Analysis of “A
Different History”
SUJATA BHATT
The poem is about the importance of the culture
and its heritage. The writer shows her feelings towards the lack of interest of
the people to learn about their culture. She also describes the effects of
colonialism over the Indian culture.
In the first stanza the writer says “disguised
as snakes or monkeys,” she was talking about the gods which are very important
in the culture. There is a simile which conveys that the gods and the animals
were accepted in an uncontrolled and wild way. With the verse that says:”he
simply emigrated” we can infer that the gods were transmitted from one culture
to another without any problem.
In the second part of the first stanza we can
see a structural change in the indentation of the verses. The writer tries to
depict her feelings towards the people who don’t respect the culture; she wanted
to highlight that specific part. We can also see an anaphora; the word “sin” is
repeated several times. The effect of this literary device is to stress a
point. She wants the reader to realize how important culture is and that we
should want to preserve it.
In the last part of the first stanza we can
appreciate the writer’s feelings towards colonialism when she says “without
offending the tree – from whose wood paper was made.”These two verses are very
relevant; she wants the reader to respect the old people who suffered while
doing history. She shows us that books are meaningful because they hold history
of our ancestors. We can also find a metaphor because the tree in fact
represents the old people and the wood, the history. The writer admired the old
people and their history.
Throughout the poem we can find assonance
between the words “wood, book, food, wood, swooping”. The first four are found
in the first stanza where the writer explains that we are losing part of our
history and the word “swooping” is found at the end of the second stanza were
the author criticizes the people who prefer the foreigner’s tongue than their
own language.
The second stanza depicts the deepest feelings
of the writer. She uses rhetorical questions: “Which language has not been the
oppressor’s tongue?” “Which language truly meant to murder someone?” These
questions have a purpose that is to make the reader think, to take their own
conclusions. The tone in this last stanza changed completely before it was a
conversational tone in a way a conscious tone, but now it has changed to an
accusing tone. The writer cannot understand how the young people liked the
conqueror’s tongue that caused so much suffering to the old people. When the
poet says: “after the soul has been cropped – with a long scythe swooping out”
we can see an exaggeration. We were told previously that the ancestors were
tortured but these two verses exaggerated that torture. A part from the
hyperbole we can see and alliteration between the words “scythe swooping”. This
last literary device is used to call the reader’s attention on that specific
verse.
The writer was not proud of herself or of the
rest of. She felt disappointed because the loss of cultural heritage was
constantly increasing. The objective of the poem is to open the reader’s mind
and to start to be curious about their past because history is part of
everybody. She felt really angry with the way people treated books because they
not only hold history but also language which creates a sense of community and
identity.
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