"Living Space" was written by Pakistan-born British poet Imtiaz Dharker. As the title might suggest, the poem describes someone's living space—that is, their home. Dharker has said that the poem describes a typical dwelling in the slums of the Indian city of Mumbai, but this isn't stated explicitly in the text itself. On the one hand, the poem highlights the precariousness of such homes. More significantly, however, it praises them as an expression of the miraculousness of life, seeing this living space as evidence of human resourcefulness and determination.

• Read the full text of “Living Space”

• “Living Space” Summary

• “Living Space” Themes

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    Human Resourcefulness and Fragility

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-22

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Living Space”

  • Lines 1-5

    There are just ...
    ... or parallel.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    Beams ...
    ... at open seams.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-10

    The whole structure ...
    ... towards the miraculous.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-16

    Into this rough ...
    ... curves of white

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-22

    hung out over ...
    ... walls of faith.

    

    

    

    

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• “Living Space” Symbols

  • 

    The Eggs

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 14-22: “and even dared to place / these eggs in a wire basket, / fragile curves of white / hung out over the dark edge / of a slanted universe, / gathering the light / into themselves, / as if they were / the bright, thin walls of faith.”

• “Living Space” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Th”
    • Line 2: “Th”
    • Line 3: “th”
    • Line 5: “B”
    • Line 6: “b,” “c”
    • Line 8: “c”
    • Line 12: “s,” “s”
    • Line 13: “s”
    • Line 17: “th”
    • Line 19: “th”
    • Line 20: “th”
    • Line 21: “th”
    • Line 22: “th”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “u,” “ou”
    • Line 2: “a”
    • Line 4: “a”
    • Line 5: “a,” “a,” “ea”
    • Line 6: “y,” “u”
    • Line 7: “u”
    • Line 8: “u,” “ea”
    • Line 9: “u,” “ea,” “ou,” “y”
    • Line 10: “ou”
    • Line 11: “ou,” “a”
    • Line 12: “o,” “o”
    • Line 13: “a”
    • Line 14: “a”
    • Line 16: “i”
    • Line 19: “i”
    • Line 22: “i”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “lines. That”
    • Line 5: “parallel. Beams”
    • Line 22: “bright, thin”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Th,” “st”
    • Line 2: “st,” “t,” “s,” “Th,” “t”
    • Line 3: “s,” “th”
    • Line 4: “th,” “s,” “t”
    • Line 5: “ll,” “l,” “B,” “s”
    • Line 6: “b,” “c,” “c,” “k,” “s,” “ts”
    • Line 7: “th,” “st,” “th,” “t,” “c”
    • Line 8: “l,” “s,” “cl,” “t,” “s,” “s”
    • Line 9: “l,” “st,” “l,” “s,” “sl”
    • Line 10: “t,” “s,” “l,” “s”
    • Line 11: “gh,” “f”
    • Line 12: “s,” “s,” “s,” “z”
    • Line 13: “s,” “c”
    • Line 14: “d,” “d,” “c”
    • Line 15: “s,” “s,” “s”
    • Line 16: “c”
    • Line 17: “th,” “k”
    • Line 18: “s,” “n,” “n,” “s”
    • Line 19: “th,” “th”
    • Line 20: “th”
    • Line 21: “th”
    • Line 22: “th,” “th,” “th”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “enough”
    • Line 2: “straight,” “That”
    • Line 3: “is”
    • Line 4: “flat”
    • Line 5: “or,” “Beams”
    • Line 6: “balance,” “supports”
    • Line 7: “thrust”
    • Line 9: “dangerously”
    • Line 10: “towards”
    • Line 12: “squeezed”
    • Line 13: “a”
    • Line 14: “place”
    • Line 15: “these”
    • Line 16: “white”
    • Line 17: “hung,” “edge”
    • Line 18: “of”
    • Line 19: “light”
    • Line 20: “into”
    • Line 21: “were”
    • Line 22: “the”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 21-22: “as if they were / the bright, thin walls of faith.”

• “Living Space” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Beams
  • Thrust
  • Seams
  • Miraculous
  • Frame
  • Fragile
  • (Location in poem: Line 5: “Beams”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Living Space”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Living Space” Speaker

• “Living Space” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Living Space”

• More “Living Space” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Dharker's Website — The poet's own website, with details of Dharker's other poems and films. 

    • Mumbai Poems — Contemporary Indian poets select some of their favorite Mumbai poetry.  

    • More Poems by Dharker — A valuable resource from the Poetry Archive. 

    • A Reading — The poem read by the poet herself.  

    • An Interview with Dharker — An informal chat with the poet.  

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Imtiaz Dharker

    • A century later

    • Blessing

    • These are the times we live in (I)

    • Tissue

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