this is a forced action and I do not relate something forceful with fear. It is more like a battle with oneselves, I relate it to a martyr who reluctantly refuses to kneel until the tyrant forces his knees down instead of the horror or fear and reluctance of having a special skill.
Sujata Bhatt also expresses her quality as "it blossoms". This is a positive attribute. It is also connected with vivd imagery, in my mind of young spring buds blossoming, which is a treasured attribute to nature.
Wow! No, I wouldn't say that I fear being able to speak two languages fluently - I'd love to be able to do just that, but I think that the poet feels fear at the idea of losing her mother tongue.
I think you're right about the image of the blossom - it's at night when she dreams in Gujerati that she feels it blossoming in her mouth, and that's a GOOD thing; if she's afraid of losing her mother tongue, then to have it come back to her as a beautiful strong plant must be a wonderful relief.
28 November 2007 08:06
Hasan said...
I do not think the poem conveys any sort of horror. It appears more sympathetic to me. The woman does not want to lose her mother language and culture which is what the mother tongue means. Yet she is constantly afraid she might forget it and then she 'had to spit it' which is rather forcefull and angry, she is angry that she has become so weak in her mother language and culture.
Yet she never truly forgets it as when she dreams she remembers it again. This perhaps means that she visited India again which would explain why she speaks in her language in the middle of the poem as she has to use it to communicate and then it slowly grows back comparing it to a flower. Flowers grow in spring then die in Autumn just as it seems she forgets ger mouther language and culture yet when she visits India again in the holidays it all comes back to her, after which she would gradually forget it again later through the year. Yet she never fully forgets it just as when a flower dies it always leaves behind a seed ready to become the next flower. A very good extended metaphor, I like it.
This poem does seem to convey a slight hint of fear at the beginning of the poem, because she is afraid of losing her mother tongue whilst feeling that the foreign tongue is an alien. It seems that living in a distant country different from hers, she had to learn to speak that country's language, but at the same time abandon her own language and culture in the process. In her dream, she is able to remember all about her language and culture because deep down in your heart and soul you know that you can never truly abandon where you are from, no matter how hard you try. If you do so, it comes back to haunt you later on and you get this feeling in your heart like something dear is missing, like a part of you has abandoned you leaving you alone like a child without its parents.
I kind of understand exactly how she is feeling because I regret losing a bit of my culture and language being far away from it. Even if I forcefully try and forget about it and learn to live to my new surroundings, there's something in myself that feels empty and alone. It is like you wish you were someone from the foreign country, but it is not who you are. But that's something you have to decide yourself; know that who you truelly are is who you ought to be.
I would agree with my good friend hasan, and contradict melody in saying that the poem conveys horror. while being a perceptive analysis of the writers words and a good point, I would say that the foreign (or mother) tounge becoming "rotten" would see it shown as a living thing, inside of her, that she has chosen to neglect. All together more personal to the writer than political generalisations.
This then develops when she starts to dream in gujurati, because it shows that her heritage and the person she used to be is still there, but i am to understand that the words she was saying in gujurati were along the same lines as the words she was saying in english which then ends with the words, "my mouth is full".
I hold this to be a good thing, because while it can mean you cannot fit anymore elements into your life, it would also symbolise a full, healthy life. At this point she has accepted that the words she holds in her mouth do not change who she is thus letting her journey of self discovery begin with this dire needed realisation that one must accept oneself, before you plant your seed and let your life blossom in full (hence the flower imagery when she has come to accept her heritage).
Yours truly,
Captain Sastachuan.
No, Tom Stone.
R.K. said...
The poet explains what it is like to speak and think in two languages. She wonders whether she might lose the language she began with. She explains her ideas in Gujurati. She then translates her thoughts for us into English ), showing that although her 'mother tongue' dies during the day, it 'grows back' in her dreams at night, becoming strong and producing 'blossoms'. I think that the word "tongue" has many meaning s in the poem. It is a part of the body; the part you speak with, it also comes to the language that you speak, and the phrase "lost my tongue" is used in an informal way, to show that she does not know what to say.
The poet compares her tongue to a plant throughout the poem. She uses a series of metaphors describing her "mother tongue" e.g. "rot and die", "it grows back", and "grows strong veins".
Sujata Bhatt uses an extended metaphor throughout the poem"i lost my tongue". within this metaphor i think the word "tongue" symolises her langauge and culture"speak a foreign tongue". this makes the reader think about how different langauges are spoken and how they relate to the movement of the tongue.
At the beginning of the peom there is a harsh tone"you had to spit it out". the emphasis is on the word"spit" which gives out an angry harsh mood. on the other hand, towards the end of the peom the tone is pleasant and calm. the harsh tone conveyed how confused and agitated she felt because she felt like she lost her mother culture. as time went on, she realised that she had found her original culture, which brought accross the pleasant mood.
Bhatt uses alliteration of the vowel "o" and repetition."grows longer,grows,moist, grows strong veins. when you say the vowel "o", your tongue does grow longer, it becomes more most and it has to be strong to be able to say the vowel. so the reader feels like they are using their tongue when they are reading the last few lines of the poem because there is an extended alliteration of "o" in the words.
This reminds me of glossolalia, the ability to speak in toungues. In the New Testament, the book of Acts recounts how "tongues of fire" descended upon the heads of the Apostles.Anyway,it seems that she may have something similar as those said to speak in toungues do so without warning and describe it as a posotive experience.
emily said...
The poem outlines the thoughts of the poet who has started to speak a new language and is afraid that she has forgotten how to speak her 'mother tongue'. I think that the first section of the poem portrays this fear by building up a protective wall around her by repeating the use of the word 'you', 'what would YOU do', 'YOU could not' and 'if YOU lived'. This makes the tone quite harsh as it is like she is blaming the reader for the fact that she has lost her 'tongue'.
This tone is further shown by the repetition of monosyllabic words such as 'spit', which makes the poem sound almost forced. However, on the next line the word 'overnight' is used which, as it is not monosyllabic, softens the tone slightly. As this then goes on to writing in her 'mother tongue' we see that the search for her tongue is over and it 'grows back'.
:)
Edward say:
I really think that this poem emphasizes how much the writer loves her own language and thus fears losing it. She uses Gujarati which to me, makes it seem more professional in the sense that speaking one language makes her seem more intelligent. She obviously thinks of the audience by putting pronunciation and then reverting back to English afterwards.
Take that Newns
I too don't speak two languages personally but i would think that i would fear losing my mother tongue.If she's afraid of losing her mother tongue, then to have it come back to her as a "beautiful strong plant" must sound good to her ear!
Even the title "search for my tongue" personifies what the poem is about. You immediately think of her looking as if she's lost something that is precious to her so when she dreams it's like she's found hid treasure!
I also agree with Tom Stone when he talks about her heritage being important to her "The mother tongue becoming "rotten" would see it shown as a living thing, inside of her, that she has chosen to neglect."
This too emphases the point about the "bloosming flower"
In response to Captain Sastachuan point that my comment was based on political generalisations I reply:
I used the real life situation of the fear of immigrants to explain what I think fear is. Yes immigrants have become a political issue and therefore hopefully it will be widely discussed and thus hopefully my puppet used to explain my point will be understood by the reader.
I have not used political generalisations to explain my understanding of the poem but I can understand how the two topics of immigrants and cultures can be mixed up as they are related.
As someone who belongs to two different cultures English and Chinese I did not understand Madam's linking will fear. Therefore I tried to find a reason that is maybe of social context with Madam's thinking.
Does this explain the confusion? Should I be clearer next time I use an example to illustrate a point and not to generalise a poem?
I think I could have improved my comment by addressing the poem more instead of Madam's view. As that would be more like the exam.
Captain Sastachuan didn't read your comment properly. Your comments on immigrants were only a way to try to see why I might associate the poem with horror films.
In fact, I was only suggesting theat the images in the poem are like those found in horror films, and I think the poet used them deliberately to show her confusion and fear about losing her mother tongue.
What did you mean by "puppet"?
I agree with Hasan and 'Captain Sastachuan', as the tongue is not just a metaphor for language, but for culture as well. Having to be almost forced to forget your own culture seems hard, and you end up leaving your original culture and end up being an alien to both of them. The use of her original language (Gujerati), makes the reader wonder if the poet is double checking to see if she has forgotten her language yet.
This poem relates to me personally as I know what the poet was experiencing. I speak Swahili and English. Obviously, my mother tongue is Swahili but I now feel as though English is taking over. I find my self mixing Swahili with English however, when I want to speak English intentionally, you never hear Swahili coming out of my mouth. In the poem Bhatt is always referring to “two tongues in your mouth”. She personifies them by making them sound physically strong; as though they are competing for space in her mouth. This is also how it makes me feel.
Sometimes I wonder if English is now my mother tongue, as I have been speaking it for more than half of my life. It makes me sad to think that I can never fully benefit my mother tongue, as it has now been changed and altered in so many different ways; from the accent I speak in , to the context of my sentences. It also alarms me to know that the true Swahili will no longer be spoken within my generation, as the older I get, the more English I catch on. I will then teach my own children this “Swahinglish” and slowly over time, it will no longer exist.
I think that the mother tongue is a living and powerful part of our identity and culture. It may change within generations but will always remain in your mouth no matter how small it becomes.
What do immigrants have to do with horror films? And wht do the two topics have to do with the poem? I can understand how the first part of the poem can be seen as scary, tongues rotting and being spat out is a rather graphic description. But immigrants? Sheesh please think within the content of the question and don't get an unrelated answer. The poem's aim is not to make you scared of immigrants.
In this poem Bhatt gives off a tone of angriness and hatefulness with herself. She descibes the "foreign tongue" as a living organism by saying, "rot, rot and die in your mouth." We all know that a language cannot "rot" and "die". This line in the poem makes the reader feel sad because if something dies it is forgotten about because it cannot be seen, however, its presence can always be felt and as the saying goes, "absence makes the heart grow fonder," this phrase relates to the poem because, her love for her language is so strong, that it converts into hatred, for herself, for permitting her "mother tongue" to fade away. Also the repetition of "rot" is for emphasis which creates the effect that the language is going to die regardless.
Her own language is compared to a flower. It is as if a flower is competing, for sunlight, water and other nutrients needed for plant growth, with another plant, in this case the "foreign tongue." Describing her language as a flower implies that it is a beautiful thing that may not always be there but will come back if it is not neglected, hence the description of a flower.
Bhatt writing a small section in gujarati shows that her "mother tongue" is from the heart and the "foreign tongue" is from the head, implicating the poem is more personal and has a profound meaning.
In this poem "search for my tongue", i think that it expresses a lot of confusion and fear in why she keeps losing her tongue.
Repetitoin is used with the word "tongue" and the phrase "spit it out". this creates effect because, it brings you back to the points being made.
I think that there are two moods in this poem. In the first half of the poem when the words "spit it out" are used, it creates a harsh, angry mood- it seems as though she is furious that she seems to have lost what seems to me to be a precious treasure to her. The other half of the poem is more flowing and becomes like this when the words "while I dream" are used by Sujata Bhatt. In this half of the poem, the words used flow off the tongue much easier than the first half and this could symbolise, after she has rediscovered her mother tongue in her dream, all the words from both languages flow from her mouth more easily than at the first half of the poem.
Also, the idea of resurrection is portrayed at the beginning and end of the poem when the words at the beginning "rot and die in your mouth" and the words at the end "it blossoms out of my mouth" are used. It seems as though the language dies out but resurrects in the poet's dreams. the word "blossoms" could also symbolise a flower growing out of its "bud" as a new life (just as flowers dies in autumn and grows back during springtime).
I can compare this poem to "Half-Caste" because, both poets seem to be confused about where they stand, culturewise.
I also like the use of a different tongue in this poem because, it shows us that the poet can relate to both cultures and this can also symbolise her uttermost joy of having her tongue come back to her, even if just as a dream.
Even abit of rhyme is used in the Gujarati section with mostly the words "chay" at the end of most lines. I think that this makes an impact and gives the phrases more emphasis and easier to remember.
When she begins to speak in Gujarati in the middle of the play, the words mean pretty much the same things "my mouth is empty" and "my mouth is full". This could symbolise that when she speaks in English, Sujata sees her mouth as being empty maybe, with no tongue at all (even though at the beginning of the poem, she speaks of how she has "two tongues" fighting for a place in her mouth). I think that Sujata Bhatt discovers herself towards the end of the poem when she starts to speak in her mother tongue and it is as though she has found a sacred treasure to her and can now carry on with life which might be why the second half of the poem is shorter than the first.
Sujata Bhatt has found herself, her treasure, her history, her life, her death, HER TONGUE.
hehe... what do you think??? =D
P.S. MADAM.. WAS I JUST RAMBLING AGAIN???
really interesting comment from africanprincess - yes, what happens if a language dies out? What implications does it have for the culture, since language is at the heart of one's culture?
Be careful you don't say that she personifies the tongue though. It would only be personification if the tongues had human attributes - it's more that she uses the warring tongues as a metaphor for her struggle for identity and culture.
That's why what D says is so useful (and not a ramble at all). I think you could easily compare the poem with Half Caste - both poets are worried about being partway between cultures, although Bhatt feels the problem as personal, whereas Agard is telling other people off for defining him by the colour of his skin.
Well, since people are talking about their own different languages, I might as well... Language in my life is a large aspect and I sympathise with Bhatt when she talks about losing that "mother" tongue because I am actually trilinguistic (if that's what you call someone who knows or speaks 3 languages), anyway, and I personally don't know anymore which one of my two mother tongues is actually MY mother tongue.
I find myself in a battle between three languages, Kurdish, Turkish & English and unfortunately for me, I find myself struggling between English and Turkish the most and my true mother tongue, Kurdish, has been lost for a couple of years now. Obviously living in England and growing up here, I've had to learn the Language of English but having spoken it for not even half my life, I know that it has taken over my main way of thinking, I now even think in English and very hardly in my mother tongues...
Just like Bhatt, I feel that the three tongues in my mouth are fighting against each other. The dominant language, just like Bhatt, is English but time to time, the other, forgotten languages creep up on me and strike. I do sometimes wonder how bad my accent sounds or how far Turkish has progressed since the last time I've used it fluently.
Madam, am I making any sense..? Do you understand what I'm trying to say???... sorry
Of course you're making sense! And this is an excellent insight about the poem. It's really good to have so many contributors to the blog who are bilingual or, in your case, trilingual, and who can explain to the rest of us how the poet really feels.
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