Month: April 2015

1. The first stanza foreshadows Vaudevue death as she’s wondering around on a previous battlefield in Austerlitz. The setting is thought to be a cold night where the girl is supposedly reminiscing on past events. By the poet making the scene at midnight with the girl all alone in an area full of history of conflict and war it shows vulnerability of her position as most deaths happen in open space through the night. ‘She is sitting alone on a round flat stone’ shows that she’s exposed to any attack as she’s not conscious about the surroundings around her.

2. In the second stanza there is a dialogue where the enemy attacker has coded the weapon which strike upon the target being Vaudevue as ‘M.L.5’ In the world we live today there hasn’t been a weapon to be recognized as ‘M.L.5′ and let alone to be able to dismantle and disable a person. It shows that the poem is set in the future as this sort of attack is not prone as for today.

3. Repitition- Come on, come back’ the repitition there creates sadness as both the vulnerable girl and the enemy sentinel both repeat the same lyrics though they’re fighting against each other. It is sad that the same kind fight each other as we share the same qualities.

How has the poet presented the effects of conflict in the ‘’Right Word’’ through choices of language and structure?

The poem questions on how we see and label each other in the world. It talks about the stereotypes we use to judge each other at first sight. The poet Imtiaz Dharker is a Pakistani born who grew up in Glasgow and faced difficulty into being accepted into her community. Generally, Immigrants and foreigners moving into new countries always find injustice from the natives which makes it harder to settle in as you always have the doubt that the community and the people you are around with are trustworthy.

With Dharker coming from a Pakistani background which is predominately Islamic the events of 9/11 proved to be devastating for the world but certainly for the Islamic people. Prejudice was but in place to discriminate innocent Muslims in every region of the western world. The trust was broken between one another, it’s almost like the bond between nations were separated. Certain Islamics are sensitive about this likewise Imtiaz Dharker shows her discontent of global social issues in her poetry.

The poem is describing a single event with precise accuracy, wherby the poem is built around the single image of a someone standing outside a door. Each stanza is broken down to 3 lines where Imtiaz is having a conversation with herself fully conscious of who could standing outside.