TO BE ABLE TO FIND, DESCRIBE OR EXPLAIN

THE USE OF POETIC LANGUAGE IN THE POEM

“SEARCH FOR MY TONGUE”

• Bronze: I can find the poetic language in

the poem.
• Silver: I can describe the poetic language
in the poem.
• Gold: I can explain the poetic language in
the poem.
"SEARCH FOR MY
TONGUE"
SUJATA BHATT
STARTER
1.Think about language and learning languages
2.In each of the four corners of the room, there is an A3 piece of paper 
3.Think of a way to link LANGUAGE with the 'thing' on each piece of
paper and write this down on the A3 sheet

Your choices are...

What would language be as an ANIMAL

What would language be as a BODY PART
What would language be as an INSTRUMENT/SOUND
What would language be in a SENSE? (choose one or use all five if
you're feeling really ambitious!)

What would YOU compare language to?

 “Search for My Tongue” was written by the poet Sujata Bhatt, who was
born in Gujarat, India, but immigrated to the United States with her
family when she was 12.
  “Search for My Tongue” combines English and Gujarati, Bhatt’s native
language, as it explores what it is like to be an immigrant in a new
culture, the pressures of assimilation, and the relationship between
language and identity.

The process of taking in and fully

understanding information or ideas.
SEARCH FOR MY TONGUE
• You ask me what I mean
by saying I have lost my tongue.
I ask you, what would you do
if you had two tongues in your mouth,
and lost the first one, the mother tongue,
and could not really know the other,
the foreign tongue.
You could not use them both together
even if you thought that way.
And if you lived in a place you had to
speak a foreign tongue,
your mother tongue would rot,
rot and die in your mouth
until you had to spit it out.
I thought I spit it out
but overnight while I dream,
• it grows back, a stump of a shoot
grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins,
it ties the other tongue in knots,
the bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth,
it pushes the other tongue aside.
Everytime I think I've forgotten,
I think I've lost the mother tongue,
it blossoms out of my mouth.
IMAGERY
In Search For My Tongue Sujata Bhatt says
that knowing two languages is like having 'two
tongues in your mouth’.

The poet uses an extended metaphor to

express her thoughts and 
feelings about speaking two 
languages.
WHAT IS AN EXTENDED
METAPHOR?
 In the third section she  Why is this an
compares her tongue to a effective image? 
plant.  

 An extended metaphor is a version of

metaphor that extends over the course of
multiple lines, paragraphs, or stanzas of prose
or poetry
 What is the purpose of an extended
metaphor? 
The purpose of an extended metaphor is to break
down complex ideas for the audience to
comprehend in simpler and more compelling
terms.
WHY COMPARE THE TONGUE
TO A PLANT?
1. A plant is a living organism which needs
nurturing like the poet’s original language.
2. Plants die in the wrong environment –
Sujata Bhatt wrote this poem when she was
living in the USA, where she spoke and
wrote English the majority of the time, this
environment made her fear that she would
forget her mother tongue.
3. Like a plant she thinks that her mother
tongue will die of neglect but it starts to
bud and grow strong and beautiful
('blossoms') again.
 IMAGERY

Image Effect created

'would rot / rot and

die'
'it grows back'

'grows strong veins'

‘it blossoms out of my

mouth’
IMAGERY
Image Effect created

'would rot / rot and die in Horrible image conveys her

your mouth'
'it grows back'
'grows strong veins'
‘it blossoms out of my
mouth’
fear and horror at the
thought of losing her mother
tongue
The tongue is like a growing
plant
Sounds strong, healthy and
robust
Image of beauty - the plant
bursts into flower
LANGUAGE
1. Explore Bhatt’s use of repetition in the
first fifteen lines of the poem. Why do
you think she uses so repetition?
2. In the final section of the poem, she uses
a single metaphor to show how the
mother tongue is not lost. The single
metaphor is developed over eight lines.
Write down what the metaphor is and
explain its separate stages.
LANGUAGE

3. Lines 1-15 describe someone’s conscious

feelings whereas lines 31-38 describe a
dream. How does the writer use language
differently to capture the differences
between everyday speech and the world of
dreams?
 POETIC TECHNIQUES

Technique Evidence Effect

Metaphor/ Rot and die Horrible image conveys her fear
extended in your and horror at the thought of
metaphor mouth losing her mother tongue
Personification

pronouns

repetition
LI: TO BE ABLE TO FIND, DESCRIBE OR
EXPLAIN THE USE OF POETIC LANGUAGE
IN THE POEM “SEARCH FOR MY TONGUE”

• Bronze: I can find the poetic language in

the poem.
• Silver: I can describe the poetic language
in the poem.
• Gold: I can explain the poetic language in
the poem.