Singh Song - Nagra

• Singh Song


  A poem that uses witty word play and manipulates pre-established racist stereotypes to create a sentimental, funny poem about the realities of Indian families living in the UK. The speaker focuses on his wife and the love he has for her and making love to her while he should be on duty at his family’s shop.
• What Quote Links to the theme of racism/stereotype? The Speaker recounts "vee share in chapatti": 'Phonetic transcription (writing in a way that reflects an accent), replacing "we" with "vee". Forces reader to use the accent as well, demanding that they speak in the accent they have mocked and thus normalising it.'
• He says that his wife has the "tummy ov a teddybear": 'Juxtaposing love for her against her less conventionally beautiful standards. Showing love to be complex, to involve resentment but also passion. Comparing her to a child's toy further evokes a sense of endearment, juxtaposing against her "eyes ov a gun".'
• The Poem's final line, addressed to his wife: “is Priceless baby": 'The term "baby" is the final addition to the semantic field of love created in the poem. The line shows him renouncing the financially, capitalistically motivated world of his father's shop and embracing love which is "Priceless".'
• Form: Free Verse


  Lacks a rhyme scheme giving it an element of spontaneity, as though it is improvised. Makes the poem seem more informal which is enhanced by the dialect style language, and it also makes the speaker sound scattered in their thoughts, as though the influence of love has made him whimsically skittish.
• Form: Stanzas


  Broken into irregular stanzas of unequal length which add to the poem's chaotic nature. It makes the Speaker seem unfocused on being grammatically correct and more on expressing his feelings. It makes the poem seem like a passionate expression of love for his wife and his culture.
• Structure technique: Enjambment


  Example: "Late in di midnight hour/ven yoo Shoppers are wrap up quiet". There is a lot of enjambment in the poem and for a poem about love it makes love seem everlasting and resilient, able to overcome potentially hindrances (obstacles). The Poem lacks many forms of punctuation, only using question marks and dashes when necessary and this gives the impression that the speaker is unfiltered and cares more about speaking their thoughts than being grammatically correct.
• What theme from “Farmer's Bride“ is similar to “Singh Song”?

  Similar: An insight into the speaker's mind. Both poems allow us a direct account of the speakers' feelings about love, however different they might be. They both look at women through a primarily male lens.
• What other theme from “Farmer's Bride“ is similar to “Singh song“?

  Similar: Cultural language. Both Speakers in the two poems are fond of their surroundings, with Singh recounting fondly aspects of his culture in his everyday life and the Farmer is focused on the harvest and the nature that surrounds him.
• What theme from “Farmer's Bride“ is different to “Singh Song”?

  Difference: The Speaker in Singh tolerates his wife's bad behaviour (getting drunk, being rude to his parents) whereas the farmer dominates his wife in every aspect of her life, does not respect her as an individual and objectifies her.
• What form from "Farmers Bride" is similar to "Singh Song"?

  Monologue
• Monologue


  • Both poems take the form of a monologue giving us unfiltered access into the Speaker's innermost thoughts and feelings
• What form in "Farmers Bride" is different to "Singh Song"?

  Metre
• Metre


  • Nagra uses free verse making his poem sound spontaneous and like a stream of consciousness, while Mew uses iambic pentameter, making the poem sound rhythmically even and creating a sense of regularity - this representing the starting regularity of his oppression to his wife
• What structure in "Farmers Bride" is similar to "Singh Song"?

  Enjambment
• Enjambment


  • Both poems use enjambment but in Nagra's poem it gives the effect of creating a rambling incoherent monologue, while in Mew's it creates complex sentences making the poem sound almost prose-like
• What structure in "Farmers Bride" is different to "Singh Song"?

  Stanzas
• Stanzas


  • Nagra's poem is far more disjointed making the poem seem, again, like a stream of consciousness, while Mew's is split into far more equal stanzas emulating this mass control of his wife
• What context in "Farmers Bride" is similar to "Singh Song"?

  Key ideas
• Key ideas


  • Both poets attempt to tackle key issues of society - Nagra attempting to dispel the stigma associated with racial stereotypes, and Mew highlighting the subjugation of women throughout history
• What context in "Farmers Bride" is different to "Singh Song"?

  Positive to negative
• Positive to negative


  • Nagra tackles the issues in his poem (racism) by taking a positive approach, attempting to highlight his fondness for his culture and in turn overshadow the negative stereotypes associated with that culture, while Mew however, writes a far more depressing account of the realities of gender-based subjugation and forced marriages
• Similar miscommunication


  Both poems show a rift between the couples in them. They both seem to have a relationship lacking in communication and both resolve this by the end of the poem
• Similar fondness


  They both spend the whole poem focusing solely on their partners, making both poems feel like an Ode (a love poem)
• Different uncertainty


  Singh speaks of troubles he has with his wife, but in a self-assured manner that makes him sound secure in his relationship with her. In Winter Swans, however, the speaker seems insecure in his relationship and spends the poem attempting to fix a problem they are clearly having and were not always entirely certain it will be fixed
• Similar rhyme


  Both poems lack a discernible rhyme scheme, making them sound irregular and disjointed. Both rhyme schemes communicate tumultuous relationships in their respective poems
• Similar stanzas


  Both poems have irregular stanzas creating a sense of instability in the poem, making it so, alike to the speaker, we're as unaware of what the day brings for their relationship as they are
• Different refrain


  Singh Song has refrains of certain lines while Winter Swans does not. The refrain in Nagra's poem creates a sense of fondness and community but the lack of repeated, simple sentences in Sheers' poem creates a sense of melancholy
• Different enjambment


  Winter Swans has a mix of end-stopped lines and enjambment whilst Singh Song lacks full stops all together. This has the effect of making the speaker in Winter Swans sound far more organized with their thoughts and Singh sounding much more excited and spontaneous
• Different couplets


  Sheers uses one rhyming couplet at the end of his poem creating a sense of finality and resolution. Nagra creates that sense by using a question and answer in his final lines
• Conflict in their relationships

  Resolved by the end of the poem
• Nagra

  • Shows conflict through a cultural lens
• Sheers

  • Shows conflict through an ecocritical lens (through nature)
• Personal issues


  Focused on in "Singh Song"
• Worldly issues


  Focused on in "Winter Swans"
• Nagra


  • Desires to focus on inherent issues within society regarding racism
• Sheers

  • Focuses on issues within relationships and is more focused on the couple rather than the world as a whole