The right word (Imtiaz Dharker poem) Literary Elements

The poem is written in the first person from the perspective of someone inside a house encountering another person standing outside the door. Second-person perspective is also used in the poem to address the reader.

The poem is composed of nine stanzas of varying length written in free verse. There is no regular rhyme scheme or meter.

Metaphors
-"Are words no more / than waving, wavering flags?" (Lines 11-12): Words are compared to flags.

Alliteration
-"taking shelter in the shadows, / is a freedom fighter" (Lines 6-7): The /sh/ and /f/ sounds repeat.
-"waving, wavering flags" (Line 12): The /w/ repeats.
-"watchful in the shadows, / is a guerrilla warrior. // God help me" (Lines 14-16): The /w/ and /g/ repeat.

Assonance
-"waving, wavering flags" (Line 12): The /a/ repeats.

The poet uses language and writing to express the speaker's predicament: "No words can help me now" (Line 20).

Political Poetry, Narrative Poetry

The doorway of the speaker's home.

The tone progresses from alarmist to reflective and intimate

The protagonist is the speaker; the antagonist is the boy outside her door. However, this dynamic is complicated by the shifting perspective on the boy that the poem enacts.

The major conflict in the poem, as the title suggests, is the speaker's grappling with finding the correct language for the situation she is in.

The climax of the poem occurs when the speaker recognizes the resemblance between the boy standing outside and her own son, as well as the reader's son.

When the speaker recognizes a resemblance between the boy standing outside and her own son, this foreshadows her inviting him into her home.

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The word "terrorist" alludes to all the different ways that this word is used, especially by the media. Several connotations of the word are extremism, political violence, and foreign infiltration, as well as possible assumptions about race and religion. In a research article on the psychology of terrorism, neuroscientist Emile Bruneau points out that "When Americans and Europeans think of terrorists, they likely imagine Muslim extremists." However, the think tank New America published a report stating that despite the assumption many people have about terrorists being foreign radicals, nearly all attacks in America in the post-9/11 era were conducted by American citizens or legal residents. By withholding any other specifications of identity at this point in the poem, Dharker evokes all the possible assumptions surrounding terrorism.

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All the different terms used (terrorist, hostile militant, guerrilla warrior, etc.) could be hyperboles, depending on one's perspective. What one person sees as a freedom fighter, another will perceive as a terrorist.

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