English fluency- Unit- 1 ( in the domestic sphere 1a- The lost word- GE )

Today Topic- English fluency- Unit- 1 ( BA.PROG/B.COM.PROG ) Semester 1/2

Introduction

• The lost word by the British poet Esther Morgan. She was born in 1970. This particular poem is taken from her first collection of poem called beyond calling distance published in 2001.
• Many of the poem in this collection are full of people who are unable to find their voice and affirm their independence identities.

The title lost word 

• The title of the poem sounds a little strange if we take the title literary we often lose things but a word is not a thing we must try to find the implied meaning. 
• When we lose a thing we cannot use it for our needs. Similarly we lose words if we forget them or do not use them for a very long time. 
• At the same time if we have not learnt to use a word than it is as good as a lost word so this poem is about a word which is lost because it was either not used for a long time or was forgotten due to circumstances and is now lost.

it is difficult for women to have  a voice :-

• In traditional societies women have always been placed in a sub servant position from their childhood they are told about what is acceptable and what is not. much of this has to do with structures of power than exist in our families and the society we live in. 
• women are supposed to concentrate on cooking and learning how to keep the house because they are accepted to be home makers when they grow up. 
• They are not allowed to have a voice in the sense of having an independents identity. Those it is difficult for a woman to have a voice.

The women is troubled by the word she has lost

• Yes the woman is troubled by the word she has lost the women here seems to be in the habit of sweeping many words under the carpet.
• It shows that she is not a very confident person she has hidden and suppressed or forgotten to use many words because she is not about using them. 
• she now wants to use the word that is important to her but it is lost now and she is unable to find it.

Q. Can you guess the two letter word the women has lost could it be one of these words do be me am no it us? Does the meaning Of the poem change if it is one word or the other?

• we can guess that the word she is looking for would be a word which could give her an identity words like me, am, no assert once individuality. Perhaps it is one 
• of these words that she is looking for. Is she looking for the word no? 
• we know that the ability to say no gives us a sense of freedom. perhaps she 
• has never been able to say no in her life. if we look at the position of women in traditional societies we will realise that for a women to say no is often a great challenge. 
• And they often fail to say no because they are taught to away what others ask them to do. 
• perhaps the women here is looking for the word no so that she can regain her voice. The meaning of the poem will change very much if we replace the word no or me with a word like us. is a collective pronoun and can in no way fit in with the overall scheme of the poem similarly, the other words in the list do not fit into the scheme and if we use them they will change the meaning of the poem  substantially.

The last line of the poem when her mouth was full of someone else's  tongue :- 

• when the poet says that her mouth was full of someone else tongue it does not mean that she does not have a tongue of her own. tongue hair is used in the sense of a voice. when the women tries to remember the word she has lost she is unable to do so because she had been using not her own but someone else's language. 
• She was saying what others wanted her to say. when we adopt the tongue of others and speak in their voice it is very difficult to break free and find someone's own tongue.

READ MORE- Bhic- 134 Unit- 13 ( स्वतंत्रता का आगमन: संविधान सभा और गणतंत्र की स्थापना ) 

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