Transcript An Unknown Girl by Moniza Alvi

An Unknown Girl
by Moniza Alvi
page 23
Overview
The poem describes the poet’s visit to India and
the time she had her hand hennaed by a girl in
the market place. It has proved to be an
experience she has never forgotten.
Themes
There are a number of themes covered in this
poem:
• cultural identity
• sense of belonging
• loss
• relationship between the familiar and the
unknown
Vocabulary
Check your understanding of the language used
in the poem. Write a definition in your
anthology for anything you are unsure about.
In the evening bazaar
studded with neon
an unknown girl
is hennaing my hand.
An Indian market place
a temporary colouring of the skin
She squeezes a wet brown line
from a nozzle.
She is icing my hand
which she steadies with hers
on her satin-peach knee.
Baking metaphor
used – shows the
cultural contrasts
intimate image
– shows care
and attention
In the evening bazaar
for a few rupees
an unknown girl
is hennaing my hand
repetition of first
stanza – emphasises
the alienation, also
gives the poem a
chorus-like simplicity
As a little air catches
my shadow-stitched kameez
a peacock spreads its lines
across my palm.
•the tattoo comes alive
•she is absorbing part of
the culture
a loose fitting Indian tunic
Colours leave the street
float up in balloons.
Dummies in shop-fronts
tilt and stare personification
with their Western perms.
vivid imagery – Alzi uses these images
to create a sense of wonder and
delight. The dummies show irony –
why are they not Indian?
Banners for Miss India 1993.
alien to the culture –
for
curtain
cloth
Western influence
and sofa cloth
canopy me.
she feels covered by these things –
suffocated and uncomfortable, or
at home and welcome? In the
shade or visible?
I have new brown veins.
this is an important line – dual meaning
a metaphor for the tattoo she has just received but also
feels as if she has assimilated some of the culture of India –
it is now ‘running through her veins’
In the evening bazaar
very deftly
an unknown girl
is hennaing my hand.
repetition – however, notice the extra detail ‘very deftly’
as the narrator is observing all that is going on around her, the
‘unknown girl’ is taking extra care and is an expert
I am clinging
to these firm peacock lines
like people who cling
to the sides of a train.
simile – she wants
to hold on to these
memories
Now the furious streets
the streets were harsh and angry
are hushed.
– note how the tone changes –
becomes quiet with night – clever
I’ll scrape off
juxtaposition using
personification
the dry brown lines
before I sleep.
reveal soft as a snail trail
gentle
simile
the amber bird beneath.
It will fade in a week.
she thinks the tattoo will fade like her
memories and the India ‘in her’
‘scrape’ – a
harsh verb
which
contrasts
with the
amber bird –
she is
scraping off
the excess
When India appears and reappears
I’ll lean across a country
with my hands outstretched
longing for the unknown girl
in the neon bazaar
India is represented by the tattoo
Her memories will go just as the tattoo will gradually fade – it is
not permanent, yet the process can be repeated
Ends in a yearning tone.
A Few Key Facts
•Moniza Alvi is a Pakistani-British poet
•She was born in Lahore in 1954 and moved to England as
a child
•She taught in a secondary school in London for many
years
•She now lives in South West London
Linked Poems
This is a poem about a vivid, memorable experience from
the past.
It links with ‘Miracle on St David’s Day’, ‘Mid-Term Break’
and ‘The Barn’
Questions
1. How many times does Alvi use the phrase ‘an
unknown girl’? Why is this repeated so
often?
2. What do the colours in this poem signify?
3. The poem is laid out unusually and has no
pattern or obvious rhythm. What could you
write about this?