15 pages • 30 minutes read
Tishani DoshiThe Immigrant's Song
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“Lament—I” by Tishani Doshi (2013)
“Lament–I,” from Doshi’s collection Everything Begins Elsewhere (2013), opens with the lines “When I see the houses in this city, / the electric gates and uniformed men / employed to guard the riches of the rich” (Lines 1-3). This poem shares another perspective of the immigrant who grew up in a culture, location, and village vastly different from the city in which they find themself. “Lament–I,” written as a lament (similar to a song), is an important poem to study alongside “The Immigrant’s Song.”
“How to Be Happy in 101 Days” by Tishani Doshi (2017)
From Doshi’s most recent collection of poetry, Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods (2017), “How to Be Happy in 101 Days” is a poem seemingly written with western culture in mind. Doshi, who attended college in America and worked for several years in London, and who has also widely traveled, returned to India in 2001 and currently lives in a small village in Tamil Nadu. This poem touches on the problems of materialism, western society, and a turn toward the simple to discover happiness (and oneself).
“Personal Effects” by Solmaz Sharif (2016)
Born in Istanbul, Turkey to Iranian parents, Solmaz Sharif’s “Personal Effects” offers another immigrant’s perspective. A long, multi-sectioned poem, “Personal Effects” gives a clear, honest voice to the trauma experienced by those from war-torn homelands. Considering Doshi’s “The Immigrant’s Song” and symbols of silence, Sharif’s take on the immigrant’s voice is vastly different and worth exploring.
Further Literary Resources
“Seeing a culture of fear, poet explores the immigrant dream” by Mary Jo Brooks (2016)
This brief article discusses Doshi’s poem “The Dream”—a poem written in 2008 when Doshi was commissioned to write a series of poems about migration and movement. Because “The Immigrant’s Song” is deeply connected to these concepts, this article offers an important look into Doshi’s feelings around immigration and her fears.
“Tishani Doshi: I can go out alone at night—but the dangers don’t go away” by Tishani Doshi (2019)
In this recent Guardian article, Doshi talks about her most recent collection, Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods (2017), and what it’s like to live in Tamil Nadu as a woman. A comprehensive look into concepts of feminism and the female body, this article provides insight into Doshi’s recent poetic interests—that of the life of “Indian women who have been brutalised [sic] and murdered.”
“'Here We Still Are’: An Interview with Tishani Doshi” by the Dundee University Review of the Arts (2021)
Published in 2021, this interview explores Doshi’s feelings around performance and poetry and how she reconciles the two. The interview takes place post-pandemic and delves into how the lockdown affected Doshi’s writing, performing, and how she emerged from it a stronger, brighter version of herself.
Listen to Poem
In this short excerpt (with accompanying artwork), listen to Doshi read aloud the first section of her poem (Lines 1-14).
