Name Journeys by Raman Mundair

• Structure


  • 12 couplets
  • strict structure suggests control over her words
  • the one thing she has control over, even if she can't control her life
  • no rhyme scheme
  • free verse
  • lots of enjambment
  • creates a flowing rhythm
• Name Journeys


  • origins of names
  • taking parts of you along with you
  • identity
  • culture
• Like Rama I have felt the wilderness


  • simile
  • hardship
  • difficult siituations
  • no one home
  • metaphor
• Sita; loyal, pure and true of heart.


  • direct reference to Hindu mythology
  • triplet
• Like her I have been chastened / through trial by fire

  • assonancce
  • representing hardship
  • questioning faith and identity?
• spiritual sari-sisters entwined / in an infinite silk that would swathe

  • metaphor
  • weaving/tactile imagery
  • sibilance
  • soft sound
  • safe
  • gentle
  • contrast with the harsh sounds associated with England later
  • imagery from India is safe, rich and colourful, contrasting with the harsh descriptions of England
• My name / a journey between rough and smooth

  • her name is a memory of her past and how she got to where she is
• Woven tapestries of journeys;


  • weaving imagery
  • her culture is woven into her, intertwined throughout her life
• the Punjabi in my mouth / became dislodged as milk teeth fell


  • less knowledge of Punjabi as she grew up in England
  • she was young when she moved to England
  • metaphor
• infertile English soil


  • England is less interesting than her home
  • English culture is not as rich
• My mouth toiled

  • learning English was hard
• the rough musicality of Mancunian vowels


  • Manchester
  • the Manchester accent is very strong and unfamiliar
• my name became a stumble / that filled English mouths


  • communication is hard
  • English people have a hard time pronouncing her name
• my voice a mystery / in the Anglo echo chamber -


  • her culture and history being lost
  • for the English, communication is hard with anyone else
  • harsh imagery
  • everything in England is the same
• void of history and memory

  • not her history
  • her own history lost because she's in a new place
  • can't connect with her new home in England
• Themes


  • identity
  • culture
  • separation
• Religious imagery

  • like Rama
  • Sita; loyal, pure
  • swathe / Draupadi's blush