Help with this GCSE poem?

Question

Blessing.

The skin cracks like a pod.

There never is enough water.

Imagine the drip of it,

The small splash, echo

In a tin mug,

The voice of a kindly god.

Sometimes the sudden rush

of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts,

silver crashes to the ground

and the flow has found

a roar of tongues. From the huts,

a congregation: every man woman

child for streets around

butts in, with pots,

brass, copper, aluminium,

plastic buckets,

frantic hands,

and naked children

screaming in the liquid sun,

their highlights polished to perfection,

flashing light,

as the blessing sings

over their small bones.

Imtiaz Dharker

I actually don't understand it

and the question is...

How does Imtiaz Dharker show us what is important to a culture in 'Blessing'?

Help anyone? x*x

Answer 1

Is he not showing how something most of uis take for granted, that is a water supply, is a rare event in deprived parts of the world. When you are very thirsty, even s droop in a tin cup is a blessing because it releases yo from the torment of thirst. When the only common water supply bursts into a shower of water, after being dry for days, then everybody is happy and united in enjoying this relief from their

thirst. The skin of the children gleams as the water on it reflects the light.

   He uses several words which are loaded with meaning and are meant to turn your thinking in a certain direction. If he were a politician it would be called his "hidden agenda".

"small splash"..God appears not in the storm but in the still small voice/sound. You can look this up if you have a Bible.

  "a roar of tongues"..God has manifested Himself in the voices of the people just as manifested Himself at Pentecost when the tongues of fire fell upon the Apostles. You could develop this idea a great deal more than this.

  "congregation" .Usually you would have written "crowd". "Congregation" has other meanings which we call connotations. It implies that there is a religious element to the crowd since you would usually find a congregation in a church. They are there not only to receive the blessing of the water but to give thanks for it.

  Why do you think the writer has the babies and small children covered in water? This is called "symbolism" and shows that they have been baptised by the event. It was through water and baptism that God showed His Son to the world in the Bible

  You need not be a Christian to appreciate the poem but it certainly helps..

  I hope that this was useful. Any more and just get in touch.

Best wishes.

Answer 2

Yay! i love this poem, i did it at GSCE as well! The basic theme of the poem is the joy of water, and how precious it is. A municipal pipe is a water pipe. We know how that the water is important becuase the metaphore "Silver crashes to the ground" is used. Also we can see that religion is important to the people. " the voice of a kindly God" shows us this. Um i hope i have kind of helped, but if you need more help go to... http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesiz...