Us – Zaffar Kunial (2018) – Knowledge Organiser
Context (AO3)
Title - The title of Kunial’s poem is simple but
has many meanings. At one level, it is
referring to a personal relationship but it also
refers to all of us and how we can work
together to bridge our differences.
Modern society – In this poem, Kunial
stresses how we all need to work as a group
to become more unified and become more
tolerant of people from diverse backgrounds.
Language, form and structure
Form and structure: The poem is divided
into 8 stanzas with no set rhyme scheme.
This allows many of the stanzas to flow into
one another mimicking the motion of the
ocean and showing how we can come
together or come apart.
Metaphor: Kunial uses a number of
metaphors such as ‘as if, from one coast, you
could reach out to/the next’ to show how we
can, if we try, join together move and make
connections between seemingly impossible
things.
Use of personal pronouns: Kunial uses
personal pronouns such as ‘us’, ‘we’ and ‘I’ to
engage the reader and ensure that we feel
personally involved and more likely to take his
messages seriously.
Themes
Belonging: This is a strong theme in the
poem as Kunial accepts that we are all
different but is hopeful that we can all come
together and feel like we belong. He stresses
that the ‘us’ is all of us and that we need to
work together as we all belong on the same
planet.
Poems for comparison
We Refugees – Benjamin Zephaniah (2000).
Like Kunial, Zephaniah’s speaker addresses
the reader directly and uses personal
pronouns to discuss the issues of belonging
and identity as well as the need to come
together as humans to care about each other.
Poet’s life – Kunial was born in Birmingham.
His mother is English, and his father is
Pakistani. His poetry often refers to identity
and cultural heritage. He also talks about the
nature of language and how it can be used to
convey a number of different meanings and
nuances. His poem ‘Hill Speak’ refers to the
dialect his father spoke and how he wants to
understand it to understand his father’s life.
Imagery: There is a lexical field of sea,
coasts and islands running through the entire
poem. The mention of ‘undulations’ in the
first line sets up the strong image of waves
and the overall structure of the poem
supports this natural rhythm of the waves.
Tone: The tone is very personal and
colloquial in places. The speaker directly
addresses the reader to keep them involved
and to follow his train of thought as well as
his concerns about the future.
Enjambement and Caesura: Kunial uses
lots of enjambement to ensure that the pace
of the poem is maintained, and the reader is
able to follow his thoughts and feelings in a
natural and simple way.
Relationships: In the early part of the poem,
Kunial is talking about his own, personal
relationships but the theme widens as he talks
about our relationships with the rest of
humankind as well as with each other and
God.
Peckham Rye Lane – Amy Blakemore
(2007). Blakemore’s poem also uses
enjambement to mimic the ebb and flow of
her thoughts and journey. Whereas Kunial
wants to see more unity and people
overcoming their differences, Blakemore’s
poem describes the different ages and
cultures all coming together in one London
road.
Poem
If you ask me, us takes in undulations –
each wave in the sea, all insides compressed –
as if, from one coast, you could reach out to
the next; and maybe it’s a Midlands thing
but when I was young, us equally meant me,
says the one, ‘Oi, you, tell us where yer from’;
and the way supporters share the one fate –
I, being one, am Liverpool no less –
cresting the Mexican wave of we or us,
a shore-like state, two places at once, God
knows what’s in it; and, at opposite ends
my heart’s sunk at separations of us.
When it comes to us, colour me unsure.
Something in me, or it, has failed the course.
I’d love to think I could stretch to it – us –
but the waves therein are too wide for words.
I hope you get, here, where I’m coming from.
I hope you’re with me on this – between love
and loss – where I’d give myself away, stranded
as if the universe is a matter of one stress.
Us. I hope, from here on, I can say it
and though far-fetched, it won’t be too far wrong.
Analysis
The first stanza starts with a colloquialism
– ‘if you ask me’ and then begins imagery
of oceans with ‘undulations’ and ‘waves’
and how the motion between all of the
different coasts brings us together.
The use of enjambement to join up the
metaphor further emphasises the image of
reaching across boundaries and borders.
The speaker then talks about the meaning
of us and how it can mean something
personal – ‘us equally meant me’. He then
extends the meaning to football as all
supporters watch the same sport which
unites the opposing teams. He continues
with the ocean imagery by referring to the
Mexican wave within the stadium which
unites them in a collective movement.
The speaker uses alliteration ‘shore-like
state’ to extend the idea of being physically
separated from someone.
The next two stanzas see the speaker
address someone directly ‘ when it comes
to us’ and express his concerns about how
they can become an ‘us’ as they are far
apart. It is also the first time that ‘us’ has
not been in italics which could indicate that
this is a more personal and specific ‘us’.
He expresses his concerns – ‘colour me
unsure’ but there is some optimism as he
says how ‘I’d love to think’. The
enjambement between these two stanzas
also brings the ideas together and helps us
to see how it is possible to bring
everything together.
The use of anaphora with the phrase ‘I
hope’ again shows optimism for the future
and how their love can bring them
together.
The last two stanzas are broader in the use
of the word ‘us’. Kunial is referring to all of
us. By referring to the ‘universe’ and ‘Us’
– Kunial is extending his personal idea of
us to all humankind and how we should all
work to join together and that this isn’t a
‘fair-fetched’ idea.