What language features do these letters stand for What language features do these letters stand for? Can you find any examples in ‘Blessing’? Technique P O S M A R Picture of Lolly Pops - http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8483/8176491762_45024d95a6_o.jpg Picture of Mars - http://www.world-of-volcanoes.de/IconsForen/Mars.jpg

Success criteria : Write two paragraphs exploring the poet’s use of imagery in ‘Blessing’ Learning Objective : To revise simile and metaphor. To comment in detail on the effect of a simile of metaphor. Plenary : Add to your flowchart.

Imagery: in “Blessing” Answer these questions. What is a simile? Write one example. What is a metaphor? Write one example.

Similes and Metaphors. Both these techniques are types of imagery. A simile compares two things by using like or as. A metaphor compares two things by saying that one thing is another.

His temper was like a volcano exploding. How does this image help you to understand what his temper was like?

He was a bright spark. How does this add to your understanding of ‘he’?

Context Imtiaz Dharker was born in Pakistan in 1954. She grew up in Glasgow in Scotland and now lives in Mumbai (previously called Bombay) in India. On the outskirts of Mumbai is an area called Dharvi, a place of temporary housing where millions of migrants have gathered. During the dry season, the temperature can reach 40 degrees centigrade and because Dharvi is not an official area, there is always a shortage of water. It is here that Blessing is set.

Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker 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

How does the poet use imagery to convey the importance of water in Blessing’? What is the blessing? What kind of image is it? What is the effect of this? What is compared to ‘the voice of a kindly God’? What kind of image is it? Why is it effective? Find one simile and two metaphors in the poem. Annotate. Write a PEE paragraph exploring the effect of each comparison.

Silver crashes to the ground

The skin cracks like a pod

How does the poet use imagery to convey the importance of water in Blessing’? In ‘Blessing,’ Dharker uses descriptive language to show that the place being described is harsh and unforgiving. The poet creates a clear image of the consequences of having a lack of water when she compares human skin to a spice pod. The poem begins: ‘The skin cracks like a pod There never is enough water.’ E Here, the simile immediately gives the reader a clear impression of how dry and arid the area being described is as we are asked to imagine skin being split from the inside in the same way as seeds emerge from a pod. This is a very physical image and the reader can almost feel the hard rough surface of the pod and therefore feel the pain generated by living in such an area. In addition, the use of the word ‘never’ demonstrates that this is an unchanging situation. E L As a result of Dharker’s vivid simile, we can see that water is indeed a, ‘Blessing.’

P E E L Point: Answer the question in one sentence. Example: Use an example (quote) from the poem to support your point. E.g. For example, “……” As seen when, “……” We can see this when, “….” When the poet writes, “….” E Explanation: Explain how this quote helps us understand the messages of the poem. E.g. Describe how the quote fits in the poem. Which technique has the poet used? How does it make us feel? What picture is painted for us? E L Link: Connect back to the question.