"I Lost My Talk" by Rita Joe

Rita Joe was a famous Mi'kmaq poet and songwriter who contributed to writing many inspiring poems. Her poems are about the traumatic experience in Residential School, Indigenous identity, the rights of women, and her life experiences as an Indigenous woman. Her poetry educates the reader about the importance of indigenous culture and identity.

"I Lost My Talk" is also one of Rita Joe's influential works of art. In this poem, she expresses the pain of losing her indigenous identity in a residential school and the hope of relearning it. In this blog post, we'll analyze the poem extensively and learn more about the effect of residential schools system.

Poem Analysis

In the first stanza, the poet expresses the pain and anguish of losing her native language at Shubenacadie School as a little girl. She was not allowed to speak her native language and practice her culture, which made her lose her indigenous identity. The word "talk" reflects the author's native language, culture and identity, which was taken away from her in Residential school. She expresses the frustration and pain of being unable to speak her language. The poet uses allusion, "At Shubenacadie school." to refer to an Indian Residential school where Indigenous children are forcibly taken at a very young age away from their families and loved ones to assimilate them into Euro-Canadian culture. They are forced to learn the English language and practice white culture over there. They are physically and mentally tortured, abused and assaulted over there.

In the second stanza, the poet highlights the pain and anguish endured by indigenous people due to cultural suppression and assimilation done by the dominant white culture. "You snatched it away" shows that their culture is taken away from them without their will. It portrays the force, cruelty and oppression done by white people due to the cultural differences among them. The use of repetition in "I speak like you/I think like you/I create like you" refers to the author's adoption of the language, beliefs, and values of white people. The author was taught to speak only English and would be punished if she spoke her native language, which made her familiar with the English language and culture more than her own. The author is confused and cannot tell her story clearly without her words being scrambled.

In the third stanza, the poet expresses that she can speak both English and her native language, however she realize English language is more powerful as it is a more popular language than her native language. She believes that dominant culture holds more power and influence than her own. The author feels saddened that she speaks English more fluently than her native language and her native language is slowly fading away.

In the fourth stanza, the speaker highlights her desire to relearn her culture. She politely asks for mutual co-corporation and opportunities to discover her language, culture, and values. She wants to teach non-indigenous people and her future First Nation generation about her native language, culture, beliefs and history. The author wants her culture to be equally respected and given importance. She wants her suppressor to realize that culture and values are the symbols of one's identity and are equally important to everyone.

Building the poem's meaning:

The author uses different poetic devices, forms, literary lenses, tone and imagery throughout the poem to build its meaning and convey the message. The author uses symbols, repetition, allusion, imagery, and strong parallels to build the poem's theme. The poem's title, "I Lost My Talk," sets the tone and theme of the poem. It reflects the poet's narrative of loss and suppression of her language and cultural identity. At the poem's beginning, the author shows the anguish and pain of losing her identity. In the second stanza, repetition highlights the speaker's emotional turmoil. The speaker uses strong parallels to highlight the influence of colonizers on indigenous people in the third stanza. At the end of the poem, there are moments of resistance and confrontation, which creates a complex mood. Using different poetry devices has provided an appropriate tone and mood to the poem. Throughout the poem, the author uses different powerful symbols and imagery, which creates visualization for the readers and makes it easy to understand.

Relevant, Relatable and timeless:

The poem "I Lost My Talk," by Rita Joe, remains relentless, Relatable, and Timeless as it captivates and inspires the readers. It is relevant because it shows the ongoing struggles of indigenous people to reclaim and revitalize indigenous languages and cultures. The poem shows the themes of cultural suppression, inequality, loss of identity and resilience, which are relatable to the people who face cultural suppression and discrimination across the world. The poem was written in 1978, but it still remains timeless. This poem carries the pain of losing one's identity, loss of voice and cultural suppression, which are relatable to people across generations and cultural backgrounds.