Writing Resources
Soap is a poem in the form of a social satire written by Nissim Ezekiel which focuses on the story of a middle class local Indian s encounter with a shopkeeper in his journey to buy branded soap Soap follows a variety of interlinked themes such as Class Struggle Appearances versus Reality Language War Emotion Versus Reason and Aspiration Versus Reality It formulates principles of life However adaptability with the time and adjustment with the situation is the central theme of the poem Ezekiel effectively explores the superiority of the english language and its link with the concept of colonial cringe and Indian Identity in the post colonial country by using the structure of free verse and ane vcdotal tone throughout the poem Its primary context was to mock the mindsets of those who try to gain societal acceptance by making false assumptions about their own skills in English Soap follows the structure of a free verse poem as it doesn t have a fixed number of stanzas nor does it have a fixed rhyme scheme This structure works in favour of the purpose of the poem as it complements the grammatically incorrect english thus making the reality visibly distinguishable from that of the poet s claim of being able to speak good English The prevalent use of enjambment also adds on to the imagery as it induces the sensation of anger and frustration
