8a - An Unknown Girl

An Unknown Girl
• It is ‘evening’ and the scene is set in a ‘bazaar’ (market), which gives a sense
In the evening bazaar of the exotic.
studded with neon • The bazaar is ‘studded with neon’. The onomatopoeic verb ‘studded’ creates
an unknown girl an impression of ‘neon’ lights piercing the natural darkness.
is hennaing my hand. • ‘An unknown girl / is hennaing’ the persona’s hand. Henna is a tropical
shrub. The ‘unknown girl’ is using the reddish dye from its shoots and leaves
She squeezes a wet brown line
to decorate the persona’s hand – a traditional art. The fact the girl is
from a nozzle. ‘unknown’ makes her appear mysterious.
She is icing my hand. • The verb ‘squeezes’ is onomatopoeic, underlining the almost sensual action of
which she steadies with hers extracting the dye from its tube. Our senses are again appealed to, this time
on her satin-peach knee. our sense of touch, as we learn the dye is ‘wet’.
In the evening bazaar • The persona uses a metaphor to describe this experience: ‘She is icing my
hand’. This metaphor underlines the concept that hennaing is an art form –
for a few rupees the persona certainly feels that she is being decorated.
an unknown girl • The ‘unknown girl’ has a ‘satin-peach knee’. Again, a sensual image is used.
is hennaing my hand. • The ‘unknown girl’ practises her art ‘for a few rupees’. Rupees are the chief
As a little air catches monetary unit of India, and so the exotic scene is clearly set in India.
my shadwow-stiched kameez • It appears that the persona could be wearing traditional Indian clothing (‘my
a peacock spreads its lines shadow-stitched kameeze), which adds to the idea that she wants to immerse
herself in this different culture.
across my palm.
• ‘A peacock spreads its lines / across [her] palm’. The ‘unknown girl’ is
Colours leave the street hennaing an image of a peacock onto the persona’s hand. This image is
float up in balloons. particularly appropriate as the (female) peacock is a similar colour to the dye,
Dummies in shop-fronts and is the national bird of India.
tilt and stare • This is followed by another metaphor: ‘Colours leave the streets / float up in
balloons’. We gain a sense of time passing as the streets are becoming darker.
with their Western perms.
• The traditional images of India created so far are contrasted with more
Banners for Miss India 1993. modern images: ‘Dummies in shop-fronts / tilt and stare / with their Western
for curtain cloth perms.’ Why are they ‘staring’?
and sofa cloth • We are made aware of exactly when the persona is experiencing the hennaing:
canopy me. ‘Banners for Miss India 1993’. Again, this is a more modern image of India,
I have new brown veins. somewhat at odds with the traditional images previously created.
• The persona states that she has ‘new brown veins’. This metaphor implies
In the evening bazaar
that the traditional Indian culture has become a part of her now.
very deftly • The ‘unknown girl’ continues to henna the persona’s hand ‘very deftly’. This
an unknown girl underlines the former’s skill.
is hennaing my hand. • A simile is used: ‘I am clinging / to these firm peacock lines / like people who
I am clinging cling to the sides of a train’. This simile makes us imagine that the persona is
desperate to hold onto her experience. The image of people ‘clinging to the
to these firm peacock lines
sides of a train’ would have been common in India.
like people who cling • We again become aware of time passing as ‘the furious streets / are hushed’
to the sides of a train. and the persona ‘scrape[s] off / the dry brown lines / before [she] sleeps’.
Now the furious streets • Once the ‘dry brown lines’ have been removed the image of an ‘amber bird’ is
are hushed. revealed. This is ‘soft as a snail trail’. The simile and the assonant ‘a’
I’ll scrape off combine to make us aware of the ‘soft’ nature of the henna.
• This image will ‘fade in a week’; however, the persona’ memory of this
the dry brown lines
experience will not.
before I sleep. • The persona claims that ‘when India appears and reappears’, presumably in
reveal the soft as a snail trail her dreams, she’ll ‘lean across a country / with [her] hands outstretched /
the amber bird beneath. longing for the unknown girl / in the neon bazaar’. This proves that she wants
It will fade in a week. to ‘cling’ to her experience.
When India appears and reappears
Form and Structure
I’ll lean across a country
with my hands outstretched • This narrative poem is written as free verse.
longing for the unknown girl
in the neon bazaar. Comparative Ideas
Moniza Alvi • This poem is about a memorable experience so it might usefully be compared
with Miracle on St David’s Day, Death of a Naturalist, The Barn, Mid-Term
Break…
• As a specifically feminine experience, it might be compared with Still I Rise,
Warning, I Shall Pain my Nails Red, Mirror…

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An Unknown Girl

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