Look We Have Coming to Dover by Daljit Nagra Flashcards
Title: “Look We Have Coming to Dover”
- Grammatical error showing immigrants imperfect English
- Stereotypical Indian voice evocative of the optimism expected when people come to our country
- Exclamation mark highlights the expected excitement immigrants should feel when arriving to Britain
First line: ‘So various, so beautiful, so new…’
‘-Matthew Arnold, ‘Dover Beach’
Use of intertextuality to show the glorification of Dover from a British persons perspective
Welcoming atmosphere presenting Dover as a change for new opportunities, beginnings and acquiring a sense of renewal
Hidden, Ashamed, scared of being found, rejection
‘Stowed’ : Verb suggests immigrants are hidden and illegal
‘escape’ and ‘hutched’ : juxtaposition alludes to the fact that immigrants are free yet not free jumping from one prison to another.
- Crammed conditions and suffocation from society
‘camouflage past’ : unnoticed
‘whistling asthma of parks’ : restraint and difficulty breathing due to constantly being watched
‘bare-faced for the clear’ : legal documentation allows you to show your face
Use of Colloquialism to integrate other cultures into their own to create a sense of belonging
- influenced by other countries
- use of Neologisms
‘Go full of Surf phlegmed by cushy come-and-go’ - Disgusting metaphor for water spraying. Foreshadows reception national front.
‘blarnies’ , ‘scammering’
‘yobbish’ - British phrase + Tabloid
‘babbling our lingoes’ - Preservation of their heritage while incorporating aspects of British culture
British domination over immigrants
‘tourists prow’d on the cruisers’ - Juxtaposition between tourists and immigrants
‘lording the ministered waves’ - clear contrast of tourists dominating even though they are also newly arriving to Britain.
Level of superiority of white people controlling the seas.
Immigration Bureaucracy “BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES”
‘teemed for breathing’ - discrimination and scrutinization
‘whistling asthma of parks’ and ‘national eye’ - highlight British government and restraint, difficulty breathing as they are always being watched
‘burdened, ennobled’ - allusion to THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN in which the poet laments the hardships of having to civilize and educate the indigenous people in lands colonized by the British.
‘passport us to life’ - use of Anthimeria (noun used as a verb) Highlights the authority British have. British passport is synonymous with freedom and opportunity - gives worldwide legitimacy and freedom of movement
Nature - repeated weather motif
‘thunder unbladders’ - pathetic fallacy - nature personified - concept of fate and a power imbalance
‘rain and wind on our escape, hutched’ - juxtaposition free yet not free moving from one prison to another
‘seasons of years we reap’ - metaphor for labor intensive work, hard work building a life, struggles, strenuous
‘swarns of us’ - danger in masses- dehumanization - tabloid language used - presented as insects or pests hence bothersome
‘shots of the moon’ and ‘miracle of sun’ - contrast to the dark - future generations emerging like light out of their parents suffering and darkness
‘rainbow passports’ - sense of hope
‘unparasol’d tables’ - metaphor for not needing to hide anymore. sign of acceptance. no need for an umbrella as the sun is shinning. pathetic fallacy and inference.
Collective pronouns : ‘we’ , ‘our’ , ‘us’
Collective identity = shared struggle
Themes
Society and culture
Identity
Conflict
Fear
Class
Structure
Regular structure
-Consonance and lots of syllables crammed into lines reflecting cramming of immigrants
-No consistent rhyme scheme which is symbolic of masses coming in on the surface it seems organized but there is no order
-Half rhymes shows attempt of the speaker trying to learn the language
Agenda
Create awareness on hardships immigrants face
bring light to Prejudice and injustice
Striving for new opportunities
Not losing your own heritage and always remembering it
Oppression British people commit by abusing their power
Context
‘Blair’d’ - Tony Blair’s centrist government served the middle class to which many Indian immigrants now belong to
Daljit experienced first hand racism with rise of national front and drawing of new political era with the election of Margret Thatcher from 1970s to 1980s.
In his poem ‘In a white town’ , which was more an autobiographical poem , he explains that you had to have a double identity.
Daljit’s mixing of English and Punjabi background is prevalent through his poems.
He is a second generation Punjabi.
