‘I Am Not That Woman’ by ‘Kishwar Naheed’ and ‘The Bridegroom’ by Liz Lochead Essay

The two poems I will be comparing and contrasting the two poems called ‘I Am Not That Woman’ by ‘Kishwar Naheed’ and ‘The Bridegroom’ by ‘Liz Lochead’. I will be comparing the themes used and the poetic devices with the similarities and differences both writers use in these similar but not so similar poems. Both these poems have been written in the 21st century which are new but they talk about customs and traditions which are dated very old. In ‘The Bridegroom’ ‘Liz Lochead’ writes in a traditional humorous style. She talks about her wedding and how it should be laid out. She describes the perfect bridegroom that’s fit for her. She thinks that the bridegroom spoils the look in the wedding but after the marriage it he is the most important thing for the woman. In ‘I Am Not That Woman’ ‘Kishwar Naheed’ looks at a more cultural and serious issue on the poem. She writes a much longer poem and has a set pattern/ structure all throughout the verses. She talks about her past and how she was used into thinking that her husband loved her and how suddenly she got bounded off by the weight of custom and traditions. Her chastity, her motherhood, her loyalty was bought and sold like a product in the market. ‘Kishwar Naheed’ uses the past tense to write her poem so it shows that she was talking about the past as if it just happened a while ago. There are a lot of similarities between ‘I Am Not That Woman’ and ‘The Bridegroom’ the two traditional and cultural themes which have been used. Both the writers ‘Kishwar Naheed’ and ‘Liz Lochead’ are females so the impression you get in both the poems is that the man in not the important person and the poem is slightly biased. When they talk about their husbands in both poems they criticise them a lot. ‘The Bridegroom is a necessary accessory if often irrelevant’ from ‘The Bridegroom’ and ‘I am the one you crushed with the weight of customs and traditions’ from ‘I Am Not That Woman’. They criticise their husbands because in both poems it seem that the man had the control over the women and he is the dominant one. ‘tower over her in her highest high heels’ from ‘The Bridegroom’. This infers that the woman is the victim and is treated badly ‘you picked flowers and planted thorns’ in ‘The Bridegroom’. Both the women in the poems speak out for themselves in defence for what is going on. ‘Kishwar Naheed’ uses ‘not knowing that I can walk on water when I am drowning.’ This is an oxymoron which is used at the end of the verse showing she is defending and is also speaking out for herself. ‘-the brides the star’ she says as if the husband does not matter because she says the bridegroom always take over the wedding in ‘The Bridegroom’. Both ‘Liz Lochead’ and ‘Kishwar Naheed’ use the poetic devices metaphors and similes to describe things. The writer’s use of objects and nature makes you picture the scene very well. ‘The Bridegroom †¦ a bit of a white elephant’ is a metaphor in ‘The Bridegroom’ meaning the bridegroom is an expensive burden at the marriage and in ‘I Am Not That Woman’ uses similes to describe how her husband roamed ‘free as the breeze’. They both use repetition and alliteration to make the poem even more interesting not dull. In ‘The Bridegroom’ she uses ‘tall’ and ‘highest high heels’ to emphasise the meaning of things. In ‘I Am Not That Woman’ she uses ‘flower free’ and ‘I am not that woman selling you socks and shoes’ as repetition through out the poem. Both ‘Liz Locked’ and ‘Kishwar Naheed’ use objects and nature to describe things in similes, alliteration, metaphors, repetition and rhyme. ‘Liz Locked’ uses ‘more than a penny stick of liquorice’ to show that the bridegroom is not worth anything. Here she uses a metaphor. ‘Kishwar Naheed’ ‘†¦ you hid in your walls of stone while you roamed as free as the breeze†¦ smothered by stone’. Here she uses alliteration. She means that the man is free whilst he has confined her from the outside world. When is comes to the end of both the poems they are both outspoken and end with an exclamation mark (!) to show their feelings. ‘Liz Locked’ uses ‘don’t forget is ha! another matter and ‘Kishwar Naheed’ uses ‘No, No, I am not that woman!.’ There are many differences in these two poems firstly the main theme looks at marriages at two different angles. ‘The Bridegroom’ looks at a more hysterical and funny side to Marriage which is more positive. This is shown by her saying ‘to her sixpence worth of candy floss’ ‘I Am Not That Woman’ looks at a more sober and emotional side to marriage which is negative which is shown to us by her saying ‘whom you bought and sold of my own chastity’ Because the poem ‘I Am Not That Woman’ has been translated from Urdu so there is no rhyme where as in ‘The Bridegroom’ there is lots of rhyme but that rhyme does not have a pattern eg: ABAB but instead it had been placed anywhere thought the poem. This has a rhyme pattern because it has been written in English and not in any other language. ‘Liz Locked’ writes in a formal style throughout most of the poem ‘He should, at the risk of being banal’ but at the end she writes in informal language ‘the role of the bridegroom as they scatter the confetti’s’ and ‘Kishwar Naheed’ keeps her writing formal all the time ‘I am not that woman selling you socks and shoes’. In ‘The Bridegroom’ ‘Liz Locked’ writes her poem so it is set out on the day of the wedding because it says ‘The Bridegroom is a necessary accessory-†¦ a bit of a white elephant after the event.’ where as in ‘I Am Not That Woman’ it is after the wedding but we do not know how long it has been. ‘I am the woman you married off’ ‘Liz Locked’ uses a whole range of poetic devices, more that ‘Kishwar Naheed’ uses. This makes ‘The Bridegroom’ seem more lively and funny. ‘He should be tall, but not too tall- the ideal’s tall enough†¦ tower over her in her highest high heels,’ here there lots of use of alliteration and repetition. ‘I Am Not That Woman’ uses ‘that I can walk on water when I am drowning’ here she cleverly uses an oxymoron to show that even though she is in trouble in a difficult situation she still has her head up high and will not let her down. In ‘I Am Not That Woman’ she gets treated like an outcast ‘I am the commodity you traded in, my chastity, my mother hood, my loyalty’ where as in ‘The Bridegroom, she doesn’t get treated like an outcast ‘- the bride’s the star!’ In my opinion I think that I liked ‘The Bridegroom’ better because the way ‘Liz Locked’ writes her poem. It is very amusing and it makes a marriage sound like a joke. ‘Kishwar Naheed’s’ poem was also good which made me see the more serious side to traditional marriages in an Asian background. This poem was more difficult to understand because there were many ways you could put the poem. She could have been talking about her past because it uses the past tense ‘whom you’ or you could adapt it as she is saying it in the present tense where she has just been married and thrown out of her house on to the streets ‘The woman on that poster, half- naked, selling socks and shoes- No, no, I am not that woman’ Overall I think that she is talking about her long gone past and that she is a beggar woman at the present time. She doesn’t want to tell anyone because she is too ashamed of herself and keeps on saying ‘I am not that woman selling you socks and shoes’ which again uses repetition.