living space Flashcards
who was it written by and some brief life info?
Imtiaz Dharkar
Dharkar describes herself as a ‘Scottish Muslim Calvinist’ and was brought up in a Lahori household in Glasgow.
She is a poet, artist and documentary maker and all her books include her own pencil drawings.
what is the form and structure like?
Living Space is made up of 22 short lines.
The longest line is ‘The whole structure leans dangerously’ which echoes the idea that the whole structure is leaning over. This creates a sense that the poem is as unstable as the physical structures it describes.
Dharker uses enjambment throughout this poem with lines spilling over into one another. This reflects the way the slum structures lean over and on top of each other.
The uneven rhyme scheme mirrors the uneven structure.
what is the historical and literary context?
Historical Context: The poem describes the slums of Mumbai where people migrate, from all over India in hope of a better life.
The poem’s exploration of faith could reflect the agnostic questioning that permeates modern life whilst the emphasis on fragility could be suggestive of the fragmented state of the world post 9/11.
Literary Context: Her poetry, like her artwork, has a palimpsestic quality (as though ideas have been layered on over another). The complexity of her poetry could reflect the complex nature of Dharker’s sense of personal identity (Scottish Muslim Calvinist).
The living space could be a metaphor for unstable personal and communal identities.
what are the key themes?
Dharkar has explained that the poem is about the slums of Mumbai. The slums are made up of found materials and she celebrates their existence as a miracle.
Fragility is a theme as both the buildings, which could collapse, and the eggs, which could fall, are in a dangerous position.
It requires faith to live in a building which looks unstable.
There is a boldness implied in the way people squeeze into these structures and create a living space.
quote 1: ‘There are just not enough/ straight lines’ what could you say about this?
the emphatic adverb ‘just’ signifies the chaotic nature of the living space.
quote 2: ‘Beams/ balance’ what could you say about this?
alliterative enjambment echoes the length of the beam. This implies that it is precarious and unstable.
quote 3: ‘Nails clutch’ what could you say about this?
personification implies the structures have an element of life to them. The verb ‘clutch’ suggests that the nails are clinging on and holding the unstable structures together.
quote 4: ‘Open seams/ the whole structure leans’ what could you say about this?
the disjointed rhyming couplet suggests a sense of harmony among the chaos and dilapidation of the slums.
quote 5: ‘The whole structure leans/ dangerously/ towards the miraculous’ what could you say about this?
The adverb ‘dangerously’ contrasts with the word ‘miraculous’. One makes us fearful and the other implies awe. It seems to be a miracle that the structure stays intact at all.
quote 6: ‘Into this rough frame/ someone has squeezed/ a living space’ what could you say about this?
this metaphorically implies that someone has created something like a home in an unwelcoming environment. The anonymous pronoun ‘someone’ implies that this could be any of the millions of people who move to the slums.
