Comparing poems about identity Essay

In this essay I allow for be comparing two poems about identity-Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan by Moniza Alvi and welch Landscape by R.S. doubting Thomas. welsh Landscape was written in approximately 1963. Its a poem of dismay Thomas is dire about what is happening to his country. Although he has an obvious love for his country, in Welsh Landscape this is almost inscrut sufficient by Thomass determineings of bitterness and frustration at whats happened to the once infamous landscape, write up and language of Wales. Thomas wishes that Wales would just move forward and embrace its heroic noncurrent, just in his eyeball this just isnt happening.Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan was written in the late 20th century. Its also a poem of despair- plainly in a different way. Thirteen-year-old Moniza Alvi isnt angry, but shes uncomfortable where she is and wishes that she could fit in. Shed give anything for that. She wishes desperately that she could feel more at home and ordina ry in Britain, where shes lived often all her life, but she cant. She cant reconcile her two cultures-Pakistani and English-and shes confused and shake up about this. Moniza Alvi wonders why she cant fit in and feels utterly trapped. This is like Thomass poem he feels that his country is trapped in the midst of two cultures-English and Welsh-too. Both Alvi and Thomas feel that theyve exclusively lost their identities.Both poets explore their culture in these poems. Theyre both proud of many aspects of their cultures, but feel that a lot needs to be done to enable them to live in their creative thinker world.RS Thomas seems angry. He talks about how in Wales you cannot live in the present and how theres only the past. Hes angry that that over the years, the Wales he knows and loved has crumbled away. It could have been avoided.Thomas directly addresses his reader when he comments that You cannot live in the present. Here, hes saying that this is the equal for everybody in Wales its unavoidable.Although you can tell that Thomas is proud of his culture (he talks about the sinless rivers and the soft consonants) he believes that a more negative atmosphere has now interpreted over his country. He believes that Wales should remain purely Welsh, and anybody who defies that is inbreeding.Overall, I think that RS Thomas is trying to say that we should appreciate Wales but be conscious of its violent past and try to move on from that-instead of being trapped between the past and present. At the moment, people just arent moving on.Moniza Alvi, on the other hand, feels lost. Shes confused. She longs to be able to wear her glistening, satin-silken, embossed clothing, but cant fee comfortable in them. My apparel clung to me and I was aflame, she says. Aflame implies that when she wears these clothes, she feels embarrassed and angry that she doesnt look right. Costume suggests that these dont feel like her ordinary clothes its like shes trying to be something that sh es not.However, although she longs for dungaree and corduroy (ordinary, plain British clothes) she doesnt describe them with anywhere near as much enthusiasm. Theyre plain, even if they are comfortable, and here we see that Moniza Alvi is again torn between her two cultures. Shes greedy of her Aunt Jamila, who can Rise up out of its fire, half English. She feels that she cant do this at all. She simply wants to be accepted for who she is. She loves her Pakistani clothing-it looks radiant in her wardrobe-but on her, it just doesnt look right. She talks about her mothers cherished jewellery which was stolen from her car. The jewellery, like her, was stolen from its roots-now itll never be cherished in the same way again.She then goes on to discuss the camel-skin lamp. Just like her, the camel-skin lamp has been taken out of its own culture and put somewhere else. She says that she considers its cruelty-we see here that the lamp is a allegory for herself. She feels that she has been treated cruelly when she was taken out of her culture and put somewhere else-and shes having difficult transaction with it.Ever since she left Pakistan, shes felt out of place. On the journey to England, Moniza Alvi says that prickly heat had me screech on the way-her trek to England even started off on the wrong foot. She ended up in a cot-this implies that as soon as she arrived in England she was completely trapped. She then immediately anchor myself alone, playing with a tin boat. Shes already lost, and the tin boat insinuates that she already wants to cut-rate sale back home. She just wants to feel right where she is she doesnt have an identity. Here, we see a contrast between the two poems that Im studying-brittle as it is, at least RS Thomas has an identity.The mood throughout Welsh landscape is that of frustration. RS Thomas is irritated because he sees the potential in Wales-the constant noisy tractor and the hum of the utensil which implies that work in Wales is indeed moving forward. He sees the beauty of Wales in the immaculate rivers and the wild sky, but is angry that people arent willing to maintain this beauty in other aspects of Wales-the wind bitten towers and castles and, mouldering quarries and mines.Hes frustrated that people arent maintaining the areas that his country has always been famous for. He feels that hes been affected unnecessarily-if the Welsh people did what in his eyes are their duties, he wouldnt be in this situation. Hes extremely aggravated that this has been allowed to happen and that Wales reputation and condition is continuing to deteriorate. Hes worried that eventually, Wales wont even have its soft consonants and, wind-bitten towers and castles to its name-theyll be allowed to die out.