The Right Word Imtiaz Dharker was born in Pakistan and brought up in Scotland

The right word is about Imtiaz Dharker’s poem “The Right Word” focuses on a figure that is in the shadows outside the narrator’s house. It is noticeable that the word outside appears in the first seven of the poem’s nine stanzas, and the word shadows or shadow in the first six. Because the figure is in the shadows, it is difficult to make out who or what he is, and so the narrator is searching for the right word to identify who the person is outside her window.Outside the door, lurking in the shadows, is a terrorist. Is that the wrong description? Outside that door, taking shelter in the shadows, is a freedom-fighter. I haven’t got this right. Outside, waiting in the shadows, is a hostile militant. The poem is about a suspicious and divided community, where different viewpoints lead to violence. The narrator tries to find an accurate way to describe a young activist who at first seems threatening. At the end, the activist seems to be just a harmless child. The poem is written in the first person, making it seem personal with consistent use of the personal pronoun ‘I’. The words lurking and taking shelter are two different words for the same action, but one sounds sinister and the other sounds vulnerable. It is clear from the first stanza that this is a political poem as the term ‘terrorist’ is still controversial.