In "These are the times we live in (I)," British-Pakistani poet Imtiaz Dharker reflects darkly on discrimination and Islamophobia in the early 21st century. The poem follows a speaker (implied to be a voice for Dharker herself) as they face a border agent at an airport. The prejudiced agent is suspicious of the speaker because of their foreign-sounding name and their travel history, and he makes no secret of his suspicion: he rudely stares the speaker down, comparing them to their passport photo at length. Such humiliating treatment, the speaker reflects, is "a sign of the times we live in": the early 21st century, a time when the terrorist attacks of September 11 and the wars that followed fed a terrible explosion of xenophobia and Islamophobia in the western world. Dharker published this poem in her 2006 collection The Terrorist at My Table.

• Read the full text of “These are the times we live in (I)”

• “These are the times we live in (I)” Summary

• “These are the times we live in (I)” Themes

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    The Cruelty and Irrationality of Discrimination

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-39
  • 

    The Burden of Prejudice

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-10
    • Lines 18-19
    • Line 23
    • Lines 33-39

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “These are the times we live in (I)”

  • Lines 1-8

    You hand over ...
    ... we live in.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-15

    You shrink to ...
    ... arm or leg.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-19

    Nothing is quite ...
    ... we live in.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 20-22

    In front of ...
    ... at you suspiciously.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 23-30

    That's when you ...
    ... you over completely.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 31-35

    And all that's ...
    ... out your heart.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 36-39

    Half your face ...
    ... as it lands.

    

    

    

    

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• “These are the times we live in (I)” Symbols

  • 

    The Passport

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3: “You hand over your passport. He / looks at your face and starts / reading you backwards from the last page.”
    • Lines 9-10: “You shrink to the size / of the book in his hand.”
    • Lines 21-22: “he flicks to the photograph, / and looks at you suspiciously.”
    • Lines 31-35: “all that's left is his look of surprise, / because you don't match your photograph. / Even that is coming apart. / The pieces are there / but they missed out your heart.”
    • Lines 36-39: “Half your face splits away, / drifts on to the page of a newspaper / that's dated today. / It rustles as it lands.”

• “These are the times we live in (I)” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3: “He / looks at your face and starts / reading you backwards from the last page.”
    • Lines 9-10: “You shrink to the size / of the book in his hand.”
    • Lines 33-35: “Even that is coming apart. / The pieces are there / but they missed out your heart.”
    • Lines 36-39: “Half your face splits away, / drifts on to the page of a newspaper / that's dated today. / It rustles as it lands.”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “given the times we live in.”
    • Line 19: “It's a sign of the times we live in.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “He / looks”
    • Lines 2-3: “starts / reading”
    • Lines 5-6: “decide / it”
    • Lines 6-7: “sense / as”
    • Lines 9-10: “size / of”
    • Lines 14-15: “recently / to”
    • Lines 16-17: “same / as”
    • Lines 37-38: “newspaper / that's”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “given,” “live in”
    • Line 11: “mind”
    • Line 12: “eye”
    • Line 19: “sign,” “times”
    • Line 24: “While,” “flying”
    • Line 26: “chin”
    • Line 27: “redid”
    • Line 28: “scrubbed”
    • Line 29: “rubbed,” “eyes”
    • Line 31: “surprise”
    • Line 32: “match,” “photograph”
    • Line 33: “that”
    • Line 36: “face,” “away”
    • Line 37: “page,” “newspaper”
    • Line 38: “dated today”

  • Parallelism

    

    

    

    

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    Where parallelism appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “You”
    • Line 4: “You”
    • Line 9: “You”
    • Line 11: “You”
    • Line 26: “they”
    • Line 27: “and”
    • Line 28: “They”
    • Line 29: “and”
    • Line 30: “They”

• “These are the times we live in (I)” 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.

  • The times we live in
  • The book
  • It contains a Z
  • Just moved house
  • (Location in poem: Line 8: “the times we live in”; Line 19: “the times we live in”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “These are the times we live in (I)”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “These are the times we live in (I)” Speaker

• “These are the times we live in (I)” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “These are the times we live in (I)”

• More “These are the times we live in (I)” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Short Biography — Learn more about Dharker through her publisher, Bloodaxe Books.

    • A Celebration of Dharker — Read an article praising Dharker's work, written after she won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

    • Dharker's Website — Visit Dharker's personal website to learn more about her poetry and other creative projects.

    • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Imtiaz Dharker

    • A century later

    • Blessing

    • Living Space

    • Tissue

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