Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker

The poem Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker is about appreciating the smalls of life and not taking anything that god has given you for granted. To portray this message Dharker uses many poetic devices such as personification, onomatopoeia, alliteration, imagery, symbolism, rhyme and many more. There are many places where Imtiaz Dharker uses onomatopoeia to describe the scene of the poem but for one instance she uses it in lines 3-4 she says, "There never is enough water. Imagine the drip of it". The poem is set in third world countries where the everyday resources we have aren't found over there. Using the word drip helps emphasize how little water there is over there. There is so little water over there that you can hear just the one drop that drips out of the village pump every now and then reminding them of how little they have of there most important life line. In addition there is alliteration used in the poem. "Butts in, with pots , brass, copper, aluminum", the repeating "s" sound we hear comes out as the hissing sound that is heard during a hot summer day. It helps readers think about the scorching hot weather they go through year round that leaves their thirst permanently unquenched. To aid in making a clear statement the poet uses a simile. Dharker uses skin to symbolize how the land looks like. In line two she says, "the skin cracks like a pod". The land is so dry that it is cracking and that only happens in extreme cases such as droughts. This line helps imply that on top of poverty they are stricken with droughts which limits vegetation and plants overall. This shows how the ground that we walk on and, don’t pay attention to, actually makes such a huge impact on our lives. Fourthly the poem contains a rhyme scheme of AB at some parts. Using rhyme helps reel in readers and force them to listen because it's very catchy.