Search For my Tongue - Sujata Bhatt

Summary:

The title suggests that the speaker is in search of her identity.
The speaker’s motivation is the fact that she knew she wasn’t the only one to feel this way.
The last stanza is about acceptance.
She uses the word tongue in three different ways- firstly as her physical tongue, then as the languages, she speaks and finally as a symbol of her personal identity and Indian culture.
Three stanzas- middle stanza in Gujarati which visualises how her mother tongue is flooding back. The speaker develops with the use of her native language in the middle of the poem.

The poet writes about losing her tongue because she always speaks in her foreign language.

First-person narrative- personalised linguistics throughout.
Free-verse- no end-line rhymes. Lack of rhyme and a more conversational/ serious tone. This helps emphasise that she may be lost and the verse in between highlights how two parts of her have intertwined.
The lack of meter and consistency mirrors her feelings of uncertainty.
“You”; “I ask you”- direct address engages the reader immediately. The writer invites the reader to understand her situation and empathise.
“Rot, rot and die”- the word “rot” is repeated here emphasises her fear of losing her mother tongue/ her first language.
“But overnight while I dream”- turning point(volta) indicates a triumphant tone.
“It grows back,”- the comma here is to emphasise her growth as a person. It is there so that the reader can reflect on the following phrase.
“Grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins”- the triad here helps emphasise her growth in confidence and her acceptance of the languages she speaks.

Symbolism helps emphasise the growth of the author in this poem. It helps highlight her confidence and acceptance of her culture by personifying the flower.
Two tongues in your mouth”- the metaphor here stresses the difficulty and discomfort in speaking two languages.
“Rot, rot and die”- imagery of death (loss of the first language).
The word “grows” is a direct contrast of the imagery of death in the previous stanza.
“Stump”; “shoot”; “veins”; “bud”; “blossoms”- floral imagery of life help provide further contrast to imagery of death. It also helps describe the beauty of her first language.
“It blossoms out of my mouth”- effective imagery of nature helps illustrate her growing confidence. It highlights how the poet grew up in another culture and how she has grown as a writer.

The language used is simple to appeal to a variety of audiences.
“What would you do”- invites the reader to consider her situation.
“Lost my tongue”- an idiom which is represented as an extended metaphor.
“Two tongues”- alliteration to emphasise the difficulty in speaking two languages.
“Mother tongue”; “foreign tongue”- contrast here between her “mother tongue” which closely links to her identity and her “foreign tongue” which feels alien to her.
“Your mother tongue would rot”- strong personification emphasises the slow death of her mother tongue.
“Spit it out”- harsh consonant sounds mirror the struggle/ fight between the two languages she speaks. It also reflects the disgust she felt when losing her original language.
Different language for symbolic effect. It is there to emphasise her culture and to show that both languages can co-exist and intertwine. The translation is there for a non-Gujarati speaker to grasp her experience as closely as possible.
Anaphora of the word “grows”- helps highlights her growing confidence.
“Ties the other tongue in knots”- metaphor, plosives help emphasise the strength of her mother tongue and how it has overpowered her foreign language as it is deeply embedded in her (it is her roots- her cultural heritage and no foreign language can compete with that). “It pushes the other tongue aside”- a personification

The poem helps the reader empathise with the difficulties that come with speaking two different languages of two different cultures.