Search For My Tongue

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Search for My Tongue- Sujatta Bhatt

What is it about?

This poem explores the ambiguity of the word "Tongue", referring to:

  • The physical organ that we as humans, use to speak
  • The actual language that we speak with it

 Using "tongue" for the word "speech" is an example of metonymy

The ambiguity of the text is expressed through Sujatta Bhatt saying that she has "lost her tongue" referring not to the idea of not knowing what to say but instead the idea of having lost her mother tongue. The poem represents people fearing that they may have lost their ability to speak up for themselves and be representative of their culture. 

The poem theme relies heavily on her identity, with the imagery of two tongues. The mother tongue is the first language and the second tongue is the dominant language of the place where you live. Suggesting again, through imagery that if you move to place where the language is different to your mother language that the mother tongue will "rot and die in your mouth"

Lines 15-21 are written in Gujarati, and phonetically written in English spelling to help pronounciate the sounds. The final verse then translates the gujarati into the English language. 

The final section uses imagery again, through…

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