It reflects on language, power and the survival of cultures.
A Different History by Sujata Bhatt appears in the Songs of Ourselves, Volume 1 (Cambridge University Press), studied for IGCSE and International GCSE Literature (Cambridge International 0475). Your school confirms the anthology selection, and the board's current syllabus lists it for your exam year.
What the poem is about
The poem begins with a bold reversal: the god Pan, symbol of the wild and natural world, has not died but has travelled east. The speaker describes a land in which trees and creatures are treated with respect and where sacred and everyday life overlap. She contrasts this with the attitude of those who burn, break or erase.
She then asks who has been dominated by whose language. She also asks who has been made to feel ashamed of their own tongue. The poem closes on a reflection about who a language truly serves, leaving a mood of quiet defiance.
Themes and ideas
Colonialism and cultural power
The poem examines how conquest imposes language and values. It suggests that dominating cultures lose touch with what they have suppressed.
Respect for nature
Reverence for trees and animals is presented as a different way of living. The speaker implies it has been undervalued or lost.
Language and identity
The poem ends by questioning the ownership of language. It shows how a tongue can be an instrument of both oppression and survival.
Myth and migration
Pan's journey turns a European myth into a story of movement. This reversal suggests that culture does not belong to a single place.
Form, structure and sound
Bhatt writes in free verse, without a fixed rhyme or metre, so lines follow the pace of thought. Rhetorical questions near the end create a mood of challenge, and repetition builds emphasis.
The shift from the myth of Pan to direct questions marks a turn from description to argument. The tone is calm but pointed, and the flexible form suits a poem about moving between cultures.
How to write about it
Track the movement from myth to argument and say how the questions change the poem's tone. Discuss the symbolic role of Pan as an image of nature that survives.
Avoid quoting lines at length, as the poem is in copyright; refer to ideas in your own words and use a word or two only. Always link features such as free verse and questioning to the poem's challenge to power.
A useful comparison for an anthology question is Report to Wordsworth, because the two poems share enough ground to compare. Our guide to comparing two poems shows how.
A teacher can read A Different History by Sujata Bhatt with your child and practise a timed answer in a one-hour trial.
An exam-style question to practise
How does Bhatt present attitudes to nature in 'A Different History'?
Plan your answer in five minutes before you write. Choose three points from the themes and form notes above. Then check your plan against the mark scheme section below.
More question angles
- Explore the ways Bhatt writes about language and power in the poem.
- How does Bhatt use the figure of Pan to develop her ideas?
How this maps to the mark scheme
Examiners mark poetry answers against assessment objectives. These are the skills the paper rewards. For Cambridge International 0475, the objectives are summarised on our qualification page.
- AO1: Show detailed knowledge of the content of literary texts in the three main forms (drama, poetry and prose), supported by reference to the text.
- AO2: Understand the meanings of literary texts and their contexts, and explore texts beyond surface meanings to show deeper awareness of ideas and attitudes.
- AO3: Recognise and appreciate ways in which writers use language, structure and form to create and shape meanings and effects.
- AO4: Communicate a sensitive and informed personal response to literary texts.
- The four assessment objectives carry equal weight, about 25% each.
For A Different History, build your reading around “Colonialism and cultural power” and “Respect for nature”, and support each point with a short quotation. Then explain how the form, structure and sound in the section above create that meaning.
Where a question asks you to link poems, compare A Different History with Report to Wordsworth. Keep any context about Sujata Bhatt brief and tied to the words on the page.
Read the poem alongside these notes. This page is our own analysis and original teaching material. We quote at most a short attributed phrase where a point needs it, so keep your anthology open as you read.
Where to go next
Practise the method on an unseen poem with our guide to reading an unseen poem, then see a worked answer in our comparing poems model response. Browse more anthology poems or read about Literature in English tuition.
When you have written an answer on A Different History, a paid one-hour trial lesson lets the teacher who would continue mark it with you.