Name Journeys (AQA GCSE English Literature)

'Name Journeys'

Each poetry anthology at GCSE contains 15 poems, and in your exam question you will be given one poem – printed in full – and asked to compare this printed poem to another from the anthology. As this is a closed-book exam, you will not have access to the second poem, so you will have to know it from memory. Fifteen poems is a lot to revise. However, understanding four things will enable you to produce a top-grade response:

• The meaning of the poem

• The ideas and messages of the poet 

• How the poet conveys these ideas through their methods

• How these ideas compare and contrast with the ideas of other poets in the anthology

Below is a guide to Raman Mundair’s poem 'Name Journeys', from the Worlds and Lives anthology. It includes:

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations

• Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poet’s techniques and methods

• Context: an exploration of the context of the poem, relevant to its themes

• What to compare it to: ideas about which poems to compare it to in the exam

Overview

In order to answer an essay question on any poem, it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• The poem in a nutshell

• A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section

• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Raman Mundair’s intention and message

'Name Journeys' in a nutshell

'Name Journeys' is written by the poet Raman Mundair, who was born in India and moved to England in 1970 aged five. Mundair’s poem explores individuals’ cultural heritage, focusing on the way language is a key aspect of identity. 

'Name Journeys' breakdown

Lines 1–3

“Like Rama I have felt the wilderness

but I have not been blessed

with a companion as sweet as she,”

Translation

• The speaker compares themselves to a Hindu deity, Rama

• The speaker relates to Rama, saying they have both experienced being cast out or the feeling of exile (the “wilderness”)

• However, the speaker suggests they, unlike Rama, are alone

Mundair’s intention

• The first lines begin with a comparison between the speaker’s life and the story of Rama

• This introduces the theme of isolation, as they feel exiled from their homeland into the “wilderness” 

Lines 4–6

“Sita; loyal, pure and true of heart.

Like her, I have been chastened

through trial by fire. Sita and I,”

Translation

• The speaker’s life is explained through Hindu stories

• The speaker feels she shares similar life experiences with Sita, a Hindu deity

• The speaker refers to a “trial by fire”, referring to a Hindu myth whereby the sinful are punished and humbled (“chastened”) through a challenging experience, while the innocent are saved by the gods

Mundair’s intention

• Mundair conveys a strong bond between the speaker and their culture:

  • They connect their own life experiences with Hindu myths

Lines 7–9

“spiritual sari-sisters entwined

in an infinite silk that would swathe

Draupadi’s blush. My name”

Translation

• These lines describe the close relationship the speaker feels they have with Sita

• Their intimate relationship (they are “entwined”) makes them “spiritual” sisters 

• The speaker says this relationship will last forever (“infinite”)

• “Draupadi’s blush” refers to a Hindu myth:

  • Draupadi is a goddess, worshipped for her courage but humiliated in her life

  • Her name is connected to ideas of forgiveness 

Mundair’s intention

• Mundair’s poem focuses on the speaker’s devotion to their religion

• Their life is described in relation to Hindu mythology

• This suggests that the speaker’s sense of identity is linked to their Indian and religious heritage

Lines 10–11

“a journey between rough and smooth,

an interlacing of banyan leaves with sugar”

Translation

• Here, the speaker begins to reflect on their name:

  • They explain that, as a result of their name, their journey (perhaps this connotes to their life) has been “rough and smooth”, good and bad

• The speaker refers to “banyan leaves”: 

  • The banyan tree is said to be the resting place for the Hindu god Krishna

Mundair’s intention

• Mundair’s speaker suggests that it is their name, and thus their heritage, that creates the challenging experiences she has described

• Their life is “interlaced” and closely connected with Indian culture, yet this brings “rough” times as well

Lines 12–14

“cane. Woven tapestries of journeys;

travelling from South

to North, where the Punjabi in my mouth”

Translation

• These lines develop the idea that the speaker has been on many “journeys” in their life

• Perhaps the travels relate to migration from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere, or from India to Manchester

Mundair’s intention

• The speaker’s life is described as made up of many journeys

• The journeys are like tapestries, made up of many different “woven” threads:

  • This may imply her life is made up of different cultures and different elements, that combine to make one piece of “art” 

Lines 15–16

“became dislodged as milk teeth fell

and hit infertile English soil.”

Translation 

• The speaker comments on their language, Punjabi, and how, as they travelled, they began to lose their mother tongue

• The speaker uses the metaphor of “milk teeth” (baby teeth) to symbolise both their first language and their innocence 

• By describing “infertile” “soil”, the speaker implies it is difficult for things, such as one’s identity through language, to survive or grow in England 

Mundair’s intention

• Mundair’s speaker reflects on the significance of language as part of an individual’s identity 

• She suggests that England does not allow her language to survive by describing it as barren

Lines 17–20

“My mouth toiled to accommodate 

the rough musicality of Mancunian vowels

and my name became a stumble

that filled English mouths”

Translation 

• The speaker describes the difficulty of learning a new language:

  • The word “toiled” connotes to hard labour

  • The reference to “Mancunian vowels” alludes to struggles with pronunciation 

• The speaker says their name was difficult for English people to pronounce as they stumbled as they spoke it 

Mundair’s intention

• Mundair draws attention to language barriers between individuals

• She illustrates how individuals find it hard to communicate as a result of unfamiliar “vowels” and names

• Through others not being able to pronounce her name correctly, the speaker’s identity is eroded

• The speaker had to give priority to the new Mancunian accent

Lines 21–22

“with a discordant rhyme, an exotic

rhythm dulled, my voice a mystery”

Translation 

• Here the speaker expresses their thoughts on the way their language and identity has been “dulled” 

• The speaker implies a sense of imbalance as they describe how their name becomes a “discordant rhyme” when English people speak it

• They say that the “exotic rhythm” of her Punjabi name is lost when it is spoken in a Mancunian accent

• This makes their “voice”, their language, a “mystery”, hidden and unknown 

Mundair’s intention

• Mundair conveys the challenges faced by migrants, specifically in relation to language 

• She draws attention to the significance of an individual’s name and language:

  • Mundair presents this as integral to an individual’s sense of stability and identity 

Lines 23–24

“in the Anglo echo chamber -

void of history and memory.”

Translation 

• The poem ends with a critical conclusion

• The speaker describes an English “echo chamber”, an environment where individuals are surrounded by only one set of beliefs or opinions largely agreeable to the majority

• The reference to “history” and “memory” (which the speaker says is an empty hole or “void”) implies the English have no memory of history 

Mundair’s intention

• Mundair’s poem suggests that minority voices are drowned out in England

• The poem’s ending implies the English fail to remember the reasons for migration and the effects of British colonisation

Writer’s methods

Although this section is organised into three separate sections – form, structure and language – it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have. 

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the sections below, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Raman Mundair’s intentions behind her choices in terms of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

The poem’s form contributes to the flowing rhythm of the monologue. Mundair employs free verse, perhaps linking to themes related to the rejection of established structures. 

Structure

Mundair’s speaker calmly reflects on various aspects of their identity. Nevertheless, a destabilised sentence and stanza structure raises issues and hints at tensions in the speaker’s voice and disconnections in the individual’s life. 

Language

'Name Journeys' is depicted as “a journey between rough and smooth”. Mundair symbolises a challenging transition between two cultures using vibrant and classical imagery to show the significance of contrasts. 

Context

Examiners repeatedly state that context should not be considered as additional factual information but connected to your analysis. Examiners ask for sophisticated contextual connections that are linked to the theme in the question. In this case, it is not biographical information about Raman Mundair that is unrelated to the ideas in 'Name Journeys'. The best way to understand context is as the ideas and perspectives explored by Mundair in the poem that relate to worlds and lives. This section has therefore been divided into two relevant themes that Mundair explores:

• Belonging and heritage 

• Disconnected relationships   

Belonging and heritage 

• Raman Mundair was born in India, but moved to England in the 1970s

• She is now based in Shetland and Glasgow, where, in 2022, she was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

• Her writing challenges and raises issues related to British and colonial histories and identities

• In 'Name Journeys', Mundair explores language as a significant part of cultural identity:

  • She refers to difficulties between English speakers and Punjabi speakers

• The poem also examines Mundair’s Hindu heritage: 

  • The speaker compares herself to “Rama” and refers to “Sita”

  • The poem draws comparisons with a story of Rama’s exile into the “wilderness” to, perhaps, connote to struggles in individuals’ lives as a result of migration

  • The speaker refers to close bonds with “spiritual” “sari-sisters” to convey the powerful influence of cultural heritage

Disconnected relationships  

• Raman Mundair’s self identity is diverse and she resists being “pigeon-holed”

• The diverse nature of her cultural heritage has influenced her work, covering themes of anti-racism, anti-facism, violence and gender-based discrimination

• Raman’s work focuses on the experiences and lives of people in minority groups, who she calls the “outsiders”

• The poem offers a bitter comment on an outsider’s experience of hostility as a result of differences in culture:

  • The speaker describes “infertile English soil”

  • This, the speaker says, dulls her identity as she loses her first language 

• Mundair’s poem focuses on language as an integral part of personal identity:

  • She has said that when moving to England she was “put in a class for the educationally subnormal” and “learnt English in order to disrupt it”

    • The poem’s irregular form evokes classical Hindu images within an English poem to subvert established traditions

• The poem describes a “journey” that involves a loss of personal identity as her name is too difficult for English speakers to pronounce:

  • The “Punjabi” in their “mouth/became dislodged as milk teeth fell’

  • Her name is a “stumble” in the “discordant rhyme” of English

What to compare it to

The essay you are required to write in your exam is a comparison of the ideas and themes explored in two of your anthology poems. It is therefore essential that you revise the poems together, in pairs, to understand how each poet presents ideas about worlds and lives, in comparison to other poets in the anthology. Given that 'Name Journeys' explores the ideas of disconnected relationships and differences between individual lives, the following comparisons are the most appropriate:

• 'Name Journeys' and 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955'

• 'Name Journeys' and 'Thirteen' 

• 'Name Journeys' and 'Homing' 

For each pair of poems, you will find:

• The comparison in a nutshell

• Similarities between the ideas presented in each poem

• Differences between the ideas presented in each poem

• Evidence and analysis of these similarities and differences

'Name Journeys' and 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955' 

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both Raman Mundair’s 'Name Journeys' and James Berry’s 'On an Afternoon Train from Purley to Victoria, 1955' employ speakers who explore an immigrant’s experience integrating in England. Both examine a disconnection from their world in terms of their culture. However, Mundair uses a vibrant monologue to express her identity, whereas Berry’s poem describes a polite yet stilted conversation on a train.

Similarities:

Differences:

'Name Journeys' and 'Thirteen'

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both Raman Mundair and Caleb Femi use cynical narrators to examine individuals who feel vulnerable because of their identity. However, while Mundair’s 'Name Journeys' presents an individual’s defiance, Femi’s 'Thirteen' shows a young boy’s growing sense of hopelessness. 

Similarities:

 Differences:

'Name Journeys' and 'Homing'

Comparison in a nutshell:

Both Raman Mundair’s 'Name Journeys' and Liz Berry’s 'Homing' consider the significance of language as individuals attempt to form relationships in new areas. However, Mundair’s poem ends with a criticism of hostile environments, while Liz Berry’s poem ends with release from repression.  

Similarities:

Differences: