How does the poet create interesting characters in ‘Sings Song’? BY Mahatma’s The poet, Dally Anagram was born in Bradford, 1966 and comes from an Indian descent. His poetry mostly explores those who experience first generation immigrants to Britain and those of their children and grandchildren. He mostly uses language and spelling that reflects ‘Bungles’; English language first spoken by Punjabi. In this poem he attempts to describe the life of a ‘romantic’ Punjabi couple who lives and works in their dads shop.
He tries to represent the community experiences as overheating’ and by doing so he creates interesting characters for the reader to experience by language and attitudes towards others and life. The form and structure of the poem is a song which is stated in the title. We can infer this as the narrator has a strong lyrical voice and the poem is filled with rhyme, rhythm and repetition to create a sense of a chorus. The reader is able to experience many different stanza patterns finishing In four stanzas that reveal a conversation between the two speakers.
The fact that the poet uses this poem as a Eng suggests the two characters are somewhat different than others. The use of this song reveals Interesting characters as It straightaway portrays the type of characters which will be presented in the poem; happy and exciting characters. Anagram also uses language to portray the interesting characters presented in the poem. Firstly, sound is created especially by the rhythmic and alliterative effect by the increase numbers of ‘d’ and V sounds in the song. The use of ‘e’ for example in ‘chapatti’ and ‘chutney tends to dominate the song as ‘Punish’ tone is revealed.
The SE of rhyme gives a swing to the poem and speeds up the meter for example in the 2nd stanza the speak states in separate lines ‘chutney and Pitney. However towards the end of the poem In the stanzas set at night, the rhyme gradually disappears and the meter slows down. It matches the Intimate feeling of the most affectionate moment of the poem and for the couple. The use of the word ‘moon’ and the repetition of ;from del stool each night’ Is quite romantic for the reader as we are able to identify the sexual tension between the two speakers as they appear to come to kook at the moon ‘each’ night.
Therefore, the reader gains interest to see such ‘loved up’ characters through the use of sound in the poem. Anagram also uses imagery very effectively in the poem as he uses the main speaker to describe her wife in a way which we would not expect. Firstly even though the speaker describes her to have tiny eyes ova a gun’ and tummy ova a teddy which does not create an attractive Imagery his love for her is clearly shown. These two descriptions also tells us a lot about his ‘bride’ by using the two comparisons of ‘gun’ ND teddy.
The ‘guns’ shows her assertive side but the teddy suggests affection and softness. The use of the language In ‘all del colors of Punjabi’ draws an Idea of colorful language but also that behind the stereotype of the Indian immigrant, there interest towards the two characters as the man seems to love his bride no matter how unattractive she but due to her individual self which is revealed through Angora’s use of imagery. The speakers affect on the reader is also reflected by his attitude towards others.
For example in the first stanza it is clearly shown that the speaker dislikes working in his dads shop for 12 hours everyday. He complains how ‘he vent me not to have break and so he ‘do did lock when ‘nobody in’. The second stanza starts off straight away with ‘coos up did stairs is my newly bride’. Here the speaker clearly is very fond and proud of his new wife which is clarified by the use of the pronoun ‘my. The fact he uses this suggests that he is showing off his new wife but she belongs to him and no- one else.
The speaker clearly does not respect his dad as he chooses to spend time tit his wife then take care of his family business. The speaker also does not care about the shoppers as all they do is complain which is revealed in two stanzas. He doesn’t really do his Job properly as the shoppers are always complaining for example they state ‘did worst Indian shop’. The fact the shoppers state ‘Indian shop’ could allude to the fact that the setting of which the characters live in was very diverse. Therefore, his attitude towards others as a whole is that he doesn’t care for all he wants is to be with his wife.
It is quite interesting for the reader that the main speaker seems so proud of his wife even after the way she acts. The main character itself seems cultural as he has ‘chapatti’ and his dad still controls him by making him run his own shop. However his wife is very different which is indicated as the speaker states she wears ‘a Tartan scare’ and has a ‘red crew cut’. The fact that she dresses up so modernism and he is k with it could reveal how much he loves her no matter how she dresses especially when living in a cultural family.
His ‘bride’ also acts very rudely indirectly towards her husband as she swears at his mum, makes fun of his dad and goes on a dating website which is revealed when he states she is ‘netting two cat on her Sikh lover website’. His sadness is shown however he seems to ignore it soon after as he states proudly ‘my bride’ in the next stanza. Therefore, the fact he is easily able to do this reveals the interesting side of his character and his wife’s. In conclusion, Dahlia Anagram creates two very interesting character through structure of the poem and language to reveal attitudes presented.
