Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Literature · specification 4ET1 · Component 1 | Section B: Anthology Poetry · Free · no account needed
Search For My Tongue — Sujata Bhatt (4ET1 specification)
A speaker fears her mother tongue is dying inside her — and the poem answers the fear by breaking into Gujarati on the page.
Specification coverage
Component 1, Section B — Anthology Poetry (Part 3 of the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE English Anthology)
Assessment objectives: AO2, AO3. Suggested learning time: 60 minutes.
Required knowledge
- The poem's central pun: 'tongue' as both the organ and a language
- The Gujarati passage is the poem's structural centre and its proof
- The extended metaphor of the mother tongue as a plant that appears to rot but grows back overnight
Required skills
- Analyse how language, form and structure create meanings and effects (AO2)
- Compare this poem with another from Part 3, including language, structure and form (AO3)
- Use appropriate literary terminology accurately
- Select relevant, short examples from the poem — it is printed in the paper, so precision is expected
How it is examined
- One 30-mark comparative essay, from a choice of two, comparing this poem with one other from Part 3
Common mistakes
- Skipping the Gujarati section because it can't be quoted comfortably. Write about what it DOES structurally instead.
- Treating the plant image as decorative. It is the argument: languages are living things that can lie dormant.
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