Blessing (Imtiaz Dharker poem) Essay Questions

How does the form of "Blessing" reflect the poem's content?

"Blessing" is composed of four stanzas of varying lengths written in free verse. The first two stanzas are the shortest, and they evoke the experience of drought. The first stanza is composed of only two lines that read, "The skin cracks like a pod. / There never is enough water." The third stanza is the longest, describing the fortune of a burst municipal pipe. Reflecting the spilling water, this stanza is an outpouring of sonically-rich words that help conjure the chaos of the situation as people clamor to collect the water. Listing the materials of the containers ("pots, / brass, copper, aluminium, / plastic buckets, / frantic hands") provides an echo of their sound as people navigate the densely packed area (Lines 14-17). The length of the last stanza is shorter, perhaps reflecting the receding water.

There is no regular rhyme scheme, but there are instances of rhyme in the poem. The word "god" rhymes with "pod," showing that it is up to a higher source to determine whether the community's skin will crack like a pod due to drought or if their cups will be filled with life-giving water. "Ground" and "found" rhyme, which contributes to the rhythm of the passage describing the outpouring of water from the burst pipe.

What are the political undertones in the poem?

Though this poem does not explicitly focus on political issues, they nonetheless are apparent. The specification of the pipe as "municipal" makes it clear that this infrastructure is under the government's jurisdiction. The relationship between the community in the poem and the government is not defined, but it is clear that the people are suffering as a consequence of the drought. The very first line of the poem reads, "The skin cracks like a pod," evoking dehydration. It is only by accident that the community accesses the water in these pipes to the extent that they do.

Another word that evokes a political issue is the word "huts" (Line 11). The placement of this word in a poem describing a municipal pipe bursting makes it clear that the setting is a densely populated and impoverished urban environment. The word "huts" could mean the informal and sometimes ramshackle housing in environments like these. The dense population alludes to the influx of migrants who come to cities for the chance at a better life. Often, a city's infrastructure is not designed to handle such a huge volume of people, and thus settlements like these exist.

What effect does the final image of children playing in the water have?

People of all ages gather around the burst pipe to collect the water, but it is the children who particularly turn the event into a celebration. They run, naked and screaming in the liquid sun, enjoying the water that has come their way. It is this that turns the water into an active blessing in the poem as the "blessing sings / over" the small bones of the children (Lines 22-23).

This passage shows the different ways that children are present in the world. Adults need to be concerned with survival, but the children in the poem (regardless of whether they, too, concern themselves with issues of survival) are focused on play. Children are included in the list of people who butt in from the surrounding streets to gather water with pots, buckets, and hands, but it is only children who play in the water at the end. It is significant that Dharker chose to end the poem with this image because it leaves readers with the message that survival is essential, but so is gratitude and rejoicing. Children are especially capable of these traits, and this contributes to the community's survival as a whole.

The overall image, however, is bittersweet. The focus on the children's "small bones" not only refers to their developing frames, but could also suggest that their bodies are skeletal as a result of malnourishment, dehydration, and stress. If the reader is to understand the line "There never is enough water" as foreshadowing, then this last image of the children playing in the water suggests sadness and lack as well as joy.