Search for My Tongue
Encyclopedia
Search for My Tongue is a poem by Sujata Bhatt
. The poem is studied in England as part of the AQA Anthology
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"I have always thought of myself as an Indian who is outside India," the writer has said in an interview, stating that her language is the deepest layer of her identity.
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The poem is about how although the poet has moved to another country and no longer needs her original language, she still reminisces about it and worries that she may lose her 'mother tongue'.
It is about how her original language feels unused and her new language she has picked up has taken over her 'mother' language.
However, when she sleeps, and dreams in Gujarati, she remembers her 'mother tongue' again.
Sujata Bhatt
Sujata Bhatt is an Indian poet, a native speaker of Gujarati.-Life and career:Bhatt was born in Ahmedabad, and brought up in Pune until 1968, when she emigrated to the United States with her family. She has an MFA from the University of Iowa, and for a time was writer-in-residence at the...
. The poem is studied in England as part of the AQA Anthology
AQA Anthology
The AQA Anthology is a collection of poems and short texts which are studied in English schools for GCSE English and English Literature, produced by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance...
.
"I have always thought of myself as an Indian who is outside India," the writer has said in an interview, stating that her language is the deepest layer of her identity.
Description
The poem is about personal and cultural identity and contains some Gujarati scriptGujarati script
The Gujarati script , which like all Nāgarī writing systems is strictly speaking an abugida rather than an alphabet, is used to write the Gujarati and Kutchi languages...
.
The poem is about how although the poet has moved to another country and no longer needs her original language, she still reminisces about it and worries that she may lose her 'mother tongue'.
It is about how her original language feels unused and her new language she has picked up has taken over her 'mother' language.
However, when she sleeps, and dreams in Gujarati, she remembers her 'mother tongue' again.