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Literary Analysis Of Blessing By Imtiaz Dharker

Decent Essays

The poem, “Blessing” by Imtiaz Dharker, shows what life would be like without water. It is so special that it is like a “kindly god”. The author uses various literacy devices to convey her subject.

The poem opens with the statement “there is never enough water”, sharply piercing the readers with a reality that lacks water. The poet wants us to stop and imagine just for a second what it would be like without water, and realise how much we are dependent on this “god”. She then draws a scene of what it would be like when this “kindly god” enters into the water-deprived reality. They are filled with euphoria, elated that such a blessing has entered into their lives. The contrast between these two scenes, the two emotions of despair and elation …show more content…

The author applies vivid verbs like “crack” and “crashes” to emphasize the following technique. For example, the vivid verb “crack” in the quote “the skin cracks like a pod” aids the simile “like a pod” in describing the pod drying out and “cracking” so loudly that we can hear it happening right next to our ears. Another example of a vivid verb is “crashes” in the quote “The municiple pipe bursts, silver crashes to the ground...”. The vivid verb helps the visual imagery of water “bursting” out of the pipe in “crashing” onto the ground like the powerful, fierce “voice of a...god”. The sibilance in “the small splash” vibrates in our minds as we hear the “drip of [water]” splish-splashing into the “tin mug”. The drop of water is so small that Dharker uses the onomatopoeia of “echo” to convey what it sounds like when the drop of water hits the bottom of the tin mug. The sound bounces off the walls of the mug it is held captive in. It also conveys that water is scarce that only a drop can be found to fill an entire tin mug. The heavy sibilance in “sometimes, the sudden rush of fortune” imitates the roar of water as it crashes and smashes onto the streets. This show of power of water exhibits that it can really be like a “god”. It is no wonder that a the religious diction of “congregation” is used to depict the people that comes out to worship this deity – “roar of tongues” to sing hymns to glorify this divine being.

In addition to descriptive and language techniques, Dharker also uses structure to communicate with her readers about the subject of water. She uses enjambment in stanza two to copy the movement of the drop of water on its way to the bottom of the mug. Additionally, she applies enjambent in stanza three to mimic the water bursts out of the pipe and flows along the

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