Analysis of ‘A Young Man’s Thoughts before June the 16th’ – Fhazel Johennesse The historical background to the poem is June 16th 1976. This date marks the Soweto Uprising which was initiated in Soweto by black high school students. The students were protesting against being taught in Afrikaans in their local schools. The demonstration was meant to be peaceful and was secretly planned to avoid discovery by the police. On the morning of June the 16th, thousands of youths gathered with the plan to march to Orlando Stadium to hold a rally to air their grievances. However, their intended route was blocked by riot police, and what had started as a peaceful march turned bloody as police used live ammunition on the protesters. Evidence shows …show more content…
As outlined in Readers Digest Illustrated History of South Africa, (1988: 440) and in the Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soweto_uprising), June the 16th 1976 was the catalyst for political change in South Africa to begin. On this date, thousands of black high school students gathered in Soweto with the intention to march to Orlando Stadium to hold a rally to protest against being taught in Afrikaans in their local schools. The march had been secretly planned to avoid discovery by the police. The day ended in bloodshed and an official death toll of 23 when the police opened fire on the youths. Many protesters were shot in the back as they were running away. The poem is written against this background. The strong theme of the poem is the mental preparations the young man is making for the day ahead – ‘tomorrow I travel on a road’. He is unsure of what is going to happen but suspects that it will not end well. He is reflecting on what is going to happen and expecting the worst. There is no punctuation or capitalization used in the poem. The only deviation from this is the use of the capital ‘I’ that is used when the poet is referring to himself. This adds to the emphasis of the young man as the focal point of the poem. The tone of the poem is poignant and sombre which is reiterated by the use of words like ‘memories’, ‘aches’, ‘sad’, and
The memories in the poem maintain a cohesiveness and continuity of experience through repeated motifs such as the violets and the ‘whistling’. Memories also give us a recovered sense of life, as shown through the final line of the poem ‘faint scent of violets drifts in air’. This example of sensory imagery also creates a rhythmic drifting sense linked closely to the “stone-curlews call from Kedron Brook”. It echoes images of the speaker’s mind drifting into reflection and aurally creates transience between the present and the past.
When a reader grasps a theme throughout any piece of literature, he or she never clearly understands the intent without knowing where the theme came from. The theme that is portrayed in the poem is, often times reconnecting with a loved one cannot only bring happiness, but it can also bring sorrow. This theme was emphasized throughout the poem and without knowing the historical context of the poem, one could not necessarily understand where it came from. In the text it
Once I was able to associate these words to emotions and issues present in everyday life, the poem started to make me feel sad. I began thinking about all of the emotions and feelings that everyone hides as they go about life. For example, how the waitress I see once a week may have an eating disorder, or how the singer I look up to just lost her son, or the businessman who got laid off today. Everyone has their own personal battle that they carry everywhere, at any given moment. This explains why the setting is so plain, since the internal struggles people face affect them even at a bus stop. While each person waits, the waitress may be thinking about how much skinnier the person next to her is. The singer could be remembering when she held her baby. And the business man could be planning how to break the news to his wife. No matter how small, everyone experiences a type of trauma or bad experience, and this poem seemed to show what happens when these emotions become bottled up. No one can help each other because they are so stuck within their own issues. The difficulty helping others reminded me of the idea of having to take care of yourself before being able to take care of others.
What is the overall TONE of this poem and how do you come to that conclusion? (what is
The tone of this poem is very important. Throughout as I was reading this poem I sensed heartfelt and great concern for the new mother. Also, in this poem one may notice the role of
In my thoughts, Harwood’s poetry engages readers through its poetic treatment of loss and consolation throughout relationships as well as its exploration of universal themes about human existence and processes of life. Harwood’s poetry validates the consoling influence of childhood experiences upon adult development evident in both At Mornington and A Valediction where they both explore one sense of loss and consolidation. Harwood cleverly includes personas with their own feelings and anxieties to outlook on the present and future and the power of memories held with past relationships. Relationships link within Harwood’s poetry as throughout life she experiences suffering and includes her personal voice and life within the story of her poem.
The tone of this poem is established by the way the lines seem flat and void of emotion. The
Readers are aware of this ambiguity. Here the heaviest flashback thoughts and the short-lasting issue set up a continuing contrast throughout the poem, which enchants its effect.
Memory is presented as either a way of life or a community of change, as demonstrated in ‘Aspens’, ‘Old Man’, ‘Aldestrop’. He does this through the variety of techniques such as change in form, use of imagery and alternations in the tone of each poem to explore memory. As well as this, Thomas explicates the devastation of emptiness due to the consequence of war, which is portrayed through the use of soft consonantal sounds or the use
Finally the poem has an emotional appeal. The poems tone is positive in a negative way it is sort of uplifting even though there is nothing encouraging about the situation. This is shown tough the use of words such as " I am the thousand winds that blow/ I am the diamond glints on the snow" these phrases have positive connotation saying that he will always be with us
Methods: The poet in the very first line uses he two words “Your” and “my” to create clear separation or division.
For years, South Africa’s Afrikaner Nationalist Party was conducting all types of racial attacks that were raising ethical issues. Along with the South African government, they reshaped racial laws and regulations, continuing with violence against blacks. Nonwhites outnumbered whites by about 5 to 1. Violence consisted of the Sharpeville massacre, the Soweto Street death demonstration, and the death of black leader who was in police custody. Through such acts, South Africa’s direct investment rose dramatically.
In the poems you have studied a recurring theme is that of ‘loss’. This can take many forms: death; identity; hope or loss of innocence
The mother's road to finding closure over her son's death is much longer than her husband's. Her feelings throughout the poem are of
This piece has several “mini” themes given to almost each stanza, emphasizing reminiscing, grief, and isolation. Appearing to be from the point of view of a man (apparently the writer himself) profoundly grieving the departure of a lover who has passed on. He starts by calling for quiet from the ordinary objects of life; the phones, the clocks, the pianos, drums, and creatures close-by. He doesn't simply need calm, but be that as it may; he needs his misfortune well known and projected. Its tone is significantly more dismal than earlier versions, and the themes more all inclusive, despite the fact that it talks about a person. There is almost an entire stanza demonstrating a bunch of analogies that express what the speaker intended to his lover. The style in the piece readers typically perceive it as a dirge, or a mourning for the dead. It has four stanzas of four lines each with lines in