Poems From Other Cultures and Traditions :: English Literature

Poems From Other Cultures and TraditionsFrom Search For My Tongue Tatamkhulu Afrika, Maqabane (1994)When you read this metrical composition, bear in mind that nomenclature and the use of themother barbarism (our own language, the one we were brought up speaking) be very important to any individual. We all take it for granted thatwe slew use our language if we live whither we were born. We dont even throw to think round it. But when you go to live in a nonher(prenominal) country youhave to learn another language, and it can be very confusing. The useof another language, one that is not your own, often functions on anemotional level. Also, after a while you start mixing the twolanguages. This is the problem faced by the speaker in this excerpt.Those of you who were not originally English speaking ordain recognisethe predicament expressed in this excerptRead the poem once or twice. Go through it slowly after that, in yourmind relating the use of language ( clapper) to the physio logical tongue.Some of you will, of course, recognise and sympathize the Gujerati inthe centre of the extract. For some of you this will be your mothertongue But most of you will be unable to decode it.So there will be many different reactions to reading this poem. I wishI were present to hear these reactionsPoint of viewhither we have a first-person speaker addressing you. There appears tobe a parley going on, as the you has just asked the questionthat prompts the rest of the poem. A communication is appropriate for apoem on language and communication.Grasping the dilemmaImagine you had two physical tongues in your mouth. Thats how Bhattasks the listener to perceive the problem. We unconsciously relatelanguage to the tongue. How often have we give tongue to to people, Have youlost your tongue? when they fail to give us an answer or when theyremain unsounded? Thats because the tongue is one of the crucial organswe use when speaking.The speaker here has taken a new slant on the question and has saidher tongue has indeed been lost, but she means her mother language hasbeen lost, not her physical tongue.The extended metaphorNotice as you read and get the poem that the whole extract builds onan extended metaphor - the physical tongue as a metaphor for language.The idea of having two essential tongues (of course the speaker meanslanguages) in your mouth provides a well-knit physical equivalent of thediscomfort felt by someone run in a foreign languageenvironment.The nature of this discomfort if lucubrate in lines 5-6.