How does the poet use language and imagery to convey the struggle between mother tongue and the adopted language in 'Search for My Tongue'? Provide one example from the poem.
Question
How does the poet use language and imagery to convey the struggle between mother tongue and the adopted language in 'Search for My Tongue'? Provide one example from the poem.
Solution
In the poem 'Search for My Tongue', the poet Sujata Bhatt uses language and imagery to convey the struggle between her mother tongue (Gujarati) and the adopted language (English).
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Use of Language: Bhatt uses two languages in the poem - English and Gujarati. The first part of the poem is in English, which represents the adopted language. The middle part of the poem is a Gujarati poem, written in the Gujarati script, which represents the mother tongue. The final part of the poem is the English translation of the Gujarati poem. This use of two languages in the poem symbolizes the struggle between the mother tongue and the adopted language.
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Use of Imagery: Bhatt uses the metaphor of the tongue to represent language. She describes her mother tongue as if it were a living thing that can be lost and then grow back. For example, in the lines "It grows back, a stump of a shoot grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins", the poet uses vivid imagery to describe the regrowth of her mother tongue. This metaphor and the associated imagery convey the idea that even though the mother tongue may be forgotten or suppressed due to the use of the adopted language, it is not lost and can grow back.
So, through the use of language and imagery, the poet effectively conveys the struggle between the mother tongue and the adopted language in 'Search for My Tongue'.
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