Poem Summaries Poetry from other cultures Key Definitions Language: the writer’s choice Form: Some poems adopt Limbo by Edward The poem is Braithwaite’s reflection on the experience of words and phrases and their specific forms/type of text e.g. Kamau Brathwaite of his ancestors transported from Africa to the Caribbean impact. When analysing poetry sonnets or narrative poems as slaves. consider the effect of specific words. Nothing’s Changed The poem shows the bitter feelings that Apartheid in by Tatamkhula Afrika South Africa caused and the poet’s feeling that Structure: the arrangement of Context: the circumstances ‘Nothing’s changed’. a poem. When analysing that form the setting for an poetry this could include event, statement, or idea. The Island Man by Grace This poem is about a man who lives in London but misses the repetition, punctuation, background. Nichols Caribbean Island where he grew up. Links to Nichols’ own Context line/stanza length or the experience as a woman born in Guyana but moved to England number and order of stanzas as a child. Blessing by Imtiaz This poem is about a slum on the outskirts of Mumbai in India Subject terminology: Dharker and the reaction of the local children when a water pipe bursts. Imagery – visually descriptive or figurative language, especially in a literary work. It helps you to imagine what is being described. Night of the Scorpion This poem is set in India and the narrator’s mother is bitten by a by Nissim Ezekiel scorpion. Concerned villagers rush to help her and she survives. Nothing’s changed Analyse - Examine something methodically and in detail, typically in order to explain and She is pleased that she was injured and not her children. Limbo interpret it. Technique - A way of carrying out a particular task. Language devices are techniques which Vultures by Chinua This poem is about the holocaust and compares the allow the writer to covey meaning (e.g. metaphors). Achebe Commandant of Bergen-Belsen (a concentration camp) to a Island Man vulture. Inference - an interpretation which goes beyond the literal information given.

Search for my This poem is about a speaker who is bilingual and describes it as Tongue by Sujata a battle between two cultures. Deduction - an understanding based on the evidence. Bhatt Blessing

Unrelated Incidents This poem is written in a Scottish dialect and details the Night of the Personification - the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to by Tom Leonard prejudice that some people may encounter due to their dialect. Scorpion something non-human. Hurricane Hits England Rhythm - The beat and movement of language (rise and fall, repetition and variation, change Not my Business by The poem is most likely set in Nigeria. The poet, Niyi Vultures of pitch, mix of syllables, melody of words). Niyi Osundare Osundare, used his poetry to object to the cruel dictatorship that ruled his country.He said, ‘African poets Rhyme - Words that sound alike, especially words that end in the same sound. have no choice but to be political in their work :‘You Search for my cannot keep quiet about the situation in the kind of Stanza - Group of lines in a poem that make up a single unit; like a paragraph in prose. countries we find ourselves in.’ Tongue Presents from my Aunts Free verse - poetry that does not rhyme or have a regular rhythm. Presents from my This poem focuses on the feelings of a teenage girl who in Pakistan Aunts in Pakistan by is caught between cultures, having a father Alliteration – Close repetition of consonant sounds, especially initial consonant sounds. Moniza Alvi from Pakistan and an English mother. Assonance – Close repetition of vowel sounds. Hurricane Hits This poem is about the clash of cultures between Guyana and England by Grace England. Nichols Not my business Refrain - A repeated line within a poem, similar to the chorus of a song. Unrelated Incidents