Presents from my Aunts in

Pakistan

Learning Objectives:
1. Note context
2. Consider key images and
themes
3. Annotate the poem

Slide 6 contains a link to BBC Bitesize video

NB: This presentation does not contain a copy of the text
Islamic Country
Temperatures can reach up to 45°C

Pakistan
 Context
Moniza Alvi was born in Lahore in Pakistan, the daughter of a
Pakistani father and an English mother. She moved to Hatfield in
England when she was a few months old. She didn't revisit Pakistan
until after the publication of her first book of poems - 'The Country
over my Shoulder' - from which this poem comes.  

The poet says:"Presents from My Aunts... was one of

the first poems I wrote. When I wrote this poem, I hadn't
actually been back to Pakistan. The girl in the poem
would be me at about 13. The clothes seem to stick to
her in an uncomfortable way, a bit like a kind of false
skin, and she thinks things aren't straightforward for
her.
Glossary  

Loose trousers and tunic, traditionally worn by Pakistani

salwar
women.
kameez
The traditional dress worn by women in India and some
sari
parts of Pakistan.
Asian clothing is often decorated in lots of tiny round
mirror-work
mirrors.
prickly heat Severe itching caused by the heat.

Lahore The poet's birthplace in Pakistan.

Decorative panelling, with cut-outs so you can partly see
fretwork
through it.
Shalimar
An ornamental park in Lahore.
Gardens
 Listen to the poem
• Add these notes to the poem:

• The speaker in the poem, who is of mixed race, describes the gifts
of clothes and jewellery sent to her in England by her Pakistani
relatives.
• She is drawn to the loveliness of these things, but feels awkward
wearing them. She feels more comfortable in English clothes -
denim and corduroy.
• She contrasts the beautiful clothes and jewellery of India with boring
English 'cardigans/from Marks and Spencer'.
• She tries to remember what it was like for her family to travel to
England.
• Her knowledge of her birthplace, which she left as a baby, comes to
her only through old photographs and newspaper reports.
• She tries to imagine what that world might be like.
 Structure and Language
• The poem is written in free verse: the phrases are arranged loosely
across the page. It is divided into stanzas of varying length.
• What might this suggest seeing as this was written by a thirteen
year old girl?
Look at the way the lines are arranged on the page. How does this
force the reader into reading it?
e.g.
Listen to the difference, for example, between:  

'I longed for denim and corduroy'  

and  

'I longed
for denim and corduroy'  
 Imagery and Sound
• The poem is a sequence of personal memories. I is
repeated a lot in the poem. When we are remembering
things, our minds often drift from one image to another, in
the way that the poem does, and sometimes surprise us
by fixing on odd details - like the 'tin boat', perhaps (line
54).
• On the next slide are two lists; one for Pakistani imagery
and one for English imagery.
 Pakistani English  

   
'A salwar
                         
kameez peacock-
     
blue' Picture courtesy of Jason R. Kessenich
•'denim and corduroy'
'Glistening like an orange •'cardigans from Marks and
split open' Spencer'
'The presents were radiant
in my wardrobe'

Add to the lists and think about the words that the poet
has chosen
Tone
Much of the meaning of a poem is conveyed by the attitude it
expresses toward its subject matter. 'Attitude' can be thought of as
a combination of the poet's tone of voice, and the ideas he or she
is trying to get across to the reader.

How do you think this poem should be read?

In a confused voice, as if the girl cannot decide whether she is

more Pakistani or English?
Wistfully, as if she regrets having lost her original culture?
Gratefully, as she thinks about the beautiful, exotic gifts?
Select a short quotation to justify each choice.