1. Shabbir Banoobhai – ‘by your own definition’ Poem Analysis Shabbir Banoobhai – ‘by your own definition’ Poem Analysis

2. ABOUT THE POEM  ‘by your own definition’ by Shabbir Banoobhai is a poet’s painful cry about being misunderstood. In his own eyes, he lives in a glorious world where sensitivity and being connected with nature makes him feel powerful and free. Unfortunately, someone close to him, or those around him do not see things the same. To them, it appears to be a weakness that keeps him detached from reality.  This is painful to the poet because he yearns to make them understand. It gives the impression that he is lonely. He desperately wishes that others could see the world the way he does.  Imagine a child who loves music and wants to pursue it as a career. Imagine how difficult it must be for that child to explain to his or her family what an amazing world the music industry is, if that family believes in standard, secure jobs. That loneliness, and feeling of being misunderstood, is similar to what Shabbir Banoobhai is portraying in this poem.

4. Poem Type Free verse Tone Sensitive, sad, lonely, concerned This is basically what you sense the poet’s attitude is as you read the poem. It can change as the poem continues, depending on what the writer is trying to achieve.

5. Figures of Speech & Poetic Devices Personification  the blood of roses  when the world curls itself  love leaps to living  the skull of a mountain Metaphors  lean on a leaf / for comfort  seas gather in my palms  trees sustain the sky  my life lifts to loving

6. Figures of Speech & Poetic Devices Simile  is like trying to crush Alliteration  lean on a leaf  mistake mysteriously  trees sustain the sky Assonance  when the world curls itself

7. Figures of Speech & Poetic Devices  According to the Google dictionary, assonance can also be created by using also identical consonants with different vowels (e.g. killed, cold, culled ), as well as in the example below. However, because the two words highlighted below are at the ends of both sentences, and they end with the same sound ‘- ing‘, they would be seen a rhyme before anything else. Rhyme  my life lifts to loving  love leaps to living

8. What if the poem was written in paragraphs? If this poem was written as punctuated sentences, would you understand it better? By your own definition; I drink too deeply the blood of roses, lean on a leaf for comfort, mistake mysteriously a thorn for a star. When the world curls itself around my fingers, seas gather in my palms, trees sustain the sky. My life lifts to loving; love leaps to living. And, without words, I strive to answer questions you have never asked. Oh, making you understand is like trying to crush the skull of a mountain.

9. When broken down as on the previous slide, you get the sense that the first section is what the other person thinks of the poet. The second section is about how the poet sees himself and the world he lives in. The last section is the conclusion. It sounds as though the poet is giving up. He doesn’t think that he can ever make the other person understand. Viewing the poem like this can help you better understand the shift in mood and tone. I would summarize the three sections as follows: In your opinion, I am too sensitive. I imagine things that are not there and naively see the good in everything. I live in a world that is full of love and wonder. I understand nature and nature understands me. I can see that you wish you could ask, and I try my best to answer them through my actions. Oh, making you understand is so painfully impossible. By now, you should have an idea of what the poet, Shabir Banhoobai, is trying to communicate through this poem. I think that he is saying that it’s hard to make people truly understand the way you see the world. You can try, but it is a almost impossible task. He is also suggesting that there is a sad loneliness that comes with being misunderstood.

10. Analysis Punctuation  The writer has the entire poem in small letters, why is that? It could be because he sees himself as insignificant, or he sees identity and punctuation as insignificant.  Maybe he wants the poem to be fluid, unrestrained by pauses and stops created by punctuation. Maybe the words are the most important thing and that is what he wants the reader to focus on. Poetic Devices  Let us look at some of the poetic devices mentioned above, and examples of how you can analyse them.  I will only analyse 3, then leave you with a set of questions which will help you take a closer look at the poem. They will help you develop your own informed opinions on it.

12. The sea is an extremely large and powerful thing. It is not something that anyone can control. In fact, it is often something that humans admire and fear at the same time. The sea is known to drown humans and giant ships. In contrast, a person’s hands are very small. You could not even contain bath water in the palms of your hands. Shabbir Banhoobaai is obviously exaggerating. He is using the metaphor to emphasise how much power he believes he has, and how connected he is with nature. He adds to the exaggeration by using the word ‘seas’, which tells us that it is more than one sea. The verb ‘gather’ hints at a connectedness with nature. In this instance, is means ‘come together’. It suggests a voluntary activity. Think about your school assembly. Yes, you do it because it is a part of the school rules, but you also do it because of an understanding that you have with your teachers. Most of you walk voluntarily to the assembly. No one physically pulls you there.

13. Imagine the different oceans of the world as school children, and the poet’s palms as an assembly hall. Can you see how powerful that makes him look? Remember that in this case, ‘gather’ means ‘come together’. This suggests that he does not physically force the seas to come to him, they do so voluntarily or out of obedience. It suggests that the seas trust him, that they feel at home in the palms of his hands. It tells us that he has a connection, and understanding with the ocean. The ocean is considered to be the most powerful force in nature. If he has such a connection with it, maybe it is a symbol that he has a deep connection with nature, even its most powerful forces. This is a huge contrast to the fragility portrayed in the lines ‘lean on a leaf / for comfort’. You can explore this contrast further, to explain the different attitudes and themes presented by Shabir Banhoobaai in this poem.

15. Alliteration and Rhythm We use alliteration to emphasise words, to make them more memorable. We also use it to create a mood. What mood is the poet creating here? Let’s see. ‘L’ is considered to be a liquid sound, because of the way it flows out of the mouth. You can also describe it as being fluid. It can create a light or heavy mood depending on the other sounds that accompany it. Whatever the case, repeating the ‘L’ will always give fluidity to the words being emphasised. There is a definite rhythm to these two lines. In both lines, the first two L words have short, 1 syllable vowel sounds, while the ending L words have 2 syllables, which make them sound longer. When you read them, they sound like: life-lifts-to-lo-ving / love- leaps-to-li-ving.

16. As you can see, there is also a rhyme here, the ‘-ving’ sound at the end of both lines. You will also notice that ‘lifts’ and ‘leaps’ both end with an ‘S’. Including the ‘S’ is not a rhyme, but it does add to the overall rhythm. Altogether, it creates a happy, song-like rhythm. The ‘L’ therefore adds a flowing lightness to it. You can say that the two lines have a fluid, joyful rhythm. What does it add to the message of the poem? It tells us that the poet is very happy about what he is talking about. Even the verbs ‘lift’ and ‘leap’ suggest that. In his world, life rises and love jumps. He chose the words ‘lift’ and ‘leap’ instead of other synonyms like ‘rise’ and ‘jump’, because they tie in with the light, fluid, joyful rhythm that he wanted to create. It also makes the lines more memorable and enjoyable to read.

18. Personification This personification suggests that mountains have skulls. Personification also applies to giving animate properties to inanimate things. A skull is not unique to humans. All vertebrates have skulls, but vertebrates are animate and mountains are not. It is a clever comparison because mountains are made of rock and skulls are made of bone. Both are bulky and difficult to break. It takes a lot of effort to crush either of them. If trying to make you understand is like crushing something so tough, it must be a very difficult thing to do. Having the words ‘skull’ and ‘mountain’ in one line, emphasises the difficulty of the task. The “oh” in the beginning of line 16 is a sigh. It is usually a sound that comes from someone who is emotionally or mentally tired. We can assume that the poet is worn out from all the trying, and he is sighing to express his exhaustion. It also gives a feeling of sadness; some kind of pain from deep within.