(Note that analyses can vary widely, hence these annotations must only be used in conjunction with your own analyses).
Annotations of The Deliverer by Tishani Doshi
Summary of the poem:
Title: Could have multiple meanings: the one giving birth to babies, or the one who hands them to new homes.
Tone: Mainly clinical and emotionless, the only emotions being the crying in the USA. In India it seems like they are unable to cry, but go through the process of giving birth like it’s a ritual.
Summary: Starts at a convent (a Christian community). Talks about the infanticide of baby girls in India. Family bonds are ambiguous in the poem BUT: narrator’s mother is the one who brings the baby from the nun to her foster parents. Ultimately, it is hard to place blame as in the last part women are seen to be at the mercy of patriarchy.
Structure: In the beginning, mostly stanzas of 3 lines. But towards the end, dwindles to 2 lines, then finally to 1. Perhaps to reflect the deterioration of spirit and wellbeing.
Themes: Family, Gender roles, Contemporary issues, guilty
Devices used: Pun (sister could refer to the nun, but also to the speaker and the lost baby), enjambment, semantic field of ‘hiding’. Figurative and descriptive language are largely absent, to shed light on the harsh reality.
Links to other poems: Giuseppe (guilt, atrocities), Material (very different approach), Chainsaw (different messages about gender roles), The Gun (contemporary issues).
A Levels Revision 