poetry essay the right word

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If it stops reading, it dies, language and reality: ‘the right word’ by imtiaz dharker (poem analysis, gcse).

‘ Are words no more / than waving, wavering flags? ’

Imtiaz Dharker explores how words create our understanding rather than objectively reflect reality – and the effect this has on our relationships with people unlike ourselves.

‘The Right Word’ by Imtiaz Dharker

Outside the door, lurking in the shadows, is a terrorist.

Is that the wrong description? Outside that door, taking shelter in the shadows, is a freedom fighter.

I haven’t got this right. Outside, waiting in the shadows, is a hostile militant.

Are words no more than waving, wavering flags? Outside your door, watchful in the shadows, is a guerrilla warrior.

God help me. Outside, defying every shadow, stands a martyr. I saw his face.

No words can help me now. Just outside the door, lost in shadows, is a child who looks like mine.

One word for you. Outside my door, his hand too steady, his eyes too hard is a boy who looks like your son, too.

I open the door. Come in, I say. Come in and eat with us.

The child steps in and carefully, at my door, takes off his shoes.

Analysis of ‘The Right Word’

The word ‘ terrorist ’ creates a complex set of expectations. We believe that we understand how this person will act; we may even think we know who they are, what they represent, their motives, even their appearance, just from this one word. ‘ Lurking in the shadows ’ further suggests that they are a hidden threat waiting for the moment to attack. Dharker creates tension and mood in just these three opening lines.

However, Dharker deflates these expectations when in the next stanza she asks ‘ Is that the wrong description? ’.

The ‘ terrorist ’ is recast as a ‘ freedom fighter ’ which immediately sets up a whole other range of expectations. In contrast, Dharker now describes the person as ‘ taking shelter in the shadows ’, seeking safety against an oppressive enemy. Even a subtle change in word choice significantly alters our interpretation.

Dharker continues to highlight that there are many ways to frame and reframe a situation. This same person also becomes a ‘ hostile militant ’, a ‘ guerrilla warrior ’ and a ‘ martyr ’. The speaker demonstrates uncertainty as they struggle to find the right words, asking ‘ Is that the wrong description? ’ and worrying that they ‘ haven’t got this right ’. Unable to settle on a satisfying description, the speaker asks: ‘ Are words no more / than waving, wavering flags? ’. Like flags, the meaning of words can waver, become partial or obscure. Words aren’t concrete and stable, objectively capturing the essential truth.

This means that the same person can be called a terrorist or a freedom fighter, depending on the views of the speaker and – crucially – the response they wish to invoke in others . Is this person brave or merely violent? Should we respect them or fear them? Each term provokes a different reaction.

However, the lurking figure is finally recast as simply a ‘ child ’. He is a ‘ boy who looks like your son ’, suggesting for the first time a familiarity, a fundamental sameness. In the penultimate stanza, the speaker even ‘ open[s] the door ’ and invites the child into the intimate family space to ‘ Come in and eat with us ’. Only once the figure on the outside is recognised as a child, rather than being described in alarming language, can the door open to them.

The image of the door returns throughout the poem. A wall simply divides two sides. Yet a door can open, providing an opportunity for the two sides to connect. One side must take the risk and reach out, opening the door to the other and welcoming them in.

Dharker argues that words can create an artificial barrier between people, hiding our similarities and emphasising – or imagining – fundamental differences. But the right words, like a door, can open up new spaces for friendship and understanding .

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The right word

By imtiaz dharker.

Outside the door, lurking in the shadows, is a terrorist.

Is that the wrong description? Outside that door, taking shelter in the shadows, is a freedom-fighter.

I haven't got this right . Outside, waiting in the shadows is a hostile militant .

Are words no more than waving, wavering flags? Outside your  door , watchful  in the  shadows, is a guerrilla warrior .

God help me. Outside,  defying every shadow , stands a martyr. I  saw his face .

No words can help me now. Just outside the door, lost in shadows, is a child who looks like mine.

© Imtiaz Dharker, from The terrorist at my table (Bloodaxe Books, 2006)

from The terrorist at my table by Imtiaz Dharker (Bloodaxe Books, 2006)

Imtiaz Dharker

Imtiaz Dharker grew up a Muslim Calvinist in a Lahori household in Glasgow, was adopted by India and married into Wales. She is an accomplished artist and documentary film-maker, and has published six books with Bloodaxe, Postcards from god (including Purdah) (1997), I Speak for the Devil (2001), The terrorist at my table (2006), Leaving Fingerprints (2009), Over the Moon (2014) and Luck Is the Hook (2018). All her poetry collections are illustrated with her drawings, which form an integral part of the books; she is one of very few poet-artists to work in this way.

She was awarded The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry for 2014, presented to her by The Queen in spring 2015, and has also received a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Over the Moon was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry 2014. Her poems are on the British GCSE and A Level English syllabus, and she reads with other poets at Poetry Live! events all over the country to more than 25,000 students a year. She has had a dozen solo exhibitions of drawings in India, London, Leeds, New York and Hong Kong. She scripts and directs films, many of them for non-government organisations in India, working in the area of shelter, education and health for women and children. In 2015 she appeared on the iconic BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. In 2019 she was appointed Chancellor of Newcastle University.

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The right word.

by Imtiaz Dharker

The right word - Imtiaz Dharker

I work with film, and I know that I can take one image and edit it ten different ways, write ten different sets of words, and make it into ten different stories. That's one of the things that I'm trying to do in the poem 'The right word'. There is just one image, but it's an image that is interpreted in different ways depending on the preconceptions that fit into each verse.

Outside the door, lurking in the shadows, is a terrorist.

Is that the wrong description? Outside that door, taking shelter in the shadows, is a freedom fighter.

I haven’t got this right. Outside, waiting in the shadows, is a hostile militant.

Are words no more than waving, wavering flags? Outside your door, watchful in the shadows, is a guerrilla warrior.

God help me. Outside, defying every shadow, stands a martyr. I saw his face.

No words can help me now. Just outside the door, lost in shadows, is a child who looks like mine.

One word for you. Outside my door, his hand too steady, his eyes too hard is a boy who looks like your son, too.

I open the door. Come in, I say. Come in and eat with us.

The child steps in and carefully, at my door, takes off his shoes.

from The Terrorist at My Table (Bloodaxe, 2006), © Imtiaz Dharker 2006, used by permission of the author and the publisher

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Imtiaz Dharker

Explore similar poems, also by imtiaz dharker, imtiaz dharker and malika booker – ‘between the ears’ for bbc 100, speech balloon, living space / one breath, the temporary face, by similar tags, poetry archive now wordview 2023: respite, poetry archive now wordview 2023: the green we left behind, poetry archive now wordview 2023: her statue (i’m starting to hate my sister), poetry archive now wordview 2023: colours of summer, poetry archive now wordview 2023: branta ammi o melaman, poetry archive now wordview 2023: (dead white men).

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The right word by Imtiaz Dharker

Imtiaz Dharker reads her poem The right word from ‘The terrorist at my table’ Filmed at the English and Media Centre Drawings by Imtiaz Dharker

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Poetry for GCSE English

Saturday 29 september 2012.

• The Right Word, by Imtiaz Dharker

6 comments:

Ilove this poem and she is an Indian as me.

She's actually from Pakistan.

How confusing but lovely this poem is.It's lovely I like it����

. . ........ . . . ......... . . . . . . ......

I love the poem so much

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The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem)

By imtiaz dharker, the right word (imtiaz dharker poem) character list, the boy standing outside.

In the poem, Dharker repeatedly casts the same situation in a different light. Someone stands outside the speaker's door and with each new stanza, a different word is used to describe him. These include a terrorist, a freedom fighter, a hostile militant, a guerrilla warrior, a martyr, a child who resembles the speaker's son, and a child who resembles the reader's son.

The reconstruction that takes place in the poem demonstrates that religious, cultural, political, and social factors will strongly influence a person's perception. Context depends entirely on who is looking at and defining the situation. The speaker in "The right word" peels back all these layers of perceived identity (terrorist, freedom fighter, etc.) until she arrives at what is underneath: a child.

The speaker

The speaker in "The right word" is concerned with finding the correct language to communicate the situation occurring just outside her door. At several points in the poem, the speaker seems frustrated because of the words she uses and the contexts they will evoke in the reader. The speaker questions whether she provides the wrong description, claims to fail at describing the situation adequately, and wonders at the usefulness of words at all. In the end, action is more important to this speaker than words. She invites the boy standing outside her door to come in and eat with her family.

The speaker's decision to accept the boy into her home illustrates the choice to break down the barrier of words (and discard all the baggage that these words carry).

The speaker in "The right word" directly invokes the reader by stating that the boy "looks like your son, too" (Line 28). In doing so, the speaker conjures familiarity between this boy, whom some would call a terrorist, and the reader. Dharker's choice to address the reader directly implies that the poet's aim is to use this poem to persuade people to think more deeply about their own perceptions and relationships. "The right word" asks readers to imagine themselves in the speaker's situation.

The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem) Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem) is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Study Guide for The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem)

The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem) study guide contains a biography of Imtiaz Dharker, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem)
• The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem) Summary
• Character List

Essays for The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem)

The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem) essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem) by Imtiaz Dharker.

• Historical Context and Problematic Perceptions in "The Right Word"

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The poem "The Right Word" by Imtiaz Dharker has nine..

One word which is repeated six times in the poem and then inverted is

Freedom Fighter

Which phrase has positive connotations about the person who is outside the door?

Hostile militant

Guerilla Warrior

When the meaning of a line of poetry continues from one line to another with no breaks, that is called?

End stopped lines

Run on lines

What tense is the poem written in?

"Are words no more than waving, wavering flags" Which poetic technique can you not see in these lines?

Alliteration

Onomatopoeia

What changes about the poem between the sixth and seventh stanzas?

It moves from past tense to present tense

The length of lines changes

The rhyme scheme changes

It moves from a mix of first and third person to second person

How has the tone of the poem changed by the last stanza ?

From distrusting and despairing to hopeful

From naivity to cynicism

From hope to despair and distrust

From passivity to militantism

What preposition is repeated multiple times at the end of the poem to suggest inclusion and welcoming?

What is the most likely purpose of Dharker's poem from the statements below?

Dharker want to condemn all terrorists as evildoers

Dharker wants us to recognise that politicians are terrorists themselves

Dharker wants us to question the labels we have for people involved in conflicts and look at the human beings behind these events

Dharker wants us to support the terrorism when the cause is just

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