Monday 9 April 2012

Blessing - an analysis of the title

So - why is 'Blessing' called 'Blessing'?

The poem has a lot of religious imagery:

"the voice of a kindly god"

"a congregation"

"the blessing sings"

Dharker is trying to make us associate the water with God. She wants us to understand that for the people of Dharavi slum, water is something to have faith in. It is something that the people of the slum depend on, but cannot always find. It is rare and not always easy to see, even if it is always there, somewhere.

The 'blessing' is the water. When the pipe bursts, the water comes down from the sky like a gift from God.

By using the word "congregation", Dharker is making the people, gathered round the water pipe, seem like churchgoers worshipping the water. A congregation is a crowd of people who gather at a church to pray; these people are gathered to worship the miracle that is the water.

The imagery could also be used to remind us that in the western world, we take water for granted. We assume we always have it at our disposal, and the poem reminds us that this is not the case for less fortunate people.

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