Look We Have Coming to Dover!

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begins with a good example of alliteration, the simple connection of the words “Seagull” and “shoal.

I have had the honour of profiting from my good friend Daljit's teachings for a number of months now at my secondary school and would go so far as to say I am the finest student in the class, a muse if you will. There is also the personification of the wind and rain described as “yobbish” and the ugly connotations and dehumanisation of “swarms of us” which likens those entering the country to insects. The number and range of devices used to describe a multitude of subjects, ranging from contemporary social issues and attitudes to romantic poetry to put Keats to shame, really is a wonder to behold and, though I was first impressed by his work being published by Faber and Faber, I now feel it is holding this man and his incredible poetry back. He speaks -- or rather, his characters speak -- in a whole variety of voices: teenage Jaswinder who wishes she was black and chilled, querulous Kabba laying into his son's English teacher ('my boy, vil he tink ebry new/Barrett-home Muslim hav goat blood-party/barbeque? Prow’d’ also creates a homophone, and therefore simultaneously suggests that the tourists are proud.It is white, indistinguishable from other similar vehicles and likely the perfect on land camouflage. This includes using ‘Punglish’ which imitates English spoken by those whose first language is Punjabi to help show experiences of people of Indian origin who are born in the UK. One can’t help but wonder how this initial impression of England contrasted with that the immigrants might’ve expected. But the poem's sparky, inventive language suggests that immigration is a revitalizing force, offering immigrants' adoptive countries fresh energy and fresh perspectives. The use of non English words is an intriguing way in which Nagra can be seen to be critical of anti-immigration ideas and sentiments, demonstrating how English has naturally evolved to incorporate words from other languages.

I always enjoy poetry with a touch of fiction or drama about it -- the sort that introduces characters and makes them come alive, and tells stories or at least parts of stories, and keeps us entertained. Some readers could also interpret this as continuing the idea of foreign languages and speech, with these pauses representing the thinking and consideration for new words when a non-native speaker is using another language. The beauty of Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach scene is contrasted with Nagra’s poem, in which the sea has ‘gobfuls’ in its ‘phlegmed water’ and the cliffs are crumbling and ‘scummed’. The immigrants maintain their culture throughout the poem, even in the dream future they still keep their language in the safety of their middle-class homes. The speaker highlights the struggles of immigrant life: the lack of official documentation, the difficulty of finding work and housing, and the threat of violence and deportation.

It wants to be fun but it just comes off as foolish, and I was left asking why I paid for someone else's indulgence. They can be seen from the start with the contrast between the arrival of the immigrant and the presence of the tourists.

Even more intriguing is that this poem was published in 2007, almost a decade before the European Migration Crisis and numerous migrant controversies around the world and in the UK.The immigrants are camouflaged while the animals are out in the open, making noise and going where they please. This line relates to the typical view of Britain as a rainy country with little sunshine, with the humour highlighting the ability for people to integrate into society successfully and quickly. While there is variety within stanzas regarding line length, there is a very even structure across the poem with five stanzas of five lines. The link to immigration would become particularly clear with the reference to “Dover” as this is a key point of entry to the UK from mainland Europe as this is at the narrowest stretch of the English Channel. When viewing the text of the poem on the page the first line of every stanza is the shortest and the last is the longest, with the middle three making up the distance between.

At anytime they know that they might be stabbed in the back or hurt by something simple, like asthma contracted in parks. Beyond the title, there is a reference to Matthew Arnold’s “Dover Beach” which is a lyrical poem looking at transitions from old to new and the loneliness that this can cause for an individual.While some choices of language and structure may be challenging for students, the variety of techniques enables a whole range of comparisons, and the themes and meaning are still likely to be understood by most students. The shape of the stanzas makes what could be interpreted as the waves of the sea, crashing into Dover Beach. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.