British-Pakistani poet Moniza Alvi’s “Presents From My Aunts in Pakistan” is an autobiographical poem about growing up caught between cultures. The poem’s speaker looks back on herself as a teenaged girl whose family emigrated from Pakistan to England when she was only a baby. Herself “half-English” (with one English parent and one Pakistani), the speaker doesn’t quite know what to do with the beautiful salwar kameez (traditional South Asian outfits) that her loving aunts send her. To the speaker, these gorgeous garments are at once alluring and alien. They remind her that she doesn’t really remember or understand the country where she was born, but that she’s nonetheless deeply connected to this faraway place and to an extended family that loves her. Alvi first published this poem in her 1993 collection The Country at My Shoulder.

• Read the full text of “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan”

• “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan” Summary

• “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan” Themes

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    Emigration and Cultural Identity

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-69

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan”

  • Lines 1-8

    They sent me ...
    ... snapped, drew blood.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-15

       Like at ...
    ... for my teens.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-26

    I tried each ...
    ... unlike Aunt Jamila.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 27-33

    I wanted my ...
    ... like stained glass.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 34-39

    My mother cherished ...
    ... Marks and Spencers.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 40-47

    My salwar kameez ...
    ... recall the story

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 48-54

       how the ...
    ... a tin boat.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 55-64

    I pictured my ...
    ... them in tissue.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 65-69

    Or there were ...
    ... the Shalimar Gardens.

    

    

    

    

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• “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan” Symbols

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    Clothing

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-7: “They sent me a salwar kameez /             peacock-blue, /                   and another /    glistening like an orange split open, / embossed slippers, gold and black /             points curling. /    Candy-striped glass bangles”
    • Lines 11-12: “the salwar bottoms were broad and stiff, /             then narrow.”
    • Lines 13-15: “My aunts chose an apple-green sari, /    silver-bordered /             for my teens.”
    • Line 16: “each satin-silken top”
    • Lines 20-21: “ I longed / for denim and corduroy”
    • Lines 22-23: “My costume clung to me /             and I was aflame”
    • Lines 34-36: “My mother cherished her jewellery— /    Indian gold, dangling, filigree, /             But it was stolen from our car.”
    • Lines 38-39: “   My aunts requested cardigans /             from Marks and Spencers.”
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    The Camel-skin Lamp

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 27-33: “I wanted my parents' camel-skin lamp— /    switching it on in my bedroom, / to consider the cruelty /             and the transformation / from camel to shade, /    marvel at the colours /             like stained glass.”
  • 

    The Stolen Jewelry

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 34-36: “My mother cherished her jewellery— /    Indian gold, dangling, filigree, /             But it was stolen from our car.”

• “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-7: “They sent me a salwar kameez /             peacock-blue, /                   and another /    glistening like an orange split open, / embossed slippers, gold and black /             points curling. /    Candy-striped glass bangles”
    • Lines 11-15: “the salwar bottoms were broad and stiff, /             then narrow. / My aunts chose an apple-green sari, /    silver-bordered /             for my teens.”
    • Line 16: “I tried each satin-silken top—”
    • Line 35: “Indian gold, dangling, filigree,”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 7-8: “bangles /             snapped”
    • Lines 9-10: “changed /             in”
    • Lines 18-19: “lovely /             as”
    • Lines 20-21: “longed / for”
    • Lines 30-31: “transformation / from”
    • Lines 38-39: “cardigans /             from”
    • Lines 40-41: “kameez /    didn't”
    • Lines 41-42: “schoolfriend / who”
    • Lines 42-43: “see /    my”
    • Lines 45-46: “myself /             in”
    • Lines 46-47: “miniature / glass”
    • Lines 48-49: “us /             sailed”
    • Lines 51-52: “cot / In”
    • Lines 55-56: “birthplace /    from”
    • Lines 57-58: “older / there”
    • Lines 58-59: “land /    throbbing”
    • Lines 68-69: “fretwork /             at”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “glistening like an orange split open”
    • Lines 32-33: “marvel at the colours /             like stained glass”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 22-24: “My costume clung to me /             and I was aflame, / I couldn't rise up out of its fire,”
    • Lines 58-59: “a fractured land /    throbbing through newsprint.”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 55-64: “I pictured my birthplace /    from fifties' photographs. /             When I was older / there was conflict, a fractured land /    throbbing through newsprint. / Sometimes I saw Lahore— /             my aunts in shaded rooms, / screened from male visitors, /    sorting presents, /          wrapping them in tissue.”
    • Lines 68-69: “staring through fretwork /             at the Shalimar Gardens.”

• “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan” 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.

  • Salwar kameez
  • Embossed
  • Bangles
  • Sari
  • Alien
  • Filigree
  • Marks and Spencers
  • Mirror-work
  • Glimpse
  • Prickly heat
  • Cot
  • Fractured
  • Throbbing
  • Lahore
  • Fretwork
  • Shalimar Gardens
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “They sent me a salwar kameez”; Line 11: “the salwar bottoms were broad and stiff”; Lines 40-41: “My salwar kameez /    didn't impress the schoolfriend”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan” Speaker

• “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan”

• More “Presents from My Aunts in Pakistan” Resources

  • External Resources

    • An Interview with Alzi — Watch an interview with Moniza Alzi in which she discusses her poetic inspiration and reads some of her poems aloud.

    • Alzi's Recent Work — Visit Alzi's personal website to learn more about her writing.

    • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Alzi's live and work via Poetry International.

    • Salwar Kameez — Learn more about the beautiful, vibrantly colored traditional clothing that Alzi describes in this poem.

    • Pakistani Immigration — Learn more about the history of Pakistani immigrants in the UK.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Moniza Alvi

    • An Unknown Girl

    • The Wedding

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