Living Space

Question 1

Who is the author of living space?

Answer 1

Imtiaz Dharker

Question 2

Summarise the poem

Answer 2

• The poem opens by describing some sort of construction that is badly built, crooked and barely held together
• It is then revealed that it is someone’s house
• The speaker notices that there is a basket of eggs representing hope and faith despite the exposure and vulnerability of their lives

Question 3

What are the themes present in the poem?

Answer 3

Place
Fragility
Faith
Hope
Society
Chaos

Question 4

Describe the form of the poem and its effect

Answer 4

• Irregular, often uses stanzas and lines of different lengths
• Mirrors the sense of chaos and irregularity in these people’s lives
• Final two sentences are just one long line
  → growing sense of wonder

Question 5

How does the form and structure of the poem mirror its description of the house?

Answer 5

• Lack of regular rhyme and rhythm + enjambment across lines and stanzas emphasise the disorder of the place
• Different line lengths make it look like the place it describes
• Rhyme holds the poem together
  → representative of the nails in the walls

Question 6

Describe the structure of the poem and its effect

Answer 6

• Poem split into two parts
  → 2nd + 3rd stanza: mood shifts slightly + speaker begins to hint at optimism for the future
• Enjambment used often
  → reflects the way slum structures lean on each other
• At the end of the first stanza, tone shifts away from criticism to celebratory as seen by the endstop

Question 7

What is the effect of the mini stanza?

Answer 7

Mini stanza squished between 2 large ones, just like the slums
→ someone found a space and made it habitable
→ division between rich and poor

Question 8

What is Dharker’s background?

Answer 8

• Born in pakistan and raised in scotland
• Poetry often explores life in India and the difficult positions wherein the poor live
• Draws on her multicultural experience within her work

Question 9

Complete the quote
‘there are just not…

Answer 9

‘…enough straight lines’

Question 10

Analyse the quote
‘There are just not enough straight lines’

Answer 10

→ enjambment emphasises that whilst there is not enough stability in the structures built, there is not enough of anything for the amount of people that live there
→ lack of necessities to live emphasised
→ hard to live here: solidifies unconventional lifestyle of the people: but they are happy OR that society has turned their back on them, not enough people care

Question 11

Complete the quote
‘Beams balance…

Answer 11

…crookedly on supports’

Question 12

Analyse the quote
‘Beams balance crookedly on supports’

Answer 12

→ alliteration creates sense and sound of the delicate balancing of the building
→ instability created through enjambment
→ crookedly has connotations of unbalanced and precarious, which suggests it could collapse at any time - nothing lasts forever OR indirect reference to those in power
→ could represent lack of support offered to the people

Question 13

Complete the quote
‘Nails clutch..

Answer 13

..at open seams’

Question 14

Analyse the quote
‘Nails clutch at open seams’

Answer 14

→ reflects the people’s desperation
→ clutch: personification, could symbolise the potential for a stable, safer structure

Question 15

Complete the quote
‘Fragile curves…

Answer 15

…of white

Question 16

Analyse the quote
‘Fragile curves of white’

Answer 16

→ fragility of life established
→ white: symbol of purity and hope
→ use of curves contrasts its rickety surroundings
→ light vs dark imagery
→ shows hope despite being in a desperate situation

Question 17

Complete the quote
‘The whole structure leans…

Answer 17

…dangerously towards the miraculous’

Question 18

Analyse the quote
The whole structure leans dangerously towards the miraculous

Answer 18

→ endstop reflects change in syntax
→ juxtaposition between ‘dangerously’ and ‘ miraculous’ shows how although the building could fall at any time, it continues to stand
→ miraculous: reference to religion/faith
→ personification of a leaning structure + miraculous creates a lexis of worship and prayer
→ in spite of the chaos, there is hope

Question 19

Complete the quote
‘Bright, thin…

Answer 19

…walls of faith’

Question 20

Analyse the quote
‘Bright, thin walls of faith’

Answer 20

→ thin: fragility of living space
→ bright: the people
→ suggests that faith keeps people going
→ despite not possessing much, they feel grateful
→ OR their faith is hanging on by a thread, as fragile as human life