The poem “Presents from my aunts in Pakistan” is about a half English, half Pakistani Girl who was born in Pakistan and brought up in England. Her Aunts in Pakistan sent her some traditional Pakistani clothes. In private she loves the clothes but she doest what to show her friends because she thinks that her friend won’t like them. The poets’ thoughts and feelings change throughout the poem. In lines 1-19 the girl is happy and grateful “glistening like an orange split open” (line 4) this is an optimistic image, the presents seem to be exhilarating, stunning and full of assurance. In lines 20-26 the girl feels she can’t wear these clothes because she is “half-English, unlike Aunt Jamila.”(Lines 25 and 26).
Lines 27-38 show two sides to her. One side by her saying “I wanted my parent’s camel skin lamp.” (Line 27) where she is attracted to but at the same time repelled from “to consider the cruelty” (line 29) but then in line 32 back to attracted to the lamp “to marvel at the colours” (line 32). Lines 40-44 is about her in her bed room trying to show off her clothes but her friend isn’t impressed “asked to see my weekend clothes.” (Line 42-43) Lines 50-end are meant to be about the girl searching from somewhere she belongs “And I was there with no fixed nationality” she doesn’t believe that she belongs to any fixed nationality. “Staring through the fret work” (line 68) she is too far away from the re-establishing Pakistan.
There seems to be no set structural form to this poem. The stanzas are split up in which ever way the poet feels like in broken rhythm. The poem is written in free verse so there is no rhyme. The use of similes and metaphors are mostly used in lines (lines 1-39) where the content is describing how beautiful the clothes are. The poet uses colours and fruit to enforce a mood across to the reader of the poem. I liked this poem because of the way she used colours and fruit to show the way in which the girl in the poem is feeling. I also liked how she describes the all the clothes.
Charlotte O’Neil’s Song The poem Charlotte O’Neil’s Song is about a girl who is a servant in a mansion. She talks about her life “scrubbed………scrapped………washed………” and how she is getting bored of doing everything. The girl Charlotte O’Neil, according to ships records, is a 17-year-old girl sailing to New Zealand to be a general servant in a rich mans home. At the end she says “I won’t be there anymore.” and it seems she slams the door and she’s gone. The mood of this poem is quite anger at the beginning and tired of doing the same job day in day out and at the end she glad she gone “but know you’re on your own my dear.” The structure to this poem is not set up in stanzas with set syllables and number of lines. The rhyme starts of steady but the further you go into the poem the angrier she gets and the more lose the rhymes scheme goes.
There are no similies or metaphors because charlotte is trying to keep you focused on what she’s saying so you won’t be distracted by the comparisons making what she has gone through less graphic. I like this poem because there are no adjectives in the poem so it looks a little bare in places but she keeps it tighter by increasing the anger and letting the rhyme scheme slip to show this. I also liked the way in which she concluded the piece by saying “and you can open your own front door. Nothings changed This poem is about the apartheid in district six, Cape Town, Africa. A man is walking through the field the fields just out side of dictrict six. He then walks into district six “no board says it is, but my feet know” he walks up to a “white ‘s only Inn” and says there’s a “guard at the gatepost” to hold the true Africans out.
The second half of the poem is describes the way he’s feeling about the whites that are “better” than him .he walks up to the window and without out looking already knows what he’s going to see. “Before I see them, there will be crush ice white glass” then he takes us down the street to “working mans” he backs away from the window and has a burning desire to smash the clear panes in any way which he can. The poet feeling and thoughts develop as the significantly during the course of the poem.
From when the poem begins he’s walking thought the fields and although the terrain is harsh and “hard” he feels comfortable there. He then walks down into district six and his anger begins to be revealed. Talks about his hands, bones, lungs and “hot, white inwards turning anger of my eyes.” This surggests that he is beginning he is angry a bit but as the poem progresses the anger enhances with it. The three poems are about different cultures. I liked the nothings changed poem because it has the most effect on me. The way in which the poet unravels the plot gradually shows how much nothing has changed.
