Stanza by Stanza Analysis of the Blessing

'Blessing' has 4 stanzas of varying length, perhaps a reflection of the speaker's reaction
to the scene they enter.

Stanza 1

Two distinct lines, complete sentences.

The first line refers to the effect of the climate on human skin - this is India where the
sun can be cruel and baking hot. So the harsh, dry sounds of the hard k following one
after another reinforce the feeling of the skin being scorched

A pod holds seeds and often the dry warmth helps set the seeds free but here the
sense is not of freedom but of limitation, even danger. Without moisture from water,
human skin might quickly dry and shrivel up and start to crack, like dry earth.

The second line drives home the hard fact. In this part of the world, it is always a
struggle to find water, the climate is so dry and hot. That word never resonates
throughout the whole poem.

Stanza 2

Four lines, a single sentence, three commas telling the reader to slow down a little, that
opening verb imagine, inviting the reader to get closer via the mind.

There is just a single drop splashing into an empty tin mug, transformed metaphorically
into a voice of a god, any god, who has life-giving qualities.

Stanza 3

Eleven lines, three complete sentences, an example of what might be or what has gone
before.
From the drip to the gush. Here is an accident, a result of government/council neglect
perhaps. Or lack of funding for repair. A pipe bursts and water turns into a precious
metal, silver, which is also a colour flowing to meet the tongues, the roaring tongues of
a good many people.

They won't miss this opportunity. Water flows, people flow...a congregation...is that a
reference to religion? Is this the equivalent of a church gathering, people meeting to
worship the water god?

They bring anything to hand in order to capture the precious water. To store some for
later. Poor people have to act immediately or it may be too late; the water has to be
contained.

Stanza 4

Note the comma at the end of stanza 3, so a slight pause for the reader before
discovering that the naked children are going a bit bonkers in the hot sun, and why not,
for the pipe has burst and brought a blessing of water...cool and fresh and flowing over
their bodies, over their small bones.

How apt to end the poem with children, thin children, who are the future of the slum
nevertheless, of that poor community, who benefit most from this outpouring. The voice
of that god is now singing and for the time being at least, all is well in Dharavi.

Simile, Metaphor and Literary Devices in Blessing

Alliteration

When words beginning with the same consonants are close together in a line they are
alliterative. This adds texture to the sounds:

small splash...flow has found...screaming in the liquid sun...polished to perfection

Assonance

When words close together in a line have similar-sounding vowels:

Imagine the drip of it...in a tin...sudden rush...fortune. The municipal...tongues.
From...frantic hands...blessing sings...over their small bones.

Enjambment

If there is no punctuation at the end of a line and it runs straight into the next,
maintaining the sense:

so lines 4-5...echo/in a tin mug,

lines 7-8 rush/of fortune.

lines 9-10 and 10-11 and 12-13 and 13-14 and 18-19 and 22-23.

Enjambment helps keep the pace moving and is part of the syntactical structure.

Metaphor

In line 6...the voice of a kindly god...is a metaphor for the echo of the drip in the tin mug.

In line 9...silver crashes to the ground...is a metaphor for the water. Silver is both
valueable as a precious metal and is also a colour.

Oxymoron

When a phrase contains contradictory terms, so:

In line 19...liquid sun...suggests the sun is a fluid, is watery.

Personification

If a non-human object or thing is given human traits or characteristics:

In line 6...the voice of a kindly god...in line 10...the flow has found...in line 11... a roar of
tongues.

Simile

The first line compares the skin to a pod, using the word like...The skin cracks like a pod

Exam question: