Look we have coming to dover pres
- 1. Look We Have Coming to Dover (2007) Daljit Nagra
- 2. Daljit Nagra • Indian parents who migrated to England in the 1960s just before he was born. • Born in Sheffield in 1966 and brought up there and in London. • Poetry explores the challenging experiences of first and second generation Asians in Britain and presents a modern Britain. • Often uses the language of ‘Punglish’ – Indian English influenced by the Punjab – to mix cultures and languages. • Poetry is often humorous.
- 3. Research • Very hard to understand and analyse. • Sort of dialogue with the poem ‘Dover Beach’ written 100 years earlier by Matthew Arnold. – About the beauty of Dover beach but the withdrawal of religion from England and the descent into conflict and disorder he thinks must follow. • Nagra’s poem also dramatizes a withdrawal, as one idea of England is replaced with another. • A lot of information, experience, narrative and feeling all packed into this poem – very carefully webbed and hard to pick apart.
- 4. The poem (initial thoughts) • About immigrants coming to Britain (Indians) – reflecting and celebrating it. • Erratic rhyme scheme and odd rhythm, plus confusing mix of words could mirror the experience of the immigrants in a land where traditions and customs are very important – strange and confusing to them. • Very complex, intimidating poem – very difficult language. • Language reflects the dialect and vocabulary of a multi-racial language.
- 5. Title • “Look We Have Coming to Dover” – Mimics the way Indians speak • humorous but with an underlying tone expressing how mean it is to laugh at their accents and the possible conflict they had to face by people doing so. • Metaphor for how the Indians had to face the racism and conflict. – “have” – to own or posses – the own Dover, could be the immigrants feeling excited at first as they see land, their new home that they can call theirs shining with hope.
- 6. First Stanza • “So various, so beautiful, so new” – as if these are the aspects the poem will comment on. – Not just the environment but also the difference in people, the beauty of variety and the freshness. • “stowed in the sea” – imagery of the immigrants hidden away in their boats. • “invade” – Could represent how the immigrants feel as they are coming into this new country. – Or how the British viewed them coming in – invading upon jobs, society and culture. • Disgusting introduction into Britain – their first experience, they obviously dislike the coast. – “alfresco lash of diesel-breeze” – powerful whip – “gobfuls of surf” – huge, dangerous and scary to the immigrants in their boats • “lording” the tourists feeling powerful and as if they own the place contrasting to the hiding, scared immigrants who are there to stay.
- 7. Second Stanza • “seagull and shoal life vexin their blarnies” – Emphasises the dislike of the coast – Could also be symbolising the words being thrown at them by the British people – upsetting them. • Very strong imagery of the immigrants “huddled” against the “yobbish rain” passing the “scummed cliffs” – Creates a very unwelcoming, unfamiliar and violent environment of which these “huddled” immigrants have to endure. • “escape, hutched in a Bedford van” – very uncomfortable but their escape from the coast they find so horrible. – “Bedford van” – how specific it is makes the poem much more personal and as if someone is telling you, live, their own experiences and impressions.
- 8. Third Stanza • “seasons or years we reap inland” – Time goes on and they move away from the coast and the horrible first impressions – “reap” – pull in – they begin to pull in their dreams, hopes and plans of creating a better life for themselves. • “unclocked by the national eye or stab in the back” – Not really noticed by the country and the people – Not betrayed, picked on or celebrated, just being for the moment as they figure things out. • “whistling asthma of parks” – Negative connotations – as if the country is however still causing difficulties for them. • Both “burdened” and “ennobled” – Have weight upon their backs as they try to make a life in this new place but they feel powerful and royal with the opportunity that they have to chase a dream.
- 9. Fourth Stanza • “swarms of us” – makes a comparison to insects who come in in swarms. • “grafting” – joining together of two bits of a plant – They are joining together – making plans, building up • “in the black in shot of the moon’s spotlight” – Still hiding in the shadows with the light from the moon but getting ready to come out. • “banking on the miracle of sun – span its rainbow” – Waiting patiently as they know one day soon the sun will come out and it will all be worth it. – Taking a shot in the dark hoping it will lead them to the sun • “passport us to life” – Could represent them coming here – the passport allowing them to travel to Britain and begin a new life. – Or could represent them waiting to get their British passports/residencies to fully begin to live here and become part of society. • “hoick ourselves, bare-faced for the clear” – Only then can they lift themselves up out of the shadows and hiding and present themselves as true citizens and part of England and truly
- 10. Fifth Stanza • Here there comes a shift and a leap in time • “imagine” – asking the reader to imagine this, hardly believing it is actually true. • “blair’d in the cash of our beeswax’s cars” – They have money therefore have found jobs – Have created a life for themselves as time passed • “my love and I” – Met someone – possibly started a family – created a proper life in the country. • “,free,”- the caesura before and after the word makes it stand out – They are finally free of the bad life that they came from, free from hiding and they are open and happy. • “raise our charged glasses” – celebrating • “unparasol’d tables” – Either become used to the weather – showing how they’ve adapted and accepting life here. – Or the sun has literally and metaphorically come out • “East” – they’re looking East from Dover – towards home • “babbling our lingoes” – As they have done throughout the poem – “babbling” – happy, excited connotations • “flecked by the chalk of Britannia!” – They’ve been influenced in culture and in language by English – why their lingo now has English words too – They raise their glasses in celebration to Britannia.