Section B · Anthology PoetrySujata Bhatt · Contemporary
Search for My Tongue
Sujata Bhatt · Edexcel IGCSE anthology poem · 30-mark comparison question · Poems provided in the exam.
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Watch first — Mrs Rumsey
Mrs Rumsey · Edexcel IGCSE AnthologyAnalysis of Search for My Tongue
Key analysis
⚡ Section B — 30-mark comparison: AO2 (analyse language, form, structure) + AO3 (compare two poems throughout — not one then the other). Both poems are given in the exam. Quote precisely and explain the effect of specific word choices.
Themes
Bilingualism and cultural identity
The fear of losing one's mother tongue (culture)
The resilience of cultural identity
Belonging and displacement
Language as part of the self
Form & Structure
Three sections: English, Gujerati (transliterated), English — the structure enacts the poem's argument
The Gujerati script's visual intrusion into the English text is itself a statement about the mother tongue's persistence
Extended metaphor: the tongue as a plant that blossoms in dreams
The tone shifts from anxious questioning to triumphant assertion at the end
Direct address — "you" — implicates the reader in the speaker's dilemma
Key quotes to memorise
"You ask me what I mean / by saying I have lost my tongue" — direct address, sets up the dilemma
"I ask you, what would you do / if you had two tongues in your mouth" — rhetorical question
"the bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth, / it pushes, / the bud opens" — the tongue flowers in a dream
"it blossoms out of my mouth" — triumphant final image of the mother tongue returning
"Every time I think I've forgotten, / I think I've lost the mother tongue, / it blossoms out of my mouth"
Exam questions — 2 questions · 17 marks
1 markGujerati in the poem
Why does Bhatt insert the Gujerati script and transliteration into the middle of the poem?
A To show off her bilingualism to readers
B The visual intrusion of the Gujerati text enacts the poem's argument — the mother tongue literally pushes into and displaces the English text, just as it pushes back in the speaker's dream
C She includes it to help Gujerati-speaking readers understand the poem
D She includes it because she could not translate that section adequately
15 marksComparison paragraphSection B style
Write two comparative paragraphs exploring how Search for My Tongue and Half-Caste both use form and language to explore issues of cultural identity and belonging.
Hint: Compare throughout. Cover: how both poets use form to enact identity + metaphors each uses + language/tone + key difference.