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Assessment Piece Two
Cultural Poems
At first glance, the poems “Blessing” and “Limbo” seem like two unrelated ordinary poems. Beneath the titles are hidden meanings to the poems that one can compare in the categories of Meaning/purpose, Language and Structure.
Imtiaz Dharker, the poet of “Blessing”, wrote the poem to show how valuable water is. It somewhat creates a message to say not to waste water. In some countries, water is not vastly available and the inhabitants suffer because of this. Water is a dream for them and when it does come, it goes as a short lived blessing. Water is substantial.
Similarly, Edward Kamau Brathwaite – poet of “Limbo” — although not as obviously, touches on how we should be grateful for our wellbeing. The poem is about African slaves onboard a cargo. Onboard this ship, they are ill-treated, but still manage to remain mentally strong and occupy their time with a game they created called “Limbo”. The poem displays their thoughts and also their feelings to some extent.
The harshness of the conditions people had to live in are emphasised on two different occasions.
There are many variations of language techniques present in “Blessing”. Words such as “silver” and “Blessing” featured in the poem are ambiguous. “Silver” is used to describe the appearance of the splashing water, while it can also mean something valuable like gold. The word “Blessing” is also used in association with water and can be used in a religious context. Moreover, water can be used in a religious act, as if to purify someone or make them better. An example of this is baptism.
Another form of language is the use of personification. The water is seen as the voice of a “kindly god”. And object such as water put to life in the poem in a spiritual modus.
Furthermore, an additional language device is imagery. The poet provides a list of things to aid the reader gain a better understanding of how life was for the people and creates a clearer image.
Likewise, Brathwaite uses ambiguity within his poetry; this is evident with the word “Limbo”. Just the same as “Blessing”, the title has a religious meaning. The term Limbo means to go to neither Hell of Heaven when an individual pass away, literally in the middle. Another meaning is when one is indecisive and cannot choose from two options.
A distinct example of ambiguity is the word “stick”. Not only is the stick a reference of the stick used in limbo for dancing, but it is a hint towards the sticks that those in command used to beat the slaves. “Dark” could mean darkness metaphorically as in mood and physically. It could also refer to themselves — dark, coloured people.
Unlike “Blessing”, Brathwaite included onomatopoeia into his work. The phrase “drum stick knock” relates to the sounds on the ship. This goes the same with “whip”. Although the slaves could not see much through the darkness, they could hear many things. This was especially with some sounds when they were beaten.
Instead of using lists to use imagery, the poet for “Limbo” uses words such as the following to create imagery. Limbo is a well known dance, so the imagery is that of slaves