The informal adjective “pumped” helps to emphasise the semantic field of the poem and further link to the youthful aspects being described. The use of “ecstasy” is interesting because it acts as a ‘gateway’ between the old words and language and modern language, switching between meaning happiness or a type of recreational drug. This is a great demonstration of the varying semantic fields and different juxtapositions in ‘Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn’. You might also like to look at the poem cited in the epigraph here–‘Dover Beach’ by Matthew Arnold. Elsewhere, the effect is straightforwardly poetic. "Darling is so pirouettey with us/ for whirlwind married month" says the husband in "Darling & Me!"; the transformation of the technical French "pirouette" into an adjective gives a rapturous lift to the line, its freshness reflecting the startling joy the newly-married couple have discovered in each other. Like his stylistic forebear Dylan Thomas, Nagra's creative latitude with words lends the surfaces of his poems colour and movement and opens up new vistas for his readers, transforming language from the barrier it was for his parents' generation into a conduit, a space in which the duality of the immigrant's experience can reside.

Interpreture gives ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover!’ a difficulty rating of 3, meaning that it is deemed to be of average difficulty. While some choices of language and structure may be challenging for students, the variety of techniques enables a whole range of comparisons, and the themes and meaning are still likely to be understood by most students. This also enables a broad range of interesting comparative points with other poems from the ‘Poems of the Decade’ collection. ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover!’Before beginning this piece it is important to take note of the epigraph that begins the piece. It is a short quote from Matthew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach.’It reads, “So various, so beautiful, so new…” There is nothing “beautiful” about the speaker’s description of the Dover shore in the first stanzas of the text. Analysis of Look We Have Coming to Dover! Stanza One Society and Culture: A core aspect of ‘Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn’ is the consideration of modern society, and how this may be perceived differently and potentially more positively in the future than it is today. Turnbull also suggests the different social and cultural divisions which exist, such as class differences or generational gaps. The use of non English words is an intriguing way in which Nagra can be seen to be critical of anti-immigration ideas and sentiments, demonstrating how English has naturally evolved to incorporate words from other languages. There are many examples, such as “alfresco” (Italian) and “camouflage” (French) within the first two stanzas, and reference to champagne through “charged glasses” in the final stanza. This would be very effective for readers who notice the inclusion of such words but don’t immediately see them as ‘foreign’ because it would demonstrate how language has evolved, and how little it has been realised by modern society. Look We Have Coming to Dover!’ by Daljit Nagra tells of the arrival of immigrants to England and of their lives filled with hard work, fears, and dreams.

The possibility of becoming legal in the country is ever-present. They dream of this infinitely positive change and the ability to feel and be treated as humans. They would then be “bare-faced” about who they are for the rest of time. It’s just going to take a lot more hard work the speaker says. Stanza Five The poem begins with the speaker describing the terrifying arrival into Dover There is nothing beautiful about this scene. The water is dirty, the tourists lord over them and they fear being spotted. When they finally make it to shore they drive off in an inconspicuous van and try to make lives for themselves. The draw of English society is also present throughout. They are seeking out lives that aren’t marked by fear and would love to be accepted into the normal culture of the day in which they didn’t have to hide. They could be barefaced. Once again there is another light-hearted phrase within the poem to contrast with the more serious issues being raised, helping to present people as normal and approachable to a reader. “Babbling” could be seen as an example of onomatopoeia, with Nagra playing with these words and phrases to continue the idea of multiple languages. ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover!’ Key Themes While there is variety within stanzas regarding line length, there is a very even structure across the poem with five stanzas of five lines. One interpretation of the specific use of five could be as a reference to the ‘five oceans’ of the world, which have all proved vital to traditional movement and travel over the centuries. Alternatively it could be seen as further representation of cycles, perhaps arguing that changes in immigration are natural changes which should be expected.When the immigrants arrive at the shore, it is not a pleasant experience. They are not greeted with beautiful scenery such as that present within Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach.’Instead, the first thing the speaker notices is the “diesel” smelling breeze. It isn’t clean, even though they are “alfresco” or out in the open air. It comes to them like a “lash,” as if trying to punish them. The speaker also describes the tide as part of the scene, it is moving in with the terrible breeze. At the same time, there is the water itself, which is filled with, The last stanza focusses in on an individual experience and relationship, as does Arnold’s original. There is a sense of having reached a possible, maybe ‘imagined’ destination and having left a state of being ‘hutched’ to be ‘free’. The word ‘free’ itself sits alone after the caesura at the end of a line as a syntactic demonstration of independence but note that it is still enclosed by punctuation. Glasses are raised ‘East’ in a celebration of difference and achievement. The immigrant voice may express the position of the second generation who have become accepted in the Blairite atmosphere of plenty. The voice refers to those who have ‘beeswax’d cars’, a typical image of middle England, and asks the reader to ‘imagine’ again with a sense of irony. The immigrant has the last laugh as Nagra refers satirically again to the prejudiced who might talk of ‘babbling’ and ‘lingoes’. Opening the poem which speech, in particular something as friendly as “Hello!” may be surprising to a reader, and immediately sets the tone of the poem as being less serious, more fun and definitely friendly and approachable. The exclamations and questioning as part of this initial description would be very effective at making the poem feel more inclusive, which is important for the poem as it discusses a range of aspects of modern society so openly. In addition, it sets the tone of the poem to be quite informal, which is important for some subjects raised and the overall semantic field. He implements his native language in an attempt to connect to the plight of Indians living in Britain. The writing is irreverent and exuberant as he juggles diverse voices. Nagra abandons the stuffy nature of poetry and settles for a more accurate and indulging form of poetry writing. Past and Present: The allusion to ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ adds an aspect of history and consideration of the past in comparison to the present, with the poem looking at the idea of society across time and how it is represented in art.

Conflict: As a result of these societal, cultural and identity differences, it is easy to see how there is potential for conflict as different groups and different ideologies are merged into this one poem. The contrast and comparison between the dirty water and the tourists is interesting here. They power through the water like “lord[s]” in their cruise ship. The waves are “ministered,” meaning they obey the needs of the tourists while the immigrants have to fight against them to make any progress. Stanza Two There is also frequent use of commas and hyphens throughout the poem, which may represent the idea of diversity and change within society due to the frequent use of these different types of punctuation. Some readers could also interpret this as continuing the idea of foreign languages and speech, with these pauses representing the thinking and consideration for new words when a non-native speaker is using another language. However, as these pieces of punctuation are generally used to join sentences and words together (in comparison to full breaks with caesura, such as full stops and exclamation marks), it could be seen that this is demonstrating how different cultures and people bring society closer together. Poetic Techniques Nagra has been on the Board of the Poetry Book Society and the Poetry Archive. He has judged the 2008 Samuel Johnson Prize, [10] the Guardian First Book Award 2008, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2008, the National Poetry Competition 2009, the 2010 Manchester Poetry Prize. [11] and the Costa Book Award poetry category and overall winner in 2012. He has also hosted the T. S. Eliot Poetry Readings 2009. He was the Keats House Poet-In-Residence from July 2014 to June 2015, and he was an Eton College Wisdom Scholar in November 2014. These are hard lives, filled with endless work and the ever-present fear that they’re going to be caught and returned to their home country. At the same time, they are able to hope for a better future, as described in the final stanza. ThemesHis second collection, Tippoo Sultan's Incredible White-Man Eating Tiger-Toy Machine!!! (2012), was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. [ citation needed] Nagra's 2013 book, Ramayana, was also shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. [ citation needed] In 2014, he won the Society of Authors Travelling Scholarship Award. [8]