SOUTH AFRICAN POETRY

A poet called Sipho Sepamle questions the correctness of English language a language of

black writers, including himself. However, he still exhibited some element of

ambivalence on the question of centrality of English. He thought that writing in English is

going to be strengthened because of its common use of social occasions in S Africa. The

clamor for English as the language of education, science and technology, media among

blacks and the fact of the universal appeal of English in the independent state

neighbouring

S. Africa was too obvious for S. Africa to ignore. It had been used by neighbouring

countries to liberate their nations.

Sepamla‟s ambivalence is best recorded in the following;

“I owe nobody an apology for writing in English. Yet there is this feeling inside

me that there is a handicap that mars complete communication between me and my

audience.” He believes that by writing in English he

„writes back‟ to the whites how it feels.

Serote, Sepamia and Kumalu exhibit closeness to the long tradition of oral or verbal art.

They exploit this situation in addressing to their target audience. They however take

advantage of that situation to pass to their audience the message of struggle and

freedom.

Their poetry seems to have a functional role.

However, as Mphalele observes, because of its immediate and urgency of his marriage,

the kind of poetry lacks the capacity to address itself to the myths and particularly to the
 address itself to the past. The situation might be interesting if it is compared to the

manner in which Mphalele dismisses African language and

literatures or what he calls „anemic writing meant for juveniles‟.

DENNIS BRUTUS and ‘The Forbidden Fruit’

Dennis Brutus is considered as less inclined towards the indigenous traditions of his

homeland. He is said to be the least Africanized and the most alienated of South African

poets. His style and tone draws on European rather than African models. He says in that

he was influenced by a poet called Donne. The subject of his poetry is largely drawn

from his experience in S Africa. He sees his experience in S Africa as exemplification of

the problems that are common to „all humanity‟ rather than unique to S African alone.

Here he agrees with Mphalele about „universal humanity‟.

In 1970, Brutus affirmed his believe that “we here in one world and we should seek to
be citizens of the world”, rather than a

conventional Sentimental patriots of a single country. He pledges that universalism is

nationalism.

Brutus ascertained his greatest commitment, both personal and commitment as a poet to S

Africa. He says, „such narrowed perspectives should not be justified by emotional

attachment to a country, landscape and or desire to create a locally related persona for a

poet who is in exile‟. The perspective should instead be informed by broader problems

that human beings understand. They should be informed by the S. African predicament

and apartheid.
The conditions under which he creates are always haunted by the S African port either to

prison out Roben Island or into silence or into exile. These conditions make him more

nervous and sensitive to criticism.

In his poetry, this translates into his self questioning about his relationship to the land on

which he grew up. Whether in exile or S Africa, he is an “outsider”, an inhabitant of a

country ruled by the white mediocrity, where the black majority seems defeatist to their

condition. This is what angers him, his poetry by an altitude of political commitment. He

is direct and better in approach. Brutus has accompanied radicalism in his poetry with

simplification of his language and style. His poetry thus qualifies as poetry of

commitment of struggle. This movement to simplicity as a way of radicalism has

brought poetry close to indigenous African poetry and some francophone poetry. In this

way, the poetry may lose some indicators intended to identify it with genre (poetry).

(Those indicates vividness of language compression of words, sharpness of imagery and

repetitiveness)

To give his poetry a lasting quality, Brutus writes simultaneously about the political

matter at hand on apartheid and how he fits in the political situation at the time. His

poetry may therefore be national in political content since it tells of the inequalities of

apartheid, but at a personal level it gets erotic, with quite a number of his poems

addressed to his mistress. These 2 elements give his poetry duo significance. They help

to politicize the content of the poem, at the same time radicalizing it.

The poetry also represents a personal disillusionment about the stagnation of the

political situation. He says that his poetry is full of tension, because he says “tension is

the

essence of great poetry”.

 However, the circumstances of life also create tension so that tension in his work is an

expression of his temperament. He finds the subject of his poetry in the romantic self

portrait of the poet as a lover and patriot.

Most of the poems of Brutus combine individual love and love for the country. Love for

woman and love for the land eases pain, loneliness, desperation, restlessness and certain

seeking. This is inevitable. On pg 40 “I might be a better lover than I believe”. The poet

yearns for a secure lasting relationship which embraces the present elusive one in which

he‟s neither the rightful owner of the land, nor the rightful owner of the woman. Sex

only temporarily assuages (heals) his deep seated melancholy. (pg.38) in “The Spring of

the Flesh Flaw Slack”

Generally, the philosophy behind his book is “an attempt to find equilibrium between

the personal and the public.

ACTIVITY

1. Read Dennis Brutus Poems in Boots, Knuckles and Sirens

a) Discuss the structure and general organization of the poems

b) What is the significance of “A trabadour, I traverse all my land”

in relation to the character of Dennis Brutus?

N.B: Trabadours- class of lyrical poems. They give a notion o

wandering around and singing using an illegal harp.