Singh Song - Daljit Nagra

Question 1

Summary

(6 things)

Answer 1

1. Speaker is young man expected to work hard in Dad’s grocery shop
2. Newly married, couple live above the shop
3. Neglects shop, slips away to make love to wife and share Asian food
4. Shoppers complain that shop is not well-kept
5. Strong-minded wife pursues own activities on computer
6. Late at night couple sneak down to stare at the moon

Question 2

Key Aspects

(5 things)

Answer 2

1. Main theme is marriage
2. comic love poem with some ambiguity
3. repetion, chorus
4. Rhyme and rhythm are regular
5. Phonetic language, first person

Question 3

Key Setting: the Shop

(4 things)

Answer 3

1. setting is a grcers shop run by a British Asian
2. Sells food from lemons and bananas to chocolate bars
3. But speaker has little interest in the business, neglects it so that “di milk is out of date” and “di bread is always stale”
4. Real interest is his love for his wife, his “newly bride”

Question 4

Key Voice: Musicality

(4 things - see also structure card)

Answer 4

1. upward sound of cry in “di shoppers always point and cry”
2. “Hey Singh, ver yoo bin” - internal rhyme of Singh and bin creates rise and fall in voice
3. first person voice written phonetically to capture misicality of the accent and language of first generation immigrant whose mother tongue is Punjabi - v substituted for w in vee and vunt; “d” replaces “th”
4. Cummulative effect - vibrant, joyful, exuberant, carefree regarding the shop - only focusis love of hi wife

Question 5

Structure

(3 things)

Answer 5

1. Chorus - regular in rhythm and rhyme
2. Contrast with irregularity of the verses line length, rhyme, etc, which reflect chaotic nature of the shop
3. Pace slows at the end, as creep downstairs “in di midnight hour” - effect is contemplative

Question 6

Techniques

(9 things)

Answer 6

1. Frequent repetition - e.g. “vee” in second verse, adds to musicality
2. internal rhyme - “Sing” and “bin” - musicality again, rise and fall of speaker’s voice
3. cummulative affect is a lively cadence
4. double meaning - “mouse” - of a computer, or chased in cat and mouse
5. metaphor -effing “in all the colours of the Punjab”, humorous, makes attack on mum funny, endearinng to speaker
6. Ambiguity - wife “netting two cat” - is she loyal, loving?
7. Irony - Singh Song of the title puns on sing song; captures the musicality of the poem to come, the tone of the voice, that the song is the song/story of teh speaker and his love for his wife, takes possession of Singh being used as an insult
8. Alliteration - used frequently - concrete-cool
9. Sibilant - “whispering stairs/ and sit on my silver stool” - a shush when the pace slows and they creep downstairs

Question 7

Requited/Unrequited Love?

(5 things)

Answer 7

1. Speaker is besotted with wife
2. Wife is looking at other men on a dating agency, asking him how much he loves her, but not stating how much she loves him
3. Is speaker naive, reflected in child-like sing song tone of the poem; too lost in his love to see it is not fully requited?
4. Or are both relaxed, having fun, love seen as joyful but not restrictive?
5. the Ghazal is traditional form of love poetry from India and Persia that explores idea that a loved one may not return love equally. Ghazal written in couplets as are the lines at the end of the poem where question and answers are exchanged.

Question 8

Images

(6 things)

Answer 8

1. Image - Cat and Mouse, wife “playing wid di mouse” - using a dating agency site to find other men - open relationship challenging asian stereotype
2. Wife has “eyes ov a gun” - hard, direct, almost hurtful in her observations and mimicking speakers mother and father
3. Wife has “di tummy of a teddy” - also soft, loving, playful, to be hugged
4. Love as playful - teddy above, “tickle ov my bride”
5. Wife has a crew cut, tartan sari, donkey jacket - mutli-cultural and counter-cultural, independent
6. Moon - symbol of love

Question 9

Context

(3 things)

Answer 9

1. Daljit Nagra born in London
2. Sikh Punjabi descent
3. Some of his poetry challenges stereotypes o British Asians, e.g that they conform to traditional Indian culture, that they are hard-working sons, obedient wives