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Blessing
greets it as a "sudden rush / of fortune." This is the "Blessing" of
SUMMARY the title, and the people crowd around it like a religious
"congregation," cooling off in the hot "sun" and collecting the
People's skin becomes so dehydrated in this climate that it
water like precious "silver."
cracks like a seedpod. There's an endless water shortage here.
While the scene seems ecstatic, it's also disturbing. The
Picture water drops falling, plinking, ringing in a tin mug, as if
abundant water is a freak accident, not the product of
they were the expression of a benevolent deity.
socioeconomic change—or, for that matter, divine favor.
Occasionally, there's an abrupt burst of good luck. A city water Meanwhile, the crowd doesn't just congregate; it "butts in,"
pipe breaks, and silvery water cascades all over the street, jostling competitively to gather the water. The local children
causing people to shout with surprise. A crowd emerges from "scream[]" at the water's arrival. While they're presumably
their humble homes. Everyone in the surrounding streets excited, the word choice is a disturbing reminder that, on other
jostles toward the water, carrying brass, copper, and aluminum occasions, they've likely "scream[ed]" out of frustration, fear,
pots and plastic pails, reaching out desperate hands. and/or thirst. In the poem's final image, "the blessing [of water]
Naked kids shriek in the sunlit shower of water, gleaming as if sings / over their small bones." It's an image of temporary
perfectly scrubbed, catching the light as the miracle splashes abundance, but also a stark illustration of the children's
over their tiny, frail bodies. vulnerability. It carries the suggestion that they may be
undernourished (skeletally thin) as well as dehydrated, and it
symbolically raises the specter of death—a possible
THEMES consequence of scarcity.
While the poem doesn't name its setting
setting, its descriptions evoke
SCARCITY, POVERTY, AND DESPERATION various hot, arid, and impoverished regions of the Global South.
These are regions where water scarcity is a real and growing
Imtiaz Dharker's "Blessing" portrays a community
problem—one that other countries and the wealthy elite often
with a hot, dry climate where water is scarce. When
cruelly ignore—so "Blessing" can be read as a political poem
water suddenly gushes from a broken "municipal pipe," the
illustrating contemporary struggles. More broadly, it reflects
whole community crowds in to cool off and collect water while
the complex communal experience of poverty and scarcity,
they can. Though the resulting scene is joyful, it's also "frantic"
including the way sporadic relief from deprivation can seem like
and ominous; though there seems to be plenty of water for
both a "Blessing" and the sign of a larger cruelty.
now, the speaker notes, there "never is enough." And while the
poem shows how shared hardship can create scenes of
communal "congregation," it depicts scarcity and poverty, on Where this theme appears in the poem:
the whole, as sources of constant desperation and fear. • Lines 1-23
The poem establishes that this is an impoverished community
desperate for water. The community lives in "huts," or simple
houses, and children are "naked,” suggesting they lack adequate LINE-BY
LINE-BY-LINE
-LINE ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS
clothing. (While it’s also possible they’ve undressed just to
bathe, nakedness is often associated with exposure and LINES 1-2
deprivation.) The speaker says that "There never is enough
The skin cracks ...
water" to go around, and the dehydrated "skin" of the residents
... is enough water.
"cracks like a pod." In other words, the lack of water is stressful
and painful. The community daydreams about just "the drip of" The poem begins with a compact two-line stanza
stanza. The first line
water, seeking or awaiting it like "the voice of a kindly god." is a simile
simile, and the second offers context for that simile:
These fantasies speak to how desperate they are—a
desperation the speaker urges the reader to "Imagine." The skin cracks like a pod.
There never is enough water.
In this environment, the occasional overflow of water feels like
a "Blessing," one that fosters joy and communal togetherness.
These lines begin to describe the poem's setting without
But the poem hints that it also breeds competition and
naming a particular place. This is a location that suffers from a
desperation—and it's not a real solution to the problem of
chronic water shortage, perhaps a community located in a hot,
scarcity. Whenever "The municipal pipe bursts," the community

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dry climate. In fact, "water" is so scarce here that "The skin LINES 7-12
cracks like a pod," or seedpod. As people (and animals) struggle Sometimes, the sudden ...
with chronic dehydration, their skin painfully chaps and cracks. ... a congregation:
This opening simile is a subtle reminder that humans are part of
nature; we're forced to contend with the climate just like plants In lines 7-12, the poem takes a turn. "Sometimes," the speaker
and other creatures. says, this water-deprived community experiences a "sudden
rush / of fortune." This good luck comes in the form of a literal
From the start, the poem's sound helps bring its imagery to life. rush of water, which spews forth when the local "municipal pipe
The /k/ consonance in the opening line—"The skkin crackcks likke a bursts."
pod"—sounds harsh and unpleasant, like the condition this line
describes. The /n/ consonance in line 2 drives home the fact of Suddenly, the people have an abundance of the water they
scarcity: "There never is ennough water." Though the poem is crave. It "crashes to the ground" like a "flow" of precious "silver,"
written in free vverse
erse, devices like consonance and assonance prompting a surprised, joyful "roar of tongues" throughout the
add lyricism and dramatic punch to its language. Meanwhile, neighborhood.
the short, sparse lines of these opening stanzas seem to reflect "From the huts"—simple dwellings or shanties—surrounding
the shortage of water—especially compared with the freer- the broken pipe, "a congregation" of locals pours forth. The
flowing lines of later stanzas. word "congregation" can mean any kind of gathering, but it
often refers specifically to a religious gathering, such as a group
LINES 3-6 of worshipers in church. The connotations of this word imply,
Imagine the drip ... once again, that the thirsty locals treat water as a divine gift, a
... a kindly god. sign of favor from a "kindly god." Similarly, the phrase "roar of
In the second stanza
stanza, the speaker suddenly addresses the tongues" might allude to the practice of speaking in tongues
tongues, a
reader. "Imagine the drip of it," the speaker urges, meaning the form of worship or spiritual expression found in some Christian
faint sound of water in this terribly dry climate. sects and shamanistic traditions.
The next few lines describe the water in sensuous and The word "huts" suggests that this community is water-
metaphorical terms: deprived in part because it's economically deprived, not just
because it's located in a hot climate. (Dharker based the poem's
the small splash, echo unnamed setting on the Dharavi slum in Mumbai, India.) The
in a tin mug, residents of these shanties aren't stuck in the desert, but they
the vvoice
oice of a kindly god. seem to be among the poorer residents of their "municipal[ity]"
or city. Presumably, they're hit especially hard by water
The image of droplets falling in "a tin mug" works on two levels: shortages because the city doesn't devote enough resources to
their area.
• First, it's highly specific, helping readers conjure up In this setting, the water from the broken pipe seems to shower
the faint, metallic plinking sound in their minds. down like the "Blessing" of the title. Notice the iron
ironyy, though:
• Second, it's the first specifically human reference in the water isn't actually a divine gift or even the product of
the poem (since the "skin" in line 1 could belong to human generosity or political competence. It's an accident,
humans or animals), so it provides a glimpse of the seemingly born of the same political neglect that aggravated
human response to this arid climate. the water shortage in the first place. In other words, the same
"municipal" leaders who have left this neighborhood desperate
Evidently, people in the area collect "small" drops of moisture for water have also left the water pipe in disrepair, so that it
(from occasional rain or dew, perhaps, or unreliable plumbing) breaks not once but "Sometimes." No one at higher levels of
in cheap but sturdy "tin mug[s]." They receive each drop that leadership, in their country or elsewhere, has intervened to
falls in the mugs as an expression of divine benevolence: "the help either. So while this gathering "congregation" might
voice of a kindly god." As the title hints, this is a place where treat—or be forced to treat—the burst pipe as a gift from
water—any water—feels like a "Blessing." heaven, the situation is really a sign of human inequality.
Short /i/ assonance ("IImagiine"/"driip"/"iit") and internal rh
rhyme
yme
("in"/"tin") echo throughout these lines, mimicking the "echo" of LINES 12-17
dripping water. Again, the short, sparse lines seem to reflect the every man woman ...
shortage of water, or perhaps the need to conserve energy in ... frantic hands,
this hot, thirsty place. Lines 12-17 continue to describe the gathering around the
burst water pipe. The language takes on the rapid, "rush[ing]"
quality of the water, even omitting commas in the phrase "every

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man woman / child for streets around." It's as if punctuation these lines describe kids playing around the gushing pipe as if
here would only slow things down—and as if the men, women, under a sprinkler. They're shrieking excitedly as the sun shines
and children themselves blur into a single mass. down on them in a watery blur. They look fresh-scrubbed, or
Notice also that line 12 ("a congregation: every man woman"), polished, by the water, and sunlight glints off their skin in
like line 8 ("of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts,"), is longer flashing "highlights."
than any line in the first two stanzas
stanzas, and this third stanza is While this image sounds playful—and the kids seem to be
significantly longer than the previous two. The poem, like the enjoying themselves—the fact that they're "naked" and
pipe, seems to have broken open and started to flow more "screaming" also reminds the reader that they've suffered
freely! The form of the poem mirrors the abrupt narrative shift, deprivation. They may be undressed simply to bathe in the
the juxtaposition between extreme deprivation and sudden water, but they may also have relatively few clothes to wear. On
abundance. other occasions, they may have screamed or cried out of
The phrase "for streets around" helps confirm that this water- frustration, thirst, and so on.
starved setting is a city neighborhood (not, say, a desert The closing metaphor strikes a similarly haunting note: "the
outpost, as the reader might have predicted). Everyone who blessing sings / over their small bones." The water may seem to
runs to the pipe "butts in," or elbows forward, to collect the come as a gift from the gods, "sing[ing]" like a choir as it gurgles
water in various containers. The speaker lists a few of these and splashes. But that's only because these kids, and their
containers, in lines full of lively consonance and assonance
assonance: community, are terribly vulnerable. Indeed, "small bones"
sounds like a quiet reminder of death—a possible consequence
[...] butts in, with pots, of water scarcity. The gushing water is the result of human
brass, copper, aluminium, error, not divine providence, and it offers only an accidental,
plastic buckets, temporary relief from a problem that's likely to continue.
frantic hands,

Notice, for example, the /ts/ sound in "butts

tts," "pots
ts," and SYMBOLS
"buckets
ts"; the alliter
alliteration
ation of "b
butts"/"b
brass" and
"p
pots"/"p
plastic"; the assonance between "po ots" and "co opper"; WATER
the shared /an/ sound in "franantic han
ands," and so on. This jumble
of echoes, which includes a number of percussive /p/ and /b/ Because water is essential to survival, it's a symbol of
sounds, helps convey the jostling, fast-paced chaos of the life, energy, and vitality. (Think of idioms like
scene. "overflowing with joy" or the metaphor of "an oasis in the
desert," meaning a source of sustenance amid hardship.)
As for the containers themselves, they're a motley assortment Because it's used in washing, it can also represent purity and
(from sturdy copper pots to cheap plastic pails), suggesting that cleanliness. In many traditions, it's associated with holiness and
people are grabbing whatever's at hand before rushing toward spiritual renewal (think of baptism ceremonies, for example).
the water. Some even collect the water in their own "frantic
hands." The word "frantic" ends the stanza on a note of hard "Blessing" plays on all these associations. In the arid climate of
realism: this gathering might seem almost like a spontaneous the poem, the smallest "drip" of water seems holy, like "the
block party, but the participants are desperate for water to voice of a kindly god." Occasionally, it bursts into the streets of
drink and bathe in. the community as a "bless[ed]" force of renewal. It flows from
the municipal pipe like a "rush / of fortune," almost a divine gift.
LINES 18-23 It seems to restore the energy of the community, which throngs
and naked children ... around it like a religious "congregation." As "naked children"
... their small bones. bathe in it, it contributes to an image of purity and innocence.
Water, in the poem, is more than water; it's a symbol of divine
The final stanza picks up on the rush of sound and imagery that favor, luck, and miraculous good fortune.
began in line 7. The speaker describes a sight that seems
innocent and cute, but contains darker undertones: All this symbolism implies what the poet has said explicitly
about Dhar
Dharaavi
vi, the Mumbai slum on which the poem's setting is
[...] and naked children based:
screaming in the liquid sun,
their highlights polished to perfection, If the monsoon arrives, if the water comes by some
flashing light, miracle of God, by some act of kindness or some
great mistake, which [the people] wait for—if that
In slightly metaphorical language ("liquid sun," "polished"), water arrives, it's a miracle.

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That water is considered such a "blessing," meanwhile,
emphasizes the poverty and deprivation of this place, where • Lines 7-8: “Sometimes, the sudden rush / of fortune.”
something essential to life becomes a luxury. • Line 19: “the liquid sun”
• Line 20: “their highlights polished to perfection,”
Where this symbol appears in the poem: • Lines 22-23: “as the blessing sings / over their small
bones.”
• Line 2: “There never is enough water.”
• Lines 3-6: “Imagine the drip of it, / the small splash, echo
IMAGERY
/ in a tin mug, / the voice of a kindly god.”
• Lines 7-11: “Sometimes, the sudden rush / of fortune. The poem is full of striking imagery
imagery, most of it visual but some
The municipal pipe bursts, / silver crashes to the ground / of it related to sound and touch.
and the flow has found / a roar of tongues.” Line 1, for example, states that "The skin cracks" in the harsh,
• Line 19: “screaming in the liquid sun,” dry heat. The speaker is referring to anyone's skin, the skin of
• Lines 22-23: “as the blessing sings / over their small people in general during a water shortage. This is both a visual
bones.” and tactile (touch-based) image, since cracked, dehydrated skin
is something one can both see and feel.
By contrast, the imagery in the second stanza is mostly sound-
POETIC DEVICES based. The speaker invites the reader to "Imagine the drip of"
water in this place where water is scarce—where the residents
METAPHOR themselves longingly "Imagine" water. (Notice that "drip" is an
The poem uses several metaphors (and one simile
simile) to illustrate onomatopoeia
onomatopoeia, or a word that mimics the sound it's describing.)
the importance of water in its arid setting
setting. With vivid specificity, the poem describes the "small splash" and
First comes a simple but disturbing simile. In this hot, dry "echo" of water droplets "in a tin mug," comparing this tiny,
climate, according to the speaker, "The skin cracks like a metallic ringing to "the voice of a kindly god."
pod"—in other words, the way a seedpod cracks open (to From the third stanza on, the imagery is intensely visual, with a
release the seed inside). It's a blunt, effective image of painful few key sounds in the mix as well. The speaker conjures up the
dehydration, as well as a reminder that human beings are part "silver" flow of water from the broken "municipal pipe,"
of nature. People are as affected by the climate as plants and followed by the avid "congregation" of people that "butts in" to
other creatures. collect it. In the process, the speaker singles out such details as
The second stanza compares the "drip" and "splash" of water the "pots" and "buckets" the people carry, the "frantic hands"
(what little water there is) to "the voice of a kindly god." This they extend toward the water, and the "highlights" of sun
metaphor connects water with the sacred or divine—a "flashing" on the bodies of children. At the same time, the
connection that runs throughout the poem. When water is speaker notes the "crash[]" of water, the surprised "roar of
scarce, the speaker suggests, even a "small" droplet seems like tongues," and the children's eager "screaming," so the
a "Blessing" or gift from heaven. Similarly, any overflow of description appeals to the ears as well as the eyes. Overall, the
water seems like a "sudden rush / of fortune," as the metaphor rapid flow of imagery conveys the blurred confusion and uproar
in lines 7-8 makes clear. of the scene.

The last stanza compares the sun itself to a "liquid" as water

Where Imagery appears in the poem:
from the burst pipe jets into the sky. (In other words, the sun
looks visually distorted through the spray.) The kids playing • Line 1
under this sudden sprinkler look "polished to perfection," • Lines 3-5
scrubbed clean by the water drenching them. Finally, the • Lines 8-21
speaker compares the splashing water to a "blessing" that • Line 23
"sings / over their small bones." Once again, the poem links
water with the divine, suggesting the power it holds within (and JUXTAPOSITION
over) this hot, dry region. The whole poem hinges on a juxtaposition
juxtaposition. It contrasts the
discomfort of a chronic water shortage with the sudden
Where Metaphor appears in the poem: (though temporary) relief of a gushing water main. The first
• Line 1: “The skin cracks like a pod.” part of this contrast occurs in the first two stanzas (lines 1-6,
• Lines 3-6: “Imagine the drip of it, / the small splash, echo "The skin cracks [...] kindly god."); the second occurs in the last
/ in a tin mug, / the voice of a kindly god.” two (lines 7-23, "Sometimes, the sudden [...] small bones.").
The opening stanzas illustrate a community's experience of

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water scarcity: the painful "crack[ing]" of skin, the slow and [...] as the bless
ssing
ng sing
ngs
sacred-seeming "drip" of what little water is available. Bluntly, over their small bones.
the speaker says that "There never is enough water" in this
climate. The last two stanzas describe a burst water pipe, which Together with assonance ("blessiing siings," "o
over"/"bo
ones"),
represents a "sudden / rush of fortune" for the community. consonance makes these lines intricately musical, so that the
These stanzas are full of lively, chaotic imagery, all centering on language seems to "sing[]" like the rushing water itself.
the fountain of water and its effect on a dehydrated crowd.
The main similarity between these two sections lies in the Where Consonance appears in the poem:
religious language they apply to water. During times of scarcity • Line 1: “skin cracks like”
and abundance alike, the people seem to treat water as a • Line 2: “never,” “enough”
"blessing," a gift from "a kindly god." • Line 4: “small splash”
Notice that the last two stanzas are longer than the first two, as • Line 7: “Sometimes,” “sudden”
if a trickle of language has turned to overflowing abundance. • Line 8: “municipal pipe,” “bursts”
Several individual lines in these stanzas are unusually long as • Line 10: “flow,” “found”
well. (None of the lines in the first two stanzas are longer than • Line 12: “man,” “woman”
eight syllables.) In other words, the poem's form reflects its • Line 13: “streets”
central juxtaposition. • Line 14: “butts,” “pots”
• Line 15: “brass,” “copper”
Where Juxtaposition appears in the poem: • Line 16: “plastic buckets,”
• Line 17: “frantic hands”
• Lines 1-23 • Line 18: “naked”
• Line 19: “screaming,” “liquid”
CONSONANCE • Line 20: “highlights polished,” “perfection”
Consonance intensifies the poem's language and helps bring to • Line 21: “flashing light”
life the extreme scenes it describes. • Line 22: “blessing,” “sings”
• Line 23: “small,” “bones”
In line 1, for example, harsh /k/ sounds evoke the painful
cracking of dehydrated skin: "The skkin crack
cks likke a pod." In line
ASSONANCE
4, the repeating /s/ sounds of "ssmall splash" call to mind the
drip-drop of water. In lines 7-8, the combination of /s/ and /p/ Assonance adds lyrical intensity to the poem's charged
consonance (plus the short /uh/ assonance of "su udden ru ush") descriptions. At a few moments, it reinforces the imagery the
vivifies the description of bursting, rushing water: poem is describing.
In lines 3-5, for example, the thin, repeating short /i/ sounds
Sometimes, the sudden rush evoke the tinny drip of water:
of fortune. The municcip
pal pip
pe bursstss,
Imagiine the driip of it,
Lines 14-17 are peppered with /b/, /t/, /ts/, /k/, and /l/ sounds, the small splash, echo
which give the language a staccato quality that matches its in a tiin mug,
rapid jumble of images:
With each successive /i/ syllable, readers can almost hear the
[...] butts
tts in, with pots
ts, water droplets plinking against tin. The last two /i/ words, "in"
brass, copper, alluminium, and "tin," form an internal rh
rhyme
yme, creating an "echo" in the
pllastticc buck
ckets
ts, language itself.
frantticc hands, Later, short /uh/ assonance accentuates the phrase
"So
ometimes, the su udden ru ush," emphasizing the suddenness
These vivid, complex sounds seem to echo the "frantic" and force of the gusher of water. Similarly, the quick repetition
excitement of the crowd. (Assonance once again adds to the of /an/ sounds in "fran
antic han
ands" calls up the rapid, desperate
effect: note the shared vowel sounds of "fraantic haands.") movements of the crowd. The repetition of consonant and
A similar effect continues in the final stanza
stanza, which is vowel sounds in "hiighliights" and "liight" helps highlight the
particularly rich with consonance. Examples include the snappy dazzling imagery of lines 20-21.
alliter
alliteration
ation of "p
polished to perfection" (line 20) and the /b/, /s/,
and /ng/ sounds of the final lines: Where Assonance appears in the poem:

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METER
• Line 3: “Imagine,” “drip,” “it”
"Blessing" is a free vverse
erse poem, so it doesn't have a meter
meter. Its
• Line 5: “in,” “tin”
lines are generally on the shorter side, but they range from
• Line 7: “Sometimes,” “sudden rush”
three syllables. This variation affords the poet flexibility in
• Line 11: “From,” “huts”
describing a complex, chaotic scene.
• Line 14: “pots”
• Line 15: “copper” More broadly, the unpredictability of the lines seems to reflect
• Line 17: “frantic hands” the nature of life in this "municipal[ity]." Here, "fortune" itself
• Line 20: “highlights” can be stingy or generous from moment to moment. For
• Line 21: “light” example, the residents may go weeks or months with very little
• Line 23: “over,” “bones” water, then experience a "sudden rush" of water. (Though there
"never is enough water"—one reason, perhaps, that the lines
never become long and flowing.)
VOCABULARY RHYME SCHEME
Pod (Line 1) - The poet probably has in mind a seedpod, a pouch As a free vverse
erse poem, "Blessing" has no rh
rhyme
yme scheme
scheme.
that grows on plants and can be "crack[ed]" open to release the However, there are occasional, subtle rhrhymes
ymes or slant rh
rhymes
ymes
enclosed seeds. at the ends of lines: for example, "pod"/"god" (lines 1 and 6),
"ground"/"found"/"around" (lines 9, 10, and 13), and
Municipal pipe (Line 8) - A city utility pipe carrying water (as "huts"/"pots" (lines 11 and 14). Though these rhymes may seem
here), sewage, or gas. A municipality is a town or city. incidental, they add to the poem's musicality and emotional
Congregation (Lines 11-12) - A gathering of people. The word intensity. (Notice that they cluster around the passage where
often has religious connotations and indicates a gathering of the long-awaited water "bursts" forth.)
worshippers.
Aluminium (Line 15) - UK spelling of "aluminum," a metal often
used to make cans and cheap containers. SPEAKER
Highlights (Line 20) - Here meaning lighter or sunlit areas on The poem is narrated by a third-person speaker, whose identity
the children's bodies. (age, gender, etc.) is never specified. It's possible that the
speaker is speaking on behalf of the community they
describe—this neighborhood in which "There never is enough
FORM, METER, & RHYME water." However, the speaker never uses a collective "we" and
could be an outside observer as well.
FORM
At one moment, in the second stanza (lines 3-6), the speaker
"Blessing" is a free vverse
erse poem divided into four stanzas of addresses the reader directly:
uneven length. The stanzas break up the narrative into organic
pieces, like paragraphs in a story. For example, the first stanza Imagine the drip of it,
crystallizes the poem's dramatic conflict in two pithy lines (an the small splash, echo
image
image/simile
simile followed by explanatory context). The third in a tin mug,
presents a more extended, complex description of rushing the voice of a kindly god.
water and gathering crowds. Meanwhile, the poem's lines range
from three to ten syllables in length. This effect makes the community's plight more immediate,
The choice of free verse suits the spontaneous, disorderly encouraging the reader's sympathy.
scene that the poem describes. An orderly, predictable form Dharker has said that she based the poem on her observations
would have clashed with this image of crowd commotion. The of Dharavi, a poor neighborhood in Mumbai, India. Hence, the
stanza lengths are also significant: the first two stanzas, which speaker could be read as the poet herself, reporting on the
describe a severe water shortage, are extremely concise. The sights and sounds of the city where she lives part-time.
last two stanzas, which describe the gushing water main, flow
at greater length. The longest individual lines in the poem also
occur in these last two stanzas. In this way, the poem's form SETTING
reflects the transition from scarcity to abundance.
The poem is set in a community that experiences chronic water
shortages. This seems to be an urban setting, since it features a
"municipal [water] pipe" surrounded by crowded "streets." The

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people live in simple "huts," so it's likely a struggling city or a [...] In England, if the sun comes out, life changes,
poor neighborhood within a larger city. The persistent dry clothes come off, people's attitude, people's life
spells—"There never is enough water"—indicate a hot, dry changes. In many ways, in a magnified way, the
climate, perhaps somewhere in the Global South South. (Many parts moment when water arrives, [that's] what happens in
of this region face a real and worsening water crisis.) that Bombay slum. This poem is really about that.
Dharker has revealed that she based "Blessing" on real events
in Dhar
Dharaavi
vi, a large, crowded slum in Mumbai, India. However, At the same time, the poem highlights the vibrant expression of
the poem keeps its geographical location unspecified, perhaps life that these slums represent. Though they are difficult and
in order to suggest that its description could apply to many impoverished places to live, their residents persist with their
places around the world. lives in the face of immense challenges. And while Mumbai was
the "municipal[ity]" that inspired "Blessing," the poem doesn't
specify a location, suggesting that the kind of scene it portrays
CONTEXT occurs in cities around the world.
In particular, the so-called Global South (including parts of
LITERARY CONTEXT Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa) faces a mounting
Imtiaz Dharker is a British poet who was born in Lahore, the water crisis
crisis. Climate change and global income inequality
capital of Pakistan, in 1954. She grew up primarily in Glasgow, already threaten millions of people's access to clean, reliable
Scotland, where her family moved when she was one year old. water sources. This crisis poses one of the major political
Dharker studied at the University of Glasgow, graduating with challenges of the 21st century; it's the kind of problem an
an M.A. in English Literature and Philosophy. She now divides occasional happy accident or "blessing" can't solve.
her time between London and Mumbai, whose hot, dry climate
and Dharavi neighborhood inspired this poem's setting
setting.
Dharker has published numerous books of poetry, mostly with
MORE RESOUR
RESOURCES
CES
the publisher Bloodaxe Books. Common themes among her
EXTERNAL RESOURCES
books include questions of identity, home and exile, cultural
displacement, and community. Similar themes can be found in • The P
Poem
oem Aloud — Imtiaz Dharker introduces and reads
Carol Rumens's "TheThe Emigrée
Emigrée" and W. H. Auden's "Refugee
Refugee her poem. (https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/
Blues
Blues." Other poets have also used the home as a metaphor for watch?v=3g44WplT
watch?v=3g44WplTChA)ChA)
human relationships, as can be seen in Simon Armitage's • An Interview with the P
Poet
oet — Dharker discusses her life
"Mother
Mother,, an
anyy distance
distance." and work. (https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/
Dharker's poetry is well-established, featuring on the GCSE watch?v=NrBzWmCi6ps)
syllabus in the UK and earning Dharker a Cholmondeley Prize • Dhark
Dharker
er at the P
Poetry
oetry Archiv
Archivee — A short biography
in 2011 and a Queen's Gold Medal in 2014. She is also a and exhibit about the poet. (https:/
(https:///poetryarchiv
poetryarchive.org/
e.org/
member of the Royal Society of Literature. In addition to her poet/imtiaz-dhark
poet/imtiaz-dharker/)
er/)
poetry, Dharker also works as an artist and a documentary
maker. • The Author's W Website
ebsite — Check out Imtiaz Dharker's
personal website, featuring media coverage, the poet's
HISTORICAL CONTEXT visual art, and more. (http:/
(http://www
/www.imtiazdhark
.imtiazdharker
er.com/)
.com/)
Dharker has explained that she had the slums of Mumbai, India • Water Scarcity and Climate Change — "Blessing"
in mind when writing this poem. Despite India's recent rapid describes a problem that afflicts many communities
economic growth, over 40 percent of the population of Mumbai worldwide. Read an NPR report about water shortages in
(India's largest city, formerly known as Bombay) lives in slums. the Global South. (https:/
(https://www
/www.npr
.npr.org/sections/
.org/sections/
The largest of these poorer neighborhoods is Dharavi, which goatsandsoda/2019/08/13/750777462/report-theres-a-
has a population of around 700,000. Much of this population growing-water-crisis-in-the-global-south)
density stems from migration, as people move to the city
seeking greater economic opportunity. LITCHARTS ON OTHER IMTIAZ DHARKER POEMS
"Blessing" depicts the kind of water shortages that frequently • Living Space
afflict this area. According to Dharker, during the "stifling, • Tissue
jostling heat" of the dry season, the arrival of water—whether
via monsoon, an "act of kindness," or a "mistake"—represents a
"miracle" for Mumbai's poorer residents:

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HOW T
TO
O CITE
MLA
Allen, Austin. "Blessing." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 15 Dec 2022.
Web. 21 Dec 2022.

CHICAGO MANUAL
Allen, Austin. "Blessing." LitCharts LLC, December 15, 2022.
Retrieved December 21, 2022. https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/
imtiaz-dharker/blessing.

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