Imtiaz Dharker : ‘Number 106’ , ‘Speech Balloon’, ‘It Doesn't Matter’

Imtiaz Dharker: Study Notes for HKDSE

Hello there! Welcome to your study guide for three fantastic poems by Imtiaz Dharker: ‘Number 106’, ‘Speech Balloon’, and ‘It Doesn't Matter’. Don't worry if you find poetry a bit tricky; we're going to break these down together, step-by-step. These notes will help you understand the poems, analyse the techniques Dharker uses, and feel confident for your exam.

Imtiaz Dharker is a poet who often writes about big ideas like identity, home, and freedom. She was born in Pakistan, grew up in Scotland, and now lives between India and London. This experience of moving between cultures gives her a unique and powerful voice. Let's dive in!

'Number 106'

First, what's this poem about?

Here's the fun surprise of this poem: the speaker isn't a person at all. The "we" who speaks is the laundry hanging on a washing line outside a fourth-floor flat — trousers, vest, blouse, sari, skirt — strung out in the evening air. From up there, the clothes watch someone passing below on the Number 106 bus, squeezed into a hot window frame, carrying what the poem memorably calls a "loud loneliness". The clothes are having a lovely time: they float, they feel the soft evening air, they hear the hum of conversations from the rooms behind them, and they delight in the dance they make together in the breeze. They even wave down at the passenger — a friendly signal the passenger would see, if only they were looking. But they are not.

Let's Break It Down

The poem builds a simple but powerful contrast. Let's look at the key elements:

• The speakers — a washing line: Dharker uses personification to give ordinary laundry a joyful, communal voice. The list of garments (trousers, vest, blouse, sari, skirt) suggests a whole household — different people, different generations, hanging side by side.
• The person on the bus: They are "crammed" into a hot window frame — physically squashed among other passengers, yet emotionally alone. The phrase "loud loneliness" is striking: loneliness is usually silent, but here it is so overwhelming it drowns everything else out. You can be surrounded by people and still be completely alone.
• Two kinds of life: The clothes hang freely in the open air, hearts "filled with soft evening air", connected to the sounds of home behind them. The passenger is sealed inside a hot, crowded vehicle, passing through without belonging anywhere. The contrast is between community and isolation, lightness and heaviness.
• The wave nobody sees: The clothes wave and send signals down to the street. Connection is being offered — freely, cheerfully — but the passenger never looks up. The quiet tragedy of the poem is not cruelty or rejection; it is simple inattention.

Key Themes

• Loneliness in the crowd: The passenger is surrounded by people on a busy bus, yet utterly isolated. Urban life can be full of others and empty of connection.
• Joy in the ordinary: The most contented characters in the poem are pieces of laundry. Dharker finds delight, community and even romance in the most everyday domestic scene imaginable.
• Noticing (and failing to notice): The world offers small moments of beauty and connection all the time. The poem gently asks: are you looking?

Literary Devices to Know

• Personification: The entire poem is spoken by personified laundry — clothes that float, feel, love and wave. This is the poem's central device.
• Direct address: The clothes speak to "you", the passenger on the bus. Because the poem uses the second person, the reader is put in the passenger's seat — it is our loneliness and our inattention being described.
• Contrast / Juxtaposition: Open air vs. hot window frame; floating vs. crammed; togetherness vs. loneliness. The poem's meaning lives in these oppositions.
• Imagery: The itemised washing line ("trousers vest blouse sari skirt") paints the scene instantly, and the "soft evening air" fills the poem with lightness.
• Free verse: No regular rhyme or rhythm — the lines drift and float, just like the clothes on the line.

Tone and Mood

The tone is playful and warm on the surface — talking laundry is a witty, whimsical idea — but underneath there is something wistful and poignant. The mood shifts depending on where you look: airy contentment up on the washing line, heavy isolation down in the bus.

Quick Review: 'Number 106'

Main Idea: Personified laundry on a washing line waves at a lonely bus passenger who never looks up.
Key Technique: Personification, plus direct address to "you".
Themes: Loneliness in the crowd, joy in the ordinary, the failure to notice.
Feeling: Playful and light, with a poignant undertone.

'Speech Balloon'

First, what's this poem about?

Have you ever noticed how everyone suddenly seems to use the same phrase, everywhere, all at once? That's exactly what this poem is about. Dharker takes one worn-out English expression — "over the moon" — and follows it as it bounces around the world: football managers in interviews, Hollywood celebrities, Bollywood stars, even news of Malaysia's achievements in space. Everyone, everywhere, is "over the moon". The poem repeats the phrase again and again until it stops sounding like joy and starts sounding like noise — which is precisely the point. It ends with the image behind the cliché, the nursery-rhyme cow, absurdly jumping over the moon "over and over".

Let's Break It Down

• The travelling cliché: The poem tracks one stock phrase across sports, film industries and continents. Wherever English reaches, the same ready-made soundbite follows. It's a witty picture of the globalisation of language — one bubble of speech floating over every head on the planet.
• Repetition as both technique and subject: The phrase is hammered again and again through the poem. By the end, you no longer feel anything when you read it — and that numbness is exactly what the poem wants you to experience. Overused words lose their meaning; the poem proves it on you.
• The words we could have used: Dharker lists richer, more precise alternatives — being "satisfied or mildly pleased", chipper, chirpy, contented, cheerful. The list reminds us how much variety the language offers, and how much we throw away when we all reach for the same lazy phrase.
• The cow, over and over: The cliché comes from the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle", where the cow jumps over the moon. In the poem's final image the cow keeps jumping, endlessly — a comic, slightly absurd picture of language stuck on repeat, recycling itself with no meaning left.

Key Themes

• Cliché and dead language: When a phrase is used by everyone for everything, it ends up meaning nothing. The poem is a protest against second-hand language.
• Media and globalisation: Television, news and celebrity culture spread the same soundbites across the world, flattening the way we all speak.
• Authentic feeling: If we describe every emotion with the same borrowed phrase, do we still notice what we actually feel? Precise language and honest feeling are connected.

Literary Devices to Know

• Repetition: The engine of the poem. The phrase "over the moon" recurs relentlessly, draining itself of meaning as it goes.
• Allusion: The title's comic-strip speech balloon and the nursery-rhyme cow both point to mass-produced, ready-made language — words that float above our heads rather than come from inside us.
• Listing: The catalogue of contexts (football, Hollywood, Bollywood, Malaysia) and the catalogue of unused alternatives both work by accumulation.
• Satire / humour: The poem is genuinely funny — but the laughter has an edge. It mocks the media's recycled language, and ours.

Tone and Mood

The tone is witty, playful and satirical. Dharker is amused by the absurdity of the endlessly repeated phrase, but there is a serious concern underneath: language matters, and we are wearing it out. The mood is comic on the surface with an undertow of unease.

Quick Review: 'Speech Balloon'

Main Idea: One overused phrase — "over the moon" — travels the world until it means nothing at all.
Key Technique: Relentless repetition, plus allusion to the nursery rhyme.
Themes: Cliché, media saturation, the loss of authentic language.
Feeling: Witty and satirical, with a serious point.

'It Doesn't Matter'

First, what's this poem about?

This poem captures a quiet, intimate moment between two people on a delayed train. Instead of being a source of frustration, the delay becomes a gift—a "slice of time" that is suspended and precious. The poem explores how being with a loved one can change our perception of time and turn an inconvenience into a cherished experience. The repeated phrase, "it doesn't matter," is not one of defiance, but of gentle reassurance and contentment.

Let's Break It Down

• A Shared Moment: The setting is a delayed train, but the focus is on the connection between the two people in "Coach B, / Seats 22 and 23". The physical closeness ("Your arm warms mine") and shared experience create a private world separate from the external chaos.
• The Redefinition of Time: The train delay literally stops their journey, but the speaker sees it as a positive. Time is "stopped" and becomes a precious object they can hold and admire: "a slice of time", "a work of art". This is a powerful metaphor for savouring the present moment.
• The Comfort of "It Doesn't Matter": The repeated phrase "it doesn't matter" frames the poem. It's a shared agreement between the two people. The external problems (late train, failed signals) become irrelevant because of their internal state of contentment and togetherness.
• Contrast with Anxiety: The speaker lists what is not happening: no one is waiting anxiously, no one is trying to make a worried phone call. This use of negation highlights the peace and security of their current situation, contrasting it with the usual stress of such delays.

Key Themes

• Love and Connection: The poem is a celebration of the comfort and peace found in a loving relationship. The connection between the two people transforms a negative situation into a positive one.
• The Nature of Time: The poem challenges the idea of time as a linear progression that must not be wasted. Here, "held up" time becomes something valuable and beautiful, something to be admired.
• Finding Peace in the Moment: It's about the ability to find contentment and joy in the present, regardless of external circumstances. The poem champions mindfulness and the appreciation of small, shared experiences.

Literary Devices to Know

• Repetition: The phrase "it doesn't matter" is repeated at the beginning and end, creating a frame for the poem. It reinforces the central idea of contentment and reassurance.
• Metaphor: Time is described metaphorically as something tangible and artistic: "A slice of time", "a work of art". This helps the reader understand its preciousness to the speaker.
• Imagery: The poem uses simple, intimate images to create a sense of warmth and closeness, such as "Your arm warms mine" and "your hand in mine".
• Tone Shift: The poem sets up a potentially stressful situation (a delayed train) but shifts the tone immediately to one of peace and contentment, subverting the reader's expectations.

Tone and Mood

The tone is incredibly gentle, intimate, and content. It’s a quiet celebration of a shared moment. The mood is peaceful, warm, and romantic, making the reader feel the comfort and security of the two people on the train.

Did you know?

Imtiaz Dharker often works with images as well as words. She is also an accomplished artist and filmmaker. This visual sense comes through in the strong, clear imagery of her poems, like the waving washing line in 'Number 106'.

Quick Review: 'It Doesn't Matter'

Main Idea: A shared moment on a delayed train becomes a precious and beautiful gift of time.
Key Technique: Metaphor (time as an art object) and repetition.
Themes: Love, Time, Connection.
Feeling: Gentle, intimate, and peaceful.

Putting It All Together: Comparing the Poems

For your exam, you'll need to compare the poems. Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds! It's all about finding connections. Let's look at some ways these three poems relate to each other.

Comparing Themes

The biggest connecting thread is CONNECTION AND COMMUNICATION — how we reach (or fail to reach) one another.

• 'Number 106': Connection is offered but missed. The washing line waves; the lonely passenger never looks up. The failure is one of attention.
• 'Speech Balloon': Communication is drowned in cliché. Everyone is speaking, but the words are so overused they carry no real feeling.
• 'It Doesn't Matter': Genuine connection needs almost no words at all. Two people sitting together turn a delayed train into a gift.

Comparing Techniques and Tone

Common Mistake to Avoid!

When comparing poems, don't just describe one poem and then describe the other. You need to make direct links! Use comparison words like "Similarly...", "In contrast...", "While 'Number 106' shows connection failing through inattention, 'It Doesn't Matter' shows connection succeeding through shared presence...". This shows the examiner you are really analysing.

Final Thoughts

Imtiaz Dharker's poetry finds large meanings in small, everyday scenes. Whether it's washing waving from a fourth-floor line, a cliché bouncing around the world's television screens, or two people happy on a delayed train, her poems keep asking the same quiet questions: are we paying attention, and do our words still mean what we feel?

You've done a great job working through these notes! Read the poems again with these ideas in mind. The more you read them, the more you will see. Good luck!