Literature Analysis
Novel Analysis
Lost Beauty Poem
Poem analysis in Lost Beauty
LOST BEAUTY by Jwani Mwaikusa
POEM ANALYISIS
a)What is about poem?
The poem is about a man is looking for a black women to marry but finds that there is no black one. This man fails to marry because everywhere around him are females .It is for this reasons that this men cries because the beauty (blackness) that he want is not seen , in other words the poem is about a man who want looks for Africans women who keeps Africa tradition but doesn’t see any .That is to say the poem is about the lost culture or one identify.
b) Who is the persona in this poem?
The persona in this poem is the African man who is not happy because he fail to find an Africa girl who is real black(Africa), he fails to see any.This man end up weeping as he realize later that he saw neither black and his eyes can’t see anything black. So the persona in this poem is an Africa man who blames the black sister for losing their culture and then recognizes that he also lost his own identity.
c) What is the structure of the poem?
The poem is made up with 4 stanza.The first and the second stanza have 7 verse each .The third stanza has 6 verse whereas the fourth stanza has 8 verse
d) What is the structure of the poem?
This is a lyric poem because the persona expresses his deep feelings towards the lost beauty he is looking for.
e) What is the mood of the persona in the poem?
Mood being the feeling, the persona in the poem is in sad mood that makes him became angry with the loss of African beauty .In his sad mood he blames the black sisters.
f) What is the tone of the persona in the poem?
Tone being the voice the persona's tone is serious , he speaks with seriousness to the points that he shout and sing to ensure that what he want to deliver is heard ,it is this tone makes him cry at the very end of the poem for he finds that all his struggles end up in vain ,this tone is what makes him in a bad and grief mood.
g) Identify the figure of speech used in the poem.
- Alliteration: In this poem alliteration has been used in the following verse"… a black beauty queen and bare breast bouncing".The aim of this poetic device in this poem is to add musical quality. It is a musical device that enables the poem to be sung. All poem are written to be sung, thus feature like alliteration add musical quality to poem.
- Simile: This is a literary device that compares two dissimilar things using conjunction namely as…as such as e.t.c in the poem the speaker speaks with similes as he say "and a face dark as the night" In the simile above, the persona describe the woman should have the black face resembling to the night (darkness)
- Symbolism are words or object that send for a particular meaning behind their dictionary meaning.Example; Black color /skin = African culture, Mask =foreign culture which some African try to imitate, Lost beauty=lost culture,The black tongue=African language,Awful fakes of white females=African women who decorate their skin to look like European
h) What are possible themes in this poem?
In this poem LOST BEAUTY comprises of several theme some of them include the following:
- African culture, in the poem is proud of African culture. He like an African women / black woman and is disgusted with the white mask only sees. The persona pride to his own culture is vividly seen when he praises blackness.
- Racial discrimination, the persona shows racial discrimination when he wants only black skinned women, he does not like white women , this makes him cry after his effort to regulate the minds of black sister have proved ineffective
- Intra–personal conflict, this is the conflict that occurs within the individual himself/herself. In the poem the persona is in intrapersonal conflict because he fails to get the black woman whom he wants thus he is unhappy because he doesn’t know what to do.
i) Relevance of the poem to our contemporary social
The poem LOST BEAUTY is relevant to our contemporary society because of its themes, it shows the way people (Africans) have lost their culture as well as patriotism , many people in Tanzania today prefer Europeans things such as European goods like cosmetics, dressing style, dances, European language just to mention a few.
Africa Poem
Poem analysis in Africa
AFRICA by David Mandessi Diop
What is this poem about?
The poem is about identity ,the personal identifies himself as an African born who struggles to search for his original homeland which is Africa.
b) Who is the persona?
The persona in this an Africa man who looks for his identity ,he seems to have been far when he hears about Africa for the first time ( from his grandmother who sing in the distant river) as he comes into contract with African he does not believe to find it being in slavery, working, and sweating for slave masters.
c) What type of poem is this?
This is a lyric poem because inside the persona express his feeling towards Africa , it is the feeling that comes from deep inside his heart .Also based on rhymes this is a free verse poem because it has irregular rhyming pattern ,it is a modern poem that does not follow the traditional conventional rules of writing.
d) What is the structure of this poem?
The poem is made up with three stanza and second stanza have 6 verse each ,the third stanza is the largest of all for it consists of 12 verse.
e) What is the mood of the persona?
The persona mood is sympathetic about Africa. The persona is greatly disappointed with the backwardness and slavery of Africa; it is a painful mood which is clearly shown in the third stanza where the persona witnesses the beauty blood of Africa irrigating the fields.
f) What is the tone of persona?
Similar to the mood, the personas tone is sympathetic and pitiful as well tone being the voice quality.
g) Comment on the language /diction used in this poem
The poem has used simple language in writing this poem and contains the following poetic feature:
- Personification, this is a figure of speech/literary device in which inanimate object is given attribute in the poem Africa has been given the attributes of possessing a back and blood as if it were a human being as the persona say "I have never known you, but your blood flows in my vein",Another personification is seen when the person forces Africa to speak as he says "Africa tell me",Again personification is seen when the persona say he make conversation with grave voice "but a grave voice answers me".
- Alliteration, the poet has used alliteration in the poem in the following Your beautiful black blood (stanza2 1st verse)That tree there (3rd stanza, 8th verse).
- Parallelism is the use of sentence/verse having the same structure length ,in the poem parallelism is seen in the following verse Africa of …… Africa of …… And also this back..... this back
- Anaphora this is repletion of the words at the beginning of the consecutive lines / verse. In the poem anaphora has been used in the first three stanza where the word Africa has been repeated in the 3 consecutive verse as the poet writes "Africa my Africa", "Africa of proud warrior I the ancestral savannah", "Africa of whom my grandmother sings".
Symbolism is the use of words or things that stand for other thing, these things/word that stand for other thing are known as symbols this poem has several symbols as follow as:
- Red scars stand for humiliation and torture done to Africa children ,they are scars of colonialism ( effects of colonialism) that are evident in the language we use in teaching and the foreign names that we call each other
- Young and strong tree is the symbol of independent Africa which needs to be nurtured /cared well so that it may grow. As it is young and strong ,it stands for new generation of Africa
- Grandmother stands for the old generation that plays a guiding role to the young generation ,in this poem grandmother sing from a distant river ,it is from these song that the persona gets to understand Africa
- Grave voice symbolize Africa ancestors and ancestress, it is this voice that gives the persona an answer to a series of question he asks about Africa, these are dead fore fathers whom in Africa philosophy, they are believed to be alive and accompanying the society
- A tree in spending loneliness stand for Africa as only continent left behind in term of development despite the resources it has got.
h)Themes
- Identity this is the central theme in poem, Africa the persona identifies himself as an Africa. He belongs to Africa. his belongingness to Africa is immediately seen in the first verse of the first stanza as he says "Africa is my Africa".Also identify children of Africa as slaves, the persona sees them being in slavery working, irrigating the field and receiving the whips under the midday sun. This is their indentity ,they are identified as slave and not as masters. This identity is evident in the following verse "the work of your slavery" and "the slavery of your children …".
- Exploitation ,Africa children are exploited as they worked in daylight, they are whipped and over worked but nobody pays them, they also irrigate the field which do not belong to them.This is evident in the following verse of the poem "Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the field","The blood of your sweat"," The sweat of your work","The work of your slavery","The slavery of your children"
- Neocolonialism this is seen when the persona say that "a new tree that grows again is also going to have fruits with bitter taste of liberty", this neocolonialism it was excepted that this young tree ( which is new independent Africa) could have fruits with sweet test but the gradual acquisition of bitter taste means Africa (new tree) will remain the same as it was during colonialism as show in the following verse
- Patriotism in the poem the persona shows patriotic feeling to the continent of Africa , he show that he had never know Africa but feels connected to it ,so the persona is a patriotic African patriotism in the poem is clearly shown as the persona says " I have never known you"," But your bloods flow in my veins"
i)What messages do we learn from poem?
- Neo-colonialism retard development and makes people not to enjoy freedom, in the poem the speaker is unhappy because even the new tree is going to acquire bitter taste of liberty. this mean he will not enjoy the fruits of liberty because the fruits are going to have bitter test which is unpleasant
- It is importance to find ones origin the speaker in the poem travel a long journey to find Africa where by a grave voice show him where Africa is ( his origin)
- Everyone should be proud of his home/origin or continent the persona is proud of Africa.
- Old generation has a role to teach young generation to know their origin .in the poem the persona is guided by grandmother and grave voice ,the represent old generation.The personal represent the new generation.
j)Is the poem relevance to your society?
The poem, Africa is relevant to our society because all themes being discussed are also found in our society (Tanzania and Africa at large). The title of the poem s Africa to mean all countries of Africa in which there is neocolonialism , also in Africa some citizen are patriotic so does the persona in the poem ,again in Africa there are torture , exploitation and lack of freedom due to neo-colonialism in short all what the persona talk about relate Africa there the poem is relevant.
The Dying Child Poem
Poem analysis in the Dying Child
THE DYING CHILD by Peter Lambwa
POEMS ANALYISIS
What is a poem about?
The poem is about poverty and its effects to the people in the society. The poet talks about the boy who is suffering due to life hardship. it is the boy who is disappointed with the existing system and condition (poverty) in which he lives ,it is the poem talking about two people , a boy and his mother being in dilemma on what to do in order to have better life .the boy proposes to carry a gun whereas his mother tell him to find food ( meat) first , so the poem is about the way poverty can confusion and disappointment to people , the mother is so disappointed that her child will never live , he will soon die since there is no meat ( food) to feed him
Is the poems title related to issues being discussed in the poem?
The title of the poem related directly to the issues raised inside the poem ,the title is the dying child in which there is really a boy dying in the first stanza we are told that the boy in is thin has swollen stomach thin legs and he groans on the ground. All these are symptoms of indicators that the boy will soon die, so he actually a dying child the boy dearth is father insisted by his own mother who tell the boy in the second stanza ,that he will never live to carry gun.
Who is the persona in this poem?
The persona in this poem is someone outside the poem who observes the child.In this observation, the persona discovers that the boy has been affected by poverty where he has thin arms and legs, the swollen stomach that inside is full of waste. This condition makes the persona conclude that this is a dying child.
What is types of poem this?
Based on what the poem is about ,this is a lyric poem whereby persona express pitiful feeling to the child ,the way persona describe the boy s situation in the first stanza ,and the way he states that the boy is a slave of unbalanced body whereas legs are thin is stomach is swollen. Based on rhyming patterns this is a modern poem / a free verse poem simply because it has irregular rhyming patterns i.e. it does not rhyme
What is a mood of the persona?
Since mood is the feeling .the personas mood is sympathetic .He feels pity and he is sorrowful to the boys misfortune of being poor living with no food,thus becoming like a prisoner of his own body , hence the persona mood is pitiful and sorrowful towards the child who is dying .He feels compassion of the boy.
What is the tone of the persona in the poem?
The persona tone (voice) is filled with emotions .He express the boy’s condition in a way that reveals him feeling unhappy with the boy’s condition. This being a lyric poem the persona tone show his sympathetic feeling to the child who is dying
What is the structure of poem?
The poem is made of two poem stanza which differs in length. The first stanza consist of 10 verse , whereas the second stanza has 14 verse .Each stanza comprises a considerable number of long and short sentences .Some verse are just made of a word,such verse add musical quality to the poem ,hence making it more suitable to be read aloud
Comment on the language (diction) in the poem.
The language used in this poem is very emotional, it is the language whose word provoke emotion ,it is a language whose words such as thin skinny bald and swollen stomach enable the reader to get a mental picture of the child who is dying .the poem use the following figure of speech such as follows:
- Alliteration, this is the repetition of the first consonant sound at the beginning of consecutive words, in the poem there is alliteration in the 4th verse of the 1st stanza where the poet writes Swollen stomach This repletion in this poem is very importance for it to make the poem to be sung.
- Hyperbole, this refers to the literary device in which the fact is exaggerated ,in the poem the poet writes exaggerated
The Poor Woman Poem
Poem analysis in the Poor Woman
POOR WOMAN by Jwani Mwaikusa
POEM ANALYSIS
Who is the persona in the poem? (who is speaking in this poem) /who is the addresser?
The persona is someone outside the poem, who is observing the woman and realizes that the woman is ignorant (poor) for she kills her child due to her ignorance. Thus, the persona is someone who wonders at a poor woman who feeds her child fake foods and destroys him unknowingly.
Who is a speaking to/who is the addressee?
The addressee is a black woman whose child has lost life after she has fed him foreign foods, which the persona calla “faked foods”. So the addressee is a woman who is crying after committing the murder unknowingly.
What is the poem about?
The poem is about an African woman who due to her ignorance kills her child with artificial food from Europe. It is about a woman who lives in the jungle (thick forests) where there is plenty of wild honey which is nutritious for the growth of her child but instead of being given this honey, the child is given powdered milk and sugar crystals that take away his life. In other words, the poem is about a black woman who kills her child by teaching him foreign culture instead of her of her own culture. It is a poem of a woman who cries after misleading her child. Sometimes the poem’s title can give a clue to what is the poem about thus giving opportunity to a reader’s mind to predict what is being discussed inside the poem. Therefore, the poem’s title “POOR WOMAN” gives a clue to a reader that is being discussed in the poem is about a woman who is said to be poor.
What is the persona’s mood in the poem?
The persona’s mood is angry. He is angry with the poor woman who cries after murdering her child with faked foods. The persona’s anger is vividly seen when he tells a woman that she is responsible for the child’s loss of life and therefore she must weep with him.
What is the persona’s tone in the poem?
By definition, tone is the quality of somebody’s voice, especially expressing a particular emotion. Tone slightly differs from mood in the sense that while mood is the feeling, tone is the voice. However, the two relate under the fact that tone can help one to detect somebody’s mood. Since poems are primarily written to be sung, thus when we read a poem what comes into our mind is the voice of the speaking person (persona) in that particular poem. As we hear one’s voice (tone), we can determine the feeling (mood) in which that person is Therefore, the persona’s tone in the poem “POOR WOMEN” is the tone of surprise that brings anger (makes the persona become angry with the poor women). It is the tone of surprise where the persona wonders at the poor woman. This surprise is clearly seen in the choice of words such as “now you cry”, “now you lament”, “you refused him your breast”, “and your heart glowed” etc. These words show the surprise that the persona gets as he looks at the poor woman.
What type of poem is this?
This is a lyric poem simply because it is a poem in which the persona expresses his feelings towards a woman. As he sees the woman crying, the persona recalls the past deeds of this woman and gets the feelings which make him conclude that the woman is poor (ignorant). Lyric is a song like poem written mainly to express the feelings of emotions or thought from a particular person.
Comment on the diction employed in the poem
Diction means the choice and arrangement (use) of words. In order to present effective message, the choice and arrangement of words (diction) is very crucial and therefore should be given serious consideration. In the poem, “POOR WOMAN”, the diction concurs with the context and the subject matter that the persona talks about, Words such as weep, murder, suffer, forget, poor woman and the like, give a clue to a reader on what the poem is about. To be brief, the poet has used the words that exactly match with the topic he writes about. It is about a woman who has forgotten the nutritious foods and murders her child with faked foods that makes the poor woman weep on seeing her child suffering. So the poem concurs to the subject matter being discussed in the poem.
What are the possible themes in this poem?
This poem contains several themes such as;
Ignorance
Ignorance is the lack of knowledge or information about something. In the poem, the black woman is ignorant. She does not know the advantages of natural foods such as wild honey and breast feeding to the health of her child. She thinks that foreign foods such as sugar crystals and powdered milk are appropriate to her child. It is due to this ignorance that the woman finds herself murdering (killing) her child with foreign foods unknowingly. The woman’s ignorance is seen when she feeds her child inappropriate foods while feeling happy. This is revealed by the persona when he reminds the woman in the following verses;
- In our society, there are people who due to their ignorance end up getting health problems because of praising European foods, and medicines.
Illusion
This is the tendency of developing a particular dream (hope) which can be fulfilled (attained) or not. In the poem, the black woman is having the illusion that her child will be strong and healthy by feeding him foreign foods such as powdered milk and sugar crystals. The woman’s illusion is well described by the person who tells her the following words;
The verses above show the poor woman becoming happy as she feeds her baby the faked food. Her happiness shows the illusion she has. She expects the food to make the baby strong. This hope becomes a failure as the baby ends in problems. The foods kill him and the woman ends into crying.
Malnutrition
It is the failure to live on balanced diet. In the poem, the baby suffering from malnutrition because its mother ref uses to give it breast feeling. She refuses even to feed it the wild honey which is plenty in the jungle the surrounds the poor woman’s society, instead the woman feeds her kid the foods that destroy him. Malnutrition in the poem is seen when the persona says;
These verses give the evidence that the child suffers from malnutrition which has been caused by his mother’s ignorance and that is why the persona calls it murder (intentional killing) that the woman has committed. The persona believes that the poor woman is responsible for the boy’s condition of having poor health, thus tell her to weep and suffer together with the child.
Betrayal
It means acting contrary to what people expect of you. In the poem the poor woman shows betrayal to her own custom. She has betrayed her societal custom of child caring by neglecting
Question Time 3
Poems questions
- Discuss conflict from 4 poems
- Discuss form from one of the poem above
- Explain figure of speech from poems above
- Use any two poems you have read under this section to show their relevance to the society ( give six points with concrete example )
- The art of poetry is not developed in vacuum ,show the validity of the statement using four poem you have done
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