TuT Letter 501

Theory, Style and Poetics
Theory, Style and Poetics
TUTORIAL LETTER 501 FOR ENG2602
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ENG2602/501/2021
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CONTENTS
GENRES IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE
Theory, style and poetics
Page
INTRODUCTION v
Study unit 1: Discourse Analysis: Critically reading a text

and writing about it 1
Study unit 2: Commercial Persuasive Texts 19
Study unit 3: Political Persuasive Texts 44
Study unit 4: Social Persuasive Texts 69
Study unit 5: Prose 90
Study unit 6: Poetry 101
Study unit 7: Drama 144
Conclusion 174
ENG2602/501/0/2021 (iii)
Introduction
David Levey and Clifford Ndlangamandla
In this module we focus on the fascinating area of how ‘language’ contributes to any
writing, whether this is ‘literature’ or another kind of text. We are sure that you will
enjoy this exercise.
Thus, when we read a piece of writing, whether it is a book, a poem, an advertise-

ment for soap, a newspaper, or a blog on the internet, we are concerned with ques-
tions such as:
(1) ‘What genre is this text?’ This helps the reader to become aware of appropri-
ate ways of reading it. The reader should read a poem differently from an
advertisement, or a drama, or a study guide, such as this one.
(2) ‘What is its purpose?’ No piece of writing is ever neutral: amongst other pur-
poses (such as the writer’s desire to express herself, to explore something in
writing) it is always intended to place the reader in a particular position and
create a specific response. Think about this for a moment.
(3) ‘How is this purpose being achieved?’ What kinds of language features (or
linguistic devices) is the writer using to address, influence, entertain, challenge,
inform, even manipulate, the reader?
Let’s put this in official terminology: what are the outcomes of this module? What
do we expect? Below we have italicised some of the more important points and
mentioned some of the queries one could pose. After completing this module, you
should be able to:
Outcome 1: Distinguish between various non-literary and literary genres. You should
ask yourselves, ‘In what ways do these kinds of writings differ?’
Outcome 2: Analyse the use of figurative language in a variety of genres. You need to be
sure in your minds what figurative language is, and what it does. Why is it being used?
Outcome 3: Analyse texts within genres as a means of positioning the reader in order
to elicit a particular response specific to the genre’s purpose. One could ask, ‘How does
the text create a response in me, the reader?’
ENG2602/501 (v)
Outcome 4: Analyse the creative choices made in the texts of selected genres. We might
enquire, ‘Why does the writer use this particular word instead of another, or place
the words in this specific order, not another?’
Now, circle the key words or phrases in the above questions and outcomes. This
will concentrate your mind on what you should be looking for. Also, in a dictionary
(good online ones are Merriam-Webster and www.dictionary.com) look up any terms
such as ‘genre’, ‘figurative’ and ‘elicit’, which you may not know.
Here are three thoughts to get you going:

• It is impossible to discuss and even to appreciate any text without being aware
of how its language is operating.
• Or if we put this slightly differently, it is really useful to understand the way
language functions so that we can say worthwhile things about a text.
• We could also say that the kind of text that is being written affects the kind of
language the writer will use.
At the beginning of this section we put the words ‘language’ and ‘literature’ in
quotation marks and you may be wondering why. This is a particular technique,
known as using scare quotes, designed to make the reader realise that such terms
should not just be taken for granted, or at face value. They should be probed more
deeply. The speaker or writer may be using them in a different sense. We may think
we know what ‘literature’ and ‘language’ are, but do we really? Here, then, we want
to make you aware that, as with any word, ‘language’ and ‘literature’ should not be
taken at face value but should be defined in their context that is, as they are used in
a sentence, paragraph or longer piece of writing.
ACTIVITY
Pause for a few seconds and write down what you understand ‘language’ and
‘literature’ to be in general and in the context of this module.
FEEDBACK
We shall not provide an answer, but it will emerge as the module unfolds. It is
quite possible that your responses may evolve as you work through the material.
(vi)
ACTIVITY
Think about your expectations of this module. What concerns do you have? What do
you hope to gain from it?
Be aware that you already have valuable knowledge and experience which you can
bring to bear. You will already have met poetry, drama and all kinds of prose, for
instance, not only in your first-level English modules, but also in your everyday
existence. Advertisers are fond of using poetic devices such as metaphor, rhyme
and alliteration, every ‘soapie’ (and every conversation) represents a form of drama
and you are reading prose right now …
FEEDBACK
Again, this will be your own answer, drawing from your own experience.
HOW TO WORK THROUGH THIS MODULE

We expect you to achieve the four outcomes by:
• Becoming familiar with the features of all five genres

• Understanding and applying the various ways of reading them
• Working through all the activities; in this way the module will become more
interactive
• Studying any additional resources, such as e-reserves, livestreams and podcasts
that we make available to you on the myUnisa course site at https://myunisa.
ac.za. Visit this site regularly to keep up to date
• Being able to use the appropriate critical vocabulary and concepts in the Toolkit
found in your Tutorial Letter 101
• Paying special attention to the assignment guidance we provide for you following
your assignment questions in your tutorial letter as this is guidance specifically
written to assist you to apply your learning to your assignment questions.
• Reading as many texts from the internet or the library in the five genres dealt with in
this module and practicing your analysis skills on them. This is particularly
important in this module as there is no prescribed material and, with the exception
of the poetry section, the texts that appear in your exam will always be unseen.
You will therefore be required to apply skills you have learned through practice
on various texts to any that appear before you.
ENG2602/501 (vii)
(viii)
STUDY UNIT 1
Discourse Analysis: Critically reading a text
and writing about it
Felicity Horne
Prescribed reading (e-reserves): pp. 20-21 in Goatly, A. and P. Hiradhar (2016).

Critical Reading and Writing in the Digital Age. London: Routledge.
OUTCOME
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
• Read texts closely and critically

• Distinguish between different kind of texts
• Analyse a text, examining how its structure and language features reflect
its producer, context, audience and purpose
• Identify discourse markers
• Detect assumptions and ideologies underlying discourse
• Organise your findings logically
• Present your analysis in essay form
INTRODUCTION
The content of this module will not be entirely new to you. It builds on and develops
knowledge you acquired in the other modules you have completed or may still be
doing. This unit, in particular, deals with discourse analysis, an essential skill in
language and literature study. In your assignment and exam questions, you will
typically be asked to analyse critically an extract of text from various genres, such
as a novel, an advertisement or political speech. This will involve discourse analysis.
Before going on, let us go over key terms and concepts and consolidate what you
already know.
What do we mean by the term ‘text’? This question, and its answer, are not as obvi-
ous as they seem.
ENG2602/501 1
ACTIVITY 1
Look at the list of items below. Which of these would you describe as texts?
• a comic strip • a parliamentary address

• an email • a poster
• a church sermon • a poem
• an emoticon • a cartoon
• an advertisement • a photograph
• a television show • a joke
• a memo • a prayer
• a birthday card • a newspaper report
• a tweet • a funeral eulogy
• a song • a lecture
• a recipe • a business card
• a play • an autobiography
• a wedding speech • a novel
• a to-do list • a sketch
• a whatsapp message • a wedding speech
It may seem surprising that all of the above items qualify as texts. It is important that
you understand the wide range of items the word ‘text’ denotes.
1.1 DEFINITIONS
The word ‘text’ is defined in linguistics as ‘any passage, spoken or written, of what-
ever length, that …[forms] a unified whole’ ( Jones 2019:146).
Not all texts use language, or language only. A text may consist of a wordless image,
or a combination of language and images. However, if it conveys meaning, it is a
text. This is why linguistics uses the term ‘semantic unit’ to describe a text ( Jones
2019:147). (‘Semantics’ refers to the study of meaning.)
What do we mean by the term ‘discourse’ and the phrase ‘discourse analysis’?
The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines ‘discourse’ as ‘the use of language in
speech and writing in order to produce meaning; language that is studied, usually in
order to see how the different parts of a text are connected’.
‘Discourse analysis’ refers to the process of examining a text to discover its structure
and identify its language features. It involves the discussion of how these features
reflect its writer and context, and how they are adapted to its audience and purpose.
It uncovers implicit values and ideologies on which texts are based.
2
STUDY UNIT 1: Discourse analysis: critically reading a text and writing about it
1.1.1 A brief example

Texts and discourse do not exist in a vacuum. They are always linked to and situated
in the real world. Consider a brief text like ‘KEEP OFF THE GRASS’. The source
of such a text would be a noticeboard, and the immediate context of such a board
would be a park or formal garden. Its purpose would be to regulate public behaviour
in order to preserve and prevent damage to a lawn. Although only four words long,
it may be analysed for its language features: the use of the imperative form of the
phrasal verb (‘Keep off’), used in orders and instructions and reinforced here by
capital letters; and its brevity, suited to its audience of pedestrians on the move. The
producer of the text assumes a certain authority over its audience − the pedestrians
it is intended to control − which indicates the hidden power relations embedded in
society. The person who put the sign up obviously assumes that they have the right
to tell pedestrians where they can and cannot walk. Its tone is direct, abrupt and
peremptory, in keeping with its shortness and controlling purpose.
This discussion of ‘KEEP OFF THE GRASS’ shows that even short, apparently
insignificant texts can be subjected to discourse analysis and reveal their rootedness
in the real world.
1.1.2 Discourse analysis

(1) How do we go about the task of discourse analysis?
(2) When faced with the task of analysing a text in front of you, start by asking
yourself the following questions:
(3) What is this text about? (Topic)
(4) Who could be speaking or writing this text? (Speaker/Writer)
(5) Who is being addressed? (Audience)
(6) Where are you likely to come across this text? (Source)
(7) In what general situation does this text occur? (Context)
(8) What is the speaker’s/writer’s intention? (Purpose)
(9) What is the speaker’s/writer’s attitude towards the subject? (Tone)
(10) What kind of language is being used? (Style)
The answers to these questions are not always explicit. We sometimes have to infer
them by closely examining the text and picking up subtle clues.
Each of the headings above (Topic, Speaker/Writer, Audience, Source, Context,

Purpose, Tone and Style) can be broken down by asking further questions:
Topic: is this about a political issue, climate change, brain surgery,

xenophobia?
Speaker/Writer: level of education? age? personality? political views? possible

occupation/profession?
Audience: young/mature/old? general or specialist? sophisticated? gender?
Source: newspaper/news broadcast? magazine? lesson? novel? tweet?

instruction leaflet? poster?
ENG2602/501 3
Context: place e.g. classroom? Parliament? social occasion? urban riot?
time period e.g. contemporary or past?
Purpose: instruct? inform? complain? narrate? argue? persuade? sell?

entertain? intimidate? mock/satirise?
Tone: serious? light-hearted? subjective/objective? imperious? per-

sonal? impersonal? chatty? factual? emotional? ironic? bitter?
satirical?
Style: formal? informal? colloquial?
plain/emotive vocabulary? jargon/technical/specialist words?

archaic (old fashioned) words? colloquialisms/slang?
simple or complex sentence structures? active or passive

constructions? rhetorical questions?
literal? figurative? use of specific linguistic techniques e.g. repeti-

tion, imagery (figures of speech such as simile and metaphor),
hyperbole (exaggeration), wordplay (witty use of language) and
ambiguity (words and expressions with more than one meaning)?
sound effects like rhyme, rhythm, alliteration (repetition of
consonants) and assonance (repetition of vowel sounds)? use
of discourse markers/connectors (such as ‘therefore’, ‘however’,
‘moreover’)?
non-linguistic features: use of images/diagrams to comple-

ment meaning? layout/format: paragraph/point form? use of
bullets? uniform or different font sizes? use of bold? capitals/
lower case? indentation and spacing? use of white space?
The above is by no means a comprehensive list of possible questions you could ask
when confronted by a text you are asked to analyse. However, the list should provide
you with a few pointers as to what you could look out for.
You will not always be able to determine some elements with certainty. The speaker/
writer’s identity may not be at all clear, or you may not be able to ascertain the source
of the text. In such cases, you express yourself tentatively: ‘this speaker is probably a
teacher/lawyer/politician… because …’; ‘this text could possibly come from a blog
… because …’.
The most important thing to remember when you are required to do a discourse
analysis is to keep your focus closely on the given text itself. Often students go
into lengthy, general discussions about the topic of the text, or the contextual features
that have shaped it, but pay little attention to the actual text. General points about
the topic and context are important but should be kept brief. You need to concentrate
on the actual text, observing its language and other features, considering why and
how these have been used and to what effect.
4
1.1.3 A practical strategy for doing discourse analysis

When faced with a text to analyse, the first thing you should do is read it several
times, until you feel you have a grasp of what it is about (the topic). Then go through
it again, underlining or circling features/words that stand out for you, jotting
brief comments in the margin, e.g. ‘emotive language’, ‘repetition’, ‘use of personal
pronouns’, ‘metaphor’, ‘hyperbole’, ‘slang’, or whatever the case may be in the par-
ticular text you are scrutinising.
Once you have picked out as many language features as you can find, you can begin
to think about answering the questions suggested above, e.g. who the speaker or
writer could be, who is being addressed or targeted, what the purpose of the text is,
and so on. These answers are implicit in the text and will gradually emerge from the
observations you make about the kind of language used.
Turn an A4 page sideways (landscape) and write down the headings ‘Topic’, ‘Speaker/
Writer’, ‘Audience’, ‘Source’, ‘Context’, ‘Purpose’, ‘Tone’ and ‘Style’. Jot down answers
in the columns under the various headings, together with brief quotations from the
text you are analysing. This is important because when you come to write the full
analysis, you have to support your observations. You cannot write ‘use of emotive
language’ without providing evidence of this. Quoting examples shows that you have
engaged closely with the text and are basing your comments on it.
ACTIVITY 2
Read the following text.
Walking around my neighbourhood this morning, I was so aware of how caged

in we have become. Our houses are virtual jails. High walls, razor wire, electric
fences, remote-controlled gates and fierce dogs prevent access. There is
nothing new about this, of course; South Africans are obsessed with security,
and for good reason. But it struck me anew because I needed to speak to an
owner whose dog was roaming around outside, obviously having slipped out
when the sliding gate was opened. I knew which house the dog belonged to,
having seen it in the property before. Pressing the button at the gate yielded no
response, nor did I have any success with the neighbours on either side.
This incident, insignificant as it may seem, brought home to me what harsh and
hostile living spaces we have created for ourselves. I reflected on the days
when children played freely in the streets, and it was normal to pop next
door to borrow a cup of sugar if you suddenly realised, in the middle of baking,
you didn’t have enough. What happened to friendly chats over the fence, and
knowing all your neighbours’ families and names?
In guarding ourselves against robbery, we have robbed ourselves. Our sense

of community has been stolen. We are the poorer for it.
ENG2602/501 5
After several thorough readings of the text, mark it up as suggested above, by un-
derlining, circling and jotting comments in the margins. Then jot down notes under
the different headings: ‘Topic’, ‘Speaker/Writer’, ‘Audience’, ‘Source’, ‘Context’,
‘Purpose’, ‘Tone’ and ‘Style’. Make as many of your own observations as you can
before reading further.
Compare your findings with those below.
Topic: security measures have destroyed neighbourly interaction and

community spirit.
Speaker/Writer: educated (good command of vocabulary and sentence struc-

ture). Mature, concerned and responsible personality (tries to
help dog); thoughtful (reflects on modern living, compares this
with the way s/he believes things used to be).
Audience: fellow South Africans living in suburbs. Personal pronouns

‘we’ and ‘our’ assume a sense of shared experience. Remark
that ‘South Africans are obsessed with security, and for good
reason’ indicates that s/he presumes his/her readership will
understand what ‘for good reason’ refers to: that they already
know about the high crime rate in the country so it is not nec-
essary to provide them with this information.
Source: possibly a letter to a friend, or letter to the editor of a newspaper;

could be a Facebook post or diary entry.
Context: life in contemporary South Africa; bad crime situation; need

for strong security measures.
Purpose: to narrate a personal experience and draw a lesson from this;

to raise awareness of what the writer believes we have lost in
human terms by responding to crime in the ways we have; to
lament how society has changed.
Tone: serious; personal; subjective; attitude to topic regretful, nostalgic

(harks back to ‘the old days’). Contrast in representation of past
(approving) and present (disapproving).
Style: written rather than spoken (seen in complete sentences, con-

trolled expression) but not formal: ‘pop next door’, ‘friendly
chats’ are colloquial and relaxed in effect.
use of first-person personal pronouns ‘I’, ‘my’ and ‘me’ to nar-

rate a personal experience: situation described entirely from
writer’s perspective; we know only his/her feelings, thoughts
and perceptions.
use of inclusive ‘we’ shows presumption of shared experience

and attitudes. Writer relates closely to the audience.
emotive language: use of intensifier ‘so’ in ‘I was so aware of how

caged in we have become’ heightens the effect of this observa-
tion. Negative connotations of ‘caged in’, ‘virtual jails’, ‘razor
wire’, ‘fierce dogs’,’ harsh’, hostile’, ‘robbed’, ‘stolen’, ‘poorer’
6
contrast with the positive connotations of ‘played freely’, ‘pop

next door’, ’friendly chats’. This emotive language constructs
the past as desirable; the present as undesirable. These are
evaluative observations linked to the writer’s value system and
ideology* and are not necessarily valid. The writer is seeing the
past through rose-coloured spectacles (did such a time really
exist?). So simplistic a contrast between past and present is
problematic.
rhetorical question ‘What happened to friendly chats …’ is used

to involve the reader. No answer is expected to this question
but what is implied is that such chats no longer happen, that
this is a great pity and that the reader will agree with this point
of view.
sentences of varying lengths used. Short sentences create impact

(‘Our houses are virtual jails.’) and add force to the argument.
use of wordplay in final paragraph: ‘In guarding ourselves

against robbery, we have robbed ourselves’ (robbery by criminals
vs. self-robbery); irony of this situation. We now experience a
different kind of loss − not of material goods, but of human
relationships.
(*’Ideology’ may cause some difficulty because it is ‘invisible’. It is not always possible
to detect underlying values and ideologies, but it can be helpful in some cases to look
out for what is not stated in a text. In this example, there is a lack of empathy for those
who cannot afford high walls and electric fences to protect themselves from crime,
which affects everybody. If something important is ignored, this is significant; an
example of an ‘elephant in the room’ situation. Why is an issue overlooked? Think
about the possible reasons for its omission. In this case, the writer is self-involved
and sees things from his/her perspective only. The rest of the population is not part
of his/her frame of reference at all.)
Having made your notes, you now have the basic substance for the essay you will
go on to write. For it to be a fully fledged essay, you will have to:
• incorporate your points and examples (like those above) into full sentences and
paragraph form, and
• arrange them logically and express them in suitably academic language.
Remember not to use subheadings in your essay. No essay should include subhead-
ings. In any case, your paragraphs should be structured logically enough for your
reader to follow your analysis without the aid of subheadings. The effective use of
paragraphs show how your ideas are grouped and connected so that subheadings
(which do the same thing in a less subtle way) are unnecessary.
ENG2602/501 7
ACTIVITY 3
Read the following text, annotate it, then make notes on its features, using the
headings Topic, Speaker/ Writer, Audience, Source, Context, Purpose, Tone and
Style.
In recent years, research into mental illness has focused on genetics and the
role of chemicals in the brain, such as DNA, RNA and proteins, whereas our
focus used to be on analyzing behaviors. Nowadays, scientists search for
inherited and mutated genes, and abnormal proteins or dysfunctional neural
pathways in the brain. The aim of this research is to find therapies, which target
specific molecules and normalize aberrant pathways.
Compare your findings with the notes below.
Topic: research into mental illness through studying the brain.
Speaker/Writer: a medical professional qualified to discuss brain disorders;

shows mastery of medical discourse.
personal pronoun ‘our’ shows he/she identifies with research-

ers, so probably a researcher; possibly a professor or lecturer.
But this ‘our’ is not inclusive as it does not extend to a general
audience/readership. Positions him/herself as an authority/
expert in the field, and so of higher status than them.
nothing personal about him/her as an individual comes through.
Audience: adult, educated; possibly interested members of the public

wanting to learn more about mental disorders; possibly a class
of medical students. Speaker/writer assumes the audience is
informed enough to understand a fairly high level of discourse
but keeps a certain social distance from them.
Source: a lecture or medical textbook; possibly an article in a medical

journal.
Context: educational, either part of a university curriculum or a general

lecture on psychiatry. Lecture room or hall if delivered live.
Discipline of medicine, genre of science.
US spelling (e.g. ‘analyzing’, ‘behaviors’) indicates the context

is American.
Contemporary time period; 21st century (‘since the mid-1990s’).
Purpose: to inform, to impart knowledge, to update audience about

recent research into the causes of mental disorders.
Tone: impersonal, academic, factual. No emotions or attitudes are

revealed about how the writer perceives mental illness or those
who suffer from it.
8
Style: formal, use of specialist vocabulary, scientific terminology like

‘DNA, RNA’, ‘inherited genes’, ‘mutated genes’, ‘dysfunctional
neural pathways’ belongs to the discipline of medicine.
minimal use of personal pronouns; ‘our’ refers to the medical

fraternity and distances the speaker/writer from the audience.
sentence structures: fairly long, complex sentences; use of

impersonal passive constructions: ‘research into mental illness
has focused on’, not ‘we have focused on …’, which indicates
personal agency.
1.2 USE OF THE PASSIVE VOICE

To pick up on the last point mentioned in the analysis above, passive constructions
are often chosen to avoid assigning agency to people, so that they may escape ac-
countability for their actions. Compare the two examples below.
Orders were given that if the protesters did not disperse when ordered to do
so, the police were to open fire. (Passive construction)
The Police Commissioner gave the order that if the protesters did not disperse
when ordered to do so, the police were to open fire. (Active construction)
When such orders result in a massacre, which reverberates around the world, it is
easy to understand why the first example would be preferred by certain parties. The
person responsible for giving the fatal order remains nameless and faceless.
Here is another example where the passive voice is used:
Foreign nationals were evicted from the premises they have been occupying
for the last few months. The goods they were selling were confiscated and in
the ensuing fracas some individuals were assaulted.
It is not mentioned who carried out the evictions, confiscations and assaults. Was it
the police, or ordinary citizens? Who were assaulted? The foreign nationals or the
people that were evicting them?
On such a contested issue as the rights and status of foreign nationals in South
Africa, it is risky to identify the agents of the conflict, so they remain anonymous
and no-one can be blamed for loss and injury.
1.2.1 Audience
The above text on mental illness shows how the kind of language texts used is tai-
lored to their audience. The speaker/writer of the text takes for granted that his/
her listeners or readers would understand the information s/he was conveying, and
makes no concessions for people unfamiliar with such discourse. Targeting a differ-
ent kind of audience would require major adaptation of the language used.
ENG2602/501 9
Consider the following example on the topic of water management.
We need to adopt a proactive approach to protect our rivers, wetlands and other
water ecosystems. The quality of water is affected by human activities such as
industries, agriculture and urban settlements which produce sewage effluent,
fertilisers and toxic substances which pollute water sources. As the human
population increases, pollution is exacerbated. If we are to have a water-secure
future it is crucial that we engage communities to clean up our rivers and water
ecosystems in a collective effort to conserve this essential resource.
This text is clearly directed at an adult audience. If the same topic were presented to
primary school learners, how would the language have to be changed? Which words
and expressions would you replace? How would you rephrase sentences?
Below is a suggested adaptation.
We all need clean water to stay alive. We call water that is not clean or pure
polluted. Polluted water is not safe for people and animals to drink. If we drink
polluted water, we will get sick. Some factories and farmers let poison- ous
chemicals run into rivers, causing pollution. If there are no proper toilets where
lots of people live closely together, waste and rubbish run into rivers, also
making them dirty. The more people there are, the worse the problem of
pollution becomes. We all need to help keep our rivers clean to make sure that
there is enough clean water for us all.
You will see that vocabulary has been simplified and difficult words explained.
Sentences have been shortened to suit a young, unsophisticated audience.
ACTIVITY 4
Read the following text. It is spoken by an angry homeowner to a member of his
family.
This is getting ridiculous! The rubbish hasn’t been collected for two weeks now.
This place is starting to stink and have you seen the rats running round our
yard? What the hell’s going on with the municipality? We pay our rates and
taxes and this is what we get in return! I’m not putting up with this any longer.
If this speaker were to write a formal letter of complaint to the local councillor about
its failure to provide garbage removal services, how would he express himself? How
would he adapt the content and language of his outburst to suit this different
audience?
Write the body of the letter this man might write if he penned a formal complaint
to the local council.
10
1.3 DISCOURSE MARKERS

Depending on the type of text we are looking at, some language features will be
more prominent than others. We saw how in a text that instructs, such as ‘Keep off
the grass’, the imperative form of the verb is used. In a text which aims to persuade,
emotive language will feature strongly. A poem is likely to be rich in figurative lan-
guage, and so on. Most texts use discourse markers which guide the reader through
the text, but certain texts, especially argumentative ones, make greater use of them
than others. What do we mean by the term ‘discourse marker’?
A discourse marker connects parts of a text and helps to give it cohesiveness and a
logical structure. Examples are common conjunctions like ‘and’ and ‘but’; words like
‘firstly,…’; ‘secondly,…’; ‘finally,…’; furthermore,…’; ‘therefore,…’; and phrases like
‘on the other hand, …’; ‘in other words,…’; ‘in addition,…’; and ‘equally important…’.
Discourse markers are most obvious in texts which put forward an argument. An
argumentative text presents a reasoned, logical discussion expressing a point of view
on a particular subject, while acknowledging that other points of view exist.
ACTIVITY 5
(Please access pp. 20-21 in Goatly, A. and P. Hiradhar (2016). Critical Read- ing
and Writing in the Digital Age, on the library e-reserve.)
Study the text reproduced on page 20, which starts with ‘The Institute of Educa-
tion…’. Pick out the linking words (conjunctions and discourse markers) which hold
the argument together and contribute to its logical structure.
Whenever you study a text, be aware of discourse markers, an essential element in

the structuring of texts. When we defined key terms at the beginning of this unit, part
of the definition of discourse read: ‘the study of language … in order to see how
the different parts of a text are connected’.
1.4 PURPOSE
It is easy to determine the purpose of some texts, but the purpose of others is more
difficult to infer. Copyright restrictions prevent us from reproducing an interesting
example which is nevertheless worth considering. It consists of only one sentence
and an image. The sentence states, ‘This festive season a lot of men are going to spoil their
wives’. The accompanying photograph shows the face of a young woman who would
be pretty, except that she has a huge black eye. She has clearly been injured, and it
takes a moment or two to realise that she is the victim of abuse. The word ‘spoil’ in
the text then takes on a different meaning. Instead of it meaning that husbands will
give their wives presents or treat them to luxuries at Christmas time, they will ‘spoil’
their looks by battering them and giving them bruises. This inference is confirmed
by the name of the organisation that has underwritten the page: it is one that cam-
paigns against women abuse.
The effect of this text rests on the ambiguity of the verb ‘spoil’. Our understanding
of this play on the double meaning of ‘spoil’ is enabled by the photograph. Without
the image of the black-eyed woman, we would not grasp the intended message. This
illustrates the interdependence of language and visual elements of a text.
ENG2602/501 11
This example has been discussed because texts are not always what they seem. At
first glance, the topic of the above text seems to relate to Christmas (‘This festive season
a lot of men are going to spoil their wives’), when the topic is actually gender-based
violence. The purpose of the text initially seems to celebrate happy marriages, but
its true aim is to shock the reader into confronting the reality of domestic violence,
to persuade men to respect women, and to persuade women not to tolerate abuse.
We go on to consider another text which is not what it seems to be at first.
ACTIVITY 6
The following text is a song which was popular at the time of WWI (1914-18). You
can hear it sung if you go on to YouTube and type in the song’s title.
During WW1 Britain and Germany, together with their respective allies, were at
war with each other. The ‘overseas’ country referred to in the first line of the poem is
Belgium, an ally of Britain. Belgium initially bore the brunt of the conflict, and Britain,
in accordance with the terms of their alliance, was obliged to go to Belgium’s ‘rescue’.
Read it carefully, then answer the questions which follow.
Keep the Home Fires Burning
Overseas there came a pleading,

‘Help a nation in distress.’
And we gave our glorious laddies –
Honour bade us do no less,
For no gallant son of Freedom
To a tyrant’s yoke should bend,
And a noble heart must answer
To the sacred call of ‘Friend.’
Keep the home fires burning,
While your heart is yearning.
Though your lads are far away
They dream of home.
There’s a silver lining
Through the dark clouds shining,
Turn the dark cloud inside out
‘Til the boys come home.
(Lena Guilbert Ford)
What would you say the purpose of this text is?
Because this text is a song, set to music, our initial response to this question would
probably be that its purpose is to provide enjoyment; to entertain. This response
would certainly be correct. However, if we look closely at the language used, we will
discover that entertainment is not the only purpose of this text. Consider the following
questions:
12
(1) How are the men who go off to fight in the war constructed in this song? Look
at the nouns and adjectives used to describe them, and think about why these
words have been chosen.
(2) How is the enemy constructed? Find the particular phrase used to refer to
the enemy and consider its effect.
(3) How is Britain’s cause presented?
(4) Why is the overseas country (Belgium) called ‘Friend’ and not ‘ally’, which
would be more appropriate in a war situation?
(5) What aspects of war are ignored or omitted in the song?
(6) What is the overall tone of this song?
More careful examination of the words of the song reveals that it is a highly emotive
text, with a strong political agenda. It aims to persuade its audience to a particular
point of view; namely, to support Britain’s war against Germany. It is in fact a piece
of propaganda.
(You may be able to think of other examples of songs which have an underlying
political agenda. During the Vietnam War, the song ‘The Green Beret’ was used to
motivate American soldiers to fight in the war, and this piece of propaganda remained
on the hit parade for months. Can you think of a more recent, local example with a
similar political agenda?)
Underlying songs like ‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ and ‘The Green Beret’ are as-
sumptions about the audience’s sense of patriotism which relates to an ideology about
how people should respond if their country goes to war. These texts presuppose that
the audience loves their country or nation, and should therefore not question the call
to sacrifice their lives for it, if necessary. This expectation is manipulative. It makes
men feel morally obliged to join the army, and is thus a subtle form of coercion.
FEEDBACK FOR ACTIVITY 6

(1) Emotive language is used: the men are called ‘laddies’, ‘sons’, ‘lads’ and
‘boys’. All these nouns portray them as very young: juveniles rather than men.
This encourages an affectionate, parental attitude towards them and feelings
of sympathy and love. This view is somewhat sentimental.
The emotive adjectives used to describe the soldiers are ‘glorious’ and
‘gallant’. They are not presented as ordinary but as exceptional in terms of
moral character: noble and courageous.
(2) The emotive phrase ‘tyrant’s yoke’ constructs the enemy as an oppressor, and
the word ‘yoke’ (when applied to human beings) suggests slavery. The effect
of this is to make the audience feel it is absolutely necessary to fight and
destroy such an enemy.
(3) Britain’s cause is described in terms of ‘Honour’ and ‘Freedom’. These ab-
stract nouns belong to the discourse of virtue and are written in capitals to
indicate their importance. The British people are constructed as generous and
self-sacrificing because they are prepared to give away their precious sons for
the sake of defending the nation.
(4) The writer chooses to use the word ‘Friend’ (also written with a capital) instead
of ‘ally’ to make the relationship sound warm and more homely. ‘Friend’ has
connotations of reliability and caring. A military alliance has colder, more
formal connotations than friendship.
ENG2602/501 13
(5) The realities of war − danger, injury, trauma, suffering and death − are
nowhere mentioned in this text. Millions will be killed and many injured or
maimed in the war to follow. The survivors will certainly be damaged psy-
chologically. The phrase ‘dark clouds’ is a very vague and romantic way
of indicating the hardships in store for them. Deception is involved in this
omission.
(6) The tone of the song is optimistic and uplifting. It aims to make the people
of Britain feel proud and righteous because their cause is just. It persuades
them that it is necessary to go to war because the enemy is evil. It stirs up
false hope and confidence that the men will come home safely. It urges
women to ‘keep the home fires burning’, in other words, to continue with their
normal daily tasks so that the men have comfortable homes to return to.
It is worth pointing out the assumptions about gender present in the latter point.
Notice how the women are assigned to the mundane role of homemakers. In reality,
women made a major contribution to the war effort when they were called upon to fill
in for soldiers who were away fighting. Their jobs included not only traditional ones
such as nursing, but also work like driving ambulances and assembling weapons in
munitions factories. In the song, their role in the war is downplayed while soldiers
are elevated to heroic status.
‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ illustrates that texts not only reflect attitudes; they
actively create them. By constructing the soldiers as brave and virtuous, the song
encourages its audience to perceive them as admirable. Similarly, by representing
the enemy as a tyrant bent on enslaving the British people, the text arouses feel-
ings of fear and hatred towards Germany. By constructing women as non-heroic,
with a merely supportive role in the war, the song reinforces perceptions that the
proper place for women is domestic obscurity.
The above analysis should alert you to the fact that the purpose of a text may not
always be what it seems. Discourse analysis reveals that beneath the jolly music of
‘Keep the Home Fires Burning’ lurks a deadly serious aim. This shows how alert
we have to be to pick up implicit assumptions and manipulative techniques contained
in texts. They may not be obvious but they are there. Practice develops our sensitivity
to hidden agendas.
ACTIVITY 7
Presenting a discourse analysis in essay form
In most assignment and examination questions, you are asked to analyse a text and
write your answer in the form of an academic essay. Below is a sample of the kind
of question rubric you are likely to be confronted with.
Analyse the language features of the following text which comes from the novel Hard
Times by Charles Dickens (1812-1870). This novel is set in the fictional town Dickens
calls ‘Coketown’ but which was based on a real industrial town in northern England
in the mid-nineteenth century.
In your analysis, consider the aspects of topic, context, purpose, tone and style and
ensure that you support your observations with close reference to the text. Present
your analysis in essay form.
14
Coketown … was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the
smoke and ashes had allowed it; but as matters stood it was a town of unnatural
red and black like the painted face of a savage.
It was a town of machinery and tall chimneys, out of which interminable ser-
pents of smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled.
It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, and
vast piles of building full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling
all day long, and where the piston of the steam engine worked monotonously
up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness.
It contained several large streets all very like one another, and many small
streets still more like one another, inhabited by people equally like one an-
other, who all went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound upon the
same pavements, to do the same work, and to whom every day was the same
as yesterday and tomorrow, and every year the counterpart of the last and the
next.
(Extract from Hard Times: Ch V)
To help you in your preparation for this exercise in discourse analysis, work through
the following questions first.
• Identify the topic of this extract and consider its historical context. What was
happening in England during this period? Consider the significance of the
town’s name.
• What is emphasised in the description of this town? What characteristics of
Coketown stand out?
• Examine the style of the text. What images (similes or metaphors) are used?
What effects do they create? Are there examples of emotive language? Does
the author make use of sound effects? Would you regard the description as
literal or figurative?
• What kind of lives do the inhabitants of this town lead? What language devices
does the author use to convey the way they live? How does the structure of
the last sentence reinforce its meaning?
• What is the tone of this passage? What is the author’s attitude towards the
activities that go on in this town?
• What would you say was Dickens’s purpose in writing this description?
FEEDBACK
Discourse analysis of extract from Hard Times
In this essay, I will analyse the extract from Hard Times, paying attention to such
features as topic, context, tone, style and purpose. I will examine the author’s use of
language including imagery, emotive vocabulary and syntax, referring closely to
the text to support my analysis. Based on my findings, I will evaluate the overall
effectiveness of Dickens’s description of Coketown.
The topic of this extract is over-industrialisation as demonstrated in a detailed de-

scription of a particular town, called Coketown. The name of the town provides a
strong clue as to its nature, ‘coke’ being a particular type of fossil fuel used to drive
machinery. The context of this passage is nineteenth-century England, which was
going through the Industrial Revolution. During this period, the European economy
changed from one based on an agricultural model, to one based on industry.
ENG2602/501 15
The overwhelming characteristic of this town is the pollution which poisons its air and
water. Smoke and ashes have blackened the buildings so that they look like ‘the
painted face of a savage’. The image of a ‘savage’ in this simile has negative
connotations, evoking the idea of someone driven by crude, primitive impulses. In
the second paragraph the metaphor ‘interminable serpents of smoke trailed them-
selves for ever and ever, and never got uncoiled’ compares the twisted columns
of smoke coming out of the chimneys to writhing snakes. This dramatic image
has a repulsive effect. The fact that the author chooses the word ‘serpent’ rather than
‘snake’ could possibly be an allusion to the serpent (Satan) in the Garden of Eden,
thus giving the smoke evil connotations. The waterways are also polluted; the canal
is black and the river is purple and smells foul. This pollution of both atmosphere and
water is the result of unchecked industrial production which is ruining nature and
creating a seriously unhealthy environment for all forms of life.
Another outstanding feature of Coketown is its grey uniformity. The streets all look
the same and are laid out in an identical fashion, ‘It contained several large streets
all very like one another, and many small streets still more like one another’. No
attempt has been made to vary the layout, make the town attractive or provide green
areas for relaxation or recreation. The town is also characterised by constant,
restless movement. Windows rattle and walls shake from the vibrations of the
machinery. People are in constant motion as they go to and from their places of
work. There is no peace or rest in Coketown.
Dickens makes effective use of imagery in his description of Coketown. In addition

to the images already considered, the simile ‘like the head of an elephant in a state
of melancholy madness’ in the third paragraph likens the continuous movements of
a machine to those of a tortured animal. The image of a large wild animal trapped
and forced to work in a factory setting creates an unnatural and disturbing effect.
Such examples show that the style of this extract is figurative rather than literal,
as the author uses highly imaginative imagery to describe aspects of Coketown’s
manufacturing processes. Dickens’s choice of emotive vocabulary like ‘savage’, ‘ill-
smelling’ and ‘melancholy’ builds up a picture of the town as a hostile, foul and
depressing environment in which to work and live.
The residents of Coketown lead monotonous, dreary lives. They follow a rigid rou-
tine which allows no variation from the imperatives of work and survival. Dickens
uses repetition in the last paragraph (the word ‘same’ is repeated many times) to
create a sense of the way factory workers are forced to repeat the mindless tasks
involved in manufacturing processes, they ‘all went in and out at the same hours…
to do the same work…’. There is no room for individuality or creativity in Coketown,
as shown in the fact that the inhabitants have become indistinguishable, ‘equally like
one another’. They have been reduced and dehumanised by mechanisation and the
soul-destroying work involved in mass-production.
Sound effects such as alliteration in ‘melancholy madness’ and repetition in the last
sentence add to the unappealing picture of Coketown, as does the author’s use
of syntax. The final sentence is long, complex and monotonous in structure as it
describes how the people ‘went in and out at the same hours, with the same sound
upon the same pavements, to do the same work, and to whom every day was the
same as yesterday and tomorrow’. The monotony of the sentence structure echoes
and reinforces the sense of mechanistic, repetitive human activity in Coketown.
16
The tone of this extract is extremely negative. The picture of Coketown conveys not
only the dreadful pollution of the factory-town, but the joyless, grinding existence of
its inhabitants. From his choice of imagery and vocabulary, it is clear that Dickens’s
attitude towards industrialisation is strongly disapproving. He deplores what it is
doing to Nature and the quality of human life, subtly suggesting that evil motives
underlie Coketown’s appalling conditions.
As this extract comes from a novel, and novels are usually read for enjoyment,
it should follow that Dickens’s purpose in writing Hard Times is to entertain. In a
general sense this is true, but when he writes so powerfully about the filth and squalid
living conditions in Coketown, based on a real town in England, we realise that his
purpose is also serious; he wishes to raise awareness of the effects of industrial
production on the environment and the human population. He deliberately paints a
negative picture of the unsightly town to emphasise the destructive consequences
of the materialism and greed which drives industry, with the possible purpose of
encouraging public resistance to such processes. His ideological position is anti-
capitalist, anti-mechanisation, pro-Nature and pro-humanitarian. He values
creativity, variety and individuality.
In conclusion, analysis of this passage demonstrates that the author’s use of lan-
guage effectively serves his purpose of drawing attention to the dreadful effects
of uncontrolled industrial production in the era in which he lived and wrote. His
use of emotive language, imagery, repetition and syntax all work together to raise
awareness of how gross materialism destroys the environment and turns human
beings into automatons.
FURTHER NOTES
The suggested answer above is an example of how to present, in essay form, the
discourse analysis of a given text. The content of your essay will have been rather
different from the one above, but check if it fulfils the following essential require-
ments for an academic essay:
(1) Is your essay divided clearly into paragraphs which include an introduction,
body and conclusion?
(2) Does the introduction indicate the content of the essay to come?
(3) Does the body develop the ideas in the introduction?
(4) Does the conclusion sum up what was in the essay, without bringing in new
points?
(5) Have you thoroughly covered what the question required?
(6) Have examples and quotations from the text been provided to illustrate and
support the points you have made?
(7) Is the tone of the essay appropriate? Have you avoided contractions, collo-
quialisms and slang expressions? Have exclamations and emotive language
been avoided?
(8) Have point-form and subheadings been avoided?
(9) Is your writing clear and free of spelling and grammatical errors? Have you
edited it carefully to eliminate careless mistakes?
ENG2602/501 17
ACTIVITY 8
To finish off on a lighter note, study the following text.
Said Hamlet to Ophelia,

I’ll draw a sketch of thee,
What kind of pencil shall I use?
2B or not 2B?
Over-analysing this text would spoil your enjoyment, so the discussion will be
brief, like the text itself. The writer is clearly a humourist, who uses his literary
knowledge of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet to entertain and amuse his audience (the
text’s purpose). The audience would need the appropriate schema (background
knowledge) to appreciate the joke. The wordplay in the final line: ‘2B or not 2B’
parodies Hamlet’s famous ‘To be or not to be’ soliloquy when he contemplates
suicide. Equating Hamlet’s existential dilemma with a soft pencil used for sketch- ing
trivialises his predicament absurdly. The writer chooses to couch his joke in poetic
form (line breaks and rhyme) and uses the archaic word ‘thee’ to parody the
language and literary conventions of Shakespeare’s period.
Silly as this little poem is, it requires a considerable level of education to produce
and to understand, and the pun and wordplay in the last line is witty, showing that
the writer not only has a good sense of humour but is also intelligent.
This final example demonstrates that no text is too slight to subject to discourse
analysis.
CONCLUSION
In this unit, we have explained the meanings of the terms ‘text’, ‘discourse’ and
‘discourse analysis’. We have suggested a practical strategy for critically analysing
texts, and demonstrated this by applying it to particular texts. We have provided
examples of texts with different purposes: those which instruct (‘Keep off the grass’);
narrate (walk in suburb); inform (causes of mental illness, water pollution); complain
(rubbish removal); persuade (women abuse, call to war); raise awareness of a social
problem (Coketown text); and entertain (Hamlet joke).
The units which follow will deal in greater depth with the techniques used in the
discourse of commercial and political persuasion, prose, poetry and drama.
REFERENCES
Dickens, C. 1854. Hard Times. London: Bradbury & Evans.
Ford, L.G. 1914. Keep the Home-Fires Burning (Till the Boys Come Home). London: Ascher-
berg, Hopwood and Crew Ltd.
Goatly, A. and P. Hiradhar. 2016. Critical Reading and Writing in the Digital Age: An
Introductory Coursebook. London: Routledge.
Jones, Rodney H. 2019. Discourse Analysis: A Resource Book for Students. London:
Routledge.
18
STUDY UNIT 2
Commercial Persuasive Texts
Illona Meyer
INTRODUCTION
Unit 1: ‘Discourse Analysis’ introduced you to the concepts of close reading and critical
analysis. Please consult the introductory concepts outlined in that unit before pro-
gressing to this unit. The approach set out in Unit 1 for ‘closely and critically reading
a text’ and analysing it in terms of ‘how its structure and language features reflect its
producer, context, audience and purpose,’ is the approach you will be taking for all
texts set for this module—regardless of the specific genre or type of text set. That
means that you will need to analyse each text set for assessment in detail by
considering all of the above points in your analysis of the text, and not by limiting
your consideration solely to the topic or context.
OUTCOME
This unit deals with what we refer to as commercial persuasion. Upon complet-
ing this unit, you should:
• Understand what is meant by ‘commercial persuasion’

• Be familiar with a variety of texts that we regard as commercially persuasive—
including printed and digital advertisements, editorials or advertorials,
promotional articles, paid reviews, and social media posts
• Be able to perform a close and critical reading of these texts, interpreting
meaning and persuasive effect
• Be able to analyse these texts in terms of their genre or type, persuasive
purpose, target audience, and persuasive techniques utilised
• Be able to present your analysis in a properly structured academic essay,
with an introduction and conclusion, and paragraphs utilised to discuss the
above concepts
ENG2602/501 19
2.1 WHAT IS COMMERCIAL PERSUASION?
A persuasive text is any text of which the main purpose is to present a certain sub-
ject or concept in order to influence the audience. Thus, we may define ‘commercial
persuasion’ as a persuasive genre that includes all texts that present a certain product,
service, brand or concept to its target audience for a commercial aim that is, in order
to ‘sell’ something to the audience, by convincing them that they want or need the
product or service and/or, more generally, should trust the brand.
Recommended reading: In order to understand commercial persuasion and

consumer capitalism better, please consult the following text: pp. 174-187 (from
section 7.0 ‘Introduction: Consumer capitalism and its present crisis’ to section 7.7
‘Summary’) in Critical Reading and Writing in the Digital Age (2016) by Andrew Goatly
and Preet Hiradhar—available as an e-reserve via the Unisa Library.
2.1.1 Types of Commercial Persuasion
2.1.1.1 Advertisements
Advertising may be defined as a targeted marketing tactic that involves directing
messages, which relate to commercial products or services, or a brand or concept, at
consumers. It is the main form of commercial persuasion that we will be studying;
the other types of commercial persuasion at which we will look, while distinct, are
still, essentially, forms of advertising. Advertisements may appear in magazines or
newspapers, on billboards or other forms of outdoor media, in various formats on
the internet, and so on. Advertisements you probably repeatedly come across in your
daily life also include television and radio advertising, but for this module we focus
on written texts, and will thus only be considering printed and online advertisements.
While we focus on written commercial persuasive texts, it does not mean we should
solely consider the language used in a text; we also have to analyse the visual features
of the text. Advertisements very rarely consist solely of plain written text. Rather,
they typically include eye-catching formatting or layouts, and/or images or graphics,
which we need to consider in our analyses.
✓ Checkpoint: Consider the written media that you consume on a daily basis—
whether it be buying a newspaper or scrolling through social media or, unin-
tentionally, being accosted by persuasive communication via such as billboards
and posters on lampposts. How frequently do you notice the advertisements
that appear via this media? What about the texts that you do notice, draws you
in and convinces you to continue reading or considering the text?
An important aspect we have to consider when analysing an advertisement is the

medium in or on which it was published—that is, we cannot merely say that a text is
a written text in the form of an advertisement, we have to also mention and consider
the (possible) source, particularly in terms of the effectiveness of the advertisement
in its chosen medium.
There may be an overlap in terms of the language and visual features utilised in
advertisements across different media, but there are also certain features that may
be more specifically effective or ineffective in a certain medium. For example, a
billboard that includes extensive written text will probably be ineffective, would you
20
STUDY UNIT 2: Commercial persuasive texts
not agree? Motorists, the primary target audience for a billboard, will simply not
have time to read a lengthy message as they are driving by.
As already noted, two key types of printed advertising we may encounter are maga-
zine advertisements and newspaper advertisements. Printed advertisements may
similarly appear in flyers or pamphlets and on billboards, lampposts, and vehicles.
Let us consider a printed advertisement.
ACTIVITY 1
Please access the advertisement for analysis via the following URL:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/sports-drink-banner-ads-fitness-wom-
an-1193090167. Perform a critical reading of this advertisement and write down
your thoughts on the key aspects of the text, using the questions for performing
discourse analysis set out in Unit 1.
If you have trouble accessing the URL or find the text on the advertisement dif-
ficult to read, here is a breakdown of the advertisement, for your convenience:
• the advertisement appears in banner (i.e. rectangular) format;

• a drink bottle (the type in which mineral water is usually sold) appears on the
far left of the frame;
• the bottle is labelled, the colours utilised on the label are white, orange and
black;
• the top of the label on the bottle reads ‘SPORTS DRINK’, with ‘ION SUPPLY
DRINK’ right below that, while a ribbon at the bottom of the label reads ‘IMPROVE
PERFORMANCE AND ENDURANCE’, and below that ‘Refill essential minerals
and electrolytes!’ is written in very small font;
• the bottle appears on a turquoise background;
• on the same background, next to the bottle, ‘Ion Supply Drink’ is written in large
‘painted’ font, with ‘REPLENISH YOUR ENERGY WITH THE RIGHT DRINK!’
in smaller font below it, and ‘HEALTHY PH BALANCE’ in slightly larger font
at the bottom;
• the right half of the banner is taken up by a photograph of the torso of a toned
woman in an exercise top (with her stomach exposed) doing bicep curls with
two large dumbbells;
• to the right of the athlete, at the top, it states ‘Brand’, which you can disregard,
as this was where the brand name was located but was removed due to
copyright issues; and
• in the bottom right corner of the banner, a ribbon reads ‘IMPROVE
PERFORMANCE AND ENDURANCE’, and below that, in very small font, it
reads ‘FUEL YOUR MUSCLES DURING EXERCISE.’
FEEDBACK
The first two questions you needed to ask yourself are: what is the text about
(i.e. what is being advertised) and who is the advertiser? The latter we cannot
specifically answer, since the brand name has been removed from the text, but this
is as simple as restating the name of the brand being advertised. You should also
have been able to identify the ‘what’ of the text (product being advertised) as a
sports drink. Next, you needed to identify a possible source or ‘medium’ for the text—
acceptable answers would have included a magazine, a newspaper, or
ENG2602/501 21
a webpage. Due to the format of the advertisement, you would have had difficulty
arguing the source of the text to be an outdoor medium, such as a billboard or
lamppost, since the small font would be unreadable at a distance.
Thereafter, two highly important questions you needed to ask yourself:

(1) What do you think is the purpose of the text?
(2) Who do you think is the possible target audience of the text?
Your critical analysis of this commercial persuasive text should be focused on

answering these questions.
NB: When analysing persuasive texts, the purpose of the text is always to
persuade or convince, never merely to make aware or inform. At its core, the
persuasive purpose of this advertisement, as is that of most advertisements, is
to increase the brand’s sales of this product, by convincing consumers to buy it.
However, as you will soon learn, we can be even more specific when discussing
persuasive purpose. For now, you should have been able to identify the text’s overall
purpose to be ‘to persuade the target audience to buy the sports drink product’.
The target audience is sometimes open to interpretation; answers referring to

athletes, sportspeople, gym-goers, body builders, and, perhaps, health-conscious
individuals, would have been acceptable here. These individuals would likely range
in age and income, since a specific age group is not referred to or targeted, and,
since a sports drink is not an extremely expensive product, an affluent target
audience is not indicated. However, while a wide age range may be targeted,
the image of a young, physically fit person indicates that an elderly audience is
probably excluded. Do you see the extent to which you should probe a text
to determine its target audience?
Lastly, the remainder of your analysis (the bulk of your essay) would need to con-
sider the tone, style, and other language features of the text. Unit 1 introduced
you to these aspects, but you are not yet expected to be able to perform a detailed
analysis of the stylistic and linguistic elements of a text. For now, you should have
been able to identify the use of eye-catching fonts, positive language (‘healthy’,
‘improve’, ‘replenish’), and the image of a toned woman (who presumably uses the
product) to convince the audience. Did you find any other features of the text to be
persuasive? After you have worked through this unit, you will be able to identify such
elements as the use of imperatives (‘Fuel your muscles during exercise’) that
‘command’ the audience and the use of the second-person pronoun ‘your’ to make
individual readers feel included.
2.1.1.2 Advertorials, promotional articles and paid reviews

More subtle forms of advertising that we may come across are advertorials, promo-
tional articles, and paid reviews. These texts do not take the more recognisable
format of the above advertisement studied in activity 1, but rather typically take the
format of a brief article or write-up, found in magazines, newspapers, and online.
Texts written in this style do not appear to be written by the advertiser, in that they
are never written in first-person from the brand’s perspective, instead appearing to
have been written by an ‘objective’ third party (utilising third-person references to
the product or service and brand being advertised). If you are a magazine reader,
22
or a reader of online blogs, you will have come across commercial persuasive texts
written in this style.
While this type of commercial persuasion is less eye-catching to a non-assured reader

(i.e. a reader not looking for certain information or to be advertised to—see a fur-
ther explanation under ‘Target Audience’ below), it has the benefit of seeming more
impartial and trustworthy. Paid reviews are particularly convincing in this respect,
as they appear to be objectively reviewing a product or service, while the reviewer
has in fact been paid for their ‘opinion’ by the brand in question. Advertorials and
promotional articles are generally indicated as such in the magazines and newspapers
where they usually appear, but reviewers sometimes do not indicate whether or not
their review of a product, service or brand has been sponsored. This is why we need
to be critical readers. If an article or review is too complimentary, and in particular
if it is utilising the persuasive techniques that you will still learn about in this unit,
we should probably question its objectivity and reliability.
ACTIVITY 2
Briefly consider the following advertorial. See if you can recognise certain biases or
instances of the service being discussed in an overtly positive light. Further- more,
try to look for attempts by the author to make the write-up seem informative and
objective.
Help for UNISA Students!
Illona Meyer
Being a distance education student is challenging—not only are you lacking in face-
to-face instruction, but finding time to study while working is a challenge too. The
writer of this article completed her degree through distance education, and is all too
familiar with how difficult it can be to stay on top of the study material and
assignments, and to prepare for the examinations.
‘Ask a Tute!’, a service by distance graduates for distance students, is aiming to help
with that. Their highly qualified and experienced tutors, who understand the grind of
distance education and have conquered it, will tailor their lesson plans to your
schedule, any time of the day or night! We do not have to suffer alone or in silence
any longer; for a reasonable fee, help is just a WhatsApp away—that’s right, they
can help via e-mail, telephone, or even WhatsApp!
You can find out more about this excellent service on askatute.co.za.
FEEDBACK
At the outset, you should spot the headline of the article, attempting to draw the
reader in. As a Unisa student, the bold headline (with an exclamation mark),
ambiguously offering help (ambiguous because the kind of help being offered is not
yet clear), might pique your interest enough for you to read the article. This headline
is a clear attempt at persuasive writing. Conversely, the by-line that includes the
writer’s name, attempts to make the article look like a real news report, which might
ensure that you do not immediately realise that a service is being advertised to you.
ENG2602/501 23
The first paragraph empathises with the reader, noting the challenges that might face
a distance education student and also testifying that the writer of the article went
through these challenges herself. This creates the impression that the writer relates
to the readers and might make her seem trustworthy to them, thereby introducing
the service being advertised in a way that may come across as helpful. This anecdotal
approach (an anecdote is a statement based on a personal account) is contrasted by
her use of the third-person phrase ‘the writer of this article’ and third-person pronoun
‘her’, instead of the first-person pronouns ‘I’ and ‘my’. These first-person pronouns
would have made the text personal and may have allowed her to relate to her
audience more effectively, but then she might have sacrificed her attempt at
appearing objective. She also used these third-person references to make the
article appear professional or academic in style. Thereafter, she changes tact by
addressing the reader directly, using the second-person pronoun ‘you’, which
conversely makes the text rather personal and informal and allows the reader to
feel included.
The use of the phrase ‘by distance graduates for distance students’ in the second
paragraph almost seems like the tagline (catchphrase or slogan) of the ‘Ask a Tute!’
service. Note also the use of positive language, referring to the tutors as ‘highly
qualified and experienced’, their fee as ‘reasonable’, and, in the last line, their service
as ‘excellent’. The use of exclamation marks also occur once again, attempting to
drum up excitement for the service. Furthermore, the inclusive first- person plural
pronoun ‘we’ is used, even though the writer has already graduated. Here, she
abandons her attempt at appearing objective by not using first-person pronouns. The
article continues to attempt to seem helpful, and the writer relatable, by referring to
‘suffering alone and in silence’ and indicating, through the use of the inclusive
pronoun, that the writer experienced this too. As a Unisa student, do you feel as
though this article is speaking to you? Would you consider utilising this (fictional)
service?
Lastly, the writer tells the readers exactly where they can find out more about this
service, but she does not include an overt so-called ‘call to action’ (i.e. instructing the
readers to access the website through an imperative). Rather, she makes the closing
line seem informative, as opposed to recognisably persuasive. You may also note
that, while attempting to seem helpful and informative in the article, she was not
truly objective, in that she neither mentioned the internal university tutoring services
that are already available to students nor other external services that might be
available—she focuses solely on the ‘Ask a Tute!’ service, which is an attempt at
persuasion.
2.1.1.3 New media persuasion

A final form of commercial persuasion we would like to focus your attention on,
which is extremely prevalent in our Digital Age, is so-called new media advertising;
that is, advertising that occurs via digital technologies, chiefly, the internet. The
internet (a worldwide network of networks) includes a wide range of media that may
contain advertising—including the World Wide Web (which comprises websites
and, notably, social media sites), electronic mail (e-mail), and downloadable mobile
applications. Advertising can appear in various formats on the internet, including,
but not limited to:
24
• ‘display advertising’—comprising pop-up advertisements (windows that pop up

when you open a webpage or mobile application) and banners (images and text
that appear above, below, alongside or in-between the primary content on a
website or mobile application);
• ‘social media advertising’—takes the form of banners and sponsored posts (which
appear on the user’s homepage or ‘feed’ in-between posts of other users that the
user is ‘following’);
• ‘e-mail marketing’—typically appearing in the form of e-mail newsletters and
promotional offers, which the user can subscribe to and unsubscribe from; and
• ‘online promotional articles’—this subtle form of advertising, which we already
discussed above, is often published via online magazines and other third-party
websites.
Another highly common form of advertising on the internet is the pre-roll adver-
tisement (a short promotional video that plays before the video a user wanted to
watch), but since we are focusing on written persuasion in this module, we will not
be considering this form of online advertising.
✓ Checkpoint: Do you spend much time on the internet, be it on your cellphone

or laptop? Can you think of any attempts at commercial persuasion you have
recently been targeted by while browsing the internet? Perhaps a ‘promoted
post’ (i.e. advertisement in your newsfeed) on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter?
When next you come across brand messages or images on the internet, try to
consider them critically, utilising the skills you have gained thus far in this unit.
Online advertisements can be approached similarly to how we would approach print

advertisements that is, in terms of identifying the advertiser and what is being adver-
tised, our consideration of the purpose of the text, and our analysis of the tone, style
and language of the text, as well as the image/s utilised. Two key aspects that would
differ are our consideration of the medium of publication and, as a result thereof, the
target audience. While a certain specific or niche audience may still be the primary
target, the internet, by its very nature, allows a much larger audience to be reached
than print media does. You also need to consider the wider appeal of marketing
disseminated via new media communication. Refer back to the ‘Help for UNISA
Students!’ text set for activity 2. Do you agree this text could have appeared either
in print or online? Given how large and widely spread Unisa’s student body is, which
medium do you think would have been most effective for disseminating this text?
Advertising via the internet, and in particular via social media, differs from advertising
via ‘traditional media’ in one other key respect: Readers can directly interact with con-
tent posted on the internet. Social media posts can be ‘liked’, ‘shared’ or commented
on and blogs and other online publications usually have comment sections where
readers can post their responses to the text. The interactive nature of the internet
allows for immediate feedback and, sometimes, backlash from readers or viewers.
For example, a couple of years ago, around the time that the #BlackLivesMatter
movement had been gaining momentum after protests in the United States, a lead-
ing American soft drink brand created a video advertisement featuring a prominent
reality television ‘star’. The advertisement featured a protest, with the reality televi-
sion ‘star’ quelling tensions between police and protesters by simply handing a can
of the soft drink to a police officer. The brand received widespread backlash after
distributing the video online, with many commenters considering the advertisement
to be in poor taste and dismissive of an important social issue. Eventually, the brand
was forced to ‘pull’ the advertisement (remove it from all their online channels) and
ENG2602/501 25
issue an apology to the public. If you are interested, you can read more about this
story and view the offending advertisement here:
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/pepsi-advert-pulled-
kendall-jenner-protest-video-cancelled-removed-a7668986.html.
The widespread dissemination of online marketing messages can also have a positive
outcome for brands; when texts and videos perceived as humorous, interesting or
profound go ‘viral’ (are ‘shared’ by thousands or millions of individuals), the brand
and its product/s or service/s are promoted to a large, diverse audience. Think of the
advertisements of local chicken restaurant Nando’s. Their popular, tongue-in-cheek
text or video advertisements are frequently shared across social media, to great posi-
tive effect for their brand. To summarise, when analysing a persuasive text from an
online source, consider how audience interaction with the text and dissemination
(‘sharing’) of the text, may impact the persuasive effect of the text.
✓ Checkpoint: Online advertising is not always overt. Because it is not always

easy to identify the publisher of an online text, we have to be critical readers
of online content, especially content that praises a certain brand, product, ser-
vice or idea. Remember our discussion of the more subtle persuasive approach
typically utilised in advertorials, promotional articles, and paid reviews? E-mail
newsletters and online articles commonly use this approach too. As discussed
in section 1.2. above, you need to consider texts written in this format critically
as commercial persuasion, even if they do not appear to be advertisements at
first glance.
Let us focus further on a form of online advertising that has become particularly
prolific in the last few years: social media advertising, particularly in the form of
sponsored posts. Sponsored posts are created either by a brand itself or by a so-
called ‘influencer’ that is, a blogger or microblogger in whose lifestyle other users are
interested (thus, the ‘influencer’ is considered to be influential to their ‘followers’).
‘Influencer marketing’ has boomed in the last couple of years. The social media
‘influencer’ is either paid by brands to promote the brand or a certain product or
service, or else is sent ‘freebies’ by brands in exchange for their opinion. Influencer
marketing is a particularly contentious form of advertising. Unlike with any other
form of advertising, the reader is assured (i.e. he or she chooses to engage with the
‘influencer’ and the trends, products or services that the ‘influencer’ is promoting)
and may have trust in the ‘influencer’. Therefore, ‘influencer’ marketing is, arguably,
a particularly manipulative form of advertising, especially if the ‘influencer’ does not
disclose their affiliation with the brand, and touts their marketing message as their
‘honest’ opinion. Again, critical reading is required for us to recognise and consider
sponsored content on social media.
✓ Checkpoint: If you are active on social media, do you ‘follow’ anyone—a

celebrity, blogger or sportsperson—who may be considered an ‘influencer’?
Would you trust a recommendation from them?
26
ACTIVITY 3
Perform a close, critical reading of the

social media post alongside, consider-
ing the persuasiveness of the text and
image. Write down and compare your
responses with the feedback provided.
Herewith the text on the post, if you
find it difficult to read the text below the
image:
girlabouttown_za My favourite place to
go for a great cup of coffee (& fast
WiFi!) is Joe’s Jozi Café in Newtown.
The staff at Joe’s always make me feel
at home & their homemade muffins
are TO DIE FOR. If you want some-
where to chill, work, study or meet a
friend, I’d definitely recommend Joe’s. If
you go, remember to tell them I sent
you. #Ad #Spon
Created by Illona Meyer
FEEDBACK
The two chief persuasive strategies, with which you may already be familiar, utilised
by social media ‘influencers’ when creating sponsored posts, are testimonials and
the use of celebrity appeal. ‘Influencers’ are paid (or in some other way compen-
sated) by brands for promoting the brand and/or its product/s or service/s to their
thousands and sometimes millions of ‘followers’. The interest of the ‘followers’ in
a brand, product or service is driven by the value that they have for the opinion
of the ‘influencer’. The fact that the ‘influencer’, who may hold a certain celebrity
status with his or her followers, testifies to the merits of a certain brand, product
or service, could be enough to convince some users to become consumers of
the brand, or else at least want to find out more information about the brand or
particular product or service. The fact that a well-known or trusted brand may be
‘sponsoring’ an ‘influencer’ would, in turn, increase the online reach and perceived
status of the ‘influencer’. Would you consider buying a product or utilising a service
if it is promoted by someone you admire?
We can recognise the testimonial style of writing in the first line of girlabout-
town_za’s post; whereby she is telling her ‘followers’ about her ‘favourite café’.
Indeed, this may be her favourite café, but the truth of this statement does not matter
if girlabouttown_za has loyal ‘followers’ who are interested in and trust her
recommendations. They would be encouraged to visit the café regardless. Some
‘followers’ may view ‘influencers’ as a sort of online friend or older sister or
brother whose opinion they trust (girlabouttown_za plays on this by telling her
‘followers’ to tell the café she sent them), whilst others may view the ‘influencer’
as a celebrity whom they want to emulate, and whom they might even hope to
ENG2602/501 27
meet at her ‘favourite café’. Some of girlabouttown_za’s followers may comment
positively on her post, which may convince her other followers to visit the café.
Even a more discerning ‘follower’, not as easily swayed by the celebrity of the
‘influencer’, might be ‘influenced’ by a sponsored post if it is persuasively well written.
Here, traditional persuasive techniques play a part; for example, in girla-
bouttown_za’s post, she uses positive language to refer to ‘fast WiFi’ and ‘great
coffee’, uses exclamation marks and CAPS LOCK to emphasise certain points,
utilises colloquial language to relate to her audience, and makes use of the defini-
tive ‘when’, instead of ‘if’, in ‘when you go’ to create the impression that the readers
simply must go. Lastly, she has included an aesthetically pleasing photograph of
a cup of coffee with her post.
As a student (‘somewhere to … study’), you form part of the target audience of

girlabouttown_za’s post. Were you convinced by it? Would you have recognised it
as a paid-for advertisement if you scrolled across it on your social media newsfeed?
You may also have noticed girlabouttown_za’s employment of the ‘hashtags’ #Ad
and #Spon. This is chiefly the result of an important development in the last few
years, whereby advertising authorities in certain countries, notably the United
Kingdom, started to clamp down on what they considered dishonest advertising
practices—certain ‘influencers’ promoting brands, products or services without at
all indicating that the post was sponsored and that their opinion is thus not unbi-
ased. This practice was deemed unscrupulous and manipulative, especially when
it comes to younger, more impressionable ‘followers’, and as a result, authorities
made it law for ‘influencers’ to disclose when a post is an ‘ad’ or has been spon-
sored (‘spon’) as well as when items have been ‘gifted’ by the brand or business.
You can read more about these developments here:
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/social-media-influencers-adverts-guide-
asa-law-instagram-cma-a8559406.html.
Interestingly, ‘influencers’ from countries in which it was not yet law to disclose
sponsored posts (such as, at the time of writing, the United States of America
and South Africa) followed suit, simply because being honest and disclosing
sponsored content then became the norm. However, undisclosed advertisements
still filter through across social media, especially in countries where this is not being
regulated. Business Insider reported in 2019 that South Africa’s Advertising
Regulatory Board was in the process of drafting new regulations for social media
advertising and ‘influencers’.
At this point, you should have a thorough understanding of the different types of
written commercial persuasion you may come across in this module, as well as have
an idea of how to approach different texts critically within this genre. Now, we will
break down the textual aspects you will be critically analysing in greater detail.
2.2 THE PERSUASIVE PURPOSE

To reiterate what we said in our feedback to activity 1: The aim of a persuasive text
is always to persuade or convince, never merely to make aware or inform. We
refer to this aim as the text’s persuasive purpose. Certainly, awareness or informa-
tion might be a goal for a persuasive text (for example, to introduce a new product),
but the primary goal is always to persuade or convince (i.e. persuade the audience
to buy or trial the product).
28
Be careful of being deceived by a persuasive text that is written in an informative

style. Remember, ‘style’ is not ‘purpose’. Referring back to the ‘Help for UNISA
Students!’ text set for activity 2 as an example; it is written in an informative style,
and indeed might make Unisa students aware of a (fictional) service of which they
previously had no awareness, but, as we have already found through our critical
consideration of the text, its underlying aim is persuasive. If you merely identify the
aim of a persuasive text to be to ‘inform’, you have only shown how effectively you,
as a consumer, have been convinced by the text, you have not yet critically considered
the text as a student of language.
✓ Checkpoint: Consider the following sentence and determine whether its aim
is merely to inform, or whether a persuasive aim may be gleaned: ‘This new,
reusable bamboo cutlery set, available now at stockists nationwide, will cut down
on single-use plastic cutlery, thus helping us to limit our overall plastic use.’
This sentence appears merely to be telling us about reusable bamboo cutlery,
which is better for the environment than easily-discarded plastic cutlery. This
may be new information to you but notice certain persuasive elements in the
sentence: The use of ‘this’ to refer to a specific bamboo cutlery set (we should
be on the lookout for a brand name soon to follow); the use of ‘now’ to indicate
urgency or elicit excitement; the use of the inclusive pronoun ‘us’ to include
the reader; and so on. Thus, a persuasive aim, to sell a certain bamboo cutlery
set, emerges.
As we also stated in the activity 1 feedback, you should try to be as specific as

possible in your identification of persuasive purpose. The overarching persuasive
purpose of most commercial persuasive texts is to increase the brand’s sales of (a)
product/s or service/s and you should certainly state this when considering such
persuasive texts. But thereafter, you need to be even more critical and ask yourself
what the immediate persuasive aim of the text is. What, specifically, does it want to
convince you relating to the product, service or brand being advertised? Does it
want to convince you that the product is healthy or service is helpful or necessary?
Simply increase brand awareness or bolster the brand’s image? Prompt you to request
more information? To sign up for a free trial?
Of the utmost importance when analysing commercial persuasive texts is to focus

your analysis on the persuasive purpose/s of the text. This means that you should not
merely mention persuasive purpose once at the start of your analysis and then not
again. Rather, you need to refer back to the persuasive purpose/s of the text as you
progress through your analysis, considering the persuasive techniques and
approaches utilised in terms of their persuasive effect, with the persuasive aim/s of
the text in mind.
2.3 THE TARGET AUDIENCE

Another key aspect that you need to focus your analyses on is the target audience
of the text. The target audience in commercial persuasion is the particular group/s
at which the text is aimed. The persuasive purpose is directed at the target audience.
A reader of a commercial persuasive text may be assured or non-assured. An assured
reader is one that is looking for information about a product or service, for example, by
consulting a review of a service or reading a blogger’s post about a new product. A
non-assured reader is one that is not looking for information about a product or ser-
vice, or not looking for the writer’s opinions or recommendations. Most of the time
we are non-assured readers of the advertisements we come across; we are not looking
ENG2602/501 29
to constantly have products and services be advertised to us. A non-assured reader
is somewhat more challenging to target because the writer first needs to attract the
reader’s attention and draw them in, before the persuasive message may be relayed.
Keep in mind that, by targeting a certain audience, a text makes certain assumptions
about that audience, which may or may not be true to reality. Therefore, be careful
about confusing assumptions made by a text about its audience with the complex
reality of that audience. Always refer to ‘assumptions’ made about a target audience
in a text, not the audience itself. For example, in an advertisement about cereal for
children directed at mothers, do not write, ‘This advertisement targets mothers
because mothers look after children.’ Rather write, ‘This advertisement targets
mothers based on the assumption that only mothers look after children’. Identifying
assumptions about individuals or groups of people in texts is an important aspect of
critical reading, and you should not yourself resort to the stereotyping that writers
of persuasive texts may employ.
We also need to make a brief, important distinction between the target audience and
the target market. You can consider the ‘target market’ to refer to the consumers
who will be using a product or utilising a service being advertised. The ‘target
audience’, in turn, can be understood as referring to the readers or viewers at whom
the advertisement is being directed. Often, target market and target audience are one
and the same, but this is not always the case. Commonly occurring exceptions
include products or services aimed at small children or pets. Slightly older children,
who can read or at least pay attention to the visual aspects of advertisements, may
be directly targeted by advertisers in order to stimulate a desire which the child will
hopefully communicate to their parents. However, advertisements for products or
services of whom the consumers would be babies or toddlers, are targeted at their
parents, not at the small children themselves.
Another example might be a florist’s Valentine’s Day advertisement targeted at men,

who are encouraged to buy flowers for their partners. There are two sets of
assumptions involved in this kind of targeting; assumptions about the target audi-
ence and what the target audience assumes about the target market. In this example,
men are the (target) audience assumed to buy flowers for women, and women are
the (target) market assumed to like flowers on Valentine’s Day. In addition, the text
assumes that men ‘already know’ (i.e. make the assumption, since this may or may
not be true) that women like flowers, or else may also function to persuade men that
women like flowers.
When considering a commercial persuasive text, ask yourself, is the end-consumer

of the product or service and the target reader of the text the same person?
✓ Checkpoint: Consider the following sentence: ‘Sparklee Cleen fluoride-enriched

toothpaste will keep your children’s teeth sparkling clean!’ Who is the target
audience of this sentence? While children are the target market for the tooth-
paste, parents or guardians are the target audience. Another example: ‘Treat
your lady with this intoxicating scent, and be unanimously declared Boyfriend
of the Year.’ The ‘intoxicating scent’ is probably a perfume, meant for a ‘lady’,
but the woman herself is not the target reader; rather, her ‘boyfriend’ is targeted
to purchase the perfume as a ‘treat’ for ‘[his] lady.’ Here, it is assumed that the
target market (women) likes perfume, and that the target reader (men) will want to
buy the perfume for the women in their lives.
30
Over and above bearing in mind the distinction between assured and non-assured
reader and target market and target audience, as well as considering the specific as-
sumptions that a text may make about its target audience and target market, Unit 1
gives you a good idea of how you should analyse a text’s possible audience. A text’s
target audience can be broad or niche (i.e. specialised). Of key importance is that
you support your identification of target audience with close reference to the text,
that is, by referring to the language used (and visuals employed) and explaining how
these aspects are appropriate to the audience you have identified.
In addition to age and income level, gender, race or religion are demographical features
that might be considered, but only when strictly relevant and specifically targeted.
We need to be careful about making stereotypical generalisations with respect to
gender, race or religion. You can only discuss these aspects of the audience if/as
targeted by the text, not make your own generalisations. What do we mean by
this? You can and should identify assumptions that the text makes about its readers,
with quotations from the text to support your observations. You should not, under
any circumstances, make your own, unsupported assumptions about (a) group/s or
(an) individual/s. Let us consider some examples:
• ‘As a mother, you want what is best for your baby, and we, at the Baby Bottle
Company, do too!’—Here, the text clearly indicates that ‘mothers’ (of babies) are
the target audience.
• ‘Your children need the protection of our 99% germ-free soap!’—Here, the text
refers to ‘your children’, thus targeting parents or guardians, but it does not
specifically address ‘mothers’. While so-called ‘mommy-marketing’ (marketing of
household goods and children’s products/services exclusively to wives/mothers,
specifically excluding husbands/fathers) is still an unfortunate reality of our
society, you must be careful not to make your own assumptions (i.e. assumptions
not contained in the text) in this respect; do not focus solely on mothers in your
consideration of target audience if the text itself did not do so.
• ‘The black|Up skincare range targets the specific needs of dark and mixed skins’.
Here, you can identify people of colour as the target audience, since the text
specifically speaks to ‘dark and mixed skins’.
• ‘The Toyota Prius’ self-parking feature makes parking in the city a breeze!’—You
cannot identify women as the target audience here because perhaps, in your
opinion, women are poorer drivers and parkers than men. It is never acceptable
to make this kind of stereotypical generalisation based on gender, race, religion
or any other feature of a group. Again, only if the text somehow indicates that it
has made such a stereotypical assumption about a group, should you note this in
your analysis.
ACTIVITY 4
In the activities set thus far, we have tried to inform your understanding of the dif-
ferent types of commercial persuasion you may come across, and have attempted
to help you to develop your approach, in general, to texts from this genre. Now, we
expect you to start being able to approach proper close, critical analysis of com-
mercial persuasive texts in terms of their persuasive purpose and target audience.
(1) Refer back to the ‘Sports Drink’ advertisement set for activity 1. Building on
the feedback provided, attempt to identify the specific persuasive purpose and
target audience of the text, quoting from the text to support your analysis.
ENG2602/501 31
FEEDBACK
The feedback provided for activity 1 helped you by identifying the overarching
purpose of the text to be to sell the sports drink. More specifically though, the
text aims to convince the reader that the sports drink is healthy and vital for physical
activity, as seen by ‘HEALTHY PH BALANCE’, the use of the adjective ‘essential’ to
refer to the minerals and electrolytes contained in the product, and the
advertisement’s repeated reference to the drink improving performance and
endurance. The text attempts to create the impression that the drink is a necessity,
or at least necessary to perform well. Can you quote specific words from the text that
support this impression?
We already identified the primary target audience of the text to be athletes,

sportspeople, and gym-goers, but, to perform a proper close analysis, we need
to support this further. Firstly, we may identify the vocabulary as simple enough
for a general audience to understand. However, certain words are used to target
active individuals specifically, namely ‘ION SUPPLY DRINK’, ‘PH BALANCE’ and
‘minerals and electrolytes’, which are aspects of sports nutrition that would not
appeal or perhaps even make sense to a reader not interested in and familiar with
exercise replenishment. These terms also create the impression that the product
is scientifically formulated and well researched. The image, and the product name
‘SPORTS DRINK’, also visually target sports people and gym-goers. Lastly, while
we identified the target audience to range in age and income, we can, by nature of
the physical demands of the rigorous type of exercise indicated by the advertise-
ment, specify that children and the elderly are probably excluded from the text’s
target audience. This is supported by the photograph which, as we identified in
activity 1, is of a young (adult) athlete.
(2) Refer back to the ‘Help for UNISA Students!’ article set for activity 2. Identify
the persuasive purpose and target audience of the text, quoting from the text to
support your analysis.
FEEDBACK
The persuasive purpose of this text, as we have previously determined, is quite
subtle. It informs Unisa students of the ‘helpful’ service available to them, but it
is not, at its core, an informative text. Rather, it aims to persuade the students
that help is needed and should be sought, by using negative words such as ‘chal-
lenging’, ‘lacking’, ‘difficult’, ‘grind’, and ‘suffer’ to refer to the distance education
experience. If you, as a student, have been struggling, you may feel ‘seen’ by this
text. If you have not been struggling, you might become fearful that your studies will
soon become more difficult. Secondly, as we noted in activity 2, the text uses positive
language, such as ‘highly qualified and experienced’ and ‘excellent’, to refer to the
‘Ask a Tute!’ service, thereby attempting to convince students that this service is
the solution to the problem. Identifying the target audience of this text should be
straightforward; Unisa students are specifically identified by the headline, and are
then spoken to in the second-person in the body of the text. You may also
consider the reference to help being provided via WhatsApp to be appropriate to
students in the Digital Age, particularly younger students.
32
(3) Refer back to the ‘Joe’s Jozi Café’ social media post set for activity 3. Identify
the persuasive purpose and target audience of the text, quoting from the text to
support your analysis.
FEEDBACK
The overall persuasive purpose of this post is to convince the reader to visit Joe’s
Jozi Café. More specifically, the café’s coffee and ambience are promoted. The
former is done through the word ‘great’ to describe the coffee and the close-up
photograph of a latté. The desirability of the café is suggested through vocabulary
that includes ‘favourite’, ‘chill’, and ‘meet a friend’, attempting to convince the reader
that the café is a pleasant place to spend time, while ‘fast WiFi’ attempts to persuade
the reader that this is also an appropriate spot to ‘work’ or ‘study’. The target
audience of the post might be quite vast, depending on how many ‘followers’
girlabouttown_za has, but there are indications in the text itself that a youthful
audience, perhaps between the ages of 15 and 35, might be targeted. This can
be seen through the use of the colloquial word ‘chill’ and informal phrase ‘to die for’,
as well as through the reference to ‘work’ or ‘study’. Geographically, the target
audience would need to be based in or around Johannesburg, and a middle-class
income group is probably the prime target market to visit a café.
Do you see how you need to support your analysis of persuasive purpose
and target audience?
2.4 PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES

When analysing commercial texts for persuasiveness, we have to consider the per-
suasive techniques utilised by the advertiser or writer that is, the strategies utilised
in directing the persuasive purpose at the target audience. We may broadly classify
these techniques as persuasive appeals and linguistic devices. We will consider these
techniques again in the Political Persuasion unit, but let us consider here how they
pertain to commercial persuasive texts.
2.4.1 Persuasive appeals

The Greek philosopher Aristotle set out the following three approaches commonly
utilised in persuasive writing.
2.4.1.1 Appeal to credibility or authority

The so-called ethical appeal, termed ethos by Aristotle, attempts to either convince
the reader that the writer is credible (believable) or else refers to a credible source for
support. In commercial persuasion, the use of celebrity marketing, in which a well-
known celebrity is used to advertise a brand, product or service, is a key approach
that utilises this appeal. Contemporarily, this applies to social media ‘influencers’ as
well, with this type of marketing being effective precisely because their ‘followers’
find them to be inspirational and consider them to be leaders or trendsetters.
Advertisements may also make use of endorsement from external authority figures
ENG2602/501 33
and trusted bodies such as, for example, the popular toothpaste advertisement tag-
line ‘9 in 10 dentists recommend’, as well as making use of testimonials from other
consumers to endorse the efficacy of the product or service.
2.4.1.2 Appeal to emotion

The emotional appeal, termed pathos by Aristotle, attempts to persuade readers by
appealing to their emotions. Advertising makes frequent use of the emotional appeal to
varying degrees. A common approach is to attempt to elicit emotions of fear and
guilt and then to offer the product or service being advertised as the solution. An
example of this is the ‘Help for UNISA Students!’ text that we looked at, wherein the
writer attempts to create fear or panic amongst Unisa students about the challenging
nature of their studies, in order to convince them that they need to use the tutor-
ing service. Another common iteration of this is the use of an appeal to guilt and a
sense of responsibility in marketing messages aimed at parents, whereby texts that
use this approach attempt to convince them that they need to use a certain product
or service if they want what is best for their children. Yet another key commercial
persuasion strategy that utilises an emotional appeal is the attempt to elicit desire or
envy within the reader, a strategy particularly used when advertising luxury goods.
✓ Checkpoint: Consider a few advertisements from a magazine, newspaper or

the internet. Try to identify which texts employ an emotive appeal. Then, at-
tempt to discern the specific emotions the text is attempting to elicit. How is
it attempting to create this appeal?
2.4.1.3 Appeal to logic

The logical appeal, termed logos by Aristotle, attempts to convince readers by using
logic or reason. In commercial persuasion, strategies using this approach may include
the use of researched ‘facts’ or statistics (scare quotes used because the ‘facts’ may be
skewed or manipulated) to convince the audience. Essentially, a logical argument is
created that is consistent in itself but manipulatively excludes information or counter-
arguments that undermine the persuasive aim. In this way, the text attempts to create
the idea that it simply ‘makes sense’ to utilise the product or service. An advertiser
may also employ the problem-solution strategy, whereby a problem is posed and a
solution is offered. The problem-solution strategy may be considered an emotional
or logical appeal, depending on whether the writer or advertiser attempts to rely on
eliciting the audience’s emotions or whether they rather use logic to convince the
audience of the problem and then present the product or service as a logical solution.
Important to note is that an appeal to logic does not refer to simply writing state-
ment sentences. In order for us to identify a logical appeal in a text, the writer needs
to have made a perceptible effort to use ‘facts’ or reason to persuade the audience.
In general, there is a fair amount of overlap between the appeals, and a text can
make use of several of these appeals at once, altho1ugh a text is, arguably, more
persuasively effective if it focuses primarily on one of these appeals and utilises the
other appeals to a lesser extent.
✓ Checkpoint: Throughout the rest of the semester, try to keep these appeals at
the back of your mind, and see if you can spot them in the texts you come
across.
34
2.4.2 Linguistic devices

We refer to the features of language that the advertiser or writer uses to create the
text’s persuasive appeal and achieve its persuasive purpose as ‘linguistic devices’. The
above-noted persuasive appeals are general approaches, whereas linguistic devices
are the specific language features of the text.
2.4.2.1 Diction and style

The two main language features, which you will always refer to in your critical
analyses, is what we refer to as diction and style. Diction, quite simply, refers to
word choice, thus it includes all language utilised in the text. The devices and ef-
fects that we discuss in this section are formed by the diction (i.e. words) and punc-
tuation used as well as structure and layout (see 4.2.2. and 4.3.1. below) employed,
which combine to create the style of the text. The style of the text may be formal or
informal, depending on its language, punctuation, structure and layout. A formal
style, comprising academic language, may be used to make a text seem factual and
accurate. An informal, conversational style may be utilised to engage the reader, for
example, by opening with a question (a structural element) and using slang and
contractions (aspects of language). A style comprising specialised language or jargon
may be employed to target a text at a specific audience segment such as is the case in
the ‘Sports Drink’ advertisement. Please refer back to Unit 1 for further examples.
2.4.2.2 Structure
The structure of the text should not be confused with the layout of the text (see
below). The structure of the text refers to how the text is organised—not merely in
terms of its layout on the page but rather its approach to its topic/subject and purpose.
Structure is, as noted above, a stylistic aspect of the text. Essentially, structure com-
prises the plot of the text, or the sequence of statements made by the writer. The most
basic structure you will know about is the introduction-body-conclusion structure
that you are required to utilise in your academic essays, whereby you introduce your
topic, answer the set question in a number of body paragraphs, and conclude with
your final thoughts on the topic.
The problem-solution structure (the text opens with (an) identified problem/s and
then (a) solution/s are offered) is, as per our discussion of persuasive appeals, com-
monly employed in commercial persuasion. Another type of text structure that may be
employed in commercial persuasive texts is a narrative structure, whereby a fictional
or hypothetical situation is presented in order to draw the reader in. For example, if
an advertisement opens with a fictional narrative stating ‘Sarah is a full-time student
who has to work two jobs’ and then asks the audience to identify with Sarah (‘Are
you as busy and tired as Sarah?’), the use of narrative is a structural feature employed
at the beginning of the text to draw the reader in, which then gives way to a direct
address to the target audience (who should, ideally, have been able to identify with
the scenario described). A third structural element that may be employed in a com-
mercial persuasive text is the build-up of anticipation, by using emotive language,
questions and/or punctuation (see below).
ENG2602/501 35
When considering the structure of a text, ask yourself: How does the text present
its topic/subject? Does it open with an explicit statement pertaining to the topic/
subject or does it open ambiguously, with the topic/subject becoming clear later on
in the text? Also, how does the text approach its persuasive aim, that is, how does
it set about targeting the reader?
2.4.2.3 Tone and mood

The diction of a text creates the tone and mood of the text. Tone refers to the at-
titude of the writer towards the topic, whereas mood refers to the feeling that the
writer attempts to create within the reader. For example, if we refer to the ‘Help for
UNISA Students!’ text once again, the tone of the writer is serious and somewhat
imperious towards distance education. The mood, on the other hand, is dismal be-
fore, and hopeful after, presenting the tutoring solution (this is a structural element
of the text—a problem-solution structure has been employed). In addition to the
aspects of tone set out in Unit 1, a particularly prevalent tone used in commercial
persuasion is a tone of urgency, which is created through the use of exclamation
marks, bold or CAPS LOCK typography as well as imperatives to create a need for
urgency in acquiring the product or service. Humour is also often used in commercial
persuasion to appeal to the audience such as, for example, in the Nando’s example
we mentioned earlier.
2.4.2.4 Emotive language

The mood of the text, as we have pointed out, is the overall feeling it attempts to
elicit, which is created through the use of emotive language, which creates an
emotional appeal. Emotive language relies on connotation; the denotation of a word
is its literal definition, and its connotation is the idea or feeling that it evokes. For
example, the words ‘challenging’ and ‘difficult’ in the ‘Help for UNISA Students!’
text are synonyms that denote something that tests one’s abilities. Connotatively,
these words may elicit feelings of fear, hopelessness, or even depression, depending
on how effectively the reader is affected by their use.
You will frequently refer to emotive language in your analyses of persuasive texts
since, as we explained, this is a device commonly used in persuasive writing. At the
outset of this unit we referred to positive and negative language; after studying this
section, we expect you to be able to make more specific commentary on language use
than this. Of the utmost importance when identifying the use of emotive language,
is that you identify the specific emotion/s appealed to; it is not merely sufficient to
state that emotive language has been used, you need to consider the meanings of
the diction utilised and explain which specific emotion/s are elicited.
2.4.2.5 Inclusive language

Inclusive language, for the purposes of our analysis of persuasive writing, may be
defined as language used to make the audience feel included in and directly ad-
dressed by the text. This is primarily done through pronoun use. Highly prevalent
in commercial persuasion is the use of second-person pronouns ‘you’ and ‘your’,
which make the reader feel as though the text is speaking directly to them as an
individual. This may make the reader feel validated or even confronted, depending
on the mood the text attempts to create. In the ‘Joe’s Jozi Café’ social media post,
the repeated use of second-person pronoun ‘you’ adds to the friendly, chatty feel of
the post, which is a style commonly employed by ‘influencers’. The use of first-person
36
singular pronouns, such as ‘I’ and ‘me’, can also make a text feel more personal and
make the writer seem relatable, like a ‘real human being’ with whom the reader can
identify, as opposed to a corporation. First-person singular pronouns are not typically
used by advertisers to refer to themselves, but are used in testimonials and reviews
by ‘example consumers’, such as is the case in the ‘Joe’s Jozi Café’ social media post.
First-person plural pronouns (‘we’ and ‘us’) are not as commonly used in commercial
persuasion as they are in political persuasion, but if they are used, they create a sense
of unity aimed at promoting trust in the brand.
2.4.2.6 Imperative language

Imperative language refers to verbs used in the imperative mood; that is, a verb
structure used (verb placed at the start of the sentence) to make a ‘command’, for
example, ‘Try this!’ Imperative language is frequently used in advertising in order to
make the text more succinct (brief and to-the-point) and also to create an authorita-
tive mood whereby the reader feels instructed by the text. If we look at the ‘Sports
Drink’ advertisement again, it makes repeated use of imperatives (‘FUEL YOUR
MUSCLES DURING EXERCISE’ and ‘REPLENISH YOUR ENERGY WITH
THE RIGHT DRINK!’), telling the reader what to do.
2.4.2.7 Punctuation and sentence structure

While advertorials or social media posts can be somewhat lengthier, advertisements
typically need to be to-the-point. To that end, advertisements often make use of
shorter sentence structures and the text as a whole also has a lower word count. If
an advertisement text is lengthy, it tends towards an informative style (which, again,
does not mean the text becomes informative in purpose; its purpose is still to per-
suade) and is probably more suitable to an assured reader. Alternatively, if the reader
is not ‘assured’ (i.e. interested in the topic or the writer beforehand), the text needs
to employ a captivating headline and/or image to draw the reader in.
In terms of punctuation, the two most effective punctuation marks used in com-
mercial persuasive texts are the exclamation mark and the question mark. The ex-
clamation mark can attempt to create a sense of urgency or excitement, particularly
when used in conjunction with imperatives. The question mark attempts to engage
the reader, either to get them to consider a point or to challenge them. This is par-
ticularly effective when used with inclusive language in the form of second-person
pronouns. Questions are persuasively effective because they not only engage the
readers but also get them to think along certain lines. The questions posed want the
audience to question certain things and not others. Questions can be effective as an
appeal to logic as they invite the audience to think along a certain ‘logical’ line.
2.4.2.8 Figurative language

Commercial persuasive writing tends to rely on the above-noted linguistic devices,
more so than on figurative language (i.e. figures of speech, which are commonly used in
literature texts). However, a commercial persuasive text may contain any number of
the figurative language devices you already know, and those you will still become
familiar with by studying the Fiction, Poetry and Drama sections of this module.
We are not going to have an in-depth consideration of these devices here, but would
like to focus your attention on two figures of speech most often used in commercial
persuasion, with an example of how each ought to be analysed.
ENG2602/501 37
• The first is hyperbole, or exaggeration, used to embellish or overemphasise the
benefits of a product or service. Adjectives are commonly used to hyperbolic
effect in commercial persuasion. For example, consider the sentence: ‘This is the
biggest sale of the decade!’ In critically analysing this sentence, you firstly need
to identify and state the presence of the hyperbole in ‘biggest sale of the decade’,
with the adjective ‘biggest’ and noun ‘decade’ used to exaggerate the size and
importance of the sale. Then, you need to analyse the effect of the hyperbole,
explaining that the significance of the sale is being emphasised and exaggerated
in order to indicate to the reader that they will find many items on sale, at severely
discounted prices, and to convince them that the sale is not to be missed (i.e.
they must hurry to the store).
• The second figure of speech sometimes used in commercial persuasive texts is
sarcasm, the use of irony to mock or convey contempt, used for humorous effect,
to relate to the reader or undermine the competition. Be particularly careful
of misidentifying irony—irony is present when the opposite to what is stated is
meant, or when something that is contextually opposite to what would be expected
occurs; it is not when something simply unexpected or inconvenient transpires.
For example: ‘Don’t you just love scrubbing your cookware for hours?’ This is an
example of a sarcastic question; the topic (the mundane task of washing dishes)
and tone of the text (created through the italicisation and emphasis of the word
‘love’) creates the sarcasm. The opposite of what is stated is implied, that is, the
writer knows that the reader probably does not love scrubbing cookware.
This is the process that you need to follow whenever you identify a figurative device
in a commercial persuasive text:
• identify the device and quote the specific phrase in which it has been used;
• explain how the device has been used; and
• consider the persuasive effect to which the device has been used.
2.4.3 Visual strategies

While our focus in this module and section is on language analysis, visual strategies
feature strongly in commercial persuasion and thus, when analysing a commercial
persuasive text that employs these strategies, we need to at least briefly consider the
following aspects.
2.4.3.1 Layout
The layout of the text is not an internal feature of the text, as structure is; rather, it
refers to how the text is set out (i.e. physically arranged and presented) on the page.
Advertisements may employ captivating headlines, stimulating phrases or slogans,
bold or coloured fonts, and separate text boxes in order to attract the non-assured
reader and order the content of the advertisement in the way in which the advertiser
would like the reader to view it. As a rule of thumb, the more important the text, such
as the key persuasive claims and name of the brand, the larger the font. In contrast,
the details that the advertiser does not necessarily want the reader to focus on, such
as a disclaimer (or terms and conditions), may appear in exceptionally small font.
38
The main purpose of the largest font may be to attract the attention of the target
audience, but the purpose of the remainder of the layout will be to hold the audi-
ence’s attention whilst persuading them. Remember that it is not sufficient to point
out that a purpose of any element of the text is to attract attention; you must also
discuss how attention is sustained whilst persuasive strategies develop.
2.4.3.2 Photographs and graphics

Images may play a part in grabbing the reader’s attention, but you should also dis-
cuss how images add to the mood of the text and stimulate a desire for the product.
However, your analysis of a photograph or graphic that appears in an advertisement
you are tasked with analysing does not need to be extensive or sophisticated. You
simply need to consider briefly the persuasive impact of the image. For example, if
we refer back to the ‘Sports Drink’ advertisement, the image of the toned, fit woman
who is busy lifting weights, attempts to hint at the efficacy of the product, and may
furthermore create an emotive appeal (in this case, jealousy and a desire to emulate
the woman).
2.4.4 Call to action

In closing, the final aspect you may consider, which is often but not always included
in commercial persuasion, is a so-called ‘call to action’, whereby the reader is prompted
to respond directly to the text or to take a certain specific action immediately. A call
to action may include contact details via which the audience may request more
information, a limited time offer or trial that needs to be taken up, or even, in the
case of online commercial persuasion, a link via which the product or service may
be purchased.
2.5 CONDUCTING AN ANALYSIS OF A COMMERCIAL

PERSUASIVE TEXT—A PRACTICE ANALYSIS
It is important to point out that the goal of critical analysis of a persuasive text is not
simply to identify and list as many appeals or devices utilised as possible. Rather, it
is important to analyse the techniques or devices that you identify in the required
detail, with close reference to the persuasive purpose and target audience of the text.
It is time for you to put what you have learned in this unit into practice and attempt
a close, critical analysis of a commercial persuasive text.
ENG2602/501 39
ACTIVITY 5
Please access the ‘Own a Modem? Try America Online FREE’ advertisement via
either of the following two URLs:
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_CBhTEObtJgM/S5i-mS7yoyI/AAAAAAAAUg4/
HaaAzDr3FLk/s1600/01.02+aol+600.jpg
https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_
auto,w_728/v1555924033/shape/mentalfloss/01.02_aol_600.jpg
Write an essay in which you critically analyse the advertisement. Your analysis
should focus on both the written and visual features of the text. Provide relevant
textual evidence to support your answer. This advertisement originally appeared
in Popular Science magazine in June 1996.
FEEDBACK
Note: The below response provides you with a model answer for how you might
approach a question such as the above when analysing a commercial persuasive
text. You should compare your own effort to this feedback response. The notes
in square brackets are additions that we included to guide you and explain our
analytical method as we progress. Your essay should not include such explanations
of your method of analysis. You should solely focus on conducting a close, critical
analysis of the text, as is done outside of the square brackets in the model response.
The purpose of this essay is to analyse critically a set advertisement text, titled ‘Own
a Modem? Try America Online FREE’. This analysis will focus on both the written
and visual features of the text, which combine to aid the text in directing its
persuasive purpose at its target audience. The set advertisement is a commercial
persuasive text in the form of an advertisement. The advertisement is for an online
service and software package by a company called America Online and has been
taken from Popular Science magazine’s June 1996 edition. [Note: This is the
‘what’ and ‘when’ of the text stated; i.e. we have stated ‘what’ the text is about and
‘when’ it was published at the outset of the essay. Your preferred structure and
wording for your introduction may differ slightly from ours, but this is a good template
to use]. The purpose of the text is to persuade the target audience that America
Online is the leading online service provider in the United States, with a view to
convince the reader to purchase America Online’s service, and, more specifically, to
sign up for a free trial immediately. [Note how the overall and specific persuasive
purpose of the text has been stated].
This advertisement does not present a clear-cut case for an intended target audi-
ence. At its most basic, the advertisement is aimed at consumers in the United States
of America. Furthermore, the text is arguably aimed at the individual computer user,
as the service does not appear to target businesses or companies. In terms of the
age of the audience, no specific age range is indicated, though the style of the text
probably would not appeal to children or teenagers. In terms of income, we may be
aware of the fact that, in 1996, computers were not as widely used or relatively
affordable as they are today in America, and were still, at that time, a luxury
reserved for the upper-middle classes. Thus, we may determine the target
audience to be adult upper-middle class Americans.
40
[Note: We would like to focus your attention briefly on the importance of consider-
ing the time-period of a text—if and as relevant. You may not always be told the
‘when’ of a persuasive text, but if you are, you need to ask yourself if and how it
is relevant to your analysis of the text. For example, the timing of the publication
of the soft drink advertisement that we discussed earlier in this unit is highly rel-
evant, because it was amidst the #BlackLivesMatter movement and was thought
to parody that movement. If the text specifies a year of publication that is quite
far back, you can research who would have been the target audience and why
at that particular time. This type of research can, of course, only be done for an
assignment, but time-period is nonetheless worth simply keeping in mind even in an
exam setting. Important when considering the ‘when’ of a text is not to go off on
a tangent, discussing the context in too much detail, to the point that you are not
analysing the text itself in the required detail. However, a brief consideration of
context can be helpful and necessary to support your consideration of target
audience and persuasive purpose. For this text, the historical knowledge that the
internet was a fairly unfamiliar concept at the time is highly relevant—see discus-
sion of the novelty of the service below].
We now need to consider how the advertisement attempts to appeal to its target
audience. At the outset we notice that the advertiser tries to engage the reader
by asking the question ‘Own a Modem?’ This question appears right at the top of the
advertisement and is printed in a much larger and bolder font than the rest of the
text, thus we can deduce that the advertiser intends for the question to grab the
reader’s attention. Below the question, the phrase ‘Try America Online FREE’
appears. We notice that the brand name of the product is immediately mentioned
and that the word ‘free’ is capitalised. The effect of this capitalisation is to place
emphasis on the word ‘free’, with the word ‘free’ often being utilised by advertisers
to arouse an audience’s interest and to draw potential customers in.
The clipart near the top of the advertisement declares America Online to be
‘AMERICA’S #1 ONLINE SERVICE’. By the placement of the clipart, the advertiser
clearly wants the declaration to stand out, and perhaps have it appear to be a
‘stamp of approval’ of sorts. This claim may be considered as an example of
ethos, whereby the advertiser wants to create the impression that America Online is
a credible brand, being America’s leading online service. The truth of this
statement is not proven, and it leaves the critical reader to question on what grounds
America Online may declare itself to be ‘Number One’, and whether this is at all a
true statement.
Below the clipart and the ‘invitation’ that America Online extends to the reader, we
see a list elaborating on the features of the America Online service. Up until this
point, the advertisement has been quite vague about what exactly America Online is
and what it can do for consumers. This elaborative list is thus quite important and
is supplemented by ‘informative’ screenshots of the America Online service. In
addition to the America Online logo, the bottom third of the advertisement contains
a call to action; this is the form that the reader is to fill out and return in order to try
out America Online. Again, as far as visual features are concerned, a large arrow
clearly draws the reader’s attention to the form and uses a directive to the reader
to ‘Detach & Mail today!’
In addition to an ethical appeal, the advertiser has made use of emotive language
throughout the text, using words such as ‘exciting’ to generate excitement about the
product and ‘risk-free’ to set the reader’s mind at ease that they have nothing to
lose by signing up for the trial. These combined strategies are used to attempt to
create a sense of anticipation on the one hand and trust of the product on the other.
ENG2602/501 41
In looking at the listed features of the service, and keeping in mind the fact that
the advertisement was published in 1996 when computing and the internet were
relatively new phenomena, we may argue that (especially through the use of words
such as ‘computing forums’, ‘computing support’ and ‘online conferences’) an almost
technical sense of professionalism is created. The features listed, which are
probably ‘old news’ to a 21st century computer user, may have also been quite
intriguing and exciting to a reader in the 1990s. Certainly, a sense of exclusivity
is created through the use of the ‘Own a Modem?’ question, which may be quite
laughable if posed to an American reader now. In support of the technical profes-
sionalism of the listed features, we note the mention of ‘industry experts’, which
further adds to this effect, and again utilises the ethical appeal to invoke an expert
opinion on the superiority of the product.
Another key linguistic device is the use of exclamation marks and the word ‘today’ to
create a sense of urgency, in order to strengthen the call to action, and make the
reader want to act immediately (by signing up for the trial). Furthermore, the use of
inclusive language through the second-person pronoun ‘you’ creates a sense of
intimacy with the reader. A final important language feature to note is the careful
manipulation of diction employed at the top of the return form to reiterate to the
reader that the free trial is risk and obligation-free [Note how we have identified and
analysed the linguistic features of the text but have not provided general definitions
for these features from our study material. It is not necessary to define techniques
or devices in your analyses, simply note these devices, and then properly analyse
how they have specifically been employed in the set text].
Lastly, the advertiser presupposes that all computer users that own a modem would
want to make use of the America Online service. While the declaration that America
Online is ‘America’s #1 Online Service’ is included and the features of the America
Online service are listed, the advertiser does not take great pains to point out how
the America Online service is different from and better than other similar services
that might be on the market. This could lead us to deduce that there were not many
such services available at the time and that the advertiser assumes that the mere
novelty of the America Online service should be enough to convince any computer
user with a modem to sign up for the free trial.
[Note: Here, the timeframe of the text is again pertinent. If this text were published
today, it might not be as effective; first of all, we have new ‘buzzwords’ that appeal
to us now—‘fibre’ and ‘WiFi’ being key examples—thus the repeated mention of
‘internet’ and a ‘modem’ might seem silly to us. Secondly, consumers in America and
here in South Africa have a number of online service providers at their dis- posal,
and thus might not be swayed by merely being told a service provider is the country’s
number one online service. Certainly, this may help the text achieve its persuasive
aim, but we may also want to know why the service being advertised is better than
that of other service providers. In this way, the novelty or established status of a
product or service affects how it is advertised. If a product/service is new to the
market, such as the switchover from broadband to fibre has been, the advertiser
introduces the product/service to the target audience, and may use the novelty of the
product/service itself to convince the audience that it is desirable [‘Fibre is faster than
broadband!’]. If the status of a product is already established in the market, the
advertiser then needs to set their brand apart and explain why it is better than other
options on the market].
42
In conclusion, we need to comment on whether we think this advertisement has been

successful in achieving its intended purpose. The advertisement arguably makes
effective use of emotive appeal and linguistic devices such as tone of urgency,
inclusive language, directives, jargon, a call to action, and visual features.
However, the text’s attempt to employ ethical appeal is poorly supported and the
advertiser does not indicate why exactly America Online is the superior service for
potential consumers to consider. If this service was virtually the only one of its kind
at the time, or indeed dominated the market, with the brand being well known,
readers may then have been effectively persuaded to utilise America Online’s
service.
CONCLUSION
In this unit, we gave you a thorough overview of what is meant by ‘commercial
persuasion’, guided you through performing a close, critical reading of a variety
of commercial persuasive texts, and attempted to equip you with the knowledge and
skills required to analyse these texts in terms of their genre or type, persuasive
purpose, target audience, and persuasive techniques utilised. Finally, we provided
you with a model question and answer based on a commercial persuasive text.
By way of closing remarks, we would like you to think about the ways in which
persuasive forms of communication may interact and overlap. For ease of study, we
sectioned our consideration of persuasive writing into Commercial Persuasion and
Political Persuasion, respectively, but that does not mean that these forms of persuasion
are mutually exclusive. There is intersectionality between commercial persuasion and the
other forms of persuasion. As explained in the Political Persuasion unit, political
parties often make use of advertisements to further their persuasive messages. In
turn, corporations might focus on political issues in order to further their commercial
purpose. Think again of the Nando’s chicken restaurant advertisements, which have
nothing to do with chicken. These advertisements instead satirise South African
politics and social issues, with a view to be evocative and confrontational in order
to stimulate conversation about the advertisement and issue/s satirised, thereby
ultimately enhancing Nando’s brand profile.
A final thought: At its core, the purpose of commercial persuasion is to motivate

human beings to participate in commercial activity, the effects of which may, given
the impact of globalisation, span across the globe. By participating in commercial
activity, we accept and contribute (whether inadvertently or consciously) to certain
ways in which global and local societies are structured and managed. Essentially, com-
mercial activity may strongly influence what becomes socially acceptable or desirable.
ENG2602/501 43
STUDY UNIT 3
Political Persuasive Texts
Illona Meyer
INTRODUCTION
Unit 1: ‘Discourse Analysis’ introduced you to the concepts of close reading and critical
analysis. Please consult the introductory concepts outlined in that unit before starting
this unit. The approach set out in Unit 1 for ‘closely and critically reading a text’ and
analysing it in terms of how its structure and language features reflect its producer,
context, audience and purpose, is the approach you will be taking for all texts of this
module regardless of the specific genre or type of text set. That means that you will
need to analyse each text set for assessment in detail by considering all of the above
points in your analysis of the text, and not by limiting your consideration solely to
the topic or context.
OUTCOMES
This unit deals with what we refer to as political persuasion. Upon completing
this unit, you should:
• Understand what is meant by ‘political persuasion’

• Be familiar with a variety of texts that we regard as politically persuasive—
including speeches, posters, articles, news reports, and social media posts
• Be able to perform a close and critical reading of these texts, interpreting
meaning and persuasive effect
• Be able to analyse these texts in terms of their genre or type, persuasive
purpose, target audience, and persuasive techniques utilised
• Be able to present your analysis in a properly structured academic essay,
with an introduction and conclusion, and paragraphs utilised to discuss the
concepts listed above
44
3.1 POLITICAL PERSUASION
3.1.1 Introduction to persuasive texts in a political context

A persuasive text is any text of which the main purpose is to present a certain subject
or hypothesis in order to influence the audience. A persuasive text is characterised
by a persuasive aim in a political context, to convince the audience to believe a certain
message or point and support the writer or speaker’s political organisation or political
cause. Different types of texts—speeches, posters, articles, news reports, and social
media posts—may overlap in terms of topic, medium, context or audience. As criti-
cal readers, we need to consider these texts closely in terms of representation and
purpose; that is, we need to keep in mind who is speaking and what their possible motives
may be for creating or presenting the text. Even if a text is written in an informative
style or published via a medium that we may associate with being informative (such
as a newspaper), we need to consider the text critically in terms of its purpose.
Important to note is that texts included in this unit and the texts set for assignment
and examination questions based on this unit have been specifically selected for
their persuasive nature. This means that you are not required to prove that texts are
persuasive. You are also not to discuss the truth of any point of view or state whether
or not you agree or disagree with the writer or speaker’s political organisation or
argument. Instead, you are required to analyse how texts are persuasive by considering
their persuasive aims, producer (writer or speaker), target audience and the
persuasive strategies utilised to convince the latter.
As indicated above, a political persuasive text is a text of which the aim is to present
a certain idea or ideology (i.e. a system of ideas or ideals) to an audience, to convince
the audience to accept the writer or speaker’s idea or ideology and, ultimately, to
convince the audience to support the writer or speaker’s organisation or cause. Note
the importance of the word ‘convince’ in this definition. A persuasive text’s aim
is never merely to present or make the audience aware of an idea or ideology;
it always aims to convince the audience of that idea and ideology—towards a
certain end (i.e. to gain support for the writer or speaker’s political organisation and
its agenda or on a certain political cause).
ACTIVITY 1
Perform a close, critical reading of the following political persuasive text and
write down your thoughts on the key aspects of the text, using the questions for
performing discourse analysis set out in Unit 1. Compare your response with the
feedback below.
Extract from the address by President Cyril Ramaphosa on the occasion of

the Presidential Inauguration on 25 May 2019
‘Esteemed Guests, Fellow South Africans,
Twenty-five years have passed since that glorious morning on which Nelson Roli-
hlahla Mandela was sworn in as the first President of a democratic South Africa.
In the passage of that time, our land has known both seasons of plenty and times of
scarcity. Our people have felt the warm embrace of liberty. They have rejoiced at
the affirmation of their essential and equal humanity. They have found shelter
ENG2602/501 45
and sustenance. They have found opportunity and purpose. As the shackles of
oppression have fallen away, they have felt their horizons widen and their lives
improve in myriad ways.
But they have also known moments of doubt. They have felt the cold shadow of
a past so cruel and iniquitous that it has at times threatened to eclipse the very
achievement of their hard-won freedom. Despite our most earnest efforts, many
South Africans still go to bed hungry, many succumb to diseases that can be treated,
many live lives of intolerable deprivation. Too many of our people do not work,
especially the youth. In recent times, our people have watched as some of those in
whom they had invested their trust have surrendered to the temptation of power and
riches. They have seen some of the very institutions of our democracy eroded and
resources squandered.
The challenges that we face are real. But they are not insurmountable. They can be
solved. And we are going to solve them. In the face of all these challenges our people
have remained resolute, resilient, unwavering in their desire for a better South Africa.
This is a defining moment for our young nation. Today is the choice of history. It
is a time for us to make the future we yearn for.’
FEEDBACK
At the outset, we should identify the target audience and persuasive purpose of the
address. Since the speech was presented at the Inauguration of the President of the
Republic of South Africa, the immediate audience could be assumed to be delegates
of Parliament and members of the speaker’s own political party and other political
parties, but, of course, as the salutation indicates, the speech is intended for all South
Africans. The possibility of this address reaching the nation is augmented by the
fact that important national events, such as the inauguration of a new president, are
broadcasted via the public broadcaster (the SABC), and thus viewable by all South
Africans who have access to a television set. Further- more, as a Head of State,
President Ramaphosa also has to bear an international audience in mind.
In this address, President Ramaphosa’s persuasive purpose, as he takes up this

important post, is to convince his audience, local and abroad, that he is competent
to lead the country. He also aims to unite the diverse South African electorate by
creating a sense of common national purpose as well as to inspire confidence in
overseas investors that he will tackle and overcome the social, political and eco-
nomic problems that he acknowledges. Note how specific we have to be when
identifying persuasive aims. While an overarching purpose of the speech is to
maintain the ANC’s support base and perhaps obtain allegiance or support from
certain opposition parties, it would not have been sufficient merely to state that
as the text’s persuasive purpose. You had to be specific as to the text’s immediate
persuasive aim/s. This is what we may refer to as a hierarchy of persuasive aims—
more about this under discussion point 3 pertaining to ‘Persuasive Pur- pose’ below.
Per the set question, which persuasive techniques were you able to identify?
Firstly, the President begins his address on a strongly positive note. He refers to his
audience as ‘Esteemed Guests.’ He then immediately reminds the nation of the
46
STUDY UNIT 3: Political persuasive texts
euphoria that accompanied the changeover to democracy in 1994. He strengthens

this image by invoking the name of Nelson Mandela, an icon both in South Africa
and worldwide. Referencing this key figure serves to transfer all the positive as-
sociations the audience may have with Mandela from the past into the current
context. Mandela’s reputation is thus used to enhance the image of the incoming
president and the party he represents. This is an example of ‘hero or celebrity
endorsement’ and is a technique often used in persuasive writing.
Another key persuasive technique found in this short extract, is the use of first-
person plural pronouns (‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘our’). These inclusive pronouns link the
speaker with the people and imply a unity of experience and purpose, namely,
that we all share the same feelings, concerns, and desires. This relates to one of the
aims of the text (to unify) that we identified.
Furthermore, the President uses positive language (diction) such as ‘glorious’,

‘rejoiced’, and ‘affirmation’ to create an optimistic, uplifting tone. Conversely, a
phrase like ‘cold shadow of a past’ is a metaphor chosen to describe the dark, cruel
climate of the apartheid past in which people could not grow or thrive. We see further
contrast in pairs of words like ‘plenty’/‘scarcity’ in the second paragraph. The whole
of the second paragraph focuses on the positive gains that have come with the
post-1994 dispensation, while most of the third paragraph deals with the problems
that still plague the country. The use of contrast lends balance to the address:
Ramaphosa reminds his audience of the wonderful im- provements in justice and
human rights that have been won but does not deny or ignore the negative issues
such as poverty, unemployment, and corruption that bedevil the country. He is
careful, however, not to make these problems seem too difficult to overcome. This
would be detrimental to his aim to boost confidence in the government and his
leadership. While the problems are ‘real’, they are not ‘insurmountable’, and ‘can
be solved’. Why does he acknowledge the issues at all? Essentially, he must give
his audience the assurance that he is aware of the challenges that exist, before he
can convince the audience that his government can succeed in meeting these
challenges.
What other persuasive techniques were you able to identify in the text? It is beyond
the scope of this feedback response to provide a full overview of the nu- merous
linguistic devices that have been employed by President Ramaphosa in this speech,
but please do share your thoughts with your fellow students via the discussion
forums on myUnisa.
3.1.2 Political activism

A sub-genre of political persuasion that we would like to focus your attention on is
political activism. Political activism may be defined as a persuasive effort to
promote and direct political reform. Political activism is not separable from politi-
cal persuasion in general; it is a type of political persuasion and may focus on the
self-same topics or issues as a political persuasive text aimed at garnering support for
a certain political organisation. The distinction lies in the overarching or primary
aim of the text. A political activism text’s aim is to challenge a political system and
promote political change.
ENG2602/501 47
Consider the Reverend Martin Luther King Junior’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech (1963).
You can access the speech at https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/
documents/i-have-dream-address-delivered-march-washington-jobs-and-freedom.
The overarching aim of the speech is to challenge the segregation that remained rife
in the United States of America after the abolishment of slavery, by convincing
African Americans to continue their protests against this injustice and persuading
white Americans that segregation is a contradiction to their Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Can you identify any underlying aims of the text? Return to this question
once you have studied section 3 on ‘Persuasive Purpose’ below.
A secondary aim of a political activism text may still be, additionally, to garner sup-
port for a certain political organisation. Consider a text such as Nelson Mandela’s
statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial (1964). You can see an excerpt from
his speech in activity 2 below. The immediate purpose of the speech is to defend
himself and his co-accused against the treason charges brought against them. The
overarching persuasive aim of the text is to challenge the apartheid system by
convincing the audience that the system is unjust and inhumane and that (violent)
protest had been the only course of action the ANC could take to challenge this
system. A secondary persuasive aim of the text is to gain sympathy and support for
the ANC. It is important to consider the political affiliation of the writer or speaker.
3.1.3 Propaganda
Another type of political persuasion that we briefly need to touch on is what is referred
to as propaganda. The term ‘propaganda’ refers to communication of a mislead-
ing or manipulative nature, used to promote a political point of view. Propaganda is
not as straightforward or as easy to identify as this definition suggests. Firstly, all
persuasive writing is, to an extent, manipulative. Secondly, to determine whether
information in a text is misleading, one would need to research the claims made by
the text in order to understand how these claims may be misleading or false. Only
then may one consider whether the text is purposely misleading, which in itself is dif-
ficult to determine. As we stated at the outset of this unit, you should not discuss the
truth of any point of view in your analyses. Thus, do not counter the claims made
in a text under analysis by researching and stating counterpoints. Rather, you
simply need to remain aware of the fact that claims made by a persuasive text may,
potentially, be misleading in an effort to manipulate or misinform the audience.
To identify potentially misleading information, ask yourself: Does the writer or speaker
provide a source for their claims? If so, how trustworthy is that source? A lack of
reference for statements made does not necessarily make the statements untrue or
misleading, but you can certainly point out that the writer or speaker’s claims are, at
the very least, unsubstantiated. Consider also whether, at any point in the text, the
writer or speaker makes a statement that is contradictory to a claim they make
elsewhere in the text. For an assignment question, you can also research the topic
and claims made by a text, but you have to be extremely careful with how you relay
information sourced as such. If you find a reputable source that contradicts a claim
made by the text, you can simply state: ‘This information may be considered to be
misleading as, according to [SOURCE], the following is true …’ That is the extent
to which you may contradict and challenge the validity of a claim made by a text. If
a text makes a number of untrue or misleading claims, do not focus your entire
analysis on this. Simply state generally that the statements made by the text may be
challenged and note one or two examples of potentially misleading or untrue state-
ments from the text. Again, do not focus your analysis on countering the claims
48
made by a text. If a text makes a number of questionable, potentially misleading or

untrue statements, instead of arguing against the statements made, you may critically
determine the text to be propagandist in nature. In order to support your assertion
in this respect, you should also attempt to identify as many techniques commonly
used in propaganda as possible. Please see the subsection on these techniques
under ‘Persuasive Techniques’ later in this unit.
Recommended reading: Animal Farm (1945) by George Orwell. You should be

able to access a copy of the book easily at your local library. Alternatively, you can
purchase an affordable e-book copy online. Be careful of purchasing illegal electronic
material on the internet. Amazon offers a highly affordable Kindle edition of the
book (for which you do not require a Kindle e-reader, you simply need to install the
Kindle app on your laptop, tablet or cellphone).
Animal Farm, an allegorical fable (allegory: a story with a hidden political or moral
meaning; fable: a story in which animals talk and display human behaviour) about
the Russian Revolution of 1917, tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel
against their human farmer in order to create a free, equal society for themselves, in
which ‘All animals are equal’. However, the revolution ultimately becomes a dic-
tatorship under a group of pigs, lead by a pig by the name of Napoleon. The novella
expresses the effects of propaganda through the character of Squealer, a pig who is
Napoleon’s second-in-command and ‘minister of propaganda’. As the ideals of a
free and fair society are abandoned and the farm becomes a dictatorship, Squealer
makes a number of propagandist speeches in order to convince the animals that
Napoleon and the pigs have their best interests at heart and remain committed to
equality and freedom (the slogan touted by the pigs becomes ‘All animals are equal,
but some animals are more equal than others’).
✓ Checkpoint: If you are able to obtain a copy of Animal Farm, perform a close
reading of chapter 3, focusing in particular on Squealer’s speech at the end of
the chapter. You may also access chapter 3 as an e-reserve via the Unisa Library.
Consider how Squealer’s speech is persuasive, and in particular how it could
be considered to be propagandist.
Features of the text you may have noted: the chanting of simplistic slogans (‘Four
legs good, two legs bad!’); the use of over-simplified positive and negative vocabu-
lary in the slogan (‘good’; ‘bad’); potential disinformation/lies (‘Many of us actually
dislike milk and apples’); an appeal to authority (‘This has been proved by Science,
Comrades’); demonising the farmer, Jones, through the use of a rhetorical question
(’Surely there is no one among you who wants to see Jones come back?’); and
emotional manipulation which targets fear (‘Do you know what would happen if we
pigs failed in our duty? Jones would come back!’). You will learn more about these
persuasive techniques in subsection 6.3.
In considering Animal Farm, note also that this is a fiction text, which deals with
political issues. It is itself, arguably, not propagandist, but it is persuasive in high-
lighting the negative impact of fascism (an authoritarian ultra-nationalistic political
system, as depicted by the pigs in the story) and propaganda. Literature genres can
also be persuasive, not simply in that they subconsciously reflect the perspectives or
beliefs of their authors, but also in that they, like the persuasive texts in this unit, can
be written for the deliberate purpose of persuading an audience.
ENG2602/501 49
3.2 POLITICAL PERSUASION AND THE MEDIA
We would like to focus briefly on the role of the media in spreading and promoting
political persuasive messages. ‘Media’, the plural of ‘medium’, refers to any medium
via which a text may be published. Traditionally, the media—with reference to news-
papers and television, in particular—has played a major role in addressing political
issues and promoting or challenging politicians. This is still the case, but in the 21st
century, ‘the media’ not only includes traditional forms of media such as newspapers,
television, or outdoor advertisements but also, notably, the internet and social media.
You may find it helpful to study section 1.3, titled ‘New Media Persuasion’, in Unit
2: Commercial Persuasive Texts, if you have not already studied that unit. The rise
of the Digital Age not only impacted the dissemination of commercial persuasion
but that of political persuasion as well. The speed and immediacy of communica-
tion via the internet allows political messages to be spread promptly and efficiently
to a wide audience. This occurs via virtually all social media sites, with Twitter and
Reddit being two particularly popular platforms for spreading political messages.
These platforms allow politicians and organisations as well as individuals to share
their political beliefs and ideas.
Political Persuasion via New Media (i.e. the dissemination of political messages via
the internet), while allowing greater global connectivity and awareness, also has a
number of negatives. One drawback with social media communication, with Twitter
being a prime example, is the inherent lack of explanation or elaboration in these
short-form messages (limited to 280 textual ‘characters’ per Tweet). Thus, while
messages are efficiently spread via social media, they may not always contain enough
necessary information. This may lead to the possible spread of misinformation.
Writers often attempt to address this by sharing headlines and links to full articles
via social media. However, the audience may opt not to follow the link and read the
full text, which may still result in a misunderstanding based on the headline alone,
and readers can also spread the misunderstanding by instantly ‘sharing’ it via their
own social media profiles.
Writers may, in turn, use the audience’s need for information to their advantage, by
writing evocative or sensationalist headlines that misrepresent or conceal the topic
of the text as a whole (so-called ‘click-bait’), in order to draw the reader in and/or
hide the text’s true purpose or focus.
Social media algorithms (i.e. the social media site’s way of organising posts, how it
selects and orders posts to show to its users) may also lead to what is referred to as
confirmation bias. Confirmation bias, essentially, involves favouring or receiving
information that confirms your previously existing beliefs or biases. Social media
algorithms tend to show users similar content to what they have ‘liked’ or engaged
with previously. In this way, the algorithms continuously end up showing users views
they are likely to agree with and the users are less (or not at all) exposed to opposing
views. Users are then further targeted by writers of certain persuasive content and
may end up upholding only ideas or ideals that align with these political beliefs, which
may even lead to the spread of propaganda, if the content that the user receives and
believes is misleading or untrue.
50
✓ Checkpoint: This is an opportunity for you to do some research. Search for

the account of @PresidencyZA (the official Twitter page of the Presidency of
South Africa). You can also search for the names of politicians that you know
+ Twitter via Google, which should allow you to find the Twitter accounts of
these politicians, if they have such accounts. Read some of their Tweets and
consider these texts in light of what you have thus far learned about analysing
persuasive writing. For an international focus, you can also look up the account
of Donald Trump (the so-called ‘Twitter President’).
3.3 THE PERSUASIVE PURPOSE

As we mentioned previously, regardless of writer or speaker is taking an ‘informative’
approach, the aim of a persuasive text is always to persuade or convince, never
solely to make aware or inform. As we have also indicated, you need to attempt to be
as specific as possible when identifying a text’s persuasive purpose. When analysing
political persuasive texts, students often identify the text’s aim to be to ‘get votes for
the writer’s political party’, but, unless you are analysing a text that forms part of an
election campaign, this is not an entirely accurate or complete assessment. Certainly,
the overarching aim of political persuasive texts is to gain support for the writer or
speaker’s political organisation or cause, and you can state this, but you need to
consider further the specific persuasive aim/s of each text you analyse—as we did
when we looked at the Cyril Ramaphosa speech set for activity 1. This is what we refer
to as a hierarchy of persuasive aims. A text will have an overarching persuasive
purpose, which for political persuasion commonly includes:
• promoting a certain political ideology (such as, for example, socialism versus
capitalism, the necessity of universal healthcare, or that segregation is inhumane
and must end);
• convincing the audience to take part in an uprising or demonstration;
• garnering support for the writer or speaker’s political agenda or organisation; and
• indeed, when running an election campaign, getting votes for the writer or
speaker’s political party.
You should identify and keep the overarching persuasive purpose of the text in mind as
you progress through your analysis and should keep your analysis focused on that
persuasive purpose. A text may also have a number of more specific persuasive
aims that stem from or support the overarching persuasive purpose. These are
the specific points on which the writer or speaker bases their persuasive message
and of which they attempt to convince the audience. You can think of such aims as
the building blocks of the overall persuasive purpose of the text.
Let us consider how this practically manifests in a political persuasive text.
ENG2602/501 51
ACTIVITY 2
Closely consider the following text and attempt to identify its overarching persua-
sive purpose and underlying persuasive aim/s. Compare your response with the
feedback below.
Extract from Nelson Mandela’s statement from the dock at the Rivonia Trial
on 20 April 1964
‘We of the ANC had always stood for a non-racial democracy, and we shrank
from any action which might drive the races further apart than they already were. But
the hard facts were that fifty years of non-violence had brought the African people
nothing but more and more repressive legislation, and fewer and fewer rights. It may
not be easy for this Court to understand, but it is a fact that for a long time the people
had been talking of violence—of the day when they would fight the White man
and win back their country—and we, the leaders of the ANC, had nevertheless
always prevailed upon them to avoid violence and to pursue peaceful methods …
[I]t could not be denied that our policy to achieve a non-racial State by non-
violence had achieved nothing, and that our followers were beginning to lose
confidence in this policy and were developing disturbing ideas of terrorism.
It must not be forgotten that by this time violence had, in fact, become a feature of
the South African political scene … [A] Government which uses force to maintain its
rule teaches the oppressed to use force to oppose it.’
FEEDBACK
Nelson Mandela’s overall aim of his extensive speech given at the Rivonia Trial, as
we discussed previously, is to defend himself against the charges brought against
him and his co-accused, and to convince those assembled and those to whom the
speech may be disseminated in South Africa and worldwide, to support his and
the ANC’s struggle for a non-racial democracy. This is the overarching persuasive
purpose of the text. However, if you identified this to be the sole persuasive aim of
this extract, your answer would be incomplete. Rather, you also needed to identify
the specific aims of the extract, the points on which Mr Mandela bases his persuasive
message and of which he attempts to convince the audience.
Firstly, he makes reference to and attempts to convince the audience of the injus-
tice of apartheid—for example, by referring to the African people having ‘fewer
and fewer rights’ in ‘their [own] country’. This is an attempt to elicit sympathy from
the audience and leads him into detailing how, given the dire and ever-worsening
circumstances of their oppression, the Government had left the protesters with
no choice but to resort to violent resistance. He returns to and strengthens this
approach later in the speech, explicitly listing the injustices faced by Africans; again,
in an attempt to gain support for the ANC’s struggle for a non-racial democracy.
Note how we used our (optional) research performed on the speech as a whole to
reinforce a point made about the given extract but did not expand with quotations
from or detailed analysis beyond the given extract. You always have to focus your
analysis on the given extract, not on the source text as a whole from which it
has been extracted.
52
Secondly, Mr Mandela’s key underlying aim is to convince the audience that the ANC
had previously supported peaceful resistance and non-violent struggle, but that
non-violent struggle had become wholly ineffective in securing ‘non- racial
democracy’. In fact, he argues, passive resistance had seen the passing of ‘more
repressive legislation’ and violence purported against protesters, which he
indicates with reference to ‘a Government which uses force to maintain its rule’.
His specific aim here, which supports his defence against the charges of terrorism
brought against him and also supports his overarching persuasive aim to gain
sympathy and support for the ANC and the oppressed African people, is to
convince the audience that a violent struggle was inevitable and necessary. Thus,
while Mr Mandela does want his listeners to exonerate him and the broader audience
to support and act in the fight for democracy, he first needs to account for and
convince the audience to understand his and his compatriots’ use of the violence
and ‘terrorism’ of which they stood accused.
3.4 THE PRODUCER: WHO IS THE WRITER OR SPEAKER?

When considering a persuasive text, particularly one created in a political context,
you need to consider briefly the producer of the text and their political affiliation.
Who is the writer or speaker? A political persuasive text is written or presented by
a member, representative or affiliate of a political party, branch of government or
other political organisation, or, in the case of political activism, by a leader or repre-
sentative of a political movement. Identifying the writer or speaker and their politi-
cal affiliation may help you to identify the text’s overarching persuasive purpose or
underlying persuasive aim/s. Please do not discuss or give your opinion on a writer
or speaker’s political organisation—simply note the organisation, if you are able to,
in support of your close analysis of the text.
For example, if we return to President Ramaphosa’s speech excerpt set for activity
1, a key aim of the text, as we have already identified, is to unify the South African
audience and convince us to work together towards a better South Africa. He also
attempts to convince the audience that he and his cabinet are aware of the country’s
issues and challenges and are ready and willing to address these. However, if these
were the only persuasive aims of the text that you identified, you would not have
been critical enough in your consideration of the text. If you consider that President
Ramaphosa is a member and the leader of a political party, the ANC, you would
then be able to conclude that his persuasive approach is also, necessarily, focused
on maintaining and increasing the ANC’s support base—perhaps by potentially
obtaining the support of assembled delegates from opposition political parties in
future Parliamentary votes on certain matters or by convincing the South African
public to (continue to) vote for the ANC in future elections.
3.5 THE TARGET AUDIENCE

The target audience of a political persuasive text is the particular group/s at whom
the text’s persuasive purpose is directed. You need to consider the target audience
when analysing a set persuasive text and focus on how the writer or speaker attempts
to appeal to the audience.
ENG2602/501 53
Keep in mind that target audience does not simply refer to those assembled when
a text is being presented; it may also include others who might be secondary recipi-
ents of the text. For example, in the above extract from Mr Mandela’s Rivonia Trial
speech, the primary target audience comprised the judiciary and others assembled
at the court. However, if you consider Mr Mandela’s style of oration elsewhere in
the speech, it becomes clear that he intended for a broader audience to hear or read
and be influenced by the speech. Certain sections or aspects of the speech attempt
to arouse sympathy from the oppressors and the white audience (for example, in the
section in which he describes the violence in the townships), while other sections and
aspects attempt to motivate the black audience to keep fighting for democracy (for
example, in the section in which he lists the equalities for which the Africans have
been struggling, thereby reminding the black audience what they stand to gain by
continuing the struggle). In general, the audience targeted by a political persuasive
text might be quite diverse, compared to a typically more specific audience segment
targeted by a commercial persuasive text.
When analysing a political persuasive text, remember that the ‘subject’ and ‘target’
of a text may not always be one and the same. The ‘subject’ of a text refers to whom
the text is about, as opposed to at whom it is aimed. When identifying target audi-
ence, it is important to perform a close reading of a text, in terms of who is being
addressed by the text and who is only referred to. Pronoun use is a useful indicator
in this respect. The following activity will make this point of caution clearer. Let us
consider how this practically manifests in a political persuasive text.
ACTIVITY 3
Closely consider the following text and attempt to identify its target audience.
Compare your response with the feedback below.
Extract from Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Quit India’ speech presented on 8 August

1942, on the eve of the Quit India movement
‘I believe that in the history of the world, there has not been a more genuinely
democratic struggle for freedom than ours. I read Carlyle’s French Revolution while
I was in prison, and Pandit Jawaharlal has told me something about the Russian
revolution. But it is my conviction that inasmuch as these struggles were fought with
the weapon of violence they failed to realize the democratic ideal. In the democracy
which I have envisaged, a democracy established by non-violence, there will be
equal freedom for all. Everybody will be his own master. It is to join a struggle for
such democracy that I invite you today. Once you realize this you will forget the
differences between the Hindus and Muslims, and think of yourselves as Indians
only, engaged in the common struggle for independence.’
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FEEDBACK
Gandhi made this speech to help India gain its independence from British rule, which
is contextual information with which you would be provided if this were a question
set for assessment. The title ‘Quit India’ is directed at the British, com- manding them
to leave India. This may lead you to incorrectly conclude that the British are the
primary target audience of the text. However, if you carefully read the above extract,
as well as the speech as a whole, you will clearly see that the text addresses
Indians—Hindus and Muslims—directly, and not the British. The British are certainly
a secondary target audience of the text, with the call for peaceful resistance
probably meant to reassure them. However, the text’s persuasive aim is to convince
Hindus and Muslims to unify and to protest peacefully, without resorting to violence.
The text is thus aimed at the Hindus and Muslims (i.e. the Indian public).
3.6 PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES

When analysing political texts for persuasiveness, we have to consider the persua-
sive techniques utilised by the writer, that is, the strategies used in directing the
persuasive purpose at the target audience. Persuasive techniques may be referred to
as persuasive strategies, these terms are synonymous. We also consider these tech-
niques in the Commercial Persuasion unit, but let us consider here how they pertain
to political persuasive texts.
3.6.1 Persuasive appeals

3.6.1.1 Appeal to credibility or authority

The so-called ethical appeal, termed ethos by Aristotle, attempts to either convince
the reader that the writer or speaker is credible (trustworthy) or else refers to a cred-
ible (reliable) source for support. If we refer to the Gandhi text we looked at above,
Gandhi’s reference to his study of revolutionary texts and engagement with revo-
lutionaries, attempts to prove his informed credibility on the matter of revolutions,
in order to convince the audience that he has learned of the ideal way to conduct a
‘genuinely democratic struggle for freedom’. If we refer back to the text set for
activity 1, Cyril Ramaphosa’s use of Nelson Mandela’s reputation to enhance the
image of himself and the ANC, a so-called ‘hero endorsement’, is an example of the
utilisation of the appeal to authority, that is, he relies on the reputation of Mandela to
build trust with the audience. In his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, Martin Luther King
uses this appeal by referring to Abraham Lincoln, a founding father of American
democracy, in order to convince the audience that segregation is undemocratic and
contrary to the principles set out by Lincoln.
ENG2602/501 55
3.6.1.2 Appeal to emotion
The emotional appeal, termed pathos by Aristotle, attempts to persuade readers by
appealing to their emotions. Persuasive writing tends to make extensive use of the
emotional appeal; in political persuasion, two opposing approaches are often taken.
The text may attempt to create a positive, optimistic feeling in the audience, in or-
der to place the writer or speaker and their organisation in a good light. If we refer
once more to the Ramaphosa speech from activity 1, he utilises this appeal when he
uses ‘positive language’ to refer to the freedom gained from the anti-apartheid
movement, in order to evoke emotions of nostalgia and hope within the audience,
and to remind them subtly of the ANC’s role in this movement. Alternatively, a text
may attempt to create a negative feeling, for example, by attempting to arouse guilt
within the audience. Other negative approaches taken by writers of political
persuasive texts include employing ridicule, evoking despair, or attempting to elicit
fear in the audience in order to convince them to trust the writer or speaker or to
take certain action to avoid ‘impending doom’.
3.6.1.3 Appeal to logic

The logical appeal, termed logos by Aristotle, attempts to convince readers by using
logic or reason. In political persuasion, a key strategy used in this approach may
include the use of researched ‘facts’ or statistics in order to convince the reader of
the truth of what the writer or speaker is saying. By using facts or statistics, a persua-
sive text attempts to lead the reader to agree that the writer or speaker’s conclusion,
based on the facts or statistics provided, is reasonable and true. Important to note
is that an appeal to logic does not refer to simply writing statement sentences. For
us to conclude that a logical appeal has been used, the writer or speaker needs to
have made a perceptible effort to use ‘facts’ or ‘reason’ (because X is true, Y must
be true) to persuade the audience.
The use of anecdotal evidence (i.e. statements of fact made based on evidence from
‘anecdotes’—evidence collected in a casual, informal manner, usually based on per-
sonal testimony) is an arguably weak attempt to utilise logical appeal. Eye-witness
accounts and personal experiences can be powerful persuading agents, but keep in
mind that these may not be particularly reliable sources. When confronted with a
personal anecdote or eye-witness account in a persuasive text, note how it may be
persuasively effective and convincing but also note that, as a ‘factual appeal’, it is
unreliable and might, particularly in a political context, be coloured by bias or even
a bigoted view.
In general, there is a fair amount of overlap between the appeals and a text can make
use of several of these appeals at once, although a text is, arguably, more persuasively
effective if it focuses primarily on one of these appeals and utilises the other ap-
peals to a lesser extent. For example, the Cyril Ramaphosa text invokes the image
of Mandela, employing ethos at the outset, but thereafter he largely relies on pathos to
persuade the audience.
✓ Checkpoint: Consider the following three statements and identify and motivate
which of the three persuasive appeals has been employed in each statement.
(1) I have endured inconceivable injustice and brutal torture to be here with you today.
This statement utilises an emotional appeal, using language such as ‘inconceiv-
able injustice’ and ‘brutal torture’ to describe the political leader’s suffering,
thereby attempting to elicit sympathy from the audience. The use of ‘endured’
56
may also serve to inspire the audience, as the word connotes patience in their
suffering, and thus a commitment to the political cause.
(2) The municipality has decreased mayoral expenditure by 35% since 2018.
This statement utilises a statistic to convince the audience that the municipality
has decreased mayoral spending significantly, thereby utilising a logical appeal.
(3) An independent auditor found that corruption within the department is virtually non-existent.
At first glance this statement appears to utilise a logical appeal as well, since a
fact is stated, but without more specific information on what is meant by
‘virtually non-existent’, this is not the key appeal that has been used here.
Rather, the writer has utilised an ethical appeal, by invoking the authority of
the auditor, usually a respected individual, in order to persuade the reader that
the department is free from corruption. Again, the use of the unspecific word
‘virtually’, meaning ‘almost’ or ‘nearly’, causes a problem here, as it calls into
question the specific findings of the auditor.
3.6.2 Linguistic devices
3.6.2.1 Diction and style

The main language feature of persuasive writing, which you will always refer to in your
critical analyses, is what we refer to as diction. Diction refers to word choice, thus
including all language utilised in a text. If you cannot identify many other linguistic
devices in a text, you should, as a starting point, analyse the language used in the
text (particularly adjectives and adverbs) in terms of the effect the writer or speaker
attempts to create. When analysing word choice, it is a good idea to keep a dictionary
close by, in order to look up and consider the meaning of words used. In this way, you
also learn new vocabulary in preparation for assessment in an examination setting.
The style of a text is created by the diction utilised. The style of the text may be
formal or informal, depending on the language and structure employed. The style
of the text should be appropriate to its source and context. For example, the formal
style employed by President Ramaphosa in the speech extract set for activity 1, is
appropriate to his inauguration at Parliament, showing the necessary respect to the
occasion, setting, and seriousness of the topics that he is discussing.
3.6.2.2 Tone and mood

Tone refers to the attitude of the writer or speaker towards the topic, whereas mood
refers to the feeling that the writer attempts to create within the reader. The writer or
speaker’s tone, like their style, should be appropriate to the context or occasion. For
example, if a speech is about a serious issue, the tone should be solemn and serious
(for example, by employing straightforward statement sentences and euphemistic
language when necessary). If the speech is triumphant, perhaps given after winning
an election, the tone can be more celebratory and jubilant (for example, by employing
exclamation marks and positive adjectives).
An overtly positive or negative mood may create an emotional appeal. A positive

mood may (attempt to) create a feeling of good will towards the writer or speaker
and their political organisation. A negative mood may (attempt to) elicit sympathy
and a desire for the negative circumstances to change. With reference to the crea-
tion of a negative mood, we may also refer to an attempt to create panic, which is
frequently used in political persuasion in order to make the reader vulnerable to the
writer or speaker’s argument.
ENG2602/501 57
3.6.2.3 Structure
below). The structure of the text refers to how the text is organised—not merely in
terms of its layout on the page but rather its approach to its topic/subject and pur-
pose. Essentially, structure comprises the plot of the text, or the sequence of state-
ments made by the writer or speaker. How does the writer or speaker set out their
arguments? Do they start with a negative mood and end with a positive or hopeful
mood, thereby attempting to indicate that they have the solution to the problems set
out at the start? Do they open by presenting certain ‘facts’? Do they immediately, at
the outset, invoke authority figures in order to make the audience more receptive to
the persuasive message?
When considering the structure of a text, ask yourself: How does the text present its
topic/subject? How does the text approach its persuasive aim/s, that is, how does it
set about targeting the audience?
3.6.2.4 Emotive language

The mood of the text, as we have pointed out, is the overall feeling it attempts to
elicit, which is created through the use of emotive language. Emotive language
relies on connotation; the denotation of a word being its literal definition, and its
connotation being the idea or feeling that it evokes. When quoting diction and
referring to it as ‘emotive’, you have to be specific with reference to the emotion/s
the word/s quoted evoke/s, it is not sufficient merely to state as fact that ‘emotive
language’ has been utilised. Thus far in your study of this unit, it has been sufficient
merely to state that the language used in a text is ‘positive’ or ‘negative’, but from this
point onwards, we expect you to consider the meaning of certain diction in order to
comment on the specific emotion/s the writer attempts to evoke. This is where a
dictionary and expanded vocabulary will serve you well.
✓ Checkpoint: Refer back to the Cyril Ramaphosa speech set for activity 1. Con-
sider the specific emotions evoked by certain diction that the speaker utilised.
Since the text makes extensive use of an appeal to emotion, there is a wide variety
of diction you could quote, and emotions you could refer to. For example, in the
statement referring to the ‘warm embrace of liberty’, the adjective ‘warm’ connotes
a feeling of comfort, as does the noun ‘embrace’, which may also connote safety.
This phrase thus attempts to evoke contentment as an emotional response. The
noun ‘liberty’, in turn, which denotes ‘freedom’, may evoke hope and optimism as
emotional responses. Be careful not to confuse sensory feelings, states or metaphors
with emotions. In the example above, ‘liberty’ is a state and not an emotion. ‘Warm
embrace’ is used metaphorically; it too is not an emotion. Contentment, hope and
optimism are emotions.
Do you see the extent to which you should engage with the text?
3.6.2.5 Inclusive language

We briefly touched on inclusive language in our consideration of the Ramaphosa
speech extract. ‘Inclusive language’ refers to language used to make the audience
feel included in and directly addressed by a text. This is primarily done through
pronoun use. The use of first-person plural pronouns (‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘our’) is highly
58
prevalent in political persuasion. These pronouns have a unifying effect, uniting the
writer or speaker and audience in a common cause. The use of first-person singular
pronouns, (‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘my’) may have the opposite effect, distinguishing the writer
or speaker and setting them apart from the audience. However, when combined
with first-person plural pronouns, first-person singular pronouns can make a text
seem more personal and inclusive. If the text indicates that the writer or speaker
is personally involved or has experienced the issue/s outlined, this may make the
writer or speaker, and by extension the text itself, more trustworthy to the audience.
Lastly, second-person pronouns ‘you’ and ‘your’ may make the audience feel as though
the text is speaking directly to them as individuals. This device may be particularly
effective in confronting the reader in a political context and persuading them to take
action against ‘the system’ or government.
3.6.2.6 Imperative language

structure used (verb placed at the beginning of the sentence) to make a ‘command’— in
a manner of instructing the reader what to do. For example: ‘Vote for the ANC!’ The
effectiveness of imperative language depends largely on the frequency with which it
is used in a text. A text that over-uses imperatives may seem to harass the reader,
which might make the reader not want to pay further attention to the text. However,
if the text is short, such as a campaign poster, imperatives work quite well. In a
longer text, the writer or speaker may offset imperatives with statement sentences,
suggestions or questions.
3.6.2.7 Punctuation and sentence structure

News reports, articles or columns, and persuasive speeches can be quite lengthy and
still be effective because the audience expects these types of texts to provide more
information or evidence. Political advertisements and short-form social media posts
(for example, as aforementioned, ‘Tweets’) have to be punctual and to the point,
particularly if the former appears outdoors and will only be viewed briefly, at a
glance. Typically, advertisements and short-form social media posts also tend to
make use of shorter sentence structures, in order to attempt to deliver a pithy, to-
the-point message.
In terms of punctuation, the two most effective punctuation marks used in politi-
cal persuasion are the exclamation mark and the question mark. The exclamation
mark can attempt to create a sense of urgency or panic, particularly when used in
conjunction with imperatives. A question mark attempts to engage the reader, either
to get them to consider a point or to challenge them, and is particularly effective
when used in conjunction with second-person pronouns.
3.6.2.8 Lexical cohesion

Note: It is not sufficient to identify lexical cohesion as a persuasive strategy in itself;
you will be expected to specify examples of lexical cohesion and to explain how they
are used to persuade. Cohesion in a text is typically created either through repetition,
synonyms or collocation. In lengthier political persuasive writing, lexical cohesion
is used to create continuity and emphasise a certain point or argument.
ENG2602/501 59
• Repetition as a linguistic technique refers to the repetition of keywords—typically
utilised in persuasive writing for emphasis. For example, in Nelson Mandela’s
Rivonia Trial speech, he repeats the words ‘violence’ and ‘non-violence’ to
emphasise that the ANC only resorted to violence because they had exhausted
all other means of resistance.
• Synonymy refers to words that are deemed to be similar in meaning
and complementary. It is utilised in order to create or enhance the mood in
persuasive writing. For example, in the Cyril Ramaphosa Inauguration speech
that we studied, he uses the synonyms ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ to create a
positive, hopeful mood.
• Collocation refers to words that are opposite in meaning but often used together.
It is also used to create or enhance the mood in persuasive writing. In the Cyril
Ramaphosa Inauguration speech, he uses collocation in juxtaposing ‘oppression’
and ‘freedom’, in order to contrast pre-apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa.
3.6.2.9 Figurative language

Figurative language, or so-called figures of speech, might be employed in political
persuasive writing. You probably already know a number of figurative language de-
vices from your previous study, and will become familiar with yet more in the other
study units of this module. We are not going to consider these devices in depth here
but would like to focus your attention on two figures of speech commonly used in
political persuasion.
• The first is a metaphor, which is a figurative comparison used to create imagery

and impact. For example, in President Ramaphosa’s Inauguration speech extract
in activity 1, he concretises his points through the effective use of metaphor. He
talks of ’the warm embrace of liberty’, personifying freedom as a loving human
presence; and also talks of how the ‘shackles of oppression have fallen away’.
This powerful visual image conjures up the picture of chains being removed and
makes political liberation seem far more real and dramatic.
• The second figurative device that commonly appears in political persuasion is
euphemism (for example, ‘passing away’ as a euphemism for death). In a political
text, euphemism may be used to avoid using offensive or insensitive language to
discuss a sensitive matter. This sets the reader at ease and makes the text more
formal, although it may sacrifice the emotive impact of ‘stronger’ language. A
euphemism may also be used to recognise yet downplay the impact of certain
problems.
60
Do not be alarmed if you cannot find many, or any, figures of speech in a set politi-
cal persuasive text. These texts rely on the other linguistic devices (i.e. persuasive
language) that we have discussed, without having to necessarily make use of figura-
tive language. If at a loss, you can and should always focus your analysis on the use
of diction. With that said, while not necessary, figures of speech can be employed
to great effect; Martin Luther King is an example of an orator that made extensive
and effective use of figurative language in his speeches, with the ‘I Have a Dream’
speech, which is rife with metaphors, being a prime example.
✓ Checkpoint: Refer back to the politicians’ Tweets that you researched, or

source a political speech from http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/speeches/ and
see if you can find instances in which the writer has used euphemism to make
an issue seem less severe.
3.6.3 Techniques commonly used in Propaganda

Note: The following techniques do not, necessarily, definitely mean that a text is
propagandist, but if they have been used explicitly, repeatedly and extensively, par-
ticularly in combination with potentially misleading or false information, they may
aid you in identifying propaganda.
• Virtue/Vice Vocabulary: People and causes are presented in over-simplified

terms—as either intrinsically good or bad. Black and white (dualistic) judgements
are made and ‘grey areas’ are ignored. For example, ‘America is a hard-working
nation. We do not need criminal elements coming over our borders’. Americans
are constructed as ‘good’ people, immigrants are constructed as ‘bad’.
• Stereotyping: Individuals or groups are labelled and regarded as ‘all the same’
according to generalised, over-simplified, and factually inaccurate ideas. For
example, the sometimes purported, highly inaccurate notion that ‘Muslims are
terrorists’. Racism and sexism are common forms of stereotyping.
• Hero Endorsement: We have already touched on this in our consideration of
President Ramaphosa’s reference to Nelson Mandela in the former’s Inauguration
speech, whereby a key figure is used to validate a policy or cause. However, while
President Ramaphosa’s speech is inarguably persuasive, we cannot believably argue
that it is propagandist, as it only makes use of this one technique commonly used in
propaganda. Do you see how a single technique or approach does not propaganda
make? We would need to support an assertion of propaganda more extensively.
• Demonising: A controversial figure is used to evoke fear or condemnation of
a particular course of political action, thereby discrediting a policy or cause.
Certain people are likened to unpopular figures to cast them in a negative light.
For example, political figures deemed fascist or racist are often likened to Hitler
by political commentators on social media.
• Scapegoating: When a particular person, group or movement is blamed for
problems. In Nazi Germany, Jews were blamed for the country’s poor economic
state. This took the focus off the ruling party’s failings, and deflected criticism
elsewhere. Under the apartheid government, communists were blamed for
subversion and used to justify harsh laws. ‘The Suppression of Communism Act’
was a broad piece of legislation in terms of which many people were arrested and
imprisoned without trial.
• Selection/Slanting: Information which supports a certain political line is selected
while information which presents an opposite view is suppressed. Certain opinions
are reported while others are ignored. Some facts are exaggerated, while others
are downplayed.
ENG2602/501 61
• Appeal to Authority: This technique we have already touched on, whereby
a trusted body, science or statistics are quoted to lend authority to doubtful
statements and practices. For example, Squealer does this in the speech from
Animal Farm.
• Emotional Manipulation: Emotive language used to target emotions such
as pride, patriotism, guilt or fear. Emotive adjectives such as ‘brave’, ‘heroic’ and
‘glorious’ create a strongly positive, admiring tone; words like ‘poor’ and
‘disadvantaged’ evoke sympathy; and a label such as ‘colonial’ triggers an attitude
of condemnation. Overuse of emotive language in a text may, potentially, lead
us to consider that text to be propagandist.
• Slogans: Short, catchy statements or demands are chanted repetitively. Mindless
repetition can have a hypnotic effect which dulls reason and discourages
interrogation of the cause being promoted or opposed.
These techniques, in addition to a lack of support or substantiation for statements

made, opinions presented as facts or false accusations made, may lead us to con-
clude that a text is propagandist in nature. It is important to note that many of these
techniques are interrelated and cannot be separated from one another. A single
statement such as ‘America is a hard-working nation. We do not need criminal ele-
ments coming over our borders’ illustrates more than one technique of propaganda:
it displays virtue/vice vocabulary, stereotyping, an opinion presented as a fact, and
emotional manipulation.
[Section compiled by Felicity Horne]
3.6.4 Visual strategies

Our focus in this module and section is on language analysis but visual strategies
feature strongly in political advertisements, in particular, therefore, we briefly need
to consider this persuasive element.
3.6.4.1 Layout
An advertisement may employ an evocative headline, bold or coloured fonts, and a

thought-provoking or catchy phrase or slogan in order to attract the non-assured
reader (i.e. a reader not looking for certain information or to be advertised to) to the
message of the text. As a rule of thumb, the more important the text, the larger the
font. The intention is to draw the reader’s eye to that text first.
3.6.4.2 Photographs and graphics
Images may play a part in grabbing the reader’s attention, and, in outdoor political
advertising especially, may be the focal point of the advertisement. Your analysis of
a photograph or graphic that appears in visual text you are tasked with analysing
does not need to be extensive or sophisticated. You simply need to consider briefly
the persuasive impact of the image. Let us consider an example text.
62
ACTIVITY 4
Please access the EFF election campaign poster for analysis via the following URL:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/johannesburg-south-africa-22nd-
march-2019-1359037169. If you have trouble accessing the URL, herewith a brief
breakdown of the image, for your convenience:
The image shows an EFF campaign poster on a lamppost. The red poster shows
a smiling Julius Malema, wearing his trademark red beret, with the phrase ‘SON OF
THE SOIL’ appearing in yellow lettering at the top of the poster (above his head) and
his name (also in CAPS LOCK and yellow font) appearing at the bottom of the poster.
Right above his name, in smaller yellow font (still CAPS LOCK), the text reads ‘VOTE
EFF’. The photograph of the EFF poster was taken on 22 March 2019 in the
Johannesburg City Centre.
FEEDBACK
Critically considering the poster, which aspects of it jump out at you? Firstly, you
should note the use of a photo of the party leader, Julius Malema’s, smiling face,
which is a photograph format typically employed by political parties on their cam-
paign posters. The idea, here especially, is for the candidate to look approachable.
The EFF strengthens this effect by the large lettering proclaiming him to be the ‘Son
of the Soil’, a metaphorical phrase which means he is a humble, working- class ‘man
of the people’ and ‘worker of the land.’ It may also be referencing the land
redistribution issue that is currently being debated in South African politics, with
Malema’s pro-redistribution stance being a key ‘selling point’ in his political agenda.
The use of the bright red and yellow colours is particularly effective in drawing the
viewer’s eye. Thematically, the colour red is associated with revolution, from as far
back as the Russian revolution, pointing to the EFF’s stance as a ‘revolutionary’
party. What other features of the poster can you note? Share your thoughts with your
fellow students via myUnisa.
3.6.5 Spoken discourse

We need to focus briefly on the medium of the type of persuasive text that we have
most often referred to throughout this unit—the political speech. We study politi-
cal speeches in a written format, that is, the speech is transcribed before or after it
is given and then published for readers to access. While we study speeches in writ-
ten format, we need to keep in mind that they were presented as spoken discourse.
Our consideration in this respect, like our consideration of the visual strategies em-
ployed by political advertisements, does not need to be extensive or sophisticated.
When considering the language features of a text, simply keep in mind the impact
they may have when uttered. For example, consider the jolting or impassioning im-
pact the use of short sentences and exclamation marks may have when employed by
a speaker. Remain aware of the fact that longer, run-on sentences used in spoken
discourse may ‘lose’ the audience and become persuasively ineffective. Consider the
effect that ellipsis may have when employed after a point that the speaker wants the
audience to ponder (NB: We use […] when shortening extracts for you to analyse.
In that case, we will tell you to disregard the ellipsis, as these were not employed by
ENG2602/501 63
the speaker). The same effect that may be created by ellipsis (prompting the audience to
think about the points made) may also be created by the extensive use of pauses
through commas and full stops. Sound devices, such as alliteration and assonance,
could also aid a speaker in emphasising certain points. If this occurs, do not simply
state that the speaker has ‘used alliteration for emphasis’, quote the alliteration used
and explain the specific point that the speaker is attempting to emphasise.
3.7 CONDUCTING AN ANALYSIS OF A POLITICAL PERSUASIVE

TEXT—A PRACTICE ANALYSIS
ACTIVITY 5
Write an essay in which you perform a close analysis of the following political
persuasive text. Your analysis should consider what the purpose of the text is, who
it is aimed at, and how it sets about achieving its persuasive purpose by critically
considering the persuasive techniques utilised.
Extract from the State of the Nation Address by President Jacob Zuma at
Parliament in Cape Town, South Africa on 9 February 2017
‘Thank you Madam Speaker and Madam Chairperson for this opportunity to ad-
dress the joint sitting of Parliament.
An illustrious son of our country, President Oliver Reginald Tambo, would have
turned 100 years old this year, had he lived. This selfless patriot dedicated his adult
life to a tireless pursuit of the liberation of our country and its people. He left a lasting
legacy for all South Africans, and not only for his organisation, the ANC.
In his honour, we have declared the year 2017, the Year of Oliver Reginald Tambo.
It is the year of unity in action by all South Africans as we move South Africa forward
together. […]
We also fondly remember Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba, who made history when
she addressed the United Nations in 1963, appealing for action against the apart-
heid regime. […]
Compatriots,
In this 23rd year of our freedom, our mission remains the quest for a united, demo-
cratic, non-sexist, non-racial and prosperous South Africa. Guided by the National
Development Plan, we are building a South Africa that must be free from poverty,
inequality and unemployment.
While the global economic environment remains uncertain, indications are that
we have entered a period of recovery. We anticipate an economic growth rate of
1.3 per cent in 2017 following an estimated 0.5 per cent in 2016.’
64
FEEDBACK
approach a question such as the above when analysing a political persuasive
text. You should compare your own effort to this feedback response. The notes
in square brackets are additions that we included to guide you and explain our
analytical method as we progress. Your essay should not include such expla-
nations of your method of analysis. You should solely focus on conducting a
close, critical analysis of the text, as is done outside of the square brackets in the
below model response.
The purpose of this essay is to critically analyse a set persuasive text, an extract
from President Zuma’s State of the Nation Address of 9 February 2017. This analysis
will consider the purpose and target audience of the text, as well as the persuasive
techniques used by the President to achieve the text’s purpose. The set text is a
political persuasive text in the form of a speech and was presented at Parliament in
Cape Town, South Africa [Note: This is the ‘what’ of the text stated;
i.e. we have stated ‘what’ the text is about at the outset of the essay. We have
also rewritten the set question in our own words in order to state how we will be
analysing the text. Your preferred structure and wording for your introduction may
differ slightly from ours, but this is a good template to use].
The purpose of the speech is to inform the members of Parliament, delegates in
attendance, the South African public, and an international audience on the current
and projected state of affairs in South Africa. Fiscal, infrastructural, and social mat-
ters are usually addressed by the State of the Nation Address [Note: Thus far, we
have only addressed the ostensible informative purpose of the text. However, this is
a persuasive text, and we therefore still need to identify its persuasive aim/s]. We
can identify the overarching persuasive aim of the text to be to convince the audience
that President Zuma and the ANC are running the country competently. In this short
extract, this aim becomes apparent in the closing paragraph, when President Zuma
mentions the improved anticipated economic growth rate. Eco- nomic growth is a
key aim of government and right at the outset of his speech, after his salutations,
President Zuma makes a point to mention positive projected economic growth from
2016 to 2017.
In the context of Jacob Zuma’s tenure as president, his attempt to convince the
audience of his government’s competence and success becomes particularly
significant. At the time of this speech’s presentation, a great number of politicians
and other commentators were calling for President Zuma’s resignation, with opposition
political parties repeatedly attempting to institute a ‘Motion of No-confidence’ in his
presidency and certain members of his own party, the ANC, attempting to take action
against him as well. President Zuma eventually had to step down in 2018, before he
could give his next State of the Nation Address and fifteen months before his tenure
as president was supposed to end in 2019. Given the opposition to his governance
at the time, it would have been particularly important for him to attempt to restore
the public and his own party’s confidence not only in his cabinet but in himself
personally [Note: Your analysis can include brief contextual information such as this,
if strictly relevant to our understanding or appreciation of the text. Note that such
contextual information should not extend beyond a single paragraph of this length.
Please do not include an extensive topical discussion; in this case, about Jacob
Zuma or his presidency. Mentioning the controversy around his Nkandla homestead,
for example, would have been extending this contextual discussion too far. Note also
that a contextual elaboration such as this is optional; it is only meant to enhance
your discussion, it is not a compulsory aspect of your analysis. If you do not have
this information at hand, you need not include it in your analysis].
ENG2602/501 65
President Zuma’s immediate audience, as mentioned, comprises the members
of Parliament and delegates in attendance. The State of the Nation Address is
broadcast nationally and is thus intended for the South African public at large too. In
this opening section of his address, President Zuma reminds the audience of their
struggle for and successful achievement of democracy, by referring to Oliver Tambo
and Miriam Makeba’s roles in the struggle, as well as by referring to 2017 as the
country’s ‘23rd year of our freedom’. The aim of this is two-fold. Firstly, he attempts
to create a positive mood by reminding the audience of the success of their hard-
won battle against apartheid. He also attempts to create a sense of unity in the
audience with the mention of the struggle. This attempt is strengthened by lexical
cohesion created through synonymy, with diction such as ‘all South Afri- cans’, ‘unity
in action’, ‘compatriots’ and ‘united, democratic, non-sexist, non-racial’ employed.
Conversely, President Zuma reminds the audience that South Africa is a young
democracy, thereby perhaps hoping to create a sense of understanding about the
inequality and poverty that still exist, which is acknowledged with reference to a
South Africa that ‘must be’ (but is not yet) free from this.
As aforementioned, a key aspect of government is ensuring economic growth, which

is driven by securing both local and foreign investment; thus, a local and international
business audience is also particularly targeted. The mention of positive projected
economic growth at the outset indicates this. A higher projected economic growth
rate and ‘period of recovery’ would be a relief to any audience member that
understands the significance of this, but it is particularly intended to indicate that,
in contrast with the uncertain global economic environment, the growing South
African economy is a good investment. The use of this percentage (a projected
increase from 0.5 per cent to 1.3 per cent) to convince the audience is a logical
appeal. President Zuma also refers to a specific ‘National Development Plan’, to
indicate that his government is not only committed to a ‘prosperous South Africa’,
but has a plan of action in place for achieving this.
In addition to the logical appeal, a key appeal utilised by President Zuma in this
extract is the ethical appeal, or ethos. He uses this appeal in the form of a so- called
hero endorsement, by invoking the figures of Oliver Tambo and Miriam Makeba.
Miriam Makeba, colloquially referred to as ‘Mama Afrika’, was a beloved singer and
civil rights activist. By ‘fondly remembering’ her, he relies on her reputation to build
trust with the audience, and by mentioning her contribution to the struggle against
apartheid, he tries to further the positive, triumphant mood he is attempting to create.
Furthermore, by referring to President Oliver Tambo as an ‘illustrious son of our
country’ and a ‘selfless patriot’ dedicated to the ‘liberation of our country’, he not
only shows the necessary respect to and appreciation of this struggle hero, but this,
in conjunction with his reference to the ANC as ‘his [Tambo’s] organisation’, serves
as a reminder to the audience of the ANC’s role in their liberation. He thus invokes
the figure of Oliver Tambo in support of the ANC and himself as the president of
the party. This may not only be an effective appeal to the general public, but may
also be an attempt to unify the members of the ANC, which, as already mentioned,
was arguably somewhat divided towards the end of Mr Zuma’s term as president.
A final key persuasive technique to note is President Zuma’s use of the inclusive
first-person plural pronouns ‘we’ and ‘our’ throughout. These pronouns make the
audience feel included in the speech and serve to further the speech’s attempt at
unification, of the South African public in general as well as, perhaps, the members
of the ANC [Note: We have identified and analysed the key persuasive strategies
employed in the text. This analysis is not exhaustive or conclusive, you may have
identified additional techniques, or expanded on the thoughts we offered above, but
66
this is the general approach you need to take when analysing a persuasive text. Note
how we have identified and analysed the persuasive techniques utilised in detail,
supporting our discussion by quoting from the text. We did not merely list the
appeals or devices present. We also did not provide general definitions for these
techniques from our study material. It is not necessary to define appeals or devices
in your analysis, simply note these techniques, and then properly analyse how they
have specifically been employed in the set text].
In conclusion, we may comment on whether we think this text has been successful
in achieving its intended purpose [Note how our ‘critical analysis’ of the text and the
persuasive techniques utilised comprised critically considering the persuasive intent
and effect of each aspect discussed. Critically considering the text does not refer
to criticising or looking for errors in the text. Furthermore, we did not focus
the body of our analysis on whether we deem the text to be effectively persuasive or
on what we think is missing from the text. The former can be done in the conclusion,
as we are doing here. The latter should not be done unless we are sure we are
analysing the full text, which was not the case here]. The text arguably makes
effective use of ethical and logical appeals as well as linguistic devices such as a
positive, triumphant mood, inclusive language, and lexical cohesion related to the
ideals of democracy and unity. This short extract may not effectively reassure the
audience and convince them of President Zuma and his cabinet’s success in leading
the country, but this opening section of the speech sets the tone for the speech
that follows to attempt to do so.
CONCLUSION
In this unit, we gave you a thorough overview of what is meant by ‘political persua-
sion’. We guided you through performing a close, critical reading of a number of
political persuasive texts, and attempted to equip you with the knowledge and skills
required to analyse these texts in terms of their persuasive purpose, producer, target
audience, and persuasive techniques utilised. We also discussed political activism
and provided you with some food for thought in terms of the circumstances under
which political persuasion may become propaganda. Finally, we provided you with
a model question and answer based on a political persuasive text.
As indicated in the conclusion to Unit 2: Commercial Persuasive Texts, commercial

persuasion and political persuasion are distinct yet complementary forms of persua-
sive writing. The key difference between commercial and political persuasion is that
the former is the business of selling products and services, whereas the latter sells
ideas, beliefs or ideologies. However, a commercial persuasive text can attempt
to convince the audience of certain ideas or beliefs, or attempt to uphold certain
ideologies, in order to lay the groundwork towards convincing the audience to utilise
a certain product or service. For example, a commercial persuasive text may purport
the ideology that mothers are (solely) responsible for their children’s wellbeing, in
order to ‘guilt’ mothers and make them receptive to the text’s marketing message.
Commercial persuasive texts may also make reference to political issues in order to
further their persuasive aims. In turn, political organisations are businesses, in terms
of having to keep their ‘customers’ (supporters) satisfied in order to keep obtain-
ing the necessary funds and support. Thus, political persuasion may, at least when
promoted by such an organisation or party, be considered a commercial activity.
ENG2602/501 67
As you will see in your study of the Literature section of this module, other forms of
writing, not just persuasive writing, are informed by the perspectives, ideologies
and beliefs of authors. This is unavoidable as human experiences and thinking
patterns are incredibly diverse. Persuasive writing is only different from these other
forms of writing in that the intention of the author is consciously and deliberately
persuasive, whereas other forms of writing may only be subconsciously reflective of
an author’s perspective. The effect of such texts might also be persuasive regard-
less of the intention of the author. To complicate matters, texts produced in other
genres like Fiction or Poetry can double as persuasive writing in that authors may
also use these genres to persuade readers consciously and deliberately of certain
views. In order to think critically and intelligently about the texts we encounter, we
need to be able to identify not only the way language is used to persuade us but to
identify the way language is used to reflect the beliefs and ideologies of others in
various kinds of texts.
68
STUDY UNIT 4
Social Persuasive Texts

Illona Meyer
INTRODUCTION
The previous units dealt with discourse analysis, commercial persuasion, and
political persuasion, respectively. If you have not yet done so, please work through
Unit 1 – ‘Discourse Analysis’, before starting this unit. The approach for closely and
critically reading a text, as set out in Unit 1, is the approach you will be taking for all
texts set for the Language section of this module—regardless of the specific genre
or type of text set.
This unit deals with what we refer to as social persuasion. Upon completing this unit,
you should:
• understand what is meant by ‘social persuasion’;

• be familiar with a variety of texts that we regard as persuasive in a social
context—including online and print articles, news reports, posters, speeches, and
social media posts;
• be able to perform a close and critical reading of these texts, interpreting
meaning and persuasive effect;
• be able to analyse these texts in terms of their genre or type, persuasive purpose,
target audience, and persuasive techniques utilised; and
• be able to present your analysis in a properly-structured academic essay, with
an introduction and conclusion, and paragraphs utilised to discuss the concepts
listed above.
1. SOCIAL PERSUASION
1.1. Introduction to persuasive writing focussed on social issues
A persuasive text is any text of which the main purpose is to present a certain subject,
hypothesis or ideology in order to influence the audience. In social persuasion, the
writer or speaker aims to convince the audience to believe a message or support a
cause, pertaining to a certain identified social issue. A ‘social issue’ may relate to the
environment (for example—climate change or a lack of access to running water),
human rights (for example—racism, xenophobia, gender-based violence or LGBTQ+
rights), animal rights (for example—animal abuse, hunting or veganism), or any other
‘ill’ that may plague a society, country or the world at large.
A text that attempts to make the audience aware of a social issue may be classified
as a ‘social awareness’ text. However, such a text hardly ever solely aims to ‘make
ENG2602/501 69
aware’; rather, it hopes to make the audience believe a certain point and/or inspire
and motivate them to take ‘action’ on the social issue identified. Sometimes, a text
about a social issue may assume prior audience knowledge of the issue and will
merely mention or briefly remind them of the issue, before attempting to convince
them to take some sort of action. Regardless, the latter aspect is what constitutes
effective social persuasion: an attempt to convince the audience on a certain
point about a social issue, ideally in order to inspire and drive action on the issue.
A social persuasive text may appear via various media—it may be printed as an
advertisement or an article in a magazine or newspaper, be placed as a poster on a
billboard, vehicle or lamppost, published on the Internet as an online article or social
media post, appear on flyers or other printed matter which are handed out, or be
sent via post or electronic mail (e-mail). Social persuasion may also occur in the form
of a verbal speech, which may be recorded and transcribed in textual form.
✓ Checkpoint: Think of a social issue of which you recently became aware. How did
you become aware of the issue? How were you convinced that the issue is indeed a
problem? Were you convinced to take action on the issue? If not, has your previously
held view on the issue raised changed at all? Do you recall seeing more about the
issue in the media after you became aware of it?
Activity 1
Perform a close, critical reading of the following text and write down your thoughts
on the key aspects of the text, using the questions for performing discourse analysis
set out in Unit 1.
30 Years of ‘16 Days’
The Shocking Reality of Gender-based Violence
by Illona Meyer
The United Nations’ ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence’ campaign
runs annually from 25 November to 10 December, with approximately 187 countries,
including South Africa, participating. 2021 marks 30 years of the campaign, which
begs the question: What is the current situation for women and children in the world?
Has our plight improved to any degree of substantiality? Sadly, no. The worldwide
reality of gender-based violence (#GBV) may shock many of us.
In South East Asia, physical and sexual violence against married women between
the ages of 15 and 49 years ranges from 20% in the Maldives to 50% in Bangladesh
(Jajeebhoy, Santhya & Acharya 2014:678-690). In the Middle East, thousands of
women have been victims of honour killings, with 400 women being murdered with
this motive from 1996 to 1998 in Yemen alone (Sadiqi 2014:185-187). In Africa,
around one third of women report being victims of both physical and sexual domestic
violence (Christiaensen 2016). In South Africa, the situation is particularly bad: we
have the ‘honour’ of having the highest rape rate in the world, at over 30%, and our
femicide (female homicide) rate is also currently five times higher than the global
average (Alesina, Brioschi & La Ferrara 2016). The so-called ‘Developed World’ is
not exempt: In the US, for example, one in five women will be raped in their lifetime,
compared to one in seventy-one men (National Sexual Violence Resource Centre
2015). These statistics are staggering!
Where does this leave us? While important conversations are had around ’16 Days’
and significant dates such as International Women’s Day and National Women’s Day
in South Africa, we need to do more than talk. It is time for us, as South Africans
especially, to rise up. We need to demand more than promises from the
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STUDY UNIT 4: Social Persuasive Texts
government—because activism without action will see us suffering for another 30+
years.
Bibliography
Note: Please do not consider this reference list in your analysis of the above text.
However, do note that referencing in this way, in the form of both in-text references
and an alphabetical list of sources consulted, is required whenever utilising and
quoting from sources, as was done in the text above.
Alesina, A., Brioschi, B. and La Ferrara, E. 2016. "Violence Against Women: A

Cross-cultural Analysis for Africa." The National Bureau of Economic Research.
[O]. Available: https://www.nber.org/papers/w21901
(Accessed: 15-12-2019).
Christiaensen, L. 2016. "Domestic Violence and Poverty in Africa: When the

Husband's Beating Stick is Like Butter." Africa Can End Poverty. [O]. Available:
http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/domestic-violence-and-poverty-in-africa-when-
the-husbands-beating-stick-is-like-butter
(Accessed: 15-12-2019).
Jejeebhoy, S.J., Santhya, K.G. and Acharya, R. 2014. “Violence against women in
South Asia: The need for the active engagement of the health sector.” Global Public
Health. 9 (6): 678–690.
National Sexual Violence Resource Centre. 2015. “Statistics about Sexual

Violence.” [O]. Available:
https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/publications_nsvrc_factsheet_media-
packet_statistics-about-sexual-violence_0.pdf
(Accessed: 15-12-2019).
Sadiqi, F. 2014. “Gender and Violence in Islamic Societies: Patriarchy, Islamism and
Politics in the Middle East and North Africa.” Gender & Development. 22 (1): 185–
187.
✓ Feedback
The first question you needed to ask yourself is: what is the text about? This text is
clearly about gender-based violence; more specifically, about ’16 Days of Activism
against Gender-based Violence’, with the writer arguing that not enough has been
done to stop gender-based violence. Secondly, by the writer’s name and the fact that
she includes herself in “Has our plight improved …?” and “In South Africa … we
have”, we can discern that she appears to be a South African woman, who is deeply
concerned about gender-based violence. Thirdly, from the use of the headline-lead
format (the lead being a line that briefly summarises the article by expanding on the
headline), and the formal style of the text as a whole, we may deduce that the article
is suitable to a printed or online newspaper or similar publication. Do you agree?
Next, an important question you needed to ask yourself, around which your critical
analysis of this social persuasive text would be focussed, relates to what you think
the purpose of the text is. Remember, while awareness might be a goal, the
overall purpose of a persuasive text is always to persuade or convince. The
article’s extensive use of statistics reveals its attempt to make its audience socially
aware of the reality of gender-based violence worldwide, but you cannot merely state
this and leave your consideration of the text’s purpose at that. Consider why the
writer is providing this information, to what end does she want to make us aware of
these facts? Essentially, she attempts to convince us how widespread and, to use
her word, ‘bad’ the problem is. Thereafter, with reference to the last paragraph, she
wants us to take action against the problem. The text is not clear as to what exactly
the direct action she hopes to influence us to take is—possibly details about an
uprising or petition, in which the writer may want us to participate, would be added
to the text. As is, do you think the text is effective in inspiring action?
ENG2602/501 71
Next, we have to ask ourselves for whom the text is intended. Target audience is
sometimes open to interpretation. In this case, the writer mentions a number of
countries, but focuses in particular on South Africa, using first-person plural
pronouns, which indicates a South African audience. The text, while formal, is
relatively simple and does not contain difficult vocabulary or highly technical jargon
(she defines words like ‘femicide’ for the reader); thus, a general, broad target
audience is suggested. The text’s emphasis on how widespread and important the
issue is and her call to action to “us, as South Africans” also suggests that this is
something that should concern the public at large. The writer’s reference to “us
suffering” as a consequence of inaction, will probably be more impactful to women,
as the principal victims of gender-based violence. This may indicate women to be
the primary target audience, but the text does not specifically exclude men, with the
first-person plural pronouns used interchangeably to refer to “us as women” and “us
as South Africans”. Do you see the extent to which you should probe the text when
considering who it is aimed at?
Lastly, but importantly, as this would make up the bulk of your analysis when
considering the text in the required detail in a full essay, you needed to consider the
tone, style, and language of the text. Unit 1 introduced you to these aspects, but you
are not yet expected to be able to perform a detailed analysis of the stylistic and
linguistic elements of a text. For now, you could perhaps have identified the following
features:
- the juxtaposition of ‘30 years’ and ‘16 days’, to paint a stark contrast between the
campaign and the reality of on-going violence against women, an idea which is
expanded on in the body of the article;
- an attempt to evoke feelings of outrage by utilising words such as ‘shocking’ and
‘staggering’;
- the use of statistics to convince the audience that this is a widespread issue, with
references to her sources for these statistics;
- the use of a variety of sources on the topic, to convince the reader that this is a well-
researched article;
- the use of sarcasm in the word ‘honour’ to refer to South Africa’s rape rate (i.e. the
opposite of what is stated is meant, this is not an honour at all);
- an attempt to include and relate to the audience by using the first-person plural
pronouns ‘us’ and ‘we’; and
- the use of a bold font to emphasise certain words.
NB: Listing features in bullet point format is only acceptable in a rough draft such as
this, where the aim is to order your thoughts. As you will see in Activity 4, this format
should not be utilised when writing a full, proper essay.
Can you spot any other persuasive aspects of the text? If not, do not be concerned,
by the end of this unit you should be able to perform a proper close, critical analysis
of this or any other social persuasive text.
1.2. Informative persuasion
We have discussed the ‘social awareness’ aspect of social persuasion, whereby a

text attempts to first make the audience aware of a social issue before it attempts to
persuade, but we need to briefly consider an even more subtle form of this type of
persuasion: the ‘informative’ text. An informative persuasive text is one that presents
a topic in an informative, explanatory or helpful style, with its persuasive aim
perhaps not being as clear and its attempt at persuasion more subtle than that of an
overt persuasive text—such as a poster on a lamppost or an advertisement on a
flyer.
Per Unit 3, an informative style can also be used in political persuasion, but
persuasive intent is usually not as easy to hide in a political text as it may be in a
social text. This is probably because a political persuasive text’s ‘call to action’ is
72
typically fairly direct, making the text more obviously persuasive. Perhaps we also,
through our learned experience of politics and politicians, expect an attempt at
persuasion from a political text, whereas we do not necessarily expect a text
appearing in a social context or from a seemingly ‘neutral’ source to be persuasive.
When confronted with any text pertaining to a social topic, we need to read it critically,
in order to be able to discern possible attempts at persuasion. The key outcome of
this unit is to teach you to perform such critical analysis of a social persuasive text.
Importantly, the texts included in this unit and the texts set for assignment and
examination questions based on this unit have been specifically selected for their
persuasive nature. Thus, you are not required to prove that the set texts are
persuasive; by virtue of them being set for this unit, you know that they are. However,
what you learn here will, hopefully, make you a more critical reader and allow you to
spot attempts at persuasion outside of the confines of this module.
In general, we should read all texts, including news reports and informative articles,
with a critical eye. This is not to say that all news reports, for example, are persuasive
texts. On the contrary, writers of news reports published via reputable news outlets
do generally make an effort to be objective in their reporting. However, the writer or
publication’s subjectivity may nonetheless filter through. Furthermore, not all
publications can be trusted to be objective, which is often how propaganda creeps
into what appears to be ‘news’. This is why we need to be critical readers, in order
to identify persuasion, particularly when it is disguised as information.
In addition to subjective news reports, posts, and articles, another key example of
‘informative’ persuasive writing is the so-called ‘think piece’, whereby a writer shares
their personal opinion on or their experience of a certain matter or problem, making
the piece inherently biased. The ‘issue’ the writer focuses on may be widely known
or, alternatively, be an issue the writer has identified. The latter may, potentially, lead
to over-generalisation and fearmongering based on something which is not a real
issue.
✓ Checkpoint: Look through the ‘Letters to the Editor’, ‘Opinion’ or ‘Thought Leader’
sections in a newspaper of your choice. There, you will likely find commentary on
social issues. Perform a close, critical reading of the one or two of the pieces and
see if you can tell how the writers attempt to convince you of their opinions.
1.3. Social and political activism
There is some degree of overlapping between social persuasion and political

persuasion; particularly between social activism and political activism (please see
section 3.1.2. ‘Political activism’ in Unit 3 for more about the latter).
In general, the distinction between social persuasion and political persuasion, which
we may consider as two interrelated but distinct sub-genres within persuasive
writing, is mainly rooted in differing details relating to producer and context. The
topics that social and political persuasive texts focus on, audiences that they
address, sources via which they are published, and tones and styles that they
employ, are often related or even, at times, exactly the same. Furthermore, the
immediate persuasive aims of social and political persuasive texts—that is, the
points of which the text is attempting to convince the audience—might be quite
similar.
Essentially, a social persuasive text may be written by anyone, to address a certain

social issue. A political persuasive text may address the self-same social issue, but
the producer will be a political organisation (for example, a political party) and the
overarching persuasive purpose or targeted outcome will be political (for example,
opposing and calling into question the ruling party).
✓ Checkpoint: Consider Text 1 for Activity 1 again. How would its agenda or overall
persuasive purpose have differed if it had been written by a writer representing an
opposition political party? Look in particular at the accusatory tone in the line that
ENG2602/501 73
reads “We need to demand more than promises from the government.” What
agenda may be revealed if this had been stated by a member of an opposition
political party?
The focus and message of the text would still be the same (that is, that gender-based
violence is a significant societal issue which has inadequately been addressed in the
past), but our understanding of the overarching purpose and agenda of the text may
differ, in that this may not only be a call for government to ‘do better’ but may further
imply that the writer’s political party can and would do better. This is what we mean
by emphasising the importance of identifying the ‘producer’ (speaker or writer)
and ‘context’ (the circumstances or medium in which the text appeared) when
considering a social persuasive text.
Let us consider another example. A non-profit organisation focusing on the wellbeing

of children may attempt to influence an audience to see child abuse as a social ill,
as the organisation is seeking to better the lives of children. The NPO can attempt
to do this by convincing the audience that the issue of child abuse is a prevalent
issue and by emphasising the wider societal impact of such abuse. The NPO’s aim
may be to inspire social change and/or to obtain donations for abused children. A
political party that is in opposition to the ruling political party may focus on the same
subject, attempting to convince the audience how widespread the issue is and
focussing on the self-same societal consequences of rampant child abuse. However,
the political party’s overall aim may differ from that of the NGO as the political party
wishes, first and foremost, to highlight the failings of the ruling party, and not
necessarily primarily to immediately better the lives of children.
As aforementioned, there is also a significant overlap between social activism and

political activism, as a particular type of political persuasion. A certain campaign or
movement can simultaneously be a form of social activism and political activism. The
‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, for example, can be defined as both social and
political activism. Proponents of the ‘BLM’ movement address a social ill (racism; in
particular, racist police brutality) through protest, thereby practicing social activism,
but many within the movement not only want the specific social ill to be addressed,
they also want widespread political reform. The overlap between social and political
activism is rooted in focussing on (a) social issue/s, with the difference being whether
a campaign is focussing on addressing the issue/s at a societal level or whether the
aim is to challenge a political system.
In this module, you will not specifically be asked to distinguish whether a text is a
form of social or political persuasion, but it is important to understand both the
similarities and the differences between these two persuasive genres.
1.4. Social persuasion and propaganda
If a more severe approach to social persuasion is taken, or particular persuasive

tactics are employed, we may say that a social persuasive text contains elements of
propaganda. Please consult section 3.1.3. ‘Propaganda’ as well as section 3.6.3.
‘Techniques commonly used in Propaganda’, both appearing in Unit 3, for a general
introduction to propaganda and propagandist elements in persuasive writing.
Let us consider two dictionary definitions of propaganda:
- The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘propaganda’ as “information, especially of a biased

or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.”
- The Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘propaganda’ as “information or ideas that are
spread by an organised group or government to influence people’s opinions,
especially by not giving all the facts or by secretly emphasising only one way of
looking at the facts.”
74
As indicated by the Oxford definition, propaganda is most often associated with

political persuasion, but it can also occur in social persuasion, both in social
persuasive texts that are politically affiliated and those that are not. To briefly
summarise the more detailed explanations in the aforementioned sections on
propaganda from Unit 3, a key aspect of recognising propaganda is identifying
writing that is purposely misleading and manipulative. We must be careful of
labelling and dismissing any text, including a social persuasive text, as propaganda
without sufficient evidence. In order to determine that a text contains elements of
propaganda, we have to identify specific techniques commonly used in propaganda,
as set out in section 3.6.3 in Unit 3.
Activity 2
Please access the PETA advertisement via either of the following two URLs:
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/washington-dc-united-states-
7252019-peta-1462310048
or
https://i.redd.it/ssexhgdekjn21.jpg
If you have trouble accessing the URL, here is a brief breakdown of the
advertisement, for your convenience:
The image shows a truck with an advertisement for an organisation by the name of
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) on the side. The trailer part of
the truck shows a large photograph of a cow ‘kissing’ her calf on the cheek. Alongside
the photograph, a sizeable multi-coloured headline reads ‘A MOTHER COW LOVES
HER BABIES’ (with the word ‘LOVE’ emphasised with heart-parenthesis) and below
that, a lead reads ‘Let’s leave her milk for them. PETA.’ The door of the cab part of
the truck reads, in smaller lettering, ‘GO VEGAN!’
This photograph of the PETA truck was taken on 25 July 2019 in Washington DC in
the United States at the Animal Rights 2019 National Conference.
Definition: a vegan is a person who does not eat or use animal products.
Perform a close, critical reading of the advertisement, focusing on both its written
and visual features. Remember to answer the key textual analysis questions, as we
did in Activity 1. In closing, consider whether the text contains elements of
propaganda. Compare your answers with the feedback below.
✓ Feedback
What did you identify this text to be about? This text deals with the moral issue of
(not) drinking cow’s milk. The text was created by PETA, an animal welfare
organisation. This text is a printed outdoor advertisement that appears on a truck,
which, according to the photographer of the photograph we are analysing, was
parked at the Animal Rights 2019 National Conference in Washington DC in the
United States. If you noted these aspects, you have successfully addressed the
topic, producer, source and context of the text. In further consideration of the
source of the text, you may have noted that the text would not only be viewable to
attendees at the conference, but also to motorists and pedestrians on route to and
from the conference, as well as anywhere else that the truck may be driven. You
could further consider the suitability of the format of the text to this type of viewing.
Do you think it has enough impact to be viewed at a glance in traffic? In this respect,
it has to be similar to a billboard in terms of the brevity and immediacy of its impact.
ENG2602/501 75
What do you think the purpose of the text is? Informing the audience that a mother
cow loves her babies is not providing new knowledge or information. Rather, the text
attempts to convince the reader that, by drinking cow’s milk, we are robbing the calf
of its milk. The accuracy of this message may be debatable, which could suggest
that the text is potentially misleading and might be considered to be propagandist in
nature (see further discussion of this below). Be that as it may, remember that ‘critical
analysis’ does not mean going off on a topical tangent and focussing your discussion
on whether or not a statement is true. Instead, you need to first and foremost critically
consider the message of the text in terms of its persuasive aim, analysing how it
sets about achieving this aim (i.e. the persuasive techniques utilised) and whether
or not the persuasive techniques it has used are effective. In considering the purpose
of this text, it was important to note that the use of the message about the cow, her
milk and her calf is a potentially manipulative tactic employed in order to convince
the audience to stop drinking cow’s milk and become vegans. We can support our
identification of this aim by quoting the suggestion to leave the cow’s milk for her
babies and the instruction or command to “GO VEGAN!”
Who do you consider to be the target audience of the text? The primary target
audience of the text would be the attendees at the conference. The simplicity of the
text and the fact that the truck, while driving, could be seen by virtually anyone on
the street, indicates a general audience comprising any and all members of the
American public—excluding those who are already vegans and do not use dairy
products. The fact that someone took a photograph of the text on the truck and
posted it on the Internet, on websites such as Shutterstock and Reddit (which are
‘visited’ by individuals from all over the world), has exposed it to an even more
heterogeneous (i.e. broad, varied, and diverse) audience, including a South African
audience.
In your consideration of the tone, style, and language of the text, what persuasive
aspects were you able to recognise? The main persuasive approach that you may
have identified is an attempt to evoke an emotion of sympathy or empathy by
humanising the cow, equating her to a mother that loves her babies. The image
included furthers this aim, as the cow appears to be kissing her calf on the cheek,
much like a human mother would. What other, specific linguistic or visual elements
were you able to pick up on? If none, you can return to this text once you have
worked through the persuasive techniques detailed later on in this unit and make
another attempt.
Lastly, you needed to consider whether the text contains elements of propaganda.
We have already noted referring to the cow as a mother who loves her ‘babies’ and
implying that we are stealing her babies’ milk by consuming dairy, may be considered
emotionally manipulative, which is a common technique associated with propaganda
(as set out in section 3.6.3 in Unit 3). We may also note that, to an extent, the text
attempts to demonise us, the readers, for drinking cow’s milk—another element of
propaganda. Contextually, farmers argue that cows produce up to five times more
milk per day than their calves can consume, suggesting that we are not depriving
calves of their milk by consuming dairy, which could then lead us to consider the
text’s core argument as potentially misleading and an example of the propagandist
technique of selection or slanting. Now, you are not expected to simply know this
information about cows and, again, it is not up to you, as a language analysis scholar,
to ‘take a side’ and state categorically that the text’s argument is true or untrue. You
merely needed to be able to identify that the text utilises selection by employing a
one-sided, potentially questionable argument.
Do you see how elements of propaganda may creep into a social persuasive text?
2. SOCIAL PERSUASION AND SOCIAL MEDIA
As mentioned in the introduction to this unit, social persuasion may occur via a wide
range of media—including print media (newspapers, magazines, books, pamphlets
et cetera), outdoor media (billboards, lampposts, vehicles et cetera), and online
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media (online publications, blogs, social media sites, message forums, e-mail et
cetera). A medium on which we would particularly like to focus your attention, given
its meteoric rise as a medium for social activism and social persuasion, is social
media. Please study section 2.1.1.3. ‘New media persuasion’ in Unit 2 and section
2. ‘POLITICAL PERSUASION AND THE MEDIA’ in Unit 3 in accompaniment of this
section.
The past decade has seen a significant rise in social media activism—social activism
that takes place on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other,
smaller social media sites. The last few years, in particular, have seen social media
users utilise these platforms to highlight social ills, spread ideas about social issues,
attempt to persuade others to their beliefs and causes, and organise and document
protests.
An example of the significant role of social media in social and political activism is
the 2020 resurgence of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement. From around April to
June 2020, details of specific instances of US police brutality against black lives went
‘viral’ (spread quickly to millions of people) worldwide via social media, which lead to
mass protests and demonstrations in the US and across the world. The protests
were organised and documented via social media and important conversations
about police brutality, racial profiling, and racism in general took place on social
media platforms. For more about the role of social media in the ‘Black Lives Matter’
(#BLM) movement, specifically, you can consult the following link:
https://www.redbrick.me/the-role-of-social-media-in-black-lives-matter/.
Another example, in a South African context, are the protests against gender-based
violence (GBV) that took place across the country in September 2019. A female
student from UCT was reported missing in August, with posts featuring her
photograph shared on social media platforms by many social media users from Cape
Town and elsewhere in South Africa, while her family and friends waited and hoped
for her safe return. When it transpired that the student had been sexually assaulted
and murdered in a local Post Office, allegedly by a Post Office employee, the story
went ‘viral’ on social media (in particular on Twitter), whereafter it was picked up by
mainstream media outlets. The victim’s name and the hashtags #EndGBV and
#AmINext then ‘trended’ (saw a massive surge in popularity) online, and not long
thereafter a mass protest against GBV took place in Cape Town (again, organised
largely on social media), with smaller protests occurring across the rest of the
country. In Cape Town, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed protesters and
promised to make GBV a government priority, which is an example of how social
activism—particularly instigated via social media—can come to influence politics.
Before and since then, #GBV frequently ‘trends’ on South African social media, as
cases of gender-based violence come to public attention.
✓ Checkpoint: Search for the hashtags #BLM, #GBV or #ClimateCrisis (a social

movement pertaining to climate change) on Twitter. If you do not have a Twitter
account, you can simply type the relevant hashtag + Twitter into Google. You can
also search for these movements on other social media platforms. Read some of the
top Tweets (or other social media posts) that come up and consider these texts in
light of what you have thus far learned about analysing persuasive writing.
3. THE PERSUASIVE PURPOSE
At this point, you should understand that the aim of a persuasive text is never solely
to ‘make aware’ or inform; the aim of a persuasive text is always to persuade or
convince. We refer to this as the text’s persuasive purpose. When attempting to
identify a social persuasive text’s purpose, you need to be specific. Stating a
generalised aim does not suffice. For example, if we refer back to the PETA
advertisement set for Activity 2, it would not have been sufficient to only state that
the text attempts to convince the audience to become vegans. That is, certainly, the
overall persuasive purpose of the text, and it needed to be stated, but you also
needed to identify the specific idea of which the text attempts to convince the reader.
In the case of the PETA advertisement, that idea is: by drinking cow’s milk, we are
depriving calves of the milk they require.
ENG2602/501 77
We may refer to the idea/s that a persuasive text holds and of which it attempts to
convince the audience as the ideology of the text. Merriam-Webster defines
‘ideology’ as “the content of thinking characteristic of an individual, group, or culture.”
In reference to a social persuasive text, the ideology of the text is the ‘thinking’
about a certain social issue (of which the producer of the text attempts to convince
the audience per the text’s persuasive purpose). For example, the ideology of the
PETA advertisement is that humans drinking cow’s milk is ‘bad’ and the milk should
only be for calves. The ideology of the ‘30 Years of ‘16 Days’’ text set for Activity 1
is that GBV is a significant social problem, especially in South Africa, with women
being the primary victims, and that not enough has been done to address this
problem in the past 30 years.
When critically analysing a social persuasive text, it is important to not praise,

criticise, or argue for or against the text or the topic according to your own
ideologies—that is, what you personally believe or hold to be true about the issue
discussed. As a language analysis scholar, you need to try to remain objective in
your analysis. What do we mean by this?
1. Firstly, you should not write an argumentative essay about the topic of the social
persuasive text. For example, in analysing the text set for Activity 1, it would not have
been correct if you wrote an essay about GBV in general. Instead, you had to note
the points that the text makes about the issue (in this case, GBV) and then try to
identify the specific persuasive techniques used by the writer in her attempt to
convince the audience. The persuasive techniques used and their effects, which
should become clearer to you once you have studied section 5 below, would be the
focus of your analysis, after you have identified the subject, producer and/or context,
persuasive purpose, and target audience of the text.
2. In fact, you should not at all argue ‘for’ or ‘against’ any argument raised by a text. If
you consider a text’s argument to be flawed, you can and should state that the
argument is, potentially, misleading, lacking in evidential support, or engaging in
selection or slanting, as we did when we analysed the PETA advertisement.
However, beyond this you should not devise arguments of your own in
opposition to the argument made by the text. Likewise, if you deem a text’s
argument to be particularly convincing, you should not state that the argument is
‘true’ or emphasise how thoroughly you have been convinced by the
argument. Instead, you need to identify the specific persuasive technique/s
employed by the producer to make the argument convincing. For example, the writer
of the text set for Activity 1 made use of figures and statistics to convince the
audience how severe and widespread GBV is.
3. Lastly, while you absolutely should identify a text’s ideologies, you should not
impose your own ideologies on a text.
Let us look at an example. The headline of a ‘think piece’ about road accidents reads:
“More women on the road, road accidents rise. Coincidence?” Here, you need to
identify that the writer engages in gender stereotyping by implying that women are
poor drivers and are responsible for the increased rate of road accidents. Let us
imagine that, instead, the headline reads: “Road accidents on the rise: Why?” Here,
the writer did not engage in gender stereotyping, and it would not be appropriate for
you to engage in gender stereotyping yourself by suggesting that female drivers may
be the cause.
In short, when analysing social persuasive texts, you should identify stereotyping
(based on gender, sexuality, race, nationality et cetera) if it appears in a text, but you
should not engage in this kind of stereotyping yourself.
As human beings, it is impossible to be completely objective, particularly when it

comes to a social issue about which we feel passionate or by which we are upset.
However, as a scholar, you have to try to keep your personal opinions and ideologies
out of your analysis of texts, particularly social texts, insofar as possible. Remember,
‘critical analysis’ does not mean we are critical of the topic of the text. For
example, just because we critically analyse a text about xenophobia, by identifying
the persuasive strategies used by the writer to achieve the text’s persuasive purpose
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and commenting on their effect, does not mean we are criticising the writer or the
topic or are, in fact, ourselves pro-xenophobia.
To return to the matter of identifying a social persuasive text’s persuasive purpose,

remember that you firstly need to identify the specific ideology (or ideologies) of the
text; that is, what specific idea/s the text wants the audience to believe. Then, the
text will have an overarching persuasive purpose, which for social persuasion
commonly includes:
- merely influencing the audience’s ideas about the topic (that is, not seemingly
attempting to inspire immediate action but rather planting an idea—for example, that
veganism is a better way of life or that fathers can and should be nurturing too);
- getting the audience to change their behaviour (that is, attempting to inspire a
specific action—for example, convincing the audience to stop using derogative terms
to refer to women, or to start recycling and using less single-use plastic); and
- obtaining support for a non-profit organisation (that is, inspiring action by way of
donations of time or money to the producer of the text or other organisations
committed to the cause).
4. THE TARGET AUDIENCE
The target audience of a text is, quite simply, the people at whom the text is aimed.
In social persuasion, it is the group/s that the producer wants to convince about—
and, potentially, inspire to take action on—a social issue.
Any given text may have a primary and a secondary target audience. The primary
target audience of a text involves those who will receive the message first. For
example, it is those that are present to hear a speech being given. If we look at the
PETA advertisement set for Activity 2 again as an example, the primary target
audience comprised attendees at the Animal Rights 2019 National Conference in
the United States, who would have viewed the truck and the advertisement. The
secondary target audience of a text involves the wider reach that the producer hopes
the text may have and the audience it may thus reach. For example, if a speech is
given, it may be recorded or filmed and broadcasted via radio, television, and online
channels. It may also be transcribed (that is, put into written or printed form) and
disseminated in this form. The speaker will keep the secondary target audience in
mind when writing and delivering their speech. Sometimes the ‘secondary target
audience’ is, in fact, the speaker’s primary target audience, in that the speech is
chiefly given for wider dissemination.
The producer of a text needs to tailor the text to their target audience. For
example, if targeting an academic or scientific audience, the text will probably be
quite formal, complex and detailed, with some prior audience knowledge on the topic
assumed. If targeting an everyman and woman audience, comprised of the general
public, a text would likely be simpler, easier to understand, and less in-depth. When
identifying the target audience of a text, you need to support your identification
with close reference to the text; for example, as we did in Activity 1. As a general
rule, the more specific you are in your identification of the target audience, the more
extensive and specific your support of that identification needs to be. For example,
if you identified the text set for Activity 1 to be aimed at all South Africans, you needed
to identify the simple vocabulary used, which can be understood by the general
public, and references that include all South Africans or the country as a whole.
However, in order to be more specific, stating that the text targets women,
specifically, you needed to identify specific features of the text that indicate this—
such as the use of first-person plural pronouns, referring to women as ‘us’. Keep in
mind that a text may be aimed at a number of disparate, diverse groups, or at a
specific group as well a wider group (such as is the case with the GBV text).
ENG2602/501 79
Activity 3
Identify the persuasive purpose and target audience of the following text. Remember
to support your observations with close reference to the text. Compare your answers
with the feedback below.
Litterbugs Should be Exterminated!
Littering is probably one of the most disgusting things that a human being can do.
Why can you not just hold on to your trash and throw it in the nearest trashcan?
Instead, people just throw their garbage on the floor as they’re walking or out of their
car window, turning the whole world into a rubbish dump for the rest of us. Nowadays,
you can’t even go on a hike in nature without seeing some food wrappings or a soda
can lying around. Imagine, our beautiful natural scenes overrun with mounds of
garbage.
What would it take for people to stop being so filthy? The government must impose
fines! Maybe, if your pocket is empty because you had to pay a fine for littering, you
can keep your wrappers and other trash in your pocket, instead of throwing it on the
street.
Sign our petition for litterbugs to be fined!
✓ Feedback
It is probably quite easy for you to identify the overarching persuasive purpose of
this text. The text includes a clear ‘call to action’ at the end, whereby the producer
appeals to the reader to sign their “petition for litterbugs to be fined.” This text is a
petition and its ‘bottom line’ is to convince the reader to sign the petition. However,
identifying this as the persuasive purpose of the text is only part of what is required.
You need to identify the specific idea/s of which the writer attempts to convince
the reader. Specifically, the writer argues that littering is a significant issue, with “the
whole world” being “overrun with mounds of garbage.” They want to convince the
reader that the appropriate response to this issue is for fines to be imposed for
littering. The writer first needs to get the reader’s buy-in on this issue—getting us to
believe that littering is as severe and widespread an issue as the writer says it is—
before they can hope to convince us to support the idea of fines for littering and sign
the petition. If the writer cannot convince us that littering is a significant
environmental issue and that litterbugs are careless people who must be stopped,
we are not likely to see the significance of the petition and would not sign it. This is
what we refer to as a hierarchy of persuasive aims, whereby the producer of a text
needs to convince us of a certain problem before they can suggest a solution to this
problem.
What about the target audience of the text? Your first instinct might be to say that
so-called ‘litterbugs’ are the target audience of the text. Certainly, the text does
directly address people who litter through the accusative use of the second-person
pronouns ‘you’ and ‘your’ in “Why can you not just hold on to your trash …?” and
“Maybe, if your pocket is empty …” However, one may argue that people who litter
are not the primary target audience of the text. The core persuasive purpose of the
text is to get the reader to support the idea of fines for litterbugs and to sign a petition
in support of this, which is probably not something of which people who litter would
be in support. Overall, the approach of the text is also (through the use of an angry
tone, ‘negative’ language, and exaggeration) to evoke anger in the reader, not
merely guilt. With that said, you can state that the text’s secondary aim may be to
make any litterbugs who see the petition feel guilty and shamed for their actions (see
“What would it take for people to stop being so filthy?”) and fearful for the
repercussions of their actions (should fines be imposed), which would make people
who litter part of the target audience of the text.
When analysing a set persuasive text, this is the extent to which you need to consider
persuasive purpose and target audience and support your discussion. It is not
sufficient to merely address either of these two aspects in passing, in a line or two.
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5. PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES
If you have already studied Unit 2 and/or Unit 3, this section will look familiar to you,
but you should still carefully work through the below discussion of the common
persuasive techniques to understand how these techniques are utilised in social
persuasive texts.
Persuasive techniques—that is, strategies used in directing the persuasive purpose

at the target audience—are the building blocks of a persuasive text. We may broadly
classify these techniques as persuasive appeals and linguistic devices.
5.1. Persuasive appeals
5.1.1. Appeal to credibility or authority
An appeal to credibility or authority is referred to as the ethical appeal (ethos). The

utilisation of this appeal is an attempt to either convince the reader that the writer is
credible (trustworthy) or else refer to a credible (reliable) source for support. For
example, the text set for Activity 3 is distinctly lacking in support for the claims it
makes about the severity and extent of the worldwide littering situation. However, if
the text had referenced a noted environmental group in support of its claims or had
included a quote from a celebrity who has been outspoken about littering and the
environment, it would have made effective use of ethos to enhance its appeal.
Celebrity appeal and the use of hero endorsement are particularly effective in social
persuasion. Referencing an authority figure or organisation will also make the reader
more likely to believe that the ‘facts’ they are reading are true.
5.1.2. Appeal to Emotion
An appeal to emotion is referred to as the emotional appeal (pathos). When

identifying an attempt by a writer to persuade readers by appealing to their emotions,
you cannot merely state this as fact; it is important that you explain how exactly the
text uses the emotive appeal, by identifying the specific emotions or feelings evoked.
The PETA advertisement set for Activity 2, for example, attempts to make us have
sympathy for the cow and her calves, in order to make us feel guilty about drinking
the cow’s milk that is supposed to be for the calves. The ‘Litterbugs Should be
Exterminated!’ text set for Activity 3 uses emotive language (about which you will
learn more below) and exclamation marks in order to evoke outrage and anger in
the reader about the littering situation. The text also employs fearmongering, painting
a picture of the world overrun with garbage. A social persuasive text can also use a
positive emotive appeal, whereby it attempts to evoke feelings such as trust,
sympathy, or goodwill towards an individual, organisation, or cause.
5.1.3. Appeal to Logic
An appeal to logic or reason is referred to as the logical appeal (logos). A key strategy
used as part of this appeal is to include researched ‘facts’ or statistics, such as was
the case with the text set for Activity 1, whereby the writer used GBV statistics from
across the world and South Africa, specifically, to illustrate how extensive and severe
the issue is. This allows the writer to convince the reader that the statements made
about the issue are true and a solution is required—a reasonable request, given the
severity of the issue. Importantly, an appeal to logic does not refer to simply writing
ENG2602/501 81
statement sentences—in order for us to conclude that a logical appeal has been
used, the writer needs to have made a perceptible effort to use ‘facts’ or ‘reason’
(because X is true, Y must be true) to persuade the audience.
There is a fair amount of overlap between these appeals and any given text can
make use of more than one appeal. For example, a text can employ the logical
appeal by citing figures and statistics and may then attempt to enhance the reliability
and believability of these figures and statistics by attributing them to a trusted,
reliable source on the matter (thus, utilising the ethical appeal as well). However, a
text is, arguably, more effective if it does not bombard the audience with persuasive
appeals and chooses wisely how to use these appeals.
✓ Checkpoint: Consider the following statements and identify and motivate which
persuasive appeal/s has/have been employed in each statement.
1. The harrowing reality of rhino poaching is that rhinos often have their horns hacked
off while they are still alive, after which they are left to bleed out in excruciating pain.
This statement utilises an emotional appeal, using language such as ‘harrowing’,

‘hacked off’, and ‘excruciating pain’ to describe the suffering of the rhino, thereby
attempting to elicit emotions of disgust, pity, and sadness within the reader.
2. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), HIV continues to be a major

global public health issue, having claimed almost 33 million lives so far.
This statement utilises both a logical and an ethical appeal. It cites a figure (33
million) to indicate that HIV has claimed a significant number of lives and is thus a
“major global public health issue”, thereby using an appeal to logic or reason (i.e. X
is true, so Y is true). It also uses the ethical appeal by crediting the information to the
World Health Organization, a global organisation that is a worldwide authority on
health matters.
5.2. Linguistic devices
5.2.1. Diction and style
Diction—simply, ‘word choice’—is the main language feature of persuasive writing

and one which you will always refer to in your critical analyses, since texts are made
up of words. When analysing diction, consider the denotative (literal) and connotative
(implied) meaning and impact of certain words in the text. As you perform your close
reading of the text, take note of which words you find most impactful. As a starting
point, consider in particular the text’s use of adjectives and adverbs to create effect.
The style of a text is created by the diction utilised. The style of the text may be
formal or informal, depending on its language and structure use. The style of the text
should be appropriate to its source, context, topic, and target audience. A newspaper
report would typically be more formal than a social media post—though the latter can
also be written quite formally, depending on the producer and the target audience.
As we have already discussed, the style of a text written for a highly technical
audience would differ from that written for a general audience. The style of a text
should also be appropriate to its topic—a serious, difficult, or sensitive topic requires
a more formal style.
✓ Checkpoint: Do you think the informal style of the petition text set for Activity 3 is
appropriate and effective?
5.2.2. Tone and mood
Tone refers to the attitude of the writer towards the topic, while mood refers to the
feelings that the writer attempts to create within the reader. For example, referring
once more to the petition text set for Activity 3, the tone of the writer is angry and
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frustrated. The mood of the text is similar, with the writer attempting to elicit anger
and exasperation from the reader as well. In building on this mood, the writer also
attempts to create panic within the reader about the situation, which is a technique
that can be used to great effect in social persuasion to emphasise (and perhaps
exaggerate) the seriousness of the social ill identified.
5.2.3. Structure
below). ‘Structure’ refers to how the text is organised in terms of its approach to its
topic. It does not refer to how the text is laid out on the page but rather to how the
writer has organised their arguments within the text.
The most common structure employed in social persuasion is the ‘problem-solution’

structure, whereby the writer informs or reminds the reader of a problem, and then
indicates how it ought to be solved. This is the structure that was employed in the
texts set for Activity 2 and Activity 3. A social persuasive text may forego the solution
aspect of the structure by leaving the problem open-ended—as was the case with
the text set for Activity 1. In such a case the text creates social awareness of an
issue by attempting to convince the audience that the issue identified is a problem,
but, while indicating that a solution is required, does not offer a particular solution.
5.2.4. Emotive language
The mood of the text, as we have pointed out, is the feeling/s it attempts to elicit—
formed through the use of emotive language. The emotive appeal (pathos) is
created by specific emotive language. As mentioned under the emotive appeal,
when identifying the use of emotive language, you need to note the specific words
or phrases that, according to you, are emotive and the particular emotion/s or
feeling/s evoked. You also have to explain how the words or phrases you have
quoted evoke the feelings to which you refer. Here, use of a dictionary and an
eventually expanded vocabulary will serve you well.
✓ Checkpoint: Let us return to the ‘Litterbugs Should be Exterminated!’ text set for
Activity 3. We have noted that the text attempts to arouse feelings of anger and
exasperation in the reader, but how does it do this? In the opening line, it uses the
strongly negative adjective ‘disgusting’, which the Oxford Dictionary defines as
something that is “extremely unpleasant” and “making one feel shocked, upset or
angry”, to describe the act of littering and human beings who do it. Right at the outset,
the writer’s intention is for the word ‘disgusting’ to arouse these feelings in the reader.
Another example, through which the writer attempts to create a feeling of
exasperation, is the repeated use of rhetorical questions and exclamation marks (for
more on the effect of punctuation, see below). Can you identify any other words,
phrases, or features of the text that create an emotive appeal?
5.2.5. Inclusive language
Inclusive language refers to language used to make the audience feel included in
and directly addressed by a text. This is primarily done through pronoun use, though
it can also be done by posing questions to the reader and using collective terms
(such as the reference to ‘South Africans’ in the text set for Activity 1).
First-person plural pronouns (‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘our’) are commonly used in social
persuasive texts. These pronouns have a unifying effect, uniting the writer and
audience—including the different groups of which the audience may be comprised—
in a common cause, which is important when addressing social issues. The use of
first-person singular pronouns, (‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘my’), may have the opposite effect,
distinguishing the writer and setting them apart from the audience, but when
effectively combined with of first-person plural pronouns, first-person singular
pronouns can make a text seem more personal by making the writer seem personally
involved in or having experienced the issue/s outlined, and thus seeming more
trustworthy and relatable to the audience. Lastly, second-person pronouns ‘you’ and
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‘your’ may be used to make the audience feel as though the text is addressing them
directly, which may be particularly effective in confronting the reader about a social
ill and persuading them to take action.
5.2.6. Imperative language
structure used (verb placed at the front of the sentence) to make a ‘command’—in a
manner of instructing the reader what to do. This can also be done through the
imperative ‘must’.
The text in the PETA advertisement that states ‘GO VEGAN!’ is a good example of
this device; the reader is not given a choice in the matter. The effectiveness of
imperative language depends largely on the frequency with which it is used in a text.
A text that over-uses imperatives may seem to harass the reader, which might make
the reader not want to pay further attention to the text. However, in the PETA
advertisement, the writer offsets the imperative with the more polite suggestion ‘Let’s
leave …’
5.2.7. Punctuation and sentence structure
The length of a persuasive text needs to be appropriate to its source, medium, or

context. This is both in terms of the overall length of the text and the length of each
of the sentences. For example, as we discussed in Activity 2, the PETA
advertisement was created to primarily be viewed in passing (though it was later
published online). This means that the text had to be brief and the sentences short
and to the point. Certain formats lend themselves better to a longer text and longer
sentences (for example, newspaper reports, formal speeches, and blog articles),
while others require a shorter text and shortened sentences (for example, billboards
and, typically, social media posts—a Tweet can only be 280 characters). A medium
for persuasion is thus carefully selected based on the target audience’s reading
preferences and how the producer wants to present the message.
In terms of punctuation, the two most effective punctuation marks used in social
persuasion are the exclamation mark and the question mark. The exclamation mark
can attempt to create a sense of urgency or panic, particularly when, as in the PETA
advertisement, used in conjunction with imperatives. A question mark attempts to
engage the reader, either to get them to consider a point or to challenge them, and
is particularly effective when used in conjunction with second-person pronouns.
5.2.8. Lexical cohesion
Cohesion in a text is most commonly created through repetition, synonyms or

collocation. In lengthier social persuasive writing in particular, lexical cohesion is
also used to create continuity and emphasise a certain point or argument. Repetition
as a linguistic technique refers to the repetition of keywords—typically utilised in
persuasive writing for emphasis. In Activity 4 below, consider the effect of the
speaker’s use of repetition in the text. Synonymy refers to words that are deemed to
be similar in meaning and complementary, while collocation refers to words that are
opposite in meaning but often used together or in close proximity to one another.
Both of these cohesive devices are utilised in order to create or enhance the mood
in persuasive writing. For example, in the petition text set for Activity 3, the writer
uses synonymy cohesion through the words ‘littering’, ‘garbage’, and ‘rubbish dump’.
These synonyms are not merely used to avoid repetition, they are used in an
escalating fashion to build up the mood of the text and emphasise how bad the
littering situation has become. In this short text, collocation occurs when the word
‘disgusting’, used to refer to littering in the first line, is later contrasted by the word
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‘beautiful’ to refer to nature; again, employed to persuade the reader of the

seriousness of the situation.
5.2.9. Figurative language
Figurative language, or so-called figures of speech, might be employed in social

persuasive writing. You probably already know a number of figurative language
devices from your previous study and will become familiar with yet more in the
Literature section of this module. We are not going to consider these devices in-
depth here but would like to focus your attention on four figures of speech commonly
used in social persuasion.
- The first two are metaphor and imagery, with metaphorical language used to create
a certain image in the audience’s minds. For example, the text set for Activity 3
makes effective use of a metaphor by comparing the litter-strewn world to a rubbish
dump, creating an image of “mounds of garbage” in the reader’s mind.
- The third figurative device that commonly appears in social persuasion is
euphemism (for example, ‘passing away’ as a euphemism for death). In a social
persuasive text, euphemism may be used to avoid using offensive or insensitive
language to discuss a sensitive matter. This sets the reader at ease and makes the
text more formal, although it may sacrifice the emotive impact of ‘stronger’ language.
- A final figurative device that is particularly effective in social persuasion is
hyperbole—that is, the use of exaggeration for effect or emphasis. A social
persuasive text may use hyperbolic language to exaggerate a social issue. Looking
again at the text set for Activity 3, one may argue that, while there are “mounds of
garbage” to be found in certain places and some litter occurs all over, the whole
world has not been turned into a “rubbish dump”. The writer has thus used hyperbolic
language to exaggerate the severity of the situation.
Do not be alarmed if you cannot find many, or any, figures of speech in a set social
persuasive text. These texts may rely on the other linguistic devices (i.e. persuasive
language) that we have discussed, without having to necessarily make use of
figurative language. However, when figurative language is used, you do need to
identify the figure of speech and comment on its persuasive effect.
5.3. Visual strategies
While the focus in this module is on written (or transcribed) texts, we do need to
briefly consider the visual features of persuasive writing. Social persuasive texts may
employ visual strategies to reinforce (or, unintentionally, contradict) the written text.
An advertisement format—of which the PETA text is a prime example—can be
effectively used in social persuasive writing.
5.3.1. Layout
A persuasive text may employ an evocative headline, bold or coloured fonts, and a
thought-provoking or catchy phrase or slogan in order to attract the non-assured
reader (i.e. a reader that had not been looking for certain information or to learn
about the social issue being discussed). As a rule of thumb, the more important the
text, the larger the font. The intention is to draw the reader’s eye to that text first. For
example, in the PETA text, the key message ‘A Mother Cow Loves Her Babies’ is
capitalised and written in a large font, in order to draw the viewer’s attention. The
word ‘love’ is also parenthesised by hearts, to emphasise the word through the use
of the universal symbol for love (the heart).
5.3.2. Photographs and graphics
Images may play a part in grabbing the reader’s attention, and, in outdoor social
advertising especially, may be the focal point of the advertisement. Your analysis of
a photograph or graphic that appears in visual text you are tasked with analysing
ENG2602/501 85
does not need to be extensive or sophisticated—you simply need to briefly consider
the persuasive impact of the image.
For example, in the PETA advertisement, the image of the cow ‘kissing’ her calf aids
in humanising her and reinforces the message that she loves her ‘babies’. This aids
the persuasive point of the text that, if we use dairy products, the cow will have no
milk left for her ‘baby’. PETA tends to make particularly prolific use of images in their
social advertisements—either by utilising an image of animal torture to shock the
reader, or else a ‘cute’ image of animals to concretise a thread that is woven
throughout PETA’s persuasive messages: that ‘animals are people too.’ This may
be considered the unofficial slogan of PETA.
6. CONDUCTING AN ANALYSIS OF A SOCIAL ACTIVIST TEXT—A

PRACTICE ANALYSIS
Activity 4
Please access a transcript of climate activist Greta Thunberg’s address at the 2019
UN Climate Action Summit via the following URL:
https://www.npr.org/2019/09/23/763452863/transcript-greta-thunbergs-
speech-at-the-u-n-climate-action-summit
Note: If, for whatever reason, you are unable to access the address via the link
provided, you can simply Google ‘Greta Thunberg speech transcript 2019 UN
Climate Action Summit’ and you should be able to find a copy of the speech text.
Write an essay in which you critically analyse the speech text. Your analysis should
consider what the purpose of the text is, who it is aimed at, and how it sets about
achieving its persuasive purpose by critically considering the persuasive techniques
utilised.
➢ Feedback
approach a question such as the above when analysing a social persuasive text.
You should compare your own effort to this feedback response. The notes in square
brackets are additions that we included to guide you and explain our analytical
method as we progress. Your essay should not include such explanations of
your method of analysis, you should solely focus on conducting a close, critical
analysis of the text, as is done outside of the square brackets in the below model
response.
The purpose of this essay is to critically analyse a set persuasive text, the transcript
of climate activist Greta Thunberg’s address at the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit.
This analysis will consider the purpose and target audience of the text, as well as
the persuasive techniques used by the speaker to achieve the text’s purpose. The
set text is a social persuasive text in the form of a speech that was presented in New
York City in the United States of America [Note: This is the ‘what’ of the text stated;
i.e. we have stated ‘what’ the text is about at the outset of the essay. We have also
rewritten the set question in our own words in order to state how we will be analysing
the text. Your preferred structure and wording for your introduction may differ slightly
from ours, but this is a good template to use].
The purpose of the speech is to confront attendees at the Climate Action Summit, in
particular United Nations delegates, about the issue of climate change. We can
identify the persuasive purpose of the text to be to convince the audience that the
Earth is starting to see the effects of a climate catastrophe, which will only get worse,
and that previous generations and the current generation in power have not done
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nearly enough to address this environmental issue. Thunberg, who was sixteen
years old at the time of giving the address, starts her speech by asserting how
‘wrong’ it is that she had to leave school and her home country and travel across the
world to address delegates about the issue of climate change. She points out that
“for more than 30 years, the science [on climate change] has been crystal clear”,
whereafter she sets out the science to which she refers. She closes by reiterating
her opening message, that young people will be watching the leaders of the world,
reaffirming that the leaders have the responsibility to address climate change—now.
Thunberg’s overall aim is for those in power, the world over, to immediately put in
place the “solutions or plans” required to significantly lessen CO2 emissions and
avoid the pending climate catastrophe, but first, she needs to convince the audience
that such a catastrophe is indeed pending and that the current plans and actions in
place to address CO2 emissions are inadequate [Note: We have given an overview
of the text’s approach and stated and expanded on the persuasive purpose of the
text—supported by close reference to the text].
Thunberg’s primary target audience, as mentioned, comprises those in attendance

at the Climate Action Summit—including, specifically, UN delegates and the press.
She addresses delegates directly through her use of the second-person pronouns
‘you’ and ‘your’. From the presence of the press and the fact that speeches at a
United Nations summit would typically be broadcast worldwide due to their global
relevance, Thunberg would have been aware that her secondary target audience
would be the whole world. Indeed, owing to Thunberg’s personal celebrity status
prior to making the speech (she had received international attention for her protests
against climate change—which started in her home country, Sweden; hence, being
invited to speak at the summit) and the significance of giving such a speech at a UN
event, the video recording of Thunberg’s speech received a great deal of
international attention and was disseminated worldwide [Note: If you were on social
media in 2019, you may have seen a video of Thunberg’s speech, which went ‘viral’,
doing the rounds. You may also have seen a clip of the speech on national or
international news channels]. Thunberg’s address may thus be said to also have
been aimed at politicians and other powerful individuals who were not in attendance
at the summit, as well as at citizens the world over who may feel compelled to join
her in protesting climate change (which certainly was the case in the weeks that
followed the address, with protests taking place in cities across the world).
Thunberg uses a number of persuasive techniques to appeal to the audience to hear

her plea and to convince them that action needs to be taken. Firstly, she starts by
using an emotive appeal, attempting to evoke feelings of guilt and shame in world
leaders for the fact that she, a schoolchild, has to be there speaking to them about
this issue. She utilises this appeal in the opening lines by stating that her being there
is “all wrong” and by accusing them of having “stolen [her] dreams and [her]
childhood” with their “empty words”. She employs this appeal again to particular
effect in her closing remark that world leaders are ‘failing’ the young people of the
world. A key focus of her approach, throughout, is to emphasise that the current
world leadership has a duty to take immediate steps to address climate change and
should not make it the sole responsibility of the younger generation and generations
to come.
The speaker’s tone—created by her frequent, accusative use of the second-person

pronoun ‘you’ and stressed by her repeated exclamation “How dare you!”—is
confrontational and extremely angry. She is particularly indignant at being asked to
deliver a “message of hope” when, firstly, this should not be her duty and, secondly,
according to her, there is currently not much about which to be hopeful. She creates
a desolate and, conversely, panicked mood through her use of diction. Merriam-
Webster gives the connotative meaning of the word ‘empty’ as “lacking in substance
or value”, thus, in declaring the ‘words’ of the leaders (which refers to their previous
promises about combating climate change) to be ‘empty’, she indicates that their
words (and by extension their actions) have been worthless. She further accuses
them of ‘looking away’ and pretending that they have ‘done enough’, while the
situation has worsened and “we are in the beginning of a mass extinction.” This, in
ENG2602/501 87
addition to her assertion that no adequate solutions or plans would be presented by
the leaders that day because they are not ready to accept the reality, creates a mood
of hopelessness and despondency. However, her intention is not to surrender or
indicate that change is impossible; rather, she wants to create a sense of urgency,
that action should be taken swiftly and immediately. A panicked mood is created
through her recurrent use of exclamation marks and short, pointed sentences; her
use of negative diction such as “suffering”, “dying”, “extinction”, “evil”, and “toxic”; her
direct reference to a need for urgency; and her listing of facts and figures that indicate
the severity of the climate catastrophe and the scale of the action required to address
this.
In listing figures and statistics about climate change and the measures required to
address the ever-rising levels of CO2, Thunberg also utilises the logical appeal,
providing evidence for her assertions that the world is on the brink of a climate
catastrophe and that the current plans in place are inadequate to mitigate this.
The speaker further makes effective use of inclusive language. In contrast to her
repeated accusative use of second-person pronouns to address world leaders,
Thunberg uses first-person plural pronouns (‘we’, ‘us’) to refer to the younger
generation (“us young people”). In this way, she makes herself a spokesperson for
people who are concerned about climate change and, specifically, the younger
generation, representing and confronting the leaders with their concerns (“young
people are starting to understand your betrayal”). Inclusive language tends to have
a unifying effect and may be particularly effective in convincing her secondary
audience, the youth of the world (as well as older people who may be convinced that
they have a duty—for the sake of future generations—to stand against climate
change), to join her in protesting climate change and demanding immediate action
from world leaders.
Lastly, if you worked through Dr Horne’s section on propaganda techniques in Unit

3, you may have noted that the text contains possible elements of propaganda. That
is not to say that the text is, necessarily, misleading or false, but it does contain some
propagandist techniques, which may be considered manipulative. The key
techniques utilised include a slogan (“How dare you!”), emotional manipulation (as
noted above), and vice vocabulary (‘evil’, ‘betrayal’) [Note: We have identified and
analysed the persuasive strategies employed in the text. This analysis is not
exhaustive or conclusive, you may have identified additional techniques, or
expanded on the thoughts we offered above, but this is the general approach you
need to take when analysing a persuasive text. Note how we have identified and
analysed the persuasive techniques utilised in detail, supporting our discussion by
quoting from the text. We did not merely list the appeals or devices present. We
also did not provide general definitions for these techniques from the study material.
It is not necessary to define appeals or devices in your analyses, simply note these
techniques, and then properly analyse how they have specifically been employed in
the set text].
In conclusion, we may comment on whether we think this text has been successful
in achieving its intended purpose [Note how our ‘critical analysis’ of the text and the
persuasive techniques utilised comprised critically considering the persuasive intent
and effect of each aspect discussed. Critically considering the text does not refer
to criticising or looking for errors in the text. Furthermore, we did not focus the
body of our analysis on whether we deem the text to be effectively persuasive or on
what we think is missing from the text, which may only be noted in your conclusion].
The text makes effective use of emotional and logical appeals as well as linguistic
devices such as diction, tone, mood, punctuation, and inclusive language. The
speech may not offer a solution to the problem, but it is, arguably, effective in
identifying the problem and convincing the audience that urgent action must be taken
to address the problem.
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Conclusion
In this unit we gave you a thorough overview of what is meant by ‘social persuasion’,
defining it as “persuasive writing which is created and presented in order to influence
the audience to support the producer’s stance on a social issue.” We guided you
through performing a close, critical reading of a variety of social persuasive texts and
attempted to equip you with the knowledge and skills required to analyse these texts
in terms of the persuasive purpose, target audience, and persuasive techniques
utilised. Finally, we provided you with a model question and answer based on a
social persuasive text.
It is important to remember that, while distinct, the different types of persuasion are
not completely dissimilar and separatable. In this unit, we emphasised the overlap
between social and political persuasion. As mentioned, a social persuasive text may
overlap with a political persuasive text in terms of key aspects such as topic and
audience. The intersection occurs because political persuasion takes place in a
social context, that is, within a society, and may be focussed on social issues. In
turn, social activism may extend to a political sphere and influence political systems.
The overlap is not solely between social and political persuasion though, there may
also be an overlap between social and commercial persuasion. For example, for-
profit corporations may support social causes as part of their corporate social
responsibility efforts (corporate social responsibility being a corporation’s focus on
being socially accountable—often for ‘good press’). Another example is businesses
commenting on popular social movements, which has become all the more prevalent
with the rise of social media activism—and was indeed widely the case with 2020’s
‘Black Lives Matter’ protests.
Indeed, one cannot entirely separate the Language and Literature sections of this
module either. Firstly, literature texts employ the self-same linguistic devices that do
persuasive texts, only, usually, to a different effect. Secondly, literature—including
fiction, poetry, and drama texts—may focus and comment on social issues. Protest
poetry is a good example of this. While it is important that you understand the distinct
features and characteristics of the genres set for study in this module, you also need
to appreciate how they may intersect.
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STUDY UNIT 5
Fictional
Prose

Eileen Donaldson and Farah Ismail
INTRODUCTION
A loose definition of prose is that it is writing, which takes the form of sentences com-
bined into paragraphs. In this module, the two dominant modes of prose, namely,
fiction and non-fiction, are explored. As genres in non-fiction are dealt with in
greater detail under Commercial, Political and Social Persuasion, the emphasis in this
unit will be on fiction.
Like other kinds of writing, the author of prose is trying to achieve something,
to communicate some meaning to his or her reader using various linguistic and literary
techniques. As an English scholar, you need to study any piece of writing objectively.
You need to ask yourself:

• What meanings arise from the text?
• How does the text convey meaning?
The difference between fiction and non-fiction is that the author of non-fiction
generally communicates fact, whereas the author of fiction communicates truths
drawn from reality in an imaginative way. Of course, one could argue that the author
of non-fiction also writes subjectively because his or her opinions may colour the
‘facts’ that they report.
4.1 THE PURPOSE OF FICTION

Literature enables us to explore what it means to be human, challenging the reader’s
assumptions about their world and asking them to re-evaluate their understanding
of people and situations. Literature may provoke this reaction through humour and
satire, through realism, through fantasy or any number of strategies that the author
uses. Literature always asks us to grow as human beings, to open ourselves to experi-
ences outside our own. It is also true that every book has value, whether you agree
with what the author says or not. As a scholar of literature, you may disagree with
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STUDY UNIT 5: Prose
the ideologies an author espouses, but you cannot refuse him or her the right to
express his or her ideas. An author is often influenced by his or her historical and
cultural context and so, before judging that a book expresses closed-minded, outdated
ideologies, you need to understand the situation of the author and consider the world as
he or she experienced/experiences it. Reading books from various historical eras and
authors from diverse cultures asks us to re-evaluate values that we assume to be
universal: things like ‘beauty’, ‘truth’, ‘freedom’, ‘independence’, key concepts such as
‘society’, ‘justice’, ‘family’, ‘love’, ‘sexuality’ and ‘spirituality’. Our understanding of
these terms depends on our culture, our historical era and, sometimes, on our
individual experiences. Literature forces us to acknowledge that there is no ‘one
truth’—human experiences are as diverse as the number of people on our planet
and, as a scholar of literature, your task is to discover (and hopefully relish) this rich
diversity.
4.2 FORMS OF FICTION

Fictional prose takes many forms: novels, novellas, short stories and flash fiction.
Broadly put, fiction is anything written or printed that tells an invented story. The
purpose of this section is twofold:
It should equip you to recognise fictional prose and understand its features
It should prepare you for the task of analysing the narrative and linguistic techniques
used by authors to communicate meaning through their prose
Novels and novellas are both longer forms of prose; the only difference between
the two is that novels can be as long as the author wishes, while novellas tend to be
shorter. Consider the difference between John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath
(usually over 600 pages, depending on the size of the publication and the print size used)
and his novella Of Mice and Men (about 100 pages). Short stories and flash fiction are,
as the names suggest, pieces of short fiction. In fact, flash fiction can be a story of
only 100 words. You will use the same techniques to analyse novels, novellas and
short stories, but bear in mind that the short story frequently condenses meaning.
4.2.1 Features of Fictional Prose
1. Plot
Novels and Novellas
• Usually there is a main plot that develops the dominant action of the story,
supported by a number of sub-plots that explore issues tangential to the main
action. Authors use sub-plots to develop thematic aspects of the main plot, or to
introduce character-specific information. When a novel is analysed in its entirety,
awareness of the various threads of a story that the author has interwoven needs to
be shown, because they all add to the complexity of the overall pattern—adding
psychological depth to the main story.
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Short Stories:
• A short story explores a single action and so there is seldom space for sub-plots.
The short story encourages an author to focus on one action and the reaction it
provokes; the stark simplicity of this form is thus far more focused than a novel.
Extracts:
• In this course, you will be given extracts of approximately a page of text

from novels or short stories to analyse. You will not be expected to know
the full plot of the text from which the extract comes, and you will be asked
to focus your essay ONLY on the extract that you have been given, without
referring to plot details outside the extract. In addition, the extracts you will
be given will rarely be long enough to include more than one sub-plot, and
you will not be expected to differentiate a main plot from sub-plots.
Instead, you will be expected to discuss the plot of the extract in its simplest
sense, as a sequence of events.
• Explaining the plot of an extract is the answer to the question, “What
happens in the extract?” It is necessary to establish what you understand the
plot to be in order to analyse an extract, but it is very important to
understand that explaining the plot of an extract is in itself not analysis.
Many students make the mistake of explaining the plot of an extract instead
of analysing an extract, because they do not understand that establishing the
plot is only the first step of analysis, not the entire point of analysis. It is the
meanings that arise from the plot relating to setting, character or theme
that your analysis is meant to explore and discuss. Explaining what happens
in an extract is not the same as analysing it. Consider the following little
“story” a person might tell another concerning their experience of a car
accident:
I was turning onto Main street

when, out of no-where, another car came crashing into my
vision, a streak of red, inches from me. I slammed on the
breaks, my heartbeat racing, but it was too late. I felt the
collision as a sickening thunk in my body that radiated outwards
to my fingertips. The other car sat steaming in front of me, the
driver’s curses ringing in my ears. I sat in my car for an eternity,
feeling numb.
• In the extract above, an explanation of the plot would be as follows: The

plot is about the fright experienced by a driver during a car collision. The
narrator describes turning onto a road and colliding with a red car, then
absorbing what happened while continuing to sit in the vehicle.
• An analysis, on the other hand, would focus on how the story communicates
the experience of the accident and how it conveys the emotions of the
narrator. It would take note of the use of punctuation to chop up the
narration into short phrases that convey the rapid, violent way events
unfold. An analysis would observe how the phrases “out of no where”,
“crashing into my vision” and a “streak of red” convey the suddenness of
the incident, or possibly the experience of a driver who is not paying
sufficient attention on the road. Analysis would also note how hyperbole, “I
sat in my car for an eternity” conveys the seeming timelessness of a
moment after a shock, when a sense of continuity feels suspended as a
person’s senses are absorbed into the intense experience of a moment.
• See the difference between analysis and explaining the plot?
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STUDY UNIT 5: Prose
2. Character
Novels and Novellas:
• In a longer piece of prose, an author may have a full cast of characters. However,
there is usually one character who stands out more than the others; this person
is known as the protagonist and the plot revolves around their experiences
and growth. If there is a character that is described as being in conflict with the
protagonist, he or she is called the antagonist. Very often the conflict between
these two is what drives the action in the plot. Pay careful attention to the other
characters as well; like a sub-plot, they may reflect human characteristics that are
essential to the story, allowing the author to explore other concerns that enrich
the overall psychological or ideological meaning of the whole. Each character
expresses human characteristics and as a reader and a scholar, you must pay
attention to what each one does, what they say and how they say it. Character
is revealed through what is said, as well as what is implied; descriptions of the
characters, their thoughts and their reactions to other characters and situations.
Short Stories:
• As I mentioned above, a short story is more focused than a novel and so there
is usually a single protagonist and an antagonist and the conflict between them
may be what provokes the action/reaction of the story. Alternatively, the short
story may focus only on the protagonist and his or her experiences.
Extracts:
• In an extract, the main character or protagonist of the full text cannot
be identified because you have no way of determining the role of a
character from only a page of text. We may give you an extract that
focuses on the antagonist or a very minor character without any
mention of the main character, so you will not be expected to identify
the protagonist or main character based on the focus of the extract.
However, you will be expected to discuss the depiction of characters,
in other words, how descriptions of characters, their actions,
ways of speaking and other details convey ideas about the kinds of
people they are and their position in the plot taking place in the
extract. When analysing characterisation in an extract, you must be
careful not to let any preconceptions or biases you have about groups
of people colour your discussion. Instead, you should discuss only
those ideas that can be reasonably extrapolated from details given in
the text.
ACTIVIT Y 1
Select a short passage from anywhere in a fictional work of your choosing describing
at least two characters and answer the questions that follow.
• In one sentence, summarise what happens in this passage.

• Write down a word or two to describe each of the characters we meet in this
passage.
• Consider what features of the passage made you choose those specific
adjectives to describe these characters. Pay attention to punctuation marks, the
tone of certain words and how the author creates the illusion of conversation
outside the pieces of dialogue.
ENG2602/501 93
3. Setting
• Setting refers to both time (the historical era) and place in which a story takes
place. The setting of a novel is important because the landscape often reflects
something about the themes that the author will be exploring. Pay attention to
which characters appear in which settings and what this suggests about them,
whether or not the setting changes as the protagonist develops and what sort of
atmosphere the settings evoke; all the details the author includes have a purpose in
establishing the narrative and its actions. Because a novel is a longer piece of
fiction, there is space for the author to explore more than one setting, so you will
want to note how the setting changes and decide what these shifts suggest.
Short Stories:
• Usually the author of a short story will keep to one setting, or possibly two.
Everything about this form suggests simplicity—the reader sees one action, one
place, one person and yet this glimpse tells a story that can often be profoundly
moving.
Extracts:
• In your assignments or the examination, you might be asked to write an essay that
focuses entirely on a setting or that discusses very few details about setting.
However, setting is always important and there are clues about setting even in
extracts that seem to give very few indications of the place or time in which the
extract is set. For example, in an extract that focuses on a single character’s inner
thoughts, the language, patterns of speech and references made in the passage are
clues to the setting and you should comment on this if it is relevant to the
assignment or examination question.
Here is a list of some ways in which setting conveys meaning in a passage:

- Setting may reflect the emotions of a character. Look for indications that
parallels are being drawn between a landscape, weather or any other details
about setting, and the emotional state of any characters depicted. Stormy
weather may reflect the gloomy or dejected feelings of a character. A harsh-
looking town may reflect the rigidity or intolerance of its residents. A time
period in which suspicion is rife might explain the unkind actions of people
living in that period.
- Setting may underline the qualities of a character through contrast. Look for
ways in which characters are contrasted with their surroundings. Sunny
weather may be contrasted with the inner turmoil of a character, a country
of very polite people might throw the rude or unfriendly mannerisms of a
character into relief and a time period in which unkindness or abuse is the
rule might highlight the compassion and gentleness of a character living in
that time. When setting is contrasted with the qualities of characters, it is
often to show the uniqueness of that character, mark a journey the character
will take, or highlight the way human beings can transcend the conditioning
of their surroundings.
- Setting is a very important way in which atmosphere is conveyed. An
atmosphere of mystery draws the reader in and is a source of entertainment.
An atmosphere of wonder creates an enchanting reading experience by
rendering imaginative glimpses of things that excite our awe. A setting that
conveys uneasiness, danger or revulsion is effective in horror fiction, but also
in any story that requires these effects for other reasons.
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STUDY UNIT 5: Prose
- Setting may link very strongly to the themes of the text; in fact they almost
always do. Sometimes the settings of stories are used heavily to reflect the
themes that concern the author, at other times the connection between
theme and setting is more subtle and may not need to be discussed at all.
Look for indications that a setting is being linked strongly to certain ideas by
a narrator.
Consider how the setting creates atmosphere in a passage from a novel of your
choosing and also how setting can affect the expectations of the reader in terms of
what kind of story is coming.
ACTIVIT Y 2
• Having read the passage, what do you think the setting for this piece would be?
• What words in the passage give you clues about the era and geographical
location of the story?
• There are also stylistic aspects of the writing that suggest the era in which the
passage is set—what are they?
4. Theme
• Because a novel is long, the author is able to cover a number of themes. A theme is
the exploration of a central idea. Usually this concerns some aspect of human
experience, such as love, loss, cruelty, faith, stoicism—any characteristic that helps
us understand why people do the things they do. One of the wonderful things
about books is that different people will interpret the same text differently. You
need to be aware that you might be drawn to one theme in a novel, while someone
else might be affected by something else. Usually themes are reflected in all the
aspects of a story: setting, characterisation, action, imagery and language. When
you analyse a passage from a novel, be aware that you must address each of these
aspects in your discussion of theme (this may also appear to be the purpose of
the narrative). Themes are closely related to the ideology of texts, which is
discussed in more detail further on.
Short Stories:
• A short story usually explores one theme. But always be aware that you might
understand the text differently from someone else and so different readers might
identify different themes even in a short story.
Extracts:
• Your assignment and examination questions will require you to understand how
themes are explored through setting, characterization, plot, language, imagery and
all the other aspects of a story. This is essentially the “meaning” we refer to that
arises from the way language is used in different genres. Meaning, ideas and
themes can be used as synonyms in relation to fiction.
• Sometimes a theme is an argument that can be perceived in the text, such as “Love
is stronger than time” or “Religion is the source of all conflict”. In texts such as
this, look for indications that something specific is being conveyed about an idea
by focusing on the characters that prevail, or the last sentence or paragraph that
suggests the author wants to leave you with a certain image or idea.
ENG2602/501 95
• However, sometimes the theme is simply a concept that the text explores such as
the nature of suffering or injustice. In this second example, the text does not
necessarily present any answers but simply depicts the theme in all its complexity
through the art of a story. In texts that do this, there might be characters who
voice and embody arguments from many different perspectives, and there are no
simple successes or punishments for characters who do not embody any one
ideology.
Focus on the meaning the author writes into passage in order to decide what theme is
being explored. Then look at how individual words and images are used to encourage
the reader to perceive this specific meaning.
Genre: In this module we use ‘Genre’ to mean the various forms of text that exist.
But the word is also used within the world of fiction to mean something slightly
different. You may well be aware of the fact that we refer to different kinds of sto-
ries—detective fiction, science-fiction, fantasy, fairy tales, erotica, children’s literature,
thrillers, romance—as being (sub-)genres of fiction. Each sub-genre of prose fiction
has its own codes and conventions, which govern the way it is usually written. As
you read, try to take note of the features of each of these genres. The language an
author uses is often influenced by the choice of genre and the author may write in a
specific genre because it suits the themes explored. The focus in this course will be
on realist fiction, as the conventions of other sub-genres are too complex to cover
here in detail. However, here is a list of (somewhat simplified) definitions of some of
these sub-genres that provide a basic idea of how they influence interpretation and
analysis:
➢ Realism
Realist fiction depicts events and characters that are possible but made up for
the purposes of telling a story. Realist texts typically include settings we
recognize from the world we inhabit, but characters that are drawn entirely
from the imagination, though based on the psychological and emotional
experiences of real people. Realist fiction is not the same as non-fiction,
which depicts factual people and events. However, realist fiction may depict
one or more non-fictional characters amongst a cast of predominantly
fictional characters, and takes place against a historically factual background.
For the purposes of interpretation, you mainly need to know that realism
differentiates texts from fantasy, which depicts settings and living things that
do not exist outside of fiction.
➢ Fantasy
In fantasy texts, there are depictions of beings, settings and/or events that the
author understands to be impossible and assumes the reader to believe are
impossible as well. These fantastic settings, events or beings are thus meant
to embody metaphorical truths, not literal ones. It is important to note that
the appearance of the supernatural or magical in a story does not necessarily
make it fantasy; that depends on whether the author is presenting it as such.
If a text that is not religious literature depicts the magical or supernatural as
factual, this is known as magical realism. Magical realism is a sub-genre of
realism and should not be confused with fantasy as this is to misunderstand
the meanings signified by a text based on a cultural or personal worldview
that sees such magical elements as true to life. Alternatively, magical realism
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STUDY UNIT 5: Prose
is a sub-category of realism in which the nature of reality is itself questioned.
➢ Horror
Horror fiction aims to disturb, horrify or frighten the reader and may use realist
or fantasy elements to do so. Horror typically explores the darker aspects of
the human experience, such as terror and pain but also grief, vengeance,
violence, death and the destructive excesses of human behavior. Horror
fiction sometimes does conclude with a happy ending, but the dominant
atmosphere of such texts is always uneasy culminating in terrifying.
➢ Science fiction
Science fiction is similar to fantasy in that it is presented by the author as

depicting events, beings or settings that are not believed to exist. However, it
differs from fantasy in that the impossible elements depicted are usually
determined only by contemporary limitations in technology so that the
implication is that such things might be possible in a future in which
technology or discoveries advance to the required degree. The authors of
science fiction do not themselves necessarily believe that such advancements
might ever be possible; however, what makes such texts science-fiction is that
the imaginative is rooted in the possibilities of such advancement. Science
fiction sometimes includes combinations of fantasy and realism as well.
➢ Romance
This category should not be confused with Medieval Romance, which depicts
the adventures of knights in medieval settings and is in some ways the
precursor to the modern fantasy novel. A romance text in the contemporary
sense focuses on romantic relationships between people. It may be a
romantic comedy, which concludes with a happy ending that typically
involves the successful union of the main characters in a romantic
relationship, or a tragedy in which either one or both love interests die or are
separated from each other. Romantic texts may include fantasy elements or
be entirely realist.
➢ Comedy
Comedies are intended to make readers laugh but vary widely in tone. When
looking at the themes of comedies, it is important to remember the way
ideology is reflected in comedy. Comedies can be moral in aim, provoking
laughter by depicting moral failings as ridiculous. They can be sentimental,
by inspiring affectionate and empathetic laughter in seeing our own,
forgivable failings reflected in characters, and emphasising the humanity of
characters over their flaws. On the other hand, comedies can also be cynical
in tone and depiction by mocking a world that allows characters to get away
with villainous acts without seeking redemption or receiving any punishment
for their actions. Dark comedies depict the success of characters without any
redeemable qualities except intelligence and determination, or hold up the
failings of relatable, innocent characters to mockery.
4.3 ANALYSING PROSE, OR CLOSE RE ADING

To analyse a piece of literature you must read the text carefully and decide what
the text communicates (i.e. what are the themes of the text?), and how the text conveys
ENG2602/501 97
themes. In other words, you need to discover the meaning of the text, which is a
complex task. You need to respond to the text and be able to explain why you
responded in the way you did, and communicate this response in a well-argued essay.
How to write an essay is dealt with in the Academic Toolkit in Tutorial Letter 101. As
you focus on your response and the why of it, you will need to consider elements of
the text such as structure, word choice, language, poetic devices, narrative devices
and dialogue. You must not comment on everything, but you need to look at each element
of language, every mark on the printed page, whether it is a punctuation mark or a
collection of words that form a simile, and explain how the use of specific linguistic
features that convey theme evoked your response: this really is a case of analysing
language in use. Before you can begin any analysis you must have read the text at least
twice. During your first reading, pay attention to the story: what is the main action
of the story? How does the structure reflect the development of motifs and
characters?—and so on. During your second reading, note your reactions to certain
scenes, characters and passages and ‘dissect’ these passages to identify what narrative
and linguistic devices the author has used to manipulate your reaction.
A close analysis of a text should answer three questions:
What?
Once you have read the story once or twice, you should be able to summarise the
plot in a few simple sentences—what happens in the story? You should also be able to
identify some of the main themes. In doing so, you identify the bare bones of what
the narrative is saying, no matter how complex the ideas are. This is the first step in
analysis and will form the substance of your introduction.
Why?
Answering why is more difficult because it requires you to consider the purpose of
the text: does it entertain, frighten, warn, titillate, persuade, shock or teach? Most
good literature achieves a number of these effects. However, the main effect of the text that
you will be required to discuss is the exploration of theme. Therefore, the answer to Why will always
require you to identify the themes explored in the passage. To write a cohesive essay, you need to
understand that this question must be answered in your introduction and in every sentence of your essay
body. If something you are writing about does not relate to theme, then you are writing a sentence that
does not relate to the essay question and will be disregarded in marking.
Be aware of how meaning is structured in a text in order to develop ideas. This is an

essential element of literature. Throughout this course, you need to develop sensitivity
to the mechanics of writing; in this case, understanding how a paragraph or a piece
of writing is structured alerts you to what the text is saying and it may point you to
its purpose as well as to ‘how’ it creates meaning.
Because we cannot say for certain what an author’s purpose is, we interpret literature
only via the guidance of our own responses to the text. A text achieves a certain
purpose only because you responded to it in the way you did. Therefore, your analysis
of any text will, by and large, discuss the features that provoked your specific reaction.
In your essays, you must therefore avoid any reference to ‘the author’s purpose’ (or
intention). Always be clear that it is your reading of the text that has revealed certain
themes, conflicts and so on. However, you must substantiate your interpretation
with close reference to the features of the text, and not simply comment on what
you think it is about without any textual evidence. This process is discussed in
the ‘How?’ section below.
Ideolog y
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STUDY UNIT 5: Prose
Ideology underlies the themes in texts as a reflection of the ideas that form the
source of conflict and social fusion in the world in which we live. Prominent
examples of ideology that underlie the discourse in literature are ideas about the
way gender is understood, or how power and wealth should be distributed in a
society, but there are countless ways in which ideology gives structure to the themes
of literature.
Scholars have sometimes found that they respond to texts in the same way, identi-
fying similar issues in various texts and developing theories that investigate these
issues. These scholarly discourses have informed various Literary Theories (such
as Feminism, Marxism and Reader-Response Theory), which can be applied to the
study of literature. These literary theories can be used to unpack these ideas and help
you begin to understand how language manipulates the reader and how an author
can use language to achieve a certain purpose. If you continue with third level
English Studies, you will learn more about these theories. If you are
interested, look up information about these theories in the library and do not hesitate
to ask your lecturers for guidance as these theories can be quite complex.
Nevertheless, even a basic familiarity with these theories will help you identify
language markers that are infused with ideological significance when you analyse
passages of prose fiction in your assignments and in the exam.
How?
Explaining how meaning (themes) is created in a passage will make up the substance
of the body of your essay. As a scholar of literature, your most absorbing task is the
close reading of texts: having answered ‘what’ and ‘why’, you have to answer the
question ‘how does the author produce this effect?’ In order to do so, you need to
evaluate every word, punctuation mark, space and literary device an author puts on
the page because every single one of them is a choice the author has made. However,
as explained previously, you should only discuss features of the text that produce
an effect that you can link to the themes of the text. There are two parts to the
close analysis of a text:
• considering the use of literary devices, grammar and linguistic features

• explaining how they function to support the theme
Literary Devices:
Please refer closely to the list of literary techniques included in the Toolkit in Tuto-
rial Letter 101. You are expected to be able to identify all these devices as and when
they are present in a text and more importantly, you must be able to discuss the
effects they create when they are used in a passage. Possible effects are: tension,
quickening or slowing of pace (in order to create an emotional reaction),
onomatopoeic sounds and images that resonate with meaning. In each case consider
the device in its context and the effect it evokes in you. Then discuss this effect in
terms of the whole passage. You will not receive any marks for identifying literary
devices without discussing the effect of these features or for providing definitions of
literary devices. For example, do not explain the function of a metaphor, explain how
the metaphor functions in the passage to convey theme.
Features of Language:
Grammar is also used to create literary effects. Tenses can create atmosphere: the
present tense creates a sense of immediacy and tension while the past tense may
create a feeling of nostalgia and/or melancholy and it allows characters to reflect on
their experiences. Punctuation can be used to slow down or speed up the pace of a
ENG2602/501 99
passage: a slow pace may encourage a sense of sadness or longing (among other
things), whereas a fast pace tends to create excitement and passion or anger (or
panic). Pronouns can point the reader to the speaker and the relationships between
characters. Letters of the alphabet create sounds that can be used to great effect in
fiction. Your task is to revise what you know about English grammar so that you are
aware of all the devices a writer can employ, allowing you to comment on them in
your analyses of passages. Remember that the use of grammar or punctuation does
not create uniform effects across all literature. A slow pace could mean sadness or
longing but could also be used to create a sense of menace or tension. Look for other
clues in the passage that support your interpretation of the way effects are created
before you state the effect of something.
Further Activities
Please access the activities on myUnisa to extend your studies in Prose analysis.
Remember that in an analysis you must have dealt with these elements: characterisa-
tion, action, setting, atmosphere and/or tone and meaning/theme. For each of these
elements, you must explore the literary devices and features of language that led you
to your interpretation of and understanding of the text.
ASSIGNMENT AND E X AM QUESTIONS

Your assignments and exams will follow the same format for the section on Fictional
Prose:
You will be given an unseen passage and have to do a close reading of it. This will
require you to answer the what, why and how questions that have been discussed in
this section. You do not need to know the books from which the passages are taken
because the tasks require you to demonstrate that you can focus on the features of a
piece of the text, identify what the author is saying in the passage, what effect the
passage creates (development of theme, character, plot and/or the response evoked in
the reader) and discuss the linguistic and poetic features of the passage that enable the
author to communicate his or her meaning and create an effect. The assessment tasks
are therefore practical in nature and test your acquisition of the skills necessary to
analyse a passage as a scholar of English.
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STUDY UNIT 6
Poetry
Marinus van Niekerk and Sira Dambe
INTRODUCTION
Poetry is arguably simultaneously the most challenging and the most rewarding
literary genre to study. It is a very condensed form of literary expression, which says
a great deal in a few words. As a result of its brevity, poetry tends to pack more
meaning into each word, phrase and line than other literary forms. Often a single
word serves to signify more than one meaning, which leads to ambiguity, polysemy
and a general openness to more than one interpretation.
This last characteristic can cause some difficulties to undergraduate poetry stu-
dents, who feel anxious because they do not know or cannot find ‘the meaning’ of
a poem. Their anxiety about finding ‘the right answer’ may lead students to copy or
paraphrase what other people say about the meaning of poems. This might feel like
the right way to go about solving the puzzle, but it will not help you at all: it is the
same as walking for a child when the child needs to learn to walk alone. A critic,
whose interpretation or notes on a poem you slavishly follow or, even worse, copy
in desperation is, in fact, doing the work for you. As long as you rely heavily on
critics’ thoughts and words, you do not read poetry with the attention and intensity
necessary to lead you to your own interpretation.
For these reasons, in this unit on poetry, we avoid where possible telling you simply
what poems ‘mean’. Instead, we guide you to obtaining the skills which will help
you to construct a coherent interpretation of poetry on your own. We then expect
you, in your assignments and examinations, to apply these skills to the close reading
and analysis of poems.
You may find this challenging at best and alarming at worst. But the only way to
learn how to read poetry closely, which is also the only way to gain maximum benefit
from reading it, is to practise doing so your own.
ENG2602/501 101
SOME KEY QUESTIONS
What do we mean when we talk about poetry? Is it enough to say that it is a genre
of literature, to be differentiated from prose and drama? If so, what is the basis of
that differentiation? Do texts that we classify as poetry possess certain attributes that
other texts do not? Do we not sometimes say that a certain novel is poetic, though,
or that a convincing speech was ‘sheer poetry’? Could poetry then be said to be a
genre of language, rather than of literature? Or is it rather language written in a
particular style? Will we always know poetry when we see it?
Many of these questions cannot be satisfactorily answered with any finality. However,
this unit aims to enable you to gain at least some insight into the nature of poetry,
and to be able to address some of these questions. The focus, though, will not be on
developing a definition of poetry, but rather on developing a sense of how to engage
with it in a meaningful way. Briefly, we hope to achieve the following:
OUTCOME
• Explore a number of poems together
• Show you an approach to close reading that will enable you to examine poetic
texts critically, with a view to gaining a sense of their possible meanings
and of their style
• Enable you to relate your insights to a single line of poetry, to the immediate
context in which the line occurs within the poem, and to the entire poem
• Develop awareness of various aspects of poetic language
• Build up a critical vocabulary appropriate for discussing poetry
• Enable you to write concisely and meaningfully about poetic texts in a
manner suited to this intermediate level of your studies
Our aim is to show you how to engage in a close reading of a poetic text, so that
your experience of poetry may be stimulating and enjoyable. We will try to do
this by guiding you through an exploration of those aspects of language and style
which render a text ‘poetic’. In this way, we will help you to develop the skills
necessary to express, in academic writing, your critical appreciation of poetic
texts.
SECTION 1: WHAT IS POETRY?

Consider the following phrase:
O my love is like a red, red rose1
What is this phrase saying? Is it saying it effectively, well, clearly? Would it make any
difference if we made a minor change to the line?
1 For the purpose of clarity in this exercise, this line has been modified in the following way: the archaic
colloquial spelling ‘luve’ has been changed to the now conventional ‘love’. Also, in some versions of
Robert Burns’s text, ‘luve is’ is rendered as ‘luve’s’.
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STUDY UNIT 6: Poetry
ACTIVITY 1
The line above can be rewritten (or rephrased) in different ways. Read the following
rephrasings of the line and then answer the questions that follow in your journal:
Ugh my love is like a red, red rose

O your love is like a red, red rose1
O my love resembles a red, red rose
O my love is like a crimson, scarlet rose
O my love is like a red rose
O my love is like a rose pigmented so it reflects light at a wavelength between 620
and 740 nm and a frequency between 480 and 400 THz
O my love is like a red, red specimen of rosa chinensis
(1) Look at each rephrasing in turn. In which of these has the meaning of the
line changed? Explain how the meaning has changed in each rephrasing.
(2) In which has the meaning of the line remained the same? In these, is there
any shift in emphasis? Explain how for each in turn.
FEEDBACK
You may have noticed that some changes are very significant. For example changing
‘O’, which in this line seems to express joy at the speaker’s love being like a rose, to
‘Ugh’, a characteristic expression of disgust, conveys a sense of repulsion at the
idea of the speaker’s beloved being like a rose. This makes it seem as though being
like a rose would be an undesirable feature for love or a lover to possess.
While changing ‘my’ to ‘your’ deeply alters the basic sense of the line, other shifts
are subtler and more difficult to pin down, as they maintain the literal meaning,
but affect the sense, texture or emotional content of the line. Changing ‘red, red’
to simply ‘red’ or to ‘crimson, scarlet’ preserves the general sense of the original, but
reduces its impact on the reader’s imagination and memory.
Although a ‘rose’ could be classified as a ‘specimen of rosa chinensis’ (the botanical Latin
name for a rose), describing it in this way shifts the sense of the phrase from an
expression of romantic feeling, which plays on the associations of roses with beauty
and love, to a scientifically accurate categorisation (which might make it possible to
read the line as an ironic comment on expressions of romantic feeling).
Has this exercise revealed anything to us about the nature of poetry? One thing that
has become apparent is that every word in the line we have examined seems to
have been chosen with great care. We see how each element works together in
subtle ways to convey a certain idea. As soon as we change a detail, something
about what the line tries to express seems to alter or disappear.
This insight places some emphasis on details of language—specific words and

phrases carefully chosen to express something—and some emphasis on what
the language expresses. We have given some consideration to the former; let us
now consider the latter more closely.
ENG2602/501 103
ACTIVITY 2
(1) Rewrite the phrase (‘O my love is like a red, red rose’) in your own words,
without using the terms ‘love’, ‘red’ ‘rose’ or ‘flower’. It might be helpful to use
the following formulation:
The speaker says that ____________________________________
________.
(2) Think carefully about the specific words that have been used in the line, com-
paring what they express to what your paraphrase expresses. Do they say the
same thing? Rewrite your paraphrase if you notice that the line conveys
something that your paraphrase does not quite capture.
Paraphrase
If you refer to the online Oxford Dictionary (http://english.oxford-
dictionaries.com/), you will see that a ‘paraphrase’ is an expression of
a text’s meaning in different words, or a rewording of a text.
(3) In the table below, write down all the possible meanings and associations
you can think of for the words in the left-hand column:
Red e.g. Passion, fire
Love
Rose
(4) Now read the line again; look at the following paraphrases and compare them
to your own:
• The speaker says that his (or her) darling is very beautiful.
• The speaker says that his (or her) sweetheart is very fragrant.
• The speaker says that the person that he (or she) cherishes has a
youthful complexion.
• The speaker says that he (or she) experiences feelings of great passion.
• The speaker says that his (or her) romantic affair is currently in a stage
of extraordinary freshness.
Do they say the same things? What are the differences? Think about your own
paraphrase again. If you think one or more of the given paraphrases best explains
the line, you are welcome to use them to help you construct your own.
(5) Look at the table you completed earlier. Did you list any negative meanings or
associations for the words in the table? If not, go back to the table now, and
try to think of some negative meanings or associations.
(6) Next, read the line again, and look at the following list of statements about
the line. Do you think they are accurate? Do they affect your understanding
of the line? Compare them to your own paraphrases. Modify your own para-
phrase if you think it necessary:
• The speaker is aware that his (or her) darling’s beauty will fade.
• The speaker is aware that his (or her) passion will only last for a while.
• The speaker implies that his (or her) intensely passionate affair has an
element of danger.
104
(7) Read the line again. Choose any detail in the line—a specific word, punc-
tuation, the way the line sounds. In a short paragraph, explain how and why
that particular detail is necessary for the line to express what it does. For extra
practice, repeat this exercise with as many details of the line as you can
identify.
FEEDBACK
The aim of this exercise is to try to summarise, as accurately and fully as possible,
what is expressed in the line of poetry we have been looking at. Is it possible to
do this? You may have noticed that the paraphrases listed in 2 (4) and 2 (6), and
perhaps also your own rewordings of the line, seem somehow inadequate. Why
is this?
Each of these paraphrases misses some aspect of what the original line expresses,
whether it is some of the many connotations associated with the colour, and word,
‘red’, for example; or the possible emotional impact of using the word ‘love’, rather
than ‘deep affection’; or the various possible senses which ‘love’ can be understood
to have in this context—a specific person or a type of feeling, or both.
Attempts to reword or re-state the line might also fail to reproduce successfully
the tension between the joyful expression of love and admiration of beauty on the
one hand, and the recognition of the mortality of love and passion on the other. More
precisely, we would considerably weaken the persuasive force inherent in this
paradox: intense experience of beauty, and of sexual and other passions, also
contains a premonition of their inevitable decline.
As we look closely at the details, we detect more and more possible nuances of
meaning in the line. In turn, noticing these nuances allows us to adjust our para-
phrases and rephrase them and, in so doing, to refine further our understanding
of the line as a whole.
In activity 1 we noticed the importance of specific details in a line of poetry. In activity

2, we gained a sense of the many different things the line could be thought to
express. Now, let us consider these insights together, to gain a further sense of
what poetry is.
We have realised that even a long list of paraphrases, each highlighting a different
quality of the line, would not fully convey the same effect as the original. This is
because the particular kind of language used in the line evokes more than it appears
to say at the simplest level. More precisely, words are combined here in such a way
that they convey more than they would singly, so that the full measure of what the
line expresses cannot be communicated in an abstract re-statement or through a
list of possible meanings. In brief, the line contains language that appears to be
unusually meaningful—to have an excess of meaning.
We see, in this brief line, a use of language where meaning is intrinsically connected
with the way in which it is expressed, where all the constituent linguistic elements
relate in essential ways to each other, to create a whole that is not merely a sum of
all its parts.
ENG2602/501 105
The activities have led us, therefore, to a certain view of the nature of poetic lan-
guage. They have illustrated also how complex and nuanced even a single line
of poetry can be, and how much careful thought and attention poetry requires to
be explored productively.
The activities also showed us how to engage with the line. Our initial reading—
expressed in our first paraphrases—was inadequate, because it did not account for
the unusually or excessively meaningful nature of the language in the line. We had
to read the line over and over again, constantly asking ourselves different questions
about what it says and how it says it. As we progress, we will examine various
strategies for performing this kind of close reading, which allows us to engage with
poetic language more effectively and enjoyably.
As we saw in section 1 of this study unit, poetic language may be said to be unu-
sually or even excessively meaningful. Even a single line of poetry can warrant a
great deal of attention and examination: as we explored different aspects of the line,
more nuances of its meaning emerged.
And, while discovering something about the nature of poetic language, we also
discovered something about how to approach it: through close, careful reading. We
had to read the line several times, and ask ourselves a variety of questions about it;
we found that each detail we noticed allowed us to discover something else that is
expressed in the language.
SECTION 2: THE POETIC SUBJECT

Our examination of a single line of poetry, careful as it was, was partly flawed, in
that it did not look at how the line relates to its context. More precisely, our claims
about what the line expresses and its method of communicating meaning should
relate to the immediate context in which the line occurs within the poem, and to the
larger context, the poem as a whole. Surely we would understand the line dif-
ferently, if the poem ran:
O my love is like a red, red rose,

That’s newly sprung in June
rather than:
O my love is like a red, red rose,
That’s rotting in my vase
It follows that our understanding of the way language is employed in a single line
will be shaped by our understanding of the poem as a whole. For example:
• in a poem about love, the metaphor of a rose might represent passion
• in a poem about death, the metaphor of a rose might represent the ephemeral
nature of beauty or youth
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New word
Ephemeral means ‘fleeting’, ‘of very short duration’
The next step: if we are usefully to examine the relationship between what is said
and how it is said in poetic language, in single lines within their larger context, we
need to gain insight into a poem’s subject.
What do we mean by subject?

The subject is the topic of the poem: the person, idea or object it explores
or comments on.
Be careful not to confuse
• the poetic subject, which is the topic of the poem
with
• the grammatical subject, which is the agent of the action performed by a verb
(the man walks; the dog barks; the sky is blue).
How do we discover a poem’s subject?

We are going to guide you through a few steps, which will make your search for the
idea/s at the core of a poem much easier.
In some of the activities that follow, you will be asked to identify, underline, and
mark various items in the poem. We suggest that you work with a copy of the
poem in front of you and that you highlight, underline, circle, and annotate the
features of the poem that you gradually identify.
STEP 1: THE TITLE
ACTIVITY 1
Read the title of the poem ‘born in Africa but’, available in the e-reserves in the library.
We are going to explore this poem in depth in this section of the guide. Along the
way we will point out to you a number of skills that you can bring to bear on your
reading of other poems as well.
(1) What would you guess the poem is about?

(2) What significance do you associate (or understand other people to associate)
with the state or condition in which someone was born? What significance do
you associate with being born in a particular place? What significance do you
think other people assign it? What do you associate with being born in Africa
specifically? What meanings do you think other people born in Africa might
associate with it? What meanings do you think other people born outside of
Africa might associate with it? The word ‘but’ usually suggests that what is
to follow in some way contrasts or contradicts what came before. What do you
think that the word might indicate in the title?
ENG2602/501 107
FEEDBACK
The title seems to raise interesting questions. It suggests that the poem will somehow
deal with what it means to have been born in Africa. People often associate a
person’s state when they were born with their essential identity, as if everything we
could ever be were determined by the circumstances of our birth. By extension,
there are various expressions which link the word ‘born’ with qualities understood
to be natural rather than acquired, and therefore often appear to be essential to
who or what a person is. So we might say someone is a ‘born leader’ or a ‘born
mathematician’; we might also say someone was ‘born to play soccer’, if they seem
extremely well suited to playing the game. Less flatteringly, we might say someone
was ‘a born jerk’, in order to suggest that they are intrinsically and immutably
unpleasant. We also often use the word in combination to indicate a person’s
nationality, or their background, speaking, for example of a ‘South-African-born
musician’.
These associations of nationality and essential identity are often combined when we
speak specifically about where someone was born, as if simply being born in a
specific place will have infused a person with certain qualities. The association of
nationality and identity also often strongly suggests a sense of belonging—as if
being born in a place ties one to that place and automatically makes one belong
there. Of course such a sense of belonging often truly is present; if we extend ‘born’
to suggest not just the moment of birth, but also the cultural, political, linguistic,
religious, and other meaning-relations into which we are born, and which shape the
basic ways in which we interact with the world and with other people, then we may
well suggest that being born here or there could be significantly determinative of
identity.
Being born in Africa might then suggest in some way having an identity which would
be considered as ‘African’, whether this is seen as positive or negative. Many
stereotypes and generalisations about what it means to be an African abound, both
in and outside of Africa. We will not look at the range of these in detail (for one thing
since, being stereotypical and overly generalised, they often have little pertinence or
connection with reality). However, there is one association which we might pick out
as significant, as it also ties in with much that we have already said about the
connotations of the word ‘born’: there is often the sense that this particular
continent—Africa—in some way bestows a unified identity in ways which are
arguably less the case (or perhaps even not the case at all) where other continents
are concerned. Both Africans, often in an act of taking pride in being African, and
non-Africans, sadly often on the basis of incredible ignorance based either in gross
prejudice or in romantic fantasies of the exotic, often speak as if Africa were a single,
unified place with a unified identity, whose people similarly possess one single
natural inclination or character. People who are not from Africa arguably find it more
frequently necessary to qualify, when speaking about Europeans, that they are
speaking of ‘East-Europeans’ or ‘West- Europeans’—or even more specifically,
‘Mediterraneans’ or ‘Scandinavians’, if not yet more narrowly of ‘French’ or ‘British’
(and even in the latter case, many might still feel compelled to specify ‘Scottish’, for
example), than they feel compelled to qualify ‘West African’ or ‘North African’—and
certainly to distinguish Tanzanian from Kenyan or Ugandan, for example, or Igbo
from Yoruba. And if it seems that one might speak of ‘American’ as designating a
unified identity in a way similar to the term ‘African’, we might remember that the
United States is actually only one of 23 sovereign states on the continent of North
America alone, not to mention the many different nationalities and peoples
represented by South America. So the term ‘American’ is not at all like the term
‘African’ in this respect.
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As we suggested, the idea of a unified Africa and Africanness is not only one im-
posed from the outside, but is also frequently propagated from within Africa and
by Africans on the basis of, for example, the idea of Pan-Africanism and through the
Black Consciousness movement. From this perspective, the phrase ‘born in Africa’
could resonate powerfully in a positive way. However, it could also exclude many
people who consider themselves and are considered by many others as African, but
who do not conform to the particular view of what Africanness means that is
propagated by such political movements.
Bearing all this in mind, the word ‘but’ at the end of the title might open up all
sorts of questions. Will the word indicate that there is no essential ‘Africanness’
bestowed by being born on the continent? Will it suggest that there is one, but
that the speaker somehow lacks this essence? If the latter, why: is it by choice—
a rejection of African identity; or is it involuntary—have other people, African or non-
African, somehow stripped the speaker of this essence despite her being born
in Africa?
This poem offers a particularly rich and evocative title, which has prompted us to
consider a wide range of possible issues. Not all titles will be as thought-provoking.
However, what this exercise should demonstrate to you is the careful and consid-
erate thought process that should go into your thinking about the title of a poem even
before you begin reading the poem itself.
When you read the poem, you might find some of your questions answered, or some
new ones raised. You may find that the poem actually treats concerns entirely
different from the ones you anticipated, or treats its concerns differently, from
perspectives—and in ways—which are completely unexpected. The point, however,
is to develop the habit of reading poetry with great focus, as well as to make you an
active participant in the unfolding of the poem’s meaning. A careful consideration of
the poem’s title, and its possible meaning and significance, is a way of exercising
such focus and initiating such participation.
Do bear in mind, however, that this exercise is intended only to get you thinking
in the focused manner we refer to above. What we read from and into the title might
be completely different to what the poem says about being born in Africa. When you
write essays about a poem in your assignments and examinations, you should not
discuss your thoughts on what you expected the poem to be about, unless such a
discussion is relevant to your essay—if the poem’s title has a direct bearing on its
treatment of its subject (for example, if it is intentionally misleading, and the reader’s
being misdirected by the title is an effect of the poem).
During the opening stage in the process of a close reading of a poem you should not
begin writing an essay, or anything formal. Rather, think about the poem, and
perhaps scribble some notes in your journal or notebook.
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STEP 2: DISTANT READING
Poems are frequently dense, compact and ambiguous, and need to be read with care-
ful attention many times over. Even if you are a poetry prodigy, in order to do the
kind of analysis we require, you will need to read any poem several times, possibly
approaching it from several different perspectives.
The first perspective we apply to reading a poem is called a ‘distant reading’ (you
will already have been taught about this in ENG1501). The main purpose of a ‘dis-
tant reading’ is to develop a rudimentary sense of what the poem is about. It should
also help you to identify fundamental aspects of the structure of the poem, some of
the patterns which emerge in it, and perhaps a basic sense of some of the poetic
elements present in it. All of these will be drawn together with the subject of the
poem—with its theme, argument, topic, area of focus, etc.
The following activity should suggest to you the kinds of questions you should be
asking yourself when you do a distant reading—when you are doing the first reading
(or first few readings) of the poem.
ACTIVITY 2
(1) Read through the poem ‘born in Africa but’. What do you think it is about?
Remember that a poem is often complex and, at the same time, brief. You may
have to read the poem several times and from different perspectives, before
you begin to grasp what it is about.
(2) Compare what you actually found in the poem to what you anticipated from its
title—identify ways in which your expectations have been met, and ways in
which they have not.
(3) Does the poem seem to be positive or negative about what it says? Does
it appear to be serious or humorous, happy or sad, or any combination of these?
Can you think of other adjectives you might use to describe it? Pick out words
and phrases from the poem that contribute to your impression.
(4) Make a list of some key words which you think might summarise what the poem
is about, what it evokes and how, what questions it raises, etc.
FEEDBACK
Even at this point in the process of doing an analysis, readers may still be strug-
gling to come to grips with exactly what a poem is about—if this is the case for
you with this poem, do not be anxious. We will guide you through reading the poem
and you will complete activities, which should help you develop your own
understanding of it.
At this point, you may have noticed that the poem seems be concerned with
many of the issues we anticipated from the title. The poem does seem to explore
whether one is assigned a certain identity by being born in Africa, or whether there
are ways in which one could be ‘designated’ a different identity (or a variety of
possible identities). The poem seems to be interested in how and by whom such
‘designation’ could take place. It also seems to be concerned with how absolutely
any designation—whether by birth, by where one grew up or what language one
speaks, by how other people see and treat you, or by how you see yourself—se-
110
cures a unified, permanent identity. This last concern is arguably the one opened up
by the word ‘but’, which first appears in the title of the poem, but is opened up
throughout it. The poem, it seems, explores in various ways ambiguities pertaining
to identity in general, and the identity of one ‘born in Africa’ in particular. Finally, and
within the context of the question of how malleable identity is, the poem seems to
explore whether and to what extent one may shape one’s own identity, considering
the shaping force of the world and meanings into which one is born.
Just from this brief discussion, we might already draw a shortlist of possible key
words in terms of which to understand the poem: identity, autochthony, 2 nature,
culture/contingency, and indefiniteness/uncertainty/ambivalence.
STEP 3: READ SENSE UNIT BY SENSE UNIT

Small sense units: Poems may be arranged in all manner of ways. It can sometimes
be difficult to figure out exactly how you should read a poem. A useful approach
could be to look for any unified segments of meaning—any individual section of a
poem which can be to a degree separated from other sections, but which is tied
together in some way. This might sound extremely complicated, but a sense unit can
be as simple as a sentence. Yes, a sentence is a sense unit. And, although poems may
have line divisions and stanza divisions, the sentence is arguably still the best place
to start looking for sense even in a poem. We would recommend that if a poem is
arranged in sentences (even if these are spread over more than one line or stanza),
you begin by reading the poem sentence by sentence in order to get a sense of what
it says. Although poems may be arranged in interesting ways, basic meaning still
tends to be conveyed at the level of sentence (where sentences are present). Even if a
poem is not arranged into clear sentences (with a capital letter at the beginning and
a full stop at the end), many may still express their meaning in sentence-like struc-
tures—as is arguably the case with ‘born in Africa but’—or clauses which actually
form sentences, but without punctuation.
A useful guide to reading poems sentence by sentence (or sentence-like structure by

sentence-like structure) is the following:
• Identify the verbs; if there are none or they are not central, try to look for words
which might not strictly speaking be verbs, but which nonetheless indicate the
action or actions being performed in the sentence or series of phrases and clauses.
For example, look for participles, which may serve as nouns or adjectives, but
which are formed from verbs. Underline them.
In our example, the first sentence-like structure (comprising the first stanza) is quite
bare of verbs (the only one present is ‘die’), but full of participles. So we would un-
derline as follows: ‘born in Africa but / breastfed another mother tongue / put to
sleep on foreign lullabies / praying for a jesus-heaven when i die’
• Identify the subjects: find the people or things that are performing the actions.
Underline them (or circle, or mark them in some other way to distinguish them
from the verbs and ‘action words’).
2 Autochthony is the state of being indigenous, rather than being a settler or colonist from a different
place, or descended from one.
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The poem we have chosen as an example is tricky in this respect. Recall that the only
finite verb we encountered in the opening ‘sentence’ is ‘die’; its subject is ‘i’, and this is
in fact the only subject in the stanza. However, we saw that there were several other
action words in the form of participles. Although they do not have clear subjects,
one could argue that their subjects are fairly clearly implied. In a case such as this,
we perhaps need to supply what has been left out and imagine what the complete
sentence—which would include the verbs associated with the participles, which have
been omitted from the lines—would look like in order to see who is performing the
actions (or, in the form of the passive, having the actions performed on them). So
if we filled in the blanks, and inserted finite verbs into the first stanza, we would
most likely get the following (taking into consideration the one finite verb present
here, as well as what the rest of the poem says): ‘I was born in Africa, but breastfed
another mother tongue; I was put to sleep on foreign lullabies, praying for a jesus-
heaven when I die’ (note that we have, for the sake of clarity in this activity, adjusted
the punctuation too in order to show what the sentence might have looked like if it
were written in everyday language rather than with poetic licence).
• Once you know who is doing what, look at the other elements of the sentence.
To/for whom is the action performed, on what or with what is it performed, how
is the subject/object/action described, etc.? Try to account for any additional
details you can.
Large sense units: Meaning can also be arranged together into units larger than
sentences. These might frequently include stanzas in poems (or paragraphs in prose
texts), or, in longer poems, ‘books’, movements, or divisions.
A useful step in analysing a poem is to identify larger sense units into which you
might divide it too, and to look for patterns in how these units are arranged together.
Ask yourself, ‘What is this larger section of the poem about? How does it treat the
subject? Does it contain the same speaker as the other sense units? Does it address
the same audience as the other sense units? If not, what is the significance of the
change?’
You could do all the activities which you did for the poem as a whole in activity 2
for each individual sense unit too, developing a basic sense of whether what is ex-
pressed in it is positive or negative, looking for patterns in the diction or symbolism,
picking out keywords, etc.
Some poems will not have any obvious sense units. You might conceivably encounter
poems which are written in a single stanza with no sentences, patterns of rhyme, or
any other obvious structural division. In cases such as these, we suggest that you try
to divide the poem into sense units yourself by looking for other kinds of patterns:
see if there is a section of the poem (whether it is two lines or ten) which deals with
its subject in a particular way; focuses on a specific idea; expresses something which
distinguishes it from the rest of the poem; contains a pattern formed by diction,
imagery or symbolism; or is in any other way distinct.
When you write your essay, it is helpful to have divided the poem into sense units in
this way, as analysing the poem sense unit by sense unit is an obvious and frequently
very useful way of structuring your interpretation.
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(1) Read through the poem again. Identify whatever small and large sense units
you can. Read the poem again, sense unit by sense unit, starting with the
smallest sense units, and moving onto the larger ones. Ignore line divisions for
the moment. Also note when stanza divisions do not indicate sense unit
divisions.
(2) Identify the verbs or action words in each sense unit.
(3) Identify the subject of each sense unit.
(4) Identify other elements of each sense unit.
FEEDBACK
Once you have broken the sense units of the poem down into their elements, it
should be easier to define what they are saying. This is a good time in the process
of close reading to go through the entire poem again and consider, sentence by
sentence (if there are sentences, or otherwise sense unit by sense unit) what it may
be saying. For your own benefit, when you have broken a poem down to its
individual sentences or other sense units, try paraphrasing the entire poem,
sentence by sentence or sense unit by sense unit. Also reconsider what you think
the poem is about, and what it is expressing.
How would we break our example poem into sense units? What would the elements
of each one be?
In a way, ‘born in Africa but’ operates as a single train of thought—a single, large
sense unit. This might not be saying much: most poems, unless intentionally
constructed to be fragmented in some way, could probably similarly be said to
form a single sense unit. However, here there are no punctuation marks to indicate
divisions into individual sentences; although we have larger sense units in the
form of stanzas, these are made to bleed over into one another by the lack of smaller
sense units. Also, because of the lack of punctuation (and, as we have noted,
shortage of finite verbs), it is also often difficult to see precisely how we are to
read the individual lines—or sections of lines—as relating to each other. To
illustrate the point, let us once again rewrite the first stanza with punctuation, but
this time offer two different options of how such division might take place (we have
again inserted our own verbs—do note that thereby we have significantly shaped the
interpretation of these lines):
• [I was] born in Africa but breastfed another mother tongue—put to sleep on

foreign lullabies; [I was left] praying for a jesus-heaven when I die.
• [I was] born in Africa but breastfed another mother tongue; [I was] put to sleep
on foreign lullabies, [whereby I was left] praying for a jesus-heaven when I die.
Other divisions are possible, but one way or another, we might conclude the fol-
lowing: the stanza forms a single sense unit: being born suggests infancy, which
suggests being breastfed, which is directly related to being put to sleep with lulla-
bies; there also seems to be the strong suggestion that ‘lullabies’ here stand for
enculturation—the choice of song, the choice of what is to soothe the child and keep
its fears at bay, is a choice about the fundamental beliefs and orientations of the
child. The clause ‘praying for a jesus-heaven when i die’ could potentially be taken
as a sense unit on its own, but this prayer seems to follow as a consequence of
being put to sleep on certain—‘foreign’—lullabies. These lullabies seem either
ENG2602/501 113
themselves to be Christian or to have formed part of the kind of upbringing that would
leave a child praying to Jesus when lying frightened in the dark (one might be
prompted to think of the famous Christian childhood prayer ‘As I lay me down to
sleep, / I pray the Lord my soul to keep, / And if I die before I wake, / I pray the Lord
my soul to take.’). Therefore, ‘praying for a jesus-heaven / when I die’ seems to be
directly related to ‘put to sleep on foreign lullabies’.
Nonetheless, we might break this large sense unit down into smaller subunits: ‘born
in Africa but’ to some extent stands on its own, both in that it also occurs throughout
the rest of the poem independent of this first stanza, and in that it contains the word
‘but’, which indicates a division of sense—a break in meaning. The phrases
‘breastfed another mother tongue’, ‘put to sleep on foreign lullabies’ and ‘praying for
a jesus-heaven / when I die’ might each also be accorded a degree of
independence. Firstly, they are split by the line divisions of the stanza. Secondly,
each of these contains a separate ‘action word’ in the form of a participle—
‘breastfed’, ‘put to sleep’ and ‘praying’—around which meaning is centred in the
line. Each also arguably deals with slightly different aspects of the life of, and
perhaps also stages of the development of, an infant and young child. The first
deals with immersion in and the development or appropriation of language, and does
so in terms which suggest the earliest stages of infancy when a baby is utterly
dependent on and immersed in the world of the parents or caregivers who nourish
it. The second arguably deals with immersion in and the development or
appropriation of culture (represented by the ‘lullabies’), which is an extension of the
first and most basic form of immersion (in language); lullabies also possibly suggest
a slight extension of the world of the infant beyond the most basic need to feed in
order to stay alive. The third arguably deals with a third layer of appropriation—that
of religion, which might be thought to be a kind of cultural acquisition, in turn
dependent on the acquisition of language. Here we might note that the present
rather than past participle is used (‘praying’ as opposed to ‘born’, ‘breastfed’ and
‘put’). This suggests an ongoing action, and possibly—in this context—more agency
on the part of the speaker. The praying is something the speaker does, rather than
something which someone else does to or for the speaker. The childlike phrase
‘jesus-heaven’ suggests the thought-processes of a slightly older child—a toddler at
least, rather than an infant; it also suggests an act of understanding or meaning-
making on the part of this child (or at least the attempt at such an act) since ‘jesus-
heaven’ seems likely to be the child’s own construction. Therefore in this third ‘stage’
of the stanza—and of the child’s upbringing and development—a degree of
appropriation has already taken place. The child is already immersed in a
language and a culture, and thinks in a way which might seem to her natural or
instinctive of a particular source of comfort at a time of need.
We have in the interest of space only covered the first stanza in detail here. In
your reading, you should follow the same thought-processes in your treatment of the
whole poem.
ACTIVITY 4
(3) Read through the poem again. Paraphrase each sense unit. Write down
your paraphrases.
(4) Reconsider what you think the poem is about, and what it expresses. Write
a paragraph (10-15 lines) in which you summarise what the poem is about.
114
We saw the shortcomings of paraphrasing in section 1, and you may have noticed
them again in this activity. Many ways of rephrasing the poem are possible, but they
only give an outline of what the poem says. As we saw in our discussion of the line
‘O my love is like a red, red rose’, they do not account for all the poem’s possible
meanings and all the nuances that enrich its expression. Nevertheless, paraphrases
can be a useful starting point for a close reading.
Paraphrases may be one of the useful steps in the reading process, but they are
largely to be avoided when you are required to write an essay about a poem. The
paraphrase is a tool you use to refine your understanding of a poem before you start
writing about it. In the examination, for example, you will not have enough time to
paraphrase each sentence in the poem and then go on to the next step. But if you
have gone through this exercise many times, it will be easy and quick to run
through it and go on to writing an essay.
Rather than paraphrasing in your essay, focus on explaining each sense unit as you
treat it (and we recognise that such explanations may involve at least some
paraphrase). But make sure that your entire essay does not consist of an explana-
tion of the poem either: use the explanation of each sense unit as a starting point for
an analysis of that sense unit.
We provide discussion for this activity only on the first stanza of the poem, in
order to illustrate first how to paraphrase, then how to develop that paraphrase
into an explanation.
Our careful attempt to analyse the meaningful divisions of the first stanza have
all but written our paraphrases for us. We might say something like: the speaker says
that she was born in Africa, but likens the conditions of her upbringing to being raised
in a foreign country. We do not know whether she was actually raised elsewhere, or
if somehow her status growing up in Africa was comparable to growing up in a foreign
place. Either way, she speaks of being brought up speaking a language which is
not indigenous to her place of origin, and immersed in a culture and perhaps also
religion different in some way from indigenous practices and beliefs.
We have also gained some insight into what this stanza is about. We might argue,
perhaps, that in the opening stanza the speaker draws attention to the ways in which
her upbringing might contrast with the expectations for her identity created by the
circumstances of her birth. The latter would suggest that she should have an ‘African
identity’; the former, perhaps that her identity might be shaped by other contexts.
The forces which shape her identity seem to be at odds, which leaves her in an
ambiguous position. Since we have read on, and seen what is expressed in
subsequent stanzas, we might suggest that the opening stanza begins an in-
terrogation of what it means to be ‘African’—perhaps even more broadly what it
means to have any identity—and of how this identity is acquired, whether it can
be assigned or taken away, whether it can be claimed or reclaimed, whether it can
be created by the bearer of that identity herself. What answers to these questions do
you think are conveyed in the poem?
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STEP 4: EXAMINE FORM AND ARGUMENT
Poems frequently arrange their sentences, sense units, and ideas in special ways.
These arrangements are meaningful, as they can form part of the way in which the
language is shaped to express the poem’s meaning. The way a poem is laid out on the
page and arranged into stanzas (which we have already been discussing extensively
in our analysis of ‘born in Africa but’), or other patterns—of rhythm and rhyme, for
example, or according to a specific typographical design—can be significant. For
example, one aspect of an argument might be developed in one stanza, and a
different aspect in another. Or certain ideas might be linked together by rhyme or
by their positioning in a line in order to be compared or contrasted.
ACTIVITY 5
Look at the way in which ‘born in Africa but’ is laid out on the page and try to find
where it is broken down into larger sense units (for example stanzas):
(1) Identify and explain the situation in each section. That is, what is the subject
of the section—what does it deal with?
(2) What is the setting of that section, if there is one (the location or place
where the action unfolds)?
(3) What are the circumstances of the speaker? What is the speaker’s atti-
tude—in general, and towards the subject?
(4) What are the basic ideas in each section?
(5) How does the subject of each section relate to the subject of the poem—to
the thing or idea the poem as a whole is about?
(6) Are there any conflicting ideas within any of the sections? Explain.
While you analyse each large sense unit of the poem in turn, be sure to remember
that each such section forms part of the poem as a whole—of the poem itself as
a single sense unit. So make sure you take note of how the different sections or
sense units of the poem relate to each other. Use the following activity to guide you.
ACTIVITY 6
(1) Compare the different sense units of the poem to each other. Is the setting
the same in each? If not, what changes, and where and how does it change?
(2) Are the circumstances of the speaker the same in different sense units?
Is the attitude of the speaker the same in every sense unit? If not, what
changes, and where and how does it change?
(3) Do the ideas expressed in the poem progress or shift anywhere in the poem?
If so, where and how do they shift?
(4) How do the ideas expressed in the different sense units of the poem relate
to each other?
(5) Do the different sense units sustain each other? Do any of them conflict or
contrast with the others?
(6) Explore conflicts and contrasts in the poem. Where do these occur? Are they
resolved? If yes, how? If not, what is the effect of this lack of resolution?
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Once again, bear in mind that this is an exercise meant to illustrate the thought
processes which go into refining your reading of a poem, and not a demonstration of
what you should write in an essay. Your analysis of the form and argument of a
poem should form part of an integrated overall analysis, and not stand on its own,
as it does in this activity. What we have provided below is frequently more in the
form of such an integrated discussion, rather than a systematic response to each
of the questions in the activities.
To a certain extent, we have already addressed some of the questions raised above.
The overall pattern of the poem seems to be a division into five stanzas (the larger
sense units), each comprising a sequence of phrases and clauses without any
punctuation marks, but roughly comprising a single sentence-like unit. Within each
stanza, the sentence-like structure spans the entire stanza, and so is in each case
structurally roughly equivalent to the stanza; however, each of these ‘sentences’ can
be broken down into smaller units, often restricted to a single line, but at times
spanning a couple of lines. The way in which these ‘sentences’ stretch across the
stanzas might suggest that they be considered to end with the clause ‘born in Africa
but’ instead of a full stop, and begin with the same clause instead of a capital letter.
If we take this to be the case, the final ‘sentence’ has no full stop (there is no ‘born
in Africa but’ at the end), which leaves it open-ended.
When we look more carefully at how structure relates to meaning, we can arguably
detect definite patterns, with each stanza dealing with the subject from a different
perspective or with a different focus. There is arguably a definite sense of progres-
sion in the poem, despite its apparent open-endedness—perhaps we might even
provisionally suggest that the poem progresses towards open-endedness, but
we shall discuss this in more detail later on. This progression, as well as much of the
focus of the poem itself, is centred on the attitude of the speaker; therefore, we
might suggest that although we have the same speaker throughout, there are
changes in the perspectives or thought-processes of this speaker, which we can
trace in the poem.
In our earlier consideration of the first stanza, we saw that there was great doubt and
ambivalence on the part of the speaker about an identity that she seems to feel
should be shaped by her having been ‘born in Africa’; this is reflected by the way in
which this stanza is centred on imagery of birth, infancy and childhood. Her
doubt and ambivalence are evident in the way she feels that—and perhaps is
concerned about how—this identity is shaped (or also shaped) by an upbringing
which in some way suggests foreignness, or a discrepancy between origin and
upbringing.
The uncertainty about the speaker’s identity as someone who was ‘born in Af- rica’,
but whose inborn Africanness seems somehow to be in question, appears to
culminate in the suggestion that the speaker’s ultimate ‘destiny’, where she will end
up after she dies, is a ‘jesus-heaven’. We frequently think of the essence of things
as being determined by their origin; often this understanding of essence is
coupled with the idea of a kind of ‘natural’ or inborn essence. According to such
a view, the speaker’s essence should be determined by having been ‘born in
Africa’. But we also frequently think of the essence of something as being its purpose
or destiny. The purpose of a chair is to be sat on; the essence of a chair is its sit-
ableness. Or, in some religions, the destiny of human life is an afterlife; the
essence of a life is the destiny with which it ends. At times we associate this kind of
purpose- or destiny-oriented essence with the ‘natural’ too. Think of the idea around
which stanza two is structured, that of a fruit tree: its natural destiny
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is the cycle of its growth from seed to fruit, which itself contains another seed.
However, at other times we might see the destiny of something as being able to
be shaped or manipulated, whether by accident or through intentional intervention.
Think of the various ways in which we humans attempt to shape ourselves (through
education, diet, and exercise, for example) or others (such as the ways we attempt
to mould our children through the manner in which we raise them towards being
certain kinds of adults). If we look at the two potential sites of the speaker’s
‘essence’—her beginning and her destiny—we see a tension between the essence
of her origin, her having been born in Africa, and the essence of her destiny,
which is coloured by her possibly belonging to a belief system not indigenous to
Africa. Or, we see the speaker questioning whether her destiny is shaped by origin
in the form of her status at birth, at the same time as she questions what precisely
origin entails. Because origin does not seem to be a simple matter: the
circumstances of the speaker’s upbringing are, through the images of infancy
and childhood, shown to be a form of origin too. (Note for example the reference to
‘another mother tongue’, which connects the circumstances of the speaker’s
linguistic upbringing with the naturalness of the infant’s being nourished at her
mother’s breast.) There seems, therefore, to be no neat distinction between birth as
natural and essential, and upbringing as circumstantial and external; this is not to
say that there is no distinction made in the stanza, but rather to suggest that the
distinction is shown to be difficult to maintain and full of ambiguities.
The second stanza continues to explore the concern with indigeneity. It also further
investigates and expands on the tensions established in the first stanza, this time
centring them around the image of an indigenous tree—hinting at its origin (both
its seeding and the circumstances of its growth and development), as well as its
purpose, or destiny. Thus although the second stanza is related to the first, there are
some shifts and developments. The shift in imagery from human development to
the growth of a tree is coupled with a shift in the attitude and focus of the speaker.
Although the image of the ‘indigenous tree’ might suggest the natural, and the
centrality of this image in the stanza might make us anticipate that it focuses on
essence as origin, the stanza actually moves to focusing far more on what, in
humans, we might refer to as culture—various ways in which what is natural might
undergo some sort of intervention or interference, be altered, shaped or worked
upon. If the tree suggests a pure origin and the coinciding of origin and end, then
that purity seems to be blemished in this stanza, and in the speaker’s circumstances,
which are represented as somehow interrupting the natural cycle through which the
tree grows and propagates. The seed of the indigenous tree (perhaps the speaker)
has been ‘flung far’ from where it might have been expected to grow (perhaps here
taken to be Africa). Nature has been interfered with; instead of the seed growing
in its natural soil, it has been planted into a ‘designated cultivated patch’. Origin has
been bent towards an end by design—by the intervention of human planning and
action suggested by the word ‘designated’. Similarly, discussion of the tree’s destiny
is also centred on planning, design, and human interaction and intervention—in
short, ‘strategy’, which is something nature neither has nor exercises. In fact, there
is a progression in lines two and four of this stanza, which both express this sort of
intervention and design. Line two speaks of origin in terms of design, but with the
sense of nature that has been worked upon—the image is of a seed growing into a
tree in a way and place shaped by some form of intervention. Line four, on the other
hand, speaks of design almost exclusively—the tree seems now to have been ripped
from its soil, to no longer be a thing of nature: it is now wood for the ‘carving out’ of
a ‘destiny’ according to a ‘strategy’.
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The progression from stanza one to stanza two is arguably particularly notice-
able in the shift evident in the conclusions of each (lines 4-5 in stanza one and
the final line of stanza two). The endings of both stanzas discuss what we have
broadly termed destiny (and with it, perhaps, essence). They both also contain
pronouns which refer directly to the speaker (‘i’ and ‘my’), suggesting, perhaps, how
this consideration of ends or destinies is relevant to the selfhood or identity of the
speaker—to who and what she is. In the first stanza, the speaker seems to express
very little sense of agency pertaining to her ‘end’—she hopes at best, it seems, for a
destiny she has been enculturated to hope for: a jesus-heaven. Her agency in
reaching for this destiny—which is one that she does not seem to have chosen, but
rather has accepted in the manner of an obedient child—is limited to praying.
She has to leave her destiny in the hands of another agent, who may or may not
hear or answer her prayers. And if her prayers are answered, her end will only be
fulfilled when she surrenders her essence entirely—when she dies.
In the second stanza, the speaker still lacks agency, but in this case her essence
and identity—her ‘destiny’ are determined by different agents. The planning, de-
sign, and human intervention which we said before characterised the final line of this
stanza’s treatment of destiny (how it represents the end of the seedling grown far
away from the indigenous tree), suggests two possible areas of intervention that,
through ‘strategy’, play a role in ‘carving out ‘her’ destiny’. On the one hand, the
‘designated … patch’ into which she is metaphorically flung suggests spatial
apartheid, the legislation that ‘designated’ specific areas for specific groups within
the South African population as a ‘strategy’ for shaping the national identity and
limiting the identity of indigenous Africans. On the other, the ejection of the speaker
from indigenous African spaces—perhaps cultural as well as geographical spaces—
represented in ‘flung far from the indigenous tree’ suggests that it is the indigenous
tree itself—the people, or culture, or indeed life, of Africa itself—that has flung her
away, carved out for her a destiny of rejection and exclusion.
We have looked very carefully at the connections between stanzas one and two, as
if they were themselves a unit. This is because if we look at the poem as a whole,
we might take them as such, as there is a significant shift in tone, focus and
subject matter in the third stanza. Here the speaker largely moves away from images
of growth and development, as well as of origin and destiny—although these still form
the background of what is explored here, and are certainly present in the final line of
this stanza. Instead, the third stanza might be thought to reflect on a concern that
was only briefly hinted at in stanza two in the word ‘designated’. To designate means
to mark or point out—often specifically to ‘distinguish by marks or description’; or
‘to call by a distinctive title’ or ‘name’; or to ‘indicate or set apart for a purpose’. 3 This
word is a suitable starting point for our discussion of the third stanza because this
stanza seems to deal with a variety of manners in which the speaker’s identity or
essence, pointed towards by the phrase ‘born in Africa’, is in an assortment of ways
understood to be determined by ‘designation’—by various manners in which the
speaker is considered to be marked, described, named, indicated or set apart in
ways that are not immediately obvious in the phrase ‘born in Africa’. The stanza
seems to move towards considering the speaker’s identity with references to the
‘designations’ other people give it. This provides us with more information about
aspects of that identity which might further complicate what the first two stanzas
have already shown to be the intricate and ambiguous question of the speaker’s
essence; this information to a degree also retrospectively alters aspects of our
reading of the first two stanzas, and explains the roles of
3 The definitions here are either directly quoted or adapted from the entry on ‘designate’ taken from
wiktionary.org (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/designate). I have inserted the italics where present.
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both apartheid and African agents in carving out the speaker’s destiny, as we now
have more knowledge on which to base our interpretation.
Aside from providing us with information, the stanza’s focus on externally imposed
designations also adds an additional layer to the question of how identity is com-
posed. Although the first two stanzas already suggest that one’s ‘essence’ may be
shaped by circumstances and the intervention of other people, in these stanzas there
is a tension between contingencies that seem to be directed towards the fulfilment
of an end which might in one way or another be regarded as purposeful—as giving
that which is shaped a meaning which might largely be considered as in some way
worthwhile—and contingencies that may be alienating and destructive. So we had
the image of a parent shaping their child through her upbringing; the image of a
gardener, farmer or horticulturist planting, and presumably nurturing, a tree rather
than leaving its growth to the chance of nature; and the image of a sculptor,
woodworker, carpenter or engraver shaping wood to create something practical or
beautiful (or both). And, at the same time, we had the hint of a baby breastfed on
‘another mother’, and thus implicitly torn from her own mother’s breast; the image
of a spiritual life that is focused on death; and the suggestions of rejection—of
being forcibly ‘flung’ away—by both the architects and the victims of apartheid. In
stanza three, the tensions are at an end: the ‘interventions’ in the form of
designations can no longer be thought perhaps to involve any nourishment, care, or
apparent purpose. They rather simply seem to reduce identity to specific ‘marks’ or
external indicators; they do so in a manner which is scornful, and they both expect
and demand that internal essence correlate with these external marks.
The fact that the designations referred to in this stanza are coupled with expecta-
tions and demands placed on the speaker means that they also serve in some way
actively to shape her identity. They are not mere descriptions which inform, but social
demands which form by insisting that one conform. There is a certain irony in this,
since the principal designation of the speaker’s identity provided here is grounded in
the assumption that there is a single, pure, essential meaning to being ‘born in
Africa’—the speaker is scornfully designated as ‘mixed’, and therefore set apart and
described as ‘inferior’. The irony lies in that by bestowing, and thereby shaping,
identity in this way, those who designate in fact demonstrate that identity or essence
is not inborn, but rather worked upon and shaped.
The designation ‘mixed’, and its equation with being somehow ‘inferior’, clarify
aspects of the ambiguities about origin expressed in the first two stanzas, and make
us reassess them. Considering the likely South African context of the poem
(considering that the poet is a South African), we might now understand the speaker
as likely belonging to the population group referred to in South Africa as ‘coloured’—
a population group which is specifically categorised on the basis of its members not
belonging to any single racial group, but rather being racially ‘mixed’ (such
categorisation itself assumes ‘pure’ racial categories—suggests that race is
something inborn, absolute and immutable, which bestows a certain essence on an
individual’s identity. Such categorisation therefore likely implies that ‘born in Africa’
is likewise supposed to bestow identity in an absolute way, but also likely excludes
certain people from the essential and absolute identity it postulates).
We might therefore now reread the uncertainties about origin of the first two stan-
zas in the light of the ambiguity created through the designation of someone as
‘mixed’ (rather than, for example, the ambiguity created through the displacement of
someone from their place of birth or origin—say, for example, of someone born in
Africa but raised in Switzerland). The ‘origin’ of someone designated as such
appears to be dispersed: the speaker was ‘born in Africa’, but with inborn markers
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of non-indigenousness. These inborn markers perhaps include elements seen in

stanza one: of language, culture and religion ‘transplanted’—if we think of the im-
age of the indigenous tree with seedlings growing in far-flung places—into Africa by
ancestors from Asia and Europe (and perhaps also transplanted into South Africa by
ancestors from West, Central and East Africa). In stanza three we see these inborn
markers as also including certain physical markers—the ‘exterior’ marker of ‘skin’, of
skin colour.
The reference in stanza two to being ‘born in Africa but / into a designated cultivated
patch / flung far from the indigenous tree’ might therefore also retrospectively be
read in the light of the designation of a ‘coloured’ identity. These lines could perhaps
suggest the dispersed origin of the coloured speaker, referring to the ways in which
the speaker’s Asian (as well as West, Central and East African) ancestors were
forcibly flung (through enslavement and political exile) from their places of origin,
frequently in order to work the ‘cultivated patch’ of the Cape of Good Hope in order
to grow food and cultivate wine for the European colonists (some of who were also
likely ancestors of the speaker). They could also suggest the ways in which, as a
‘coloured’ person, she is in contemporary times ‘flung’ from her own particular—
and authentic—kind of African indigenousness by being ‘designated’ as in some
way not indigenous because of the colour of her skin and the diversity of her origins:
because of being genetically and culturally ‘mixed’ with what is not African.
As we suggested, the designation ‘mixed equals inferior’ which in this stanza

modifies the identity of one ‘born in Africa’—modifies it in the sense of qualifying
its meaning—also ends up shaping (or attempting to shape) it, modifying it in the
sense of changing it or setting bounds to it. We see this in the way the speaker
is seen to internalise the shame for her mixed origins which those who designate
seem to assign to being ‘mixed’ through their scorn. We perhaps see this shame
in the apparent need in the speaker to keep her identity a ‘secret’, which she fears is
‘exposed’ by the colour of her ‘skin’; we perhaps also see it in the apparent need to
‘rearrange that exterior’ which reveals her mixed origins. By internalising the scorn
bestowed upon her, she seems also to create a correlation between interior—her
identity or essence—and exterior—the colour of her skin. She thereby is made to
enact and thereby fulfil precisely what is posited by those who scornfully designate
according to the assumption of the existence of a pure, racially-based identity: the
concordance between inside and outside—the determination of the individual on the
basis of ‘exterior’ markers of identity. In this way we can see that by designating,
such people also ‘cultivate’, but in a profoundly negative way. They compel the
speaker to adopt a certain way of understanding herself and of behaving (hiding,
rearranging), and thereby shape who she is (we mentioned earlier that it is ironic that
from the point of view of such people, who clearly work to mould one’s identity
according to their own preconceived notions, one’s nature is supposedly not
shaped, but inborn).
The profound effects of the shaping force of this scorn are expressed in the final two
lines of the stanza: ‘enslaving beliefs / this child was bathed in’. Here we see a return
to the image of childhood, with all the connotations of how a child is shaped by the
intimate worlds of the language, culture and religion within which she is immersed in
her family life. The link to the first stanza here is not only established through the
common symbolism (of childhood and children), but also through what that
symbolism represents: the acquisition of and immersion into worlds of meaning as
elements of our essence or identity. We suggested in our discussion of the opening
stanza that language, culture and religion are things we are immersed in: we
cannot step outside of language, we cannot leap out of culture to become
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cultureless; we might be able to become immersed in languages or cultures other
than the ones in which we were raised, but we cannot stop having a language or
culture through and within which we engage with the world. The idea that identity or
essence are inborn suggests that they are immediate; they are instantly assigned to any
baby, and manifestly true of any person. But the poem’s exploration of identity thus
far has suggested that this view is flawed, in that even what appears to be inborn
essence is actually mediated by such forces as language and upbringing. Between
us and the meanings which make up our identities, as well as between us and the
world with which we engage, there are factors such as language and culture that
shape and define our meanings and ourselves.
When the speaker talks of the ‘enslaving beliefs / this child was bathed in’, she
speaks of the designations of her identity as essentially marked by mixedness,
marked by skin colour, and marked by the shame imposed in the scorn with which
these designations are measured out, as if these designations are something within
which she has been immersed. She has been ‘bathed in’ them. Being bathed is an
image of complete immersion and absorption. When you are bathed in something,
it likely touches every part of you—all of you ‘exterior’, your ‘skin’, is exposed to
the element in which you are bathed. When a baby is bathed, it is immersed by those
who nurture and love it. We see then the force of this image: the designations of
inferiority and shame arising from her designation as ‘mixed’ are a medium in which
the speaker has been immersed from birth—and this immersion was begun in her
infancy, beginning even with those who presumably nurtured and loved her. There
can have been no escape. All her engagements with the world—and presumably
her own sense of identity—have been mediated from the very start by these scornful
views of her and the accompanying ways in which she has been compelled to view
herself. She has no immediate access to a selfhood which she can freely adopt as
her own; all access to her own essence is mediated by a view of her as in some
way contemptible for who she is.
The sheer force and extent of the control of these designations over her self-
perception, and therefore over all her engagements with the world and with others,
is so overwhelming that it is as if these ‘beliefs’ are ‘enslaving’ her. Since she is
compelled by outside forces to do what she has not chosen to do, to do what she
has no choice but to do—to believe those views which so denigrate her—it is as
if she has had her freedom and agency stolen from her, and been enslaved. Her
condition of enslavement to beliefs thereby echoes the actual enslavement of
many of her ancestors.
There is a significant shift in the perspective and attitude of the speaker in stanza
four. But, despite this shift, there are also important connections and parallels
between stanza four and stanza three. These connections pertain to the designa-
tion of the speaker as inferior and the obligation placed upon her to feel ashamed
because she is ‘mixed’. In this stanza, the speaker refers to a need for ‘hiding’ which
seems to refer back to the ‘secret’ of stanza three. The shift which occurs here is in
the speaker’s perspective and attitude towards, and consequent response to, this
situation. This shift in perspective can be seen in the way in which stanza three
largely focuses on the outside perspectives on her identity which have been
imposed on her, and in which she has been ‘bathed’. The stanza seems to show how
the speaker is seen and made to see herself. Although there are verbs in the stanza,
it is also filled with past participles (‘born’, ‘mixed’, ‘scorned’, ‘exposed’, ‘bathed’),
which all suggest actions that have been performed on the speaker. The speaker
seems to be stripped of agency; the verbs we mentioned are ‘equals’, which
performs the action of drawing the supposed equivalence—or identity—between
‘mixed’ and ‘inferior’, and ‘rearrange’, which does not have a
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clear subject (the speaker could be the implied subject, or the verb could be in
the imperative form—a command that she rearrange her exterior), and involves the
action of succumbing to the belief in this supposed inferiority and acting in
accordance to the interpretations of her essence imposed upon her.
Although the first verb in stanza four describes the ‘death’ of the speaker—when she
says ‘i have died’—‘died’ and the clause in which it occurs mark the profound shift
in the speaker’s perspective and attitude. Death usually entails the end of one’s
personhood. However, if one believes in a certain kind of afterlife—a jesus-heaven—
it might mark a kind of beginning to one’s authentic and essential existence. In
Christianity (which a jesus-heaven invokes)—as well as in some other religions—
the most essential part of one is one’s soul, and the afterlife is when that soul (at
least potentially) reaches its purest and fullest expression (if it is received in
heaven). The fulfilment of essence entailed in death, though, entails surrendering
agency to God, and the movement towards the ‘end’ or ‘destiny’ of one’s realisation
of self in heaven is mediated through Jesus. There is another kind of surrendering
of the self—a surrender equated with death—which is important in Christian religious
belief, and is perhaps specifically referenced here. Christians believe that you can
‘die to self’—that is, deny or give up your selfhood in favour of absolute devotion
to God. Note how the phrasing which usually describes this Christian phenomenon
(‘dying to’) is matched in the speaker’s phrasing in the poem (‘i have died to’). This
possibly suggests that the speaker is drawing a kind of equivalence between
death—perhaps both the living death of surrendering one’s selfhood, and the
actual death which marks the end of personhood, both of which entail an end in
the sense of purpose or achievement—understood from a Christian perspective,
and the kind of ‘death’ she speaks of experiencing here. But the speaker’s death
involves the seizing, rather than surrendering, of agency, selfhood and identity; the
‘afterlife’ which follows this death is one where she is the entity who has power to
determine her own essence.
This is because of what this particular death entails. She does not die to herself, but
to ‘the hiding / dividing / fearful deciding’. Dying to is a rather unusual construction,
and may be a little difficult to understand. It may be somewhat clarified through
reference to a related construction: when someone or something is said to be
‘dead to’ someone. ‘Dead to’ here means so hated as to be entirely pushed from
one’s life—if someone says ‘You’re dead to me’, I understand that they no longer
want anything to do with me; it is as if, from their perspective, I do not exist. To say
that you ‘die to’ something is quite similar—it also involves a kind of pushing out of
one’s life: it means to become indifferent to something, especially if that something
had some sort of hold over one. Therefore one might normally understand it as
releasing oneself from being subject to something. 4 The death the speaker refers
to here might therefore be understood as a death-like transi- tion in which she is no
longer subject to the designation of inferiority and imposition of shame represented
in stanza three. This death entails a transformation of the speaker’s destiny, purpose,
or realisation of essence. Before, outside forces bathed the speaker in a sense of
‘what i am’ and ‘what i should be’ which was determined by a specific narrow
understanding of what African identity entails—of what it means to be ‘born in Africa’
and what it means to have been shaped by that. Before, the sense was cultivated
in her that there are absolute divisions which determine essence (and which are
therefore constantly ‘dividing’ people), and that because she was ‘mixed’, her
essence was itself divided, and that she should hide who she was or decide on her
selfhood on the basis of fear (‘fearful deciding’).
4 See the Wiktionary entry on ‘die’ (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/die), sense 12, from which the
definition and example have been modified.
ENG2602/501 123
Her ‘afterlife’—her new life which is not a ‘jesus-heaven’ but nevertheless entails
a kind of resurrection or rebirth—is revealed to us in the final stanza. This stanza
therefore entails the most profound shift in, as well as the resolution of, the poem.
Here we see her recognition that the hold over her of the designations ‘mixed’ and
‘inferior’ has driven her to be a ‘self-made prisoner’. She has enacted the dividing of
her selfhood, the fretting over what essence her origins have assigned to her, and
imprisoned herself in the shamed hiding of her identity which her designations seem
to have suggested should be her destiny. Stanza four contains her declaration that
she has ‘died to’ these designations; stanza five shows us the result of this dying.
The ‘captivity’ of the ‘enslaving beliefs’ to which she has made herself prisoner give
way to ‘release’. This ‘release’ does not simply ‘happen’ to her in the manner of an
imposition, in the manner expressed by the many past participles we have
encountered in the poem. Instead, she is the agent of her own release (‘i release
captivity’)—as she was also, it turns out, the agent of her own captivity, the
realisation of which fact allows her to free herself.
Instead of being a passive recipient of an identity imposed on her, instead of

being bound to designations based on other people’s interpretations of how or if
origin shapes identity, and therefore also shapes the course of one’s future, the
speaker is now ‘free’. Her life still has a course or direction, as both the image of the
unfolding of a map and the reference to her ‘destiny’ suggest. However, she is
the agent of this destiny, as ‘no other will dictate’ to her who or what she is.
The terms in which this freedom is described suggest a kind of transcendence, which
might be contrasted to earlier sections of the poem which suggested immersion in
a medium through which identity is mediated. The entire poem is indeed immersed
in the meanings associated with having been ‘born in Africa’. The apparent
transcendence of the final stanza speaks of ‘living before and beyond’, rather than
being bound to the event of this birth in this place as the sole determiner of the
speaker’s essence (which we have seen is impossible in any case, since it is not her
birth in Africa, but the designations of what her specific birth in Africa supposedly
makes her, which have had determining force). Instead of being bound to the refrain
‘born in Africa but’, she now finds a whole ‘universe’—infinitely larger and filled with
more possibility than a continent—stretched before her. Or, rather than stretching
before her, it ‘awakens in [her]’. The poem is about identity, and therefore the
transcendence we have spoken about also pertains to identity: the ‘universe’ is an
infinitely broad open field of possibilities for how she might determine her own
essence in relation to her having been ‘born in Africa’.
STEP 4: DICTION AND MOOD

As the previous activity demonstrated, poems may be divided into sections, with
each section unified by, for example, layout on the page (the stanzas, in our example
poem); furthermore, the division into sections may reflect divisions in the argument
and treatment of the subject. So these divisions form part of the meaning-making
process of the poem, with the layout of the poem signifying something: a shift in
thought, for example.
But you may have noticed some other patterns around which the poem is ordered,
other markers of progression, change, contrast, that help to express the ideas of the
poem, signalling the attitude of the speaker, the situation of the poem and so forth.
124
You have to some extent been asked already to engage with some of these patterns
in earlier activities, when you were asked to consider the atmosphere of the poem,
and to find words and phrases that suggested its basic subject and approach. The
types of words, phrases and images used in a poem, and in its various sections, are
important to consider when you examine a poem.
ACTIVITY 7: Progression of main ideas

In the above discussion, we thought that in the first stanza, the speaker uses images
of infancy and childhood. We also suggested that there was some tension in this
stanza between what might be considered natural, and what might be considered
shaped or constructed.
(1) Identify the words and phrases in this stanza which one might associate with
birth, infancy or childhood. Mark each of these on the poem itself.
(2) Identify words and phrases in this stanza which suggest nature or what is seen
as natural. Mark each of these on the poem itself. Now identify words and
phrases which suggest being shaped or constructed, and mark each of
these.
(3) Do the same for stanza two.
(4) Compare the stanzas: has a pattern emerged? Here it might be useful to look
at your marked copy of the poem. How are the words dealing with birth, infancy
and childhood on the one hand, and nature or artifice on the other, distributed
across these two stanzas?
For practice, repeat this activity for other ideas that are also important in the poem
by examining the patterning of words used in other stanzas.
FEEDBACK
Did you notice any patterns emerging? Words associated with birth, infancy and
childhood you might have picked out in the first stanza are: born; breastfed; mother;
put to sleep; and lullabies. In stanza two only really the word ‘born’ is directly as-
sociated with these phenomena. You might have argued that the ‘tree’ in stanza two
is parallel and in some sense equivalent to ‘mother’ in the first stanza; however,
although the tree is also a progenitor, it is not human, and the image cluster which
dominates the first stanza specifically pertains to humanity. The difference in
patterning indicates a shift between the stanzas—a shift which is treated in detail in
the discussion on the previous activities above.
The same words we picked out from stanza one as pertaining to birth, infancy
and childhood (born; breastfed; mother; put to sleep; and lullabies) might also be
said to suggest nature and the natural. The phrase ‘another mother tongue’ could
perhaps suggest being shaped or constructed, as it might be taken as involving
intervention into what one might assume to be the ‘natural’ course of things (a child
being raised speaking its ‘mother tongue’ rather than a foreign language). By the
same logic, ‘foreign’ might be grouped with ‘another mother tongue’. Some of you
may even have argued that within the context of a poem concerned with indigenous
Africanness, ‘jesus-heaven’ might suggest a non-indigenous belief- system, and
therefore in a somewhat indirect way be associated with ‘shaping’ or
‘constructing’, insofar as these imply some sort of deviation from the ‘natural course
of things’—which here might be assumed to be a correlation between indigenous
birth and indigenous beliefs.
ENG2602/501 125
In stanza two ‘born’ and ‘indigenous tree’ might suggest nature, while ‘designated’,
‘cultivated’, ‘flung far’, ‘strategy’ and ‘carving’ might suggest constructedness, human
intervention, and human shaping. Depending on how one interpreted it, ‘destiny’
could suggest either nature or artifice; precisely how one interpreted this would
probably be significant for the overall interpretation of the poem.
The patternings here show certain correlations and parallels between the two
stanzas; but they also show how the focus of the poem shifts between stanzas,
or how the investigation of the subject develops, as we see a movement from
a greater prevalence of words associated with nature in the first stanza, and a greater
prevalence of words associated with artifice or human intervention in the second.
Again refer back to the discussion on the previous activities for a more detailed
examination of the significance of these shifts.
What this activity should have revealed is how a careful examination of the patterning
of words, and the ideas associated with them, in a poem can also help you to identify
concerns, tensions, parallels, shifts in concerns, etc. It should have shown you how
word choice is intricately bound up with meaning.
What this means for the practical process of developing an understanding of a poem
and writing a close analysis of its language is twofold. Firstly, looking at the
patterns of words can help you to make sense of a poem. The approach we
suggested for developing insight into and an understanding of the subject of a poem
begins with looking at the title, moves on to first doing a distant reading and
then a close reading; it then progresses to a careful examination of the form and
argument of the poem, followed by a discussion of its diction and mood. However,
all of these approaches are integrated, and some poems might require you to spend
more time and dedicate more attention to one or two of them above the others. In
our example, we devoted a great deal of attention to the structure and argument of
‘born in Africa but’, because the poem lends itself very well to the analysis of
these features. The great attention we paid to the structure and argument of the
poem was itself a form of close reading of the poem—we saw that during our
discussion, insight into other elements of the poem’s construction and use of
language inevitably emerged. Thus by the time we turned our attention to diction, we
had already largely picked out the key elements of the diction of the poem in our
rigorous analysis of its structure.
This process can also work the other way around. If you have great difficulty with
any of the steps in the analytical process we have outlined so far, it might be useful
to move onto the next step, and see if its manner of working through the poem could
shed light on what you missed in the earlier steps. So, for example, we might have
struggled with our distant reading, and had little idea of what the poem in general
was about. Then we might have moved onto our close reading, and still found
ourselves in the dark. We might have pushed on and tried to work out how the poem
was structured, but found that although we could see that the poem is divided into
five stanzas, we could not really say what each stanza was about or how they related
to each other. What to do then? Move onto the next step.
We might then have laboriously gone through the poem trying to find any words
or phrases which seemed in any way related to each other—simply tried to find
a pattern. One way to do this would be to mark words and phrases on a copy of the
poem in front of you, perhaps using different colours or patterns of markings for
each set of words or phrases which belong together. This would give you a good
visual sense of the structure of the poem—such marking of the page would probably
have drawn your attention to how the first stanza of ‘born in Africa but’ is full of
words and phrases which relate to infancy and childhood, for example.
126
Alternatively, you could make a table, in which you have a row for each stanza
(or other sense unit) of the poem, and a column for each set of related words. As
you develop your table, adding more columns as you carefully examine the diction
of each sense unit, you would probably see patterns of meaning emerging, and
develop a sense of how the poem moves between sets of ideas or perspectives. You
could then go back to your earlier steps, and try to see if finding patterns of related
or contrasted words in the poem helps you to see what the poem is about, and how
it arranges its treatment of its subject.
In order to illustrate what we are saying, we are providing a table which lays out
possible ways to categorise the patterns of diction in ‘born in Africa but’. You will see
that in this table, the headings for each column may differ slightly from what we
picked out as the main subjects of the poem in general and each stanza in particular.
This is in order to reflect how the process of analysis is a work in progress. You
might draw up your table on the basis of a pattern you see emerging, but as you re-
examine the structure and argument of the poem, you reassess the categories you
identify and relabel them in your discussions of the poem. The point is that when
you analyse a poem, a full understanding of the poem and all its elements generally
does not strike you in a single moment of insight. Usually you develop your analysis
by increments, picking out those patterns you can identify and assigning them
provisional meaning, then going back to reassess and perhaps revise your
preceding interpretations as your perspective is shifted by other patterns and
meanings you identify and interpret.
Image Birth, Religion, Outside Natural/ Scorn Immediacy/ Truth,

infancy the sacred power inborn (N) vs immersion identity,
exerted on/ Artificial / not (I) vs pure
over one, inborn (A) interior or
mediation (M)
or power concor-
/ ‘mediacy’
exerted by dance
self between
interior and
exterior –
and their
opposites
Stanza 1 born; praying; all the birth all the birth born (I); but all under
breastfed; Jesus-heaven imagery; all imagery (M); breastfed natural vs
mother; put the religious (N); another (seems I, but artificial
to sleep; imagery; die mother tongue both); mother
lullabies (A); foreign; tongue (seems
Jesus-heaven I, but both; put
(maybe, if (M); foreign
‘western’ (M); praying
belief) (M) longing
for I); Jesus-
heaven (both);
die (I)
ENG2602/501 127
Stanza 2 born; tree (in destiny designated; born (N); designated born (I); but all under
this context, cultivated; designated (M); designated natural vs
‘tree’ is per- flung; destiny (A); cultivated cultivated (M); artificial
haps parallel (A); flung far far (M); tree (I);
to ‘mother’ (in this context strategy (M);
in Stanza 1 A); indig- destiny (both)
enous tree
(N); strategy
(A); carving
(A); destiny
(uncertain N
or A)
Stanza 3 born; child; enslaving born (N); inferior; born (I); but all under
bathed mixed (in this scorned; se- (M); mixed natural vs
context maybe cret (maybe (M); equals artificial;
A); rearrange – suggest- (apparent I?); inferior
(A); secret ing shame); rearrange (maybe);
(maybe A); exposed (M); exterior exterior;
beliefs (maybe (M); exposed secret;
A); bathed (M); skin (M); beliefs;
(uncertain N beliefs (both?); bathed
or A) bathed (I)
Stanza 4 born died; fearful born (N); hiding (may- born (I); but all under
(maybe) hiding (A); be – suggest- (M); died (I); natural vs
dividing (A); ing shame); dividing (M); artificial;
deciding (A); dividing deciding (M); hiding;
am (N); should (maybe); i am (seems I, dividing;
be (undecided fearful but M?); should deciding;
N or A) (maybe) be (M?) am; should
be
Stanza 5 born; made sacred; des- made (may- born (N) X2; dictate born (I); but all under
(though note tiny; beyond be); prisoner; self made (maybe) (M); self natural vs
it is self (maybe); captivity; dic- (uncertain N made (both?); artificial;
made); des- universe tate; destiny; or A); prisoner release (M); self; made;
tiny (maybe); living; beyond (A); release am free (I?); release;
born; living (maybe); captivity (A unfold (perhaps free; unfold;
(maybe) universe achieves N); both?); sacred map; dictate;
(maybe) free (N); un- (longing for I); individual;
fold (uncertain map (M); other destiny;
N or A); map (M); individual living; be-
(A); dictate (I?); destiny fore; beyond;
(A); destiny (both); born (I); universe;
(uncertain N but (M); living awakens; in
or A); living before and me
(N); universe beyond
(N); awakens (combination?);
(uncertain N universe (both);
or A) awakens
(both?); me
(normally I, but
here both?)
128
SUMMARY
In this section, we have seen various ways in which poems can be organised around
their subject. By reading the poem sentence by sentence (or sentence-like structure,
or small sense unit), by examining patterns of form (stanzas, for example), by fol-
lowing the argument (what observations, insights, claims, etc. are being made; how
the poem progresses from idea to idea), and by investigating the diction and mood
of the poem (careful inspection of patterns of words and phrases), we have gradually
obtained a clearer idea of what the poem expresses. And if we look at how these
various patterns relate to one another, we get something of a sense of how every one
of these aspects of the poem works with all the others to create something of that
poetic quality of being excessively meaningful that we highlighted earlier.
SECTION 3: Poetic language—tropes and schemes

In sections 1 and 2, we suggested that poetic language is particularly evocative or
expressive: it expresses much in a few words, and conveys more than it appears to
say. We noted some aspects of the carefully constructed nature of poetic language,
and observed the significance of some of the choices the poet has to make—which
form is appropriate for the subject matter, how to order the sentences and the argu-
ment, which words to use and how to arrange them. But it is not only through the
careful choice of form, argument and diction that poems are constructed.
Remember
Poetic language is frequently described as language that has been highly ma-
nipulated. It deviates from normal usage, either semantically or syntactically, and it
plays with the ‘normal’ meanings of words or their customary arrangement.
Tropes
What do we mean by this? First, a word or a thought might be used in a way that
shifts its meaning from our ordinary understanding of it to some other sense. Let
us look at a simple example. The speaker in Andrew Marvell’s poem, ‘To his Coy
Mistress’, says ‘at my back I always hear / Time’s winged chariot hurrying near’.
Normally ‘time’ means the progress of existence, or the measure of that progress.
Clearly, the progress of existence neither does nor can literally ride in a chariot. Time
is understood here as a person: that is, it is personified.
Instances of the manipulation of language, such as this, include many figures of

speech, some of which you may know already. These are called tropes:
• Metaphor
• Simile
• Personification
• Metonymy
• Hyperbole
• Irony
• Oxymoron
• Understatement
ENG2602/501 129
Check the Toolkit in Tutorial Letter 101 for definitions. Even if you cannot recall
the name of a specific trope, you can still comment on it effectively by describing
the way in which it manipulates meaning.
Schemes
Secondly, the pattern in which words or phrases are arranged may be shifted from
the ordinary to some other, striking pattern. We can see this in Shakespeare’s The
Merchant of Venice, when Shylock insists:
I’ll have my bond! Speak not against my bond!

I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond! (III.iii.3-4)
In ordinary, everyday phrasing, he might have said: ‘I’ll have my bond! Speak not
against it! I have sworn an oath that I will have it!’ Shakespeare has manipulated the
way Shylock would have expressed his wrath in ordinary speech to ensure that the
phrase ‘my bond’ occurs at the end of each of these sentences. Why? Because, in
doing so, Shylock’s unyielding insistence on keeping to the contract, against all
humane logic, is strongly emphasised.
The way in which words are arranged has been changed, for a specific purpose.
Instances of the manipulation of language, such as this, include many figures of
speech with which you might be familiar. These are called schemes:
• Repetition
• Anaphora
• Alliteration
• Parallelism
• Antithesis
• Ellipsis
• Parenthesis
Please see the Toolkit in Tutorial Letter 101 for definitions of each of these terms.
ACTIVITY 8
Examine the following instances of poetic language. Decide which use tropes and
which use schemes:
• Look at that red, red rose

• She’s all states, and all princes, I
• His lips are like rubies
• Bend your force to break, blow, burn
130
In ordinary, everyday speech we would say ‘look at that red rose’. The repetition
of ‘red’ does not play with the meaning of the word, so it is not a trope. Rather, it
inserts an ‘unnecessary’ repetition, and is therefore a scheme.
On the other hand, in the third example it is unlikely that the comparison between
someone’s lips and rubies should be understood in a literal sense. The language
here manipulates the usual meaning of a term, and we can thus conclude that a
trope has been used here.
Some poetic expressions may use both tropes and schemes. ‘She’s all states’
is not literally true: the beloved is in fact a human being. To say that she is ‘all states’
transfers the meaning of one word (states) to another word (she), and is thus a trope.
But, take note, the syntax of the sentence is also unusual. How would we express it
in everyday speech? You would probably say something like: ‘She’s all states, and I
am all princes.’ Notice in this example, from a poem by John Donne, how only one
verb has been used, with two subjects—‘she’ and ‘I’. The verb (‘am’) for I is implied
and omitted—a clear manipulation of syntax. In addition, we see a conspicuous
change in word order that creates an interesting pattern, in the shape of an X, where
‘she’ and ‘I’ are linked, and ‘all princes’ is linked with ‘all states’.
The first phrase is arranged according to normal word order in English sentences:
subject, verb, predicate. This order is inverted in the second phrase. This shift
in pattern stands out due to the repetition of the word ‘all’ to relate to both states and
princes. We observe how carefully Donne manipulates the language of his poem
from the detailed patterning of word order and repetition, combined with the shift
in sense in the line.
We have now identified two main types of figurative language in poetry: tropes
and schemes. Let us look in more detail at each in turn, not only with the aim of
learning how to identify them, but in order to see the effect of each in relation to
subject, argument, mood, and so forth.
Tropes
We saw earlier how the specific choice of words can convey mood in a poem; we
looked also at strategies for identifying and tracing a central idea or argument
throughout a poem. You may have noticed that at times the mood was created
or the argument conveyed through a shift away from the ordinary sense in which
something is understood—that is, through the use of tropes.
So, let us examine tropes more closely.
ENG2602/501 131
ACTIVITY 9
(1) Read Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73, available in the e-reserves.
Before you move onto this activity, we advise you to apply the process for reading
a poem explained in the previous sections (the poem has no title, so activity 1 is
not relevant). You should try to become familiar with the steps of careful reading
that the activities encourage you to follow and always examine poems with that
high degree of attention.
FEEDBACK
• You may have noticed that the poem has four basic divisions: three quatrains
and a couplet, which confirm it to be a sonnet. These divisions are indicated
through the rhyme scheme, and through the different ways in which each
division treats the subject.
• You might also have got some sense of its mood and atmosphere, and some of
the tensions that exist in it (words like ‘none’, ‘few’, ‘shake’, ‘cold’, ‘bare’, ‘late’
might be contrasted with ‘sweet birds sang’ in the first quatrain, for example,
to give a negative overall mood to this section of the poem; this might have been
seen to continue or develop with ‘sunset’, ‘fadeth’, ‘west’, ‘black night’, ‘take
away’, ‘Death’, and ‘seals’).
• What did you think about the ideas, though? Did you notice how each stage
in the quatrains compares the speaker to something? Are these comparisons
literal, or do they in some way manipulate meaning? Now, do activity 10.
ACTIVITY 10
Think carefully and then answer the following:
(1) To what does the speaker compare himself in the first quatrain? (Note that the
rest of the questions follow from the answer to this one. Before you attempt to
answer the other questions, check your answer to question (1) against the first
sentence of the feedback, below.)
(2) What qualities do you associate with the thing the speaker is compared to?
(3) What qualities of the thing the speaker is compared to does the speaker
himself draw attention to?
(4) What is the overall effect of this comparison?
(5) Look carefully at the words and phrases in this quatrain. Do they relate in any
way to the comparison that occurs in this quatrain? Explain.
(6) Besides this comparison, can you spot any other places and senses in which
meaning is manipulated in this quatrain? Identify and discuss as many as
possible.
(7) How does this comparison relate to the overall theme of the poem?
132
(1) You may have noticed that the speaker compares himself to a specific time of
year, autumn, when leaves turn yellow and fall from trees. You might associate
autumn with the weather turning cold or even with the approach of death.
Autumn ushers in winter, when seasonal plants die, some wildlife migrates or
hibernates, and the natural world seems dead. The speaker draws attention
to the loss of life, to dying leaves and the disappearance of birds, to cold
weather, and to the passage of time.
(2) The comparison does not suggest that the speaker is literally a season, but
gives the impression of the speaker himself approaching his natural end,
dying. The year and the natural world go through natural cycles—from new
life (spring) and the height of vitality (summer), through a gradual shutting
down (autumn), to winter (the end of the cycle, the death of vegetation): so
a person’s life—here the speaker’s—might be seen to progress through a
natural and inevitable progression, from birth to death.
(3) The trope suggests that the height of the speaker’s vitality is behind him; dying
has begun, and death lies ahead. It is a law of nature that autumn and winter
must always come, and are entirely unstoppable, and this suggests the
inevitability of the speaker’s own mortality. Words like ‘none’, ‘few’, ‘shake’,
‘cold’, ‘bare’, and ‘late’ reinforce the sense the comparison is creating: that the
speaker is portrayed as approaching the end of his life.
(4) Notice how much this comparison between two things that are not, in
fact, comparable (a season and a person), succeeds to express. How does it
do this? To begin with: it succinctly gives information (the speaker is dying),
but also evokes a certain mood (a sense of loss). It perhaps also makes us
think about the two things in a slightly different way, or highlights a tension that
we might not notice or pause to consider in much depth in our everyday
existence (for example, simultaneous to the sense of loss in the quatrain is
the difficult recognition that death is inevitable, and in fact natural).
(5) You may have noticed other tropes in this quatrain: notably, the metaphor
of the autumn branches, stripped of leaves and of birds, as ‘bare ruined
choirs’. Do you find this comparison between birds and singers in a choir
effective? Does it help to convey the sense of loss of life, of emptiness and
desolation, of beauty vanished, central to the quatrain and the poem?
(6) You may also have noticed how the argument of the quatrain is linked to its
particular expression. If Shakespeare had simply said: ‘You see me growing
older’, the effect and impact of the lines, and the thought that informs them,
would have been lost. If someone asks me about Shakespeare’s Sonnet
73 and I respond ‘In it, the speaker implies that he is dying, and in the first
quatrain compares himself to autumn’, I would fail to express most of what the
quatrain conveys.
What is said is closely linked with how it is said, and what is produced is more
than the sum of its parts.
ENG2602/501 133
SCHEMES
You have already learned that an important part of the process of close reading is to
examine the syntax of the poem very carefully: that you should identify the subject and
verb of each sentence, see how the other elements of the sentence relate to these, etc.
While doing this you may have noticed that at times the poems you have studied so
far manipulate syntax in interesting and extraordinary ways. We saw that ‘born in
Africa but’, for example, uses few verbs and few subjects, and therefore has few full
sentences. Now let us attempt to do some more active analysis of syntactic
manipulation.
ACTIVITY 1
Read Christopher van Wyk’s poem ‘In Detention’, available in the e-reserves.
In order to understand the poem, it is necessary for you to be aware of the political
context within which Van Wyk wrote the poem, since it comments directly on specific
political circumstances. The poem was written during the apartheid era in South
Africa. Among the many injustices of the period were laws which allowed apartheid
security police to detain prisoners without trial. Political activists were frequently
arrested and held without trial. In many cases prisoners were tortured, and all too
frequently died while in detention. Some committed suicide under the extreme
duress of the conditions of their incarceration and torture, while others were killed
directly at the hands of their captors. Many of the reports in which the police
claimed that inmates had committed suicide or died under accidental circumstances
were highly suspicious and quite obviously false. For example, James Hamakwayo
and Hangula Shonyeka both supposedly took their own lives on the same day in the
same prison, while Nicodemus Kgoathe and Solomon Modipane died in detention in
the same place within one month of one another, with the reasons given as ‘natural
causes’ from ‘falling in the shower’ and ‘slipping on a piece of soap’ respectively. 5
The fact that a 2017 inquest into the death of the activist Ahmed Timol ruled that
Timol’s death, originally reported as a suicide, had actually been a murder, provides
a clear indication that police fabricated evidence in their reports of victims’ deaths.
However, even if there were cases where prisoners actually did take their own lives
(certainly far fewer instances than reported), the security police were undoubtedly
unambiguously responsible for the deaths of these detainees, as the police had
subjected them to extensive and ongoing torture – details which were also left out of
police reports, which attempted to shift the responsibility of these deaths away from
the actions of the security police by blaming the victims. At the time of writing, an
inquest into the death of detainee Neil Aggett, which was also reported a suicide,
was ongoing.6 An organisation called the Neil Aggett Support Group originally moved
to press charges of culpa- ble homicide against Lieutenant Stephan Whitehead,
Aggett’s “primary torturer”,
5 ‘The Detention Weapon”. From: A Crime Against Humanity–Analysing the Repression of the apartheid State,
edited by Max Coleman, n.p. https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/detention-weapon (accessed 4 May
2020).
6 Feketha, Siviwe. ‘Neil Aggett inquest on hold due to judge’s illness’. 27 February 2020. https://www.
iol.co.za/news/politics/neil-aggett-inquest-on-hold-due-to-judges-illness-43607519 (accessed 4 May
2020).
134
whom the group suggested was responsible for driving Aggett to taking his own life. 7
Probably the most famous example of an activist held without trial, tortured, and
ultimately murdered by his captors while in detention, is that of Steve Biko, who died
in 1977 from the injuries he sustained after being severely beaten.
As the cases mentioned above demonstrate, the security police offered feeble, false
and incomplete explanations of how the deaths of the detainees occurred. Murdered
detainees were said to have died in freak accidents or to have committed suicide;
where detainees actually may have committed suicide, nothing was said about the
torture that led to these suicides.
Christopher van Wyk was a coloured poet influenced at the time he wrote this
poem by the Black Consciousness movement.
Now read the poem again.
NOTE: Before you move onto the next activity we advise you to apply the process
for reading a poem given in the previous section, as well as the activities in the
section on tropes. You should try to become familiar with the steps of careful reading
that the activities force you to do, and always try to examine poems with that degree
of attention.
FEEDBACK
You may have observed that this poem has a simple, single-stanza structure, with
simple syntax, and that it is bare of the use of tropes. It consists simply of a series of
statements, each appearing to offer an explanation of how a prisoner died in
detention, and each explanation appearing in a single line. A careful examination of
the poem reveals that the statements all comprise repetitions and reordering of
phrases taken from the first three ‘explanations’. There is a progression in the poem,
as the number of ways in which these phrases can logically be repeated in new
combinations begins to decline, and the recombinations therefore become more
absurd towards the end of the poem.
Did the diction of the poem strike you in any way? The diction is limited, but this
limitation might itself have some force.
Let us see if we can respond to this question, as well as accounting more generally
for how the poem achieves its effect through the way it arranges its sentences and
the components which make up its sentences, through some activities:
7 McRae, Donald. ‘The death of anti-apartheid campaigner Neil Aggett and South Africa’s dark past’,
n.p. 22 November 2013. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/22/death-anti-
apartheid-campaigner-neil-aggett (accessed 4 May 2020).
ENG2602/501 135
ACTIVITY 2
(1) Look at the first two words of each line. Do you see a pattern emerging?
(2) What is the effect of the arrangement into this pattern?
(3) Is the pattern ever broken in any way? If it is, what is the effect of that
variation?
FEEDBACK
Each line begins with a subject and verb. Each verb describes an action which, in
the context of the poem could (or is supposed to be able to) account for the subject
of the verb (‘He’—the person who died in detention) suffering an injury which could
account for his death. It is important to note that there is a difference in meaning
between the words ‘hanged’ and ‘hung’. Although they are both past tense forms of
the verb ‘to hang’, the form ‘hanged’ is only used when speaking of the death of a
human by suspension from the neck. ‘Hung’ is used for all other senses of the word
‘to hang’. So you would say that a person was executed by being hanged, but you
would not say that you hanged your coat on the hook behind the door. We shall
discuss the significance of this distinction in more detail in a moment.
On its own, the repetition of the subject, understood to be a political prisoner

who has died in detention, and the verb, understood to be the supposed cause
of death, would arguably have substantial force. Fourteen times in a single poem this
pattern is repeated—fourteen times in a single poem; each repetition perhaps
powerfully brings home the alarming reality of the frequency with which prisoners
died of violent, unnatural causes while in detention. Try reading just the first two
words of each line out loud, remembering that each line speaks about the death
of a person, and you will likely feel the force of this repetition. On its own, then,
this repetition might be considered to make a powerful statement about the preva-
lence of the horrifying practices of the security police in apartheid South Africa.
But the repetition has a further effect. We notice that there are only three causes
of death repeatedly given for all these deaths: falling, hanging (specifically suicide
by hanging, at least up to line 7) and slipping (and presumably being severely injured
by the fall resulting from the slip). The fact that these are repeated over and over
again suggests the transparency of the excuses being offered by the security
police—the latter cannot be bothered to think of plausible explanations, and expect
us to believe (or to notice but not care about) the obviously untrue— and absurd—
suggestion that all these people died in what are basically the three same ways. We
might also comment on the content of these specific explanations themselves—in
which case we would likely notice how the first (falling) is incredibly vague—how
did he fall? Did he jump? Was he pushed? Did he slip? Did the railing break? We
would also notice that the third excuse is simply a variation on the first, and that
the pool of explanations for the death of detainees is even shallower than it at first
appeared. Such discussion would, however, lead us away from our focus, which is
on the arrangement of the sentences and their elements, rather than on their
semantic content (though of course we are not ignoring the latter entirely, else our
discussion would be meaningless). Let us then return to the discussion of the
repetition itself.
Because the same basic causes of death (expressed in the subject and verb) are
repeated so many times, that repetition makes them sound less and less plausible
and more and more absurd. That implausibility and impossibility emerges even more
forcefully from line 9, when we see a slight shift in the repetition. Instead of
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the verb ‘hanged’, we now find the verb ‘hung’. The past tense form ‘hung’ does not
generally suggest a form of hanging which results in death—I might say that when I
got tired from doing pull-ups, I hung from the bar for a while before drop- ping to the
ground; or I might say that I hung on to the rope while my friend pulled me up; I might
say that I hung my coat or that I hung my head in shame. But none of these would
explain someone’s death. The shift again suggests the transparency and
implausibility of these explanations for deaths which had as their real cause the
actions of the security police. Their repetition has tied into knots and confused
whoever has provided them, prompting them to repeat and recombine one of their
excuses in ways which accidentally change semantics, as they substi- tute a verb
which describes a way of dying with a verb which describes a manner of positioning.
When we look at the particular lines in which ‘He hung’ in full, we see what we
gleaned from the pattern of repetition and variation confirmed in the content of the
lines themselves: two of them offer ‘He hung from the ninth floor’ as explanations
for the deaths of the detainees in question; while hanging in this way would likely be
dangerous, it is only if you were to let go (or be forced to let go) that such hanging
would be lethal—it is the fall that would kill you. The third states: ‘He hung from a
piece of soap while washing’; needless to say, even if hanging from a piece of soap
were possible, it is difficult to see how hanging in this way could account for
someone’s death. This line epitomises the absurdity of the secret police’s
explanations as they are satirically reworked in the poem (we shall return to this
again in our discussion on the next activity).
(1) Now look at the other patterns of repetition in the poem. What phrases are
repeated and where?
(2) When phrases are repeated, how are they combined with other phrases?
(3) What is the effect of this repetition and recombination?
FEEDBACK
The poem is almost entirely constructed around the scheme of repetition. Its
effect comes from the cumulative force of the repetition, as well as from the un-
expected ways in which repeated elements are combined—thus both from the
consistency of repetition and the interruption and disruption of that consistency
through variation.
The first six lines contain the same three sentences (each one line long), each
repeated word for word, but with the order in which the sentences appear slightly
altered the second time around. So here entire lines are repeated, and the effect is
very similar to what we already outlined in the discussion on the previous activity.
The exact same words repeated to explain the deaths of several different people
gives the impression that the explanations are simply being drawn from a pool of
vague and generic excuses. In being so vague and generic, and especially in being
repeated even in that vague generality, they are revealed as transparent lies which
hardly bother to try to cover up the brutal truth. The repetition also serves to convey
the sense of the regularity with which the violent deaths of political prisoners occur
while they are in detention—the repeated vague excuses suggest that whoever is
providing these excuses regards such occurrences as an everyday matter that hardly
requires attention or concern.
From line 7 onwards, various elements of the sentences are combined, at first in
minor ways which are slightly odd, but eventually in a mish-mash that makes no
sense at all. So in line 7 ‘He hanged himself’ is combined with a phrase which had
ENG2602/501 137
initially qualified ‘He slipped on a piece of soap’: the phrase ‘while washing’. This
recombination of repeated phrases and clauses results in a statement which is
syntactically sound and makes superficial sense, but is actually extremely implau-
sible. Although people do hang themselves, and people do wash, it seems very
strange that someone might hang themselves while washing. The way in which the
phrases have been repeated and recombined suggests that they have little or no
meaningful content; all that seems important is that they make syntactical sense, and
that they both can be used to describe an aspect of the circumstances sur- rounding
the death of a prisoner while in detention. It does not seem to matter that they
describe incompatible and ultimately very different possible circumstances for such
a death. This shows that to those providing the excuses and explanations, the
deaths are interchangeable—the individual circumstances, and therefore individual
humanity, and the very humanity itself, of those who have been killed are of no
consequence to the security police (and presumably their media or press officers).
All that matters is creating the illusion that there is an explanation, even if that
illusion is, as we have suggested, transparent.
That the next recombination—‘He slipped from the ninth floor’—happens to be

plausible does not detract from the overall effectiveness of the poem. In fact, it may
be said to enhance it. Because the momentary return to what could at least pass for
a logical explanation only makes the contrast with the implausibility of the
preceding line, and then the lack of explanatory force of the following line (‘He hung
from the ninth floor’) all the more apparent. As we have suggested already, this latter
line does not actually explain a death, but confusedly speaks of hanging in the
sense of holding oneself—or perhaps being held, as during torture—in a
suspended position.
As the recombinations accumulate, they produce sentences which are more and
more absurd, culminating, as we have said, in the final line, which we discussed in
relation to the previous activity. The force of this line is arguably further strength-
ened by its role in another figure: the parallelism it forms with the preceding, perhaps
equally nonsensical line. We can see the parallelism when we lay out the
constituent phrases of these lines:
He did something from a place while doing something
He washed from the ninth floor while slipping
He hung from a piece of soap while washing
We see how each of these sentences begins with the subject ‘He’ and a verb in the
simple past tense (‘washed’ and ‘hung’), a prepositional phrase (‘from the ninth
floor’ and ‘from a piece of soap’) and an adverbial phrase (‘while slipping’ and
‘while washing’). Syntactically, the sentences are correctly and logically constructed,
and form perfect parallels. However, they do not make sense, and the manner
of their nonsensicalness is also paralleled in the sentences. They are each
composed of a clause and two phrases which are perfectly combined syntactically,
but entirely vacuous semantically. In each case the second phrase in the
sentence—the prepositional phrase—is supposed to provide information about
where the action described in the sentence took place. But in each case, the
prepositional phrase is mismatched with the subject and verb, and the ‘where’ it
expresses is impossible. One might wash on the ninth floor, but one cannot wash
from the ninth floor; the preposition ‘from’ in the context of the phrase ‘from the ninth
floor’ suggests a movement in the sense of displacement, which the word ‘washed’
cannot perform. We have already discussed how, in a similar—and parallel—way,
the verb ‘hung’ is mismatched with the prepositional phrase ‘from a
138
piece of soap’; the mismatch is aptly brought home by the fact that it is a ‘piece’
of soap the prisoner supposedly hung from. One is not even left with the option of
perhaps imagining some absurdly gigantic block of soap big enough for a person to
hang from as if from the edge of a cliff.
The situation is the same with the adverbial clauses. These are supposed to in-
dicate something about the state (of the subject, in these instances) in which the
action took place. Although ‘while slipping’ and ‘while washing’ describe potential
states of potential subjects performing particular actions, they cannot be taken
to describe these particular subject-verb combinations. While it is conceivably
possible that someone might, for a split second, perform an action which forms part
of the process of washing while slipping—perhaps I might, for example, just be
applying some soap to my skin at the moment I begin to slip, and continue with
the action in the moment it takes for my reflexes to kick in and my body to redirect
all its movement towards either regaining balance or falling in a way which causes
the least damage—we would not ordinarily describe such a situation by saying ‘I
washed while slipping’. Instead, we would say ‘I slipped while washing’ in order to
avoid the ridiculous suggestion that as I slid, skidded, lost my footing, and tumbled
over, I happily continued scrubbing the dirt off my body. And while it is conceivably
possible both to be hanging and to be washing at the same time—I might, for
example, be suspended on a rope attached to a harness for a long time, and if I for
some reason have the necessary means with which to wash myself while dangling
in the air, decide that it was an opportune moment to clean myself. However, once
again, the verbs would, in such an instance, be reversed: I would be washing while
hanging, not hanging while washing.
What we see demonstrated here is something we already highlighted above, but

in a more pronounced way. The security police’s excuses and explanations are
shown to be so empty of meaningful content as to be absurd. The explanations
offered here in a way fulfil what one might consider as some basic criteria for an
explanation—saying what happened, saying where it happened, and saying how
it happened. But they only fulfil these criteria syntactically, by having a subject, a
verb, a prepositional phrase and an adverbial phrase. They only offer the appear-
ance of an explanation by speaking in the grammar of an explanation—they do
not explain anything because they do not say anything meaningful.
This serves once again to reinforce what we have already suggested that the poem
conveys. The construction of the lies out of apparently interchangeable sentences
reflects the lack of concern about the details of the singular circumstances of each
individual prisoner’s death—reflects a lack of concern about the prisoners’ humanity
which is, we should acknowledge, already brought across clearly enough by the
brutal and inhumane ways in which these prisoners were treated. It also reflects
a lack of interest in plausibility, and therefore a lack of concern about what people
might make of such reports. Of course Van Wyk is here being satirical, and exag-
gerating the degree of the implausibility of the explanations offered; nevertheless,
his point is forcefully made—the security police do not expect in any way to be held
accountable for the hand they played in the death of these individuals. They are
sufficiently confident of their own impunity that they make no serious attempts to
cover up their crimes. This is a scathing criticism not only of the security police and
the apartheid government, but also of the voting public who should have held that
government accountable for its gross violations of basic human rights, not to mention
human dignity.
ENG2602/501 139
SUMMARY
In this section, we have seen two significant ways in which language might be ma-
nipulated for effect. Poetic language frequently shifts the ordinary sense in which
we understand things, or adjusts the ordinary patterns in which we arrange the
words and phrases of a sentence, in order to produce the extraordinary richness of
meaning, which we found in poetic language earlier in this unit.
When you read a poem, look at both the sense and syntax of its language, and see
whether and how the ways in which these have been adjusted, moulded and manoeu-
vred reflect, support, parallel or are in contrast with the poem’s subject, argument,
tone, mood, diction, etc.
SECTION 4: SOUND AND RHYTHM

In this section, we will examine the importance of sound and rhythm in a poem and
how these interact with other aspects of the poem’s form to shape its ideas. We will
read John Keats’s poem, ‘Bright Star’, which you will find in the e-reserves in the
library.
If you have not read aloud the poems we have discussed so far, or any poem ever
before, you have missed out on an essential component of the charm and force of
poetry. Let us try to do so together:
ACTIVITY 1:
Reading the poem aloud
• Find a quiet spot, where you will not be disturbed or distracted.

• Begin to read softly and slowly, allowing yourself to become accustomed to
unfamiliar words, groups of words and sentence structure.
• Once you have reached the end of the poem, rest for a few moments.
• Take a deep breath and begin to read again, projecting your voice more
forcefully, allowing the sounds to fill the space around you and to dominate
your thoughts.
• Let your voice roll on with the poem’s rhythm; let it linger slightly on the rhyming
words.
• Put punctuation (commas, full stops, colons) to good use, reining in your voice
at those points.
• Try to inject some warmth into your voice and avoid a monotonous drone.
FEEDBACK
You will probably find that your reading aloud has brought you in close contact
with the poem faster and more effectively than many silent readings could have
done. What you have discovered is that, since ancient times, poetry is composed to
be spoken aloud or recited, not to be read silently. The sound of single words or of
combinations of words, and the rhythm that holds the various sounds together from
line to line, are essential components of the shaping of sense and poetic form
that you have studied in the previous sections.
140
ACTIVITY 2:
Listen to the poem being read on the podcast which you can download from
the Additional Resources on myUnisa.
(1) Into which form has the poem been cast?

(2) Were you aware that the rhythm is arranged in a fixed way?
(3) As you were reciting and listening, did you form the impression that the
sound and rhythm were connected in some way to the sense of the poem?
FEEDBACK
The poem’s form is the sonnet, a poetic structure which you have encountered
before. The interesting aspect, here, is that Keats has fused two forms into one,
namely the Italian sonnet and the Shakespearean sonnet, maintaining the sense
division of the former and the rhyme patterns of the latter. We will not go into com-
plicated details, but we will bear in mind that this short poem displays remarkable
technical ability.
Now that you have read the poem aloud and listened to it, you should try to see the
links between the poem’s subject, structure and imagery, and the components of
sound and rhythm.
Before we go into this, though, we have to make sure that we know what type of
metre or fixed rhythmic pattern the poet has used here. The metre is the iambic
pentameter, the most commonly used metrical pattern in English poetry. This
strange-sounding phrase means nothing but: five (penta in Greek) subdivisions
of sound in each line, with the emphasis of the voice falling on the second of each
pair of syllables (= iambic rhythmic measure). If we look at an example, everything
will become much clearer:
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite,
As you see, the weight of the voice falls more strongly on the syllables marked in
bold, more softly on the others, so that a pattern of rising and falling is imposed
on the reading voice across the line:
Ding DONG ding DONG Ding DONG ding DONG Ding DONG
To maintain the same rhythmic pattern throughout the poem would result in mo-
notony, so the poet here and there rearranges the iambic pattern into a trochee,
which means simply that the stress on the syllables shifts from the second to the
first:
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast
or:
DONG ding DONG ding DONG ding DONG ding DONG ding
A brief interpretation of the poem: one of many possible readings
The speaker’s direct address to the ‘Bright Star’ pulls us abruptly to the centre of his
thoughts and emotions: we become the silent witnesses of his efforts to unfold a
complex idea and a passionate impulse at the same time.
ENG2602/501 141
In this first line the speaker’s longing for a steadfastness well out of reach of
the human sphere places the poem in a firmly imaginary dimension. There is
no discernible geographical setting to the first part of the poem, except for the
immensity of the heavens from which the Star stares down, unblinkingly (‘with eternal
lids apart’), upon a world bathed by the cleansing waters of the oceans (‘moving
waters... human shores’). The cold brightness and purity of the natural world (the
Star, the moving waters, the snow, the moors) belong to a world aloof from human
corruption and failings, insulated from both suffering and desire. Is this what the
speaker longs for?
You will have noted the abrupt and surprising ‘Not’, which opens line 2 and provides
a starkly antithetical position to the one the reader was encouraged to believe
the speaker had taken in line 1. That ‘Not’ is picked up in another strong negative
placed at the beginning of line 9: ‘No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable’. Do
you see how skilfully the pattern of statement and denial is constructed? Look at
it set out schematically, in the shape of an X:
would I were stedfast as thou art—/ Not in lone splendour
No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable
This is called a chiastic pattern (or chiasmus, from the Greek word for the letter
X), and it is used here, quite deliberately, to compel us, the readers, to fix our
attention on the play of contrasts. This is not a mere game of rhetorical devices, but
rather an accomplished poetic technique to alert us sharply to the importance of
what the speaker really desires. Let us think on this.
The speaker, we understand now, does not want to live in loneliness, no matter how
pure and splendid such isolation might be; he does not want to live a life of inhuman
purity and coldness, no matter how admirable such a life might appear to be. He
tells us, from line 10, in what he longs to be as steadfast, as unchang- ing as the
Star: in his closeness to his ‘fair love’, in his devotion to a life of shared tenderness
and mutual trust.
We see now how the three lines ‘Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,/ To feel
for ever its soft fall and swell,/ Awake for ever in a sweet unrest’ symmetrically
respond to and balance the ‘mask’ of snow which coldly blankets the moors, and the
‘moving waters’ of the oceans, which rise and subside in tides against the ‘human’
shores, with deep indifference.
Can you see how deftly the warm glow that emanates from the young lovers’
embrace is opposed to the cold gleam of star, snow and waters? Note also how,
at this point, the setting acquires precision within the geography of love: the lovers’
embrace narrows down the infinity of the starry universe, the vastness of the oceans,
to the location of a softly swelling bosom, which anchors the whole poem.
But the force of the wish for steadfastness sustains a deeper thought, which un-
derlies all others in the poem: the ephemeral quality of youth, of love, of human life,
when set against the everlasting splendour of the Star, the ever-moving waters of
the oceans. We could say that it is the contrast between eternity and mortality
which sustains, unspoken, the energy of the poem. And the thought of death,
implicitly present throughout the poem, surfaces at its climax, providing closure
to the text, as it does to human life:
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,

And so live ever – or else swoon to death.
142
The closing couplet, an essential fixture of the Shakespearean sonnet, provides not
only the final explicit mention of death, but also, in unison, the speaker’s challenge
to time’s consuming power: ‘still, still...and so live ever’ recalls ‘Awake for ever in a
sweet unrest’, prolonging life into an eternity of desire, as long as his ‘fair love’
is beside him.
How do sound and rhythm enrich this text’s meaning(s), its ability to arrest the
reader’s attention?
ACTIVITY 3
(1) Try to mark on your copy of the poem the accented syllables in each line.
(2) Read the poem aloud again, placing greater stress on the accented vowels.
(3) Take note of the way in which you are compelled to increase or decrease
the speed at which you read by alternating emphasis on the syllables.
(4) Mark the vowel sounds that seem particularly effective.
FEEDBACK
Did you notice how slowly the poem unfolds in the first part and moves faster
from line 10? Only to slow down again and roll towards the word ‘death’, in the
last line. The pace reflects and reinforces the sense development of the poem:
the immensity of the universe, the infinity of time require a dignified, slow pace,
whereas the excitement and passion of young love are better indicated in a faster
movement. Note the rhyme of ‘Bright’ and ‘night’: the two rhyming words enclose the
first two verses, forming an antithetical unit, a contrast between brightness and
darkness, which lends the opening lines an aura of mystery and of distance from
human existence.
Note also how the open a, e and o sounds sustain the idea of eternal brightness
in the first four lines and how the darker, closed u sound is used repeatedly in the
following lines, underlining the cold indifference and melancholic aspect of the
‘moving waters’ and the ‘soft-fallen mask/of snow’.
Feel how richly the two lines which turn the sense of the poem around (‘Pillow’d upon
my fair love’s ripening breast,/ To feel for ever its soft fall and swell’) fall on the
tongue: the abundance of p/r/l/s sounds creates a sensual, swelling flow through the
lines, which reveals the fullness and glow of love’s passion.
In this section of the module, we have attempted not only to share with you the
excitement and sense of adventure we always experience when we read poetry, but
also to share and pass on to you the skills which we apply to the study of poetic texts.
We hope that we have succeeded, at least, in communicating the joy that reading
poetry with some understanding of its complexity and richness can give.
ENG2602/501 143
STUDY UNIT 7
Drama
Lida Krüger
Note on the prescribed reading and examples: You may find that the pre-
scribed excerpts from plays made available as e-reserves as well as some of the
examples in this unit contain violent subject matter which might cause you
distress. If this is the case, please take note of the trigger warnings before the
excerpts in question.
PRESCRIBED READING
Various excerpts from plays made available as e-reserves.
OUTCOMES
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
• Identify the typical English language attributes of drama

• Discuss the use of figurative language in dramatic texts
• Read dramatic texts as a means of positioning the reader in order to elicit
a particular response
• Discuss how the creative choices made in texts develop and contribute to
the text’s thematic aim
INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS DRAMA?

In ENG1501 you were introduced to the literary genres of poetry and prose (which
includes the short story and the novel). In the previous units in this module, we have
built on that knowledge to explain how linguistic and poetic techniques can be used
in a particular manner to elicit an effect in those two genres. In this unit, we are
introducing you to a new genre, namely drama. After explaining what exactly drama
is within the context of this module, we will discuss the unique components
144
of the dramatic text as well as some features commonly used in the genre to elicit
effects. Lastly, we shall analyse a few excerpts to give you an example of what we
expect from an analysis of a dramatic text.
The best way to define drama (as a genre of literature) is to say that drama is the
blueprint for a theatrical performance. Whereas poetry and fiction is written to be
read, drama is always written to be performed. This means that the published
drama text that you will find in the library and of which excerpts are available on the
e-reserves, is an incomplete work of art; it is actually a document with instructions
to a director and group of actors on how to stage the play. The stage directions tell
the director and actors how the lighting, sound, and décor must look and sound, as
well as how the dialogue must be spoken by the actors.
DEFINITION: DRAMA vs THEATRE. In drama and theatre studies, we

usually use the word ‘drama’ to refer to the script (the written text) of the play,
and ‘theatre’ to refer to the performance.
This means that it might take a little more effort from you to read a dramatic text.
In drama, you are not told a story, you are shown one. You therefore have to imagine
how the words and actions in the text are spoken and performed. You can imagine
the events enacted on a stage, or even as if you are a fly on the wall. This is up to
you and the particular play you are reading.
If you are not in the habit of attending theatre regularly, theatre might be a strange
and unfamiliar thing to you. However, theatre exists, in some form or another in all
cultures and theatre researcher, Eli Rozik (2005), argues that therefore ‘the roots of
theatre must lie in the very structure of the human psyche’. While it is usually taken
for granted that theatre initially developed from the religious rituals in ancient Greek and
Roman cultures, Rozik (2005) argues that it actually developed from children’s play
and storytelling—something found in every culture.
Think back to the games that you played with your friends, cousins and siblings
when you were a child. Did these games sometimes include elaborate (some-
times melodramatic) storylines that you then acted out? Drama communicates
in a similar way.
Theatre therefore does not have to happen in a theatre building. The only elements
necessary for theatre are: an actor, an audience and a script. If you have these three
elements, it does not matter if it is performed in a classroom, in someone’s house
or even under a tree, it would still be theatre. Notice that there are two role play- ers
necessary for theatre: an actor and an audience. There can, of course be more than
one actor, and audiences usually consist of more than one spectator. However, both
these groups of people are necessary for an event to be called theatre. While a
children’s game involving the enactment of a storyline therefore resembles theatre,
if there is nobody watching the enactment, it would not be theatre. In the same way,
if I sit alone in my living room reciting an excerpt from a play, it would not be
theatre. However, if the children invited someone to watch their enactment, or if a
friend would join me in my living room, the children’s game, or my recitation, would
indeed be theatre. Theatre is therefore necessarily communal: it involves an
exchange between actor(s) and audience.
ENG2602/501 145
This communal exchange creates a perfect environment for dealing with social is-
sues. If there is a burning issue in your community, such as poor service delivery,
inaccessible medical care or frequent violent crime, it makes more sense to discuss it
with a group of people, rather than to read about it in isolation. This is why drama
often deals with controversial topics and contain violent or disturbing subject mat-
ter. Of all the literary genres, drama is best equipped to address these controversial
matters, as it enables people to address societal issues together.
Television and film are two media that developed from theatre and is therefore closely
related to it. However, because television and film are recorded and only watched later
by its audience, it differs in important ways from theatre. Firstly, while the audience
participates in theatre by being present and therefore has the freedom to look at all
the visible actors and/or décor at will, the eye of the spectator of a film or television
show is guided by the camera. In addition, television and film is not a communal
event as the actor(s) and spectators do not share the same space. While some of the
features of drama that we discuss in this unit may therefore be applicable to televi-
sion and film, the two genres also differ in important ways.
Now that we have a general idea of what the genre of drama entails, we will discuss
the components of the dramatic text as well as some features of the genre before
moving on to a few examples of analysis.
6.1 THE COMPONENTS OF A DRAMATIC TEXT: DIALOGUE AND

DIDASCALIA
Every word in a published drama can be divided into either dialogue or didascalia.
The dialogue is everything that a character says while the didascalia describes his/
her environment and actions.
Consider the following excerpt from a play called Green Man Flashing by Mike van
Graan. In this excerpt, we have altered the text to indicate which parts are dialogue
and which parts are didascalia. The underlined parts indicate the didascalia: this
is the part of the drama text that explains to the reader who is speaking, who the
characters are, what they are doing and what their environment looks like. It can
also contain information on the first performance of the play and any other notes
to a potential reader that the playwright deems necessary. The bold parts indicate
dialogue: it is the words spoken directly by the actors.
Scene changes to inside of Gabby’s apartment. Gabby is seated, reading a one-page

document. Luthando is standing a little away from her, observing her resentfully.
When he speaks, he constantly looks back over towards the entrance, aware that
a aron, who is outside speaking on his cellphone, could walk in at any minute.
He tries to keep his voice down, but his resentment comes through.
Luthando. You got yourself a good deal, lady. ( pause) You were lucky to
have Comrade Matshona (gesturing towards the door) fighting for you. If it was
up to me … (shaking his head ) Eish. ( pause)
Gabby. Please …
Luthando. Please what? ( pause) Sign the bloody document, so we can
go.
Gabby. I’m not signing anything without my lawyer’s advice.
(Van Graan, 2006:177)
146
STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
DIDASCALIA:
The didascalia can comprise the following: the title of a drama, the list of char-
acters, sometimes including additional information about each character, and the
stage directions.
DEFINITION: DIDASCALIA. The text in a drama that is not meant to be

spoken by the actors is called ‘didascalia’. It can include the title and character
list of the play, as well as stage directions.
You might wonder at this point, does didascalia always look the same? Some
playwrights provide very little didascalia, which means that the potential director of
the play will have to decide for him or herself how to stage the production. When
reading such a drama, the reader will also have to use his or her imagination to fill
in any blanks left by the scant didascalia. Consider, for example, the didascalia of
Pieter Jacobs’ Dalliances.
Trigger warning: the example below contains scenes where drug use is discussed.
If you think this could cause you emotional distress, please skip to where you
see <END OF TRIGGERING CONTENT>
Setting
A flexible design that serves multiple locations.
Characters
Janet (30)
Leo (31)
Ken (29)
Andy (22)
SCENE 1
Lights up on Janet, andy and Leo. They don’t appear to be listening to each other.
Janet. Four days. Eight grams. Two microdots. My brain is fried. Total veg.
andy. Barebacking. Sounds sexy, doesn’t it? In the seat without a saddle.
Leo. I went today. I did it. It’s not like some fucking achievement, you know.
But it feels like it.
andy. Bare-back-ing. Russian Roulette. Click and … (Imitates pulling a trigger.)
Janet. It’s beyond hallucination, hon. That’s the shit I’m talking about.
andy. Who knows?
Leo. A sterile chemical smell lingers in the air. My hands are cold and wet.
andy. It was cold and windy outside. The couple from next door was having sex
again. I couldn’t stand it. It was driving me crazy.
Janet. It’s beyond the fucking roof.
Leo. She looks at me. Eyes piercing.
andy. It was right then. When it happened.
ENG2602/501 147
Janet. Floating.
( Jacobs, 2011:118-119)
<END OF TRIGGERING CONTENT>
If you highlight all the didascalia in this excerpt, you will notice that it contains very
little information. The reader does not know what the set looks like, only that it must
be flexible and able to accommodate different spaces. The only information given
to the reader about the characters is their ages. In addition, the dialogue is quite
cryptic and without a clear link between the three speakers as they do not appear to
respond to each other. This play therefore piques the reader’s curiosity and leaves
much up to his or her imagination.
Compare the didascalia in Dalliances to how specific Tennessee Williams’ lengthy

descriptions is in the didascalia of A Period of Adjustment.
The set is the interior and entrance of a ‘cute’ little Spanish-type suburban bungalow. Two rooms
are visible onstage, the living-room with its small dining alcove and the bedroom. There are
doors to the kitchen and bath. A bit of the stucco exterior surrounds the entrance, downstage
right or left. A Christmas wreath is on the door, while above the door is an ornamental porch
light, or coach lantern, with amber glass or possibly glass in several colours. The fireplace in the
fourth wall of the set is represented by a flickering red light. Of course, the living-room contains
a TV set with its back to the audience, its face to a big sofa that opens into a bed. The dog
is a cocker spaniel. There’s a rather large Christmas tree, decorated with a child’s toys under
it and a woman’s fur coat in an open box, but no child and no woman. r aLph bates, a
boyish-looking man in his middle thirties, is approaching the TV set, facing upstage […].
(Williams, 2009:89)
While Jacobs’ didascalia leaves much to the reader and director’s imagination, Wil-
liams bombards us with minute details like the breed of Ralph’s dog, or that a bit of
stucco exterior surrounds the entrance of the bungalow. While Williams’ didascalia
creates a much clearer image in the mind of the reader or potential director, there is
also less freedom for the reader or the director in deciding how to stage the play.
DEFINITION: FOURTH WALL. An imaginary separation between the

audience and the stage area. In realistically staged plays, where the characters are
unaware of the audience watching them, they would behave as if the boundary
between the stage and the audience is simply another wall.
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
It is important to keep in mind that apart from suggesting how to stage the play,
didascalia also gives the reader clues or guidance on how to interpret the play.
For example, consider the title of the play. As with the title of a novel, short story
or poem, the title of a drama also already gives us information about what the play
will be about. For example, Zakes Mda’s The Mother of All Eating is about the preva-
lence of corruption in the Lesotho government. ‘Eating,’ within the context of the
play, refers to benefiting financially from corruption. If a reader is already familiar
with this use of the word, he or she can be prepared for a play that investigates the
phenomenon of corruption.
Consider the play titles below. Write a sentence about what each title conjures up
for you. Once you have read through the excerpts from these plays in this unit, as
well as in the e-reserves, you can compare your initial impressions of the title with
what the play turned out to be about.
Some Mothers’ Sons

Reach
Hallelujah!
Abnormal Loads
Armed Response
Missing
We already know that drama is written to be performed. Unlike the other genres,
drama is therefore an audio-visual genre. This means that what you see on stage
is just as important as the words that are spoken. What you see on stage can create
a specific effect which could be very significant when interpreting the play. In the
next section we will look at some of these effects (symbols and visual metaphor).
For now, it is important to note that these visual effects are described by the stage
directions.
Consider this excerpt from Lara Foot Newton’s play, Reach in which Marion is writing
a letter to her daughter, telling her that she has quit smoking. We know this from
the dialogue, as Marion says the words in the letter out loud as she is writing them.
The didascalia, however, tells a different story.
A winter’s night. The lights fade up on M arion banninG at the writing desk, a shawl
covering her legs. She takes a deep drag on a cigarette, exhales, and picks up a pen …
Marion. My darling Anne (She stops to smoke and think.) Please forgive me, I
know it has taken forever to write. I can’t say that I have an excuse,
except that the problems with the old ticker make me a little lethar-
gic. Not that it has been bad, no pain at all, but let’s just say I’m not
as energetic as I used to be. (Another puff ) You’ll be pleased to hear
that I have stopped smoking. I mean it would be silly to smoke with
my condition, wouldn’t it? (Another puff ) Although it has improved
of late … if the withdrawals are too much to bear, I might have the
occasional puff … again … sometime. (Puff )
(Foot Newton, 2009:131)
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In this example, Marion’s words are contradicted by her actions. In a performance
of this play, the audience would hear Marion proclaim that she has quit smoking,
while they see her smoking a cigarette. When we read the play, the dialogue tells us
that Marion writes to her daughter that she has quit smoking, while the didascalia
tells us that she has not.
ACTIVITY 1
Find an excerpt from a published drama (either from the e-reserves, the library, your
local bookstore or the internet) and highlight all the didascalia in the text. Replace
some of the didascalia with alternative didascalia and write a paragraph about how
it changes the excerpt.
FEEDBACK
If we take the excerpt from Reach above and replace the didascalia as follows,
the extract’s meaning would significantly change.
A warm summer’s night. The sound of crickets can be heard in the background.
The lights fade up on Marion Banning sitting by a table on her veranda in
a light summer dress. She takes a big bite of a shiny red apple and picks up
a pen as she chews…
Marion. My darling Anne (She stops to chew and think.) Please forgive
me, I know it has taken forever to write. I can’t say that I have an
excuse, except that the problems with the old ticker make me a little
lethargic. Not that it has been bad, no pain at all, but let’s just
say I’m not as energetic as I used to be. (Another bite) You’ll be
pleased to hear that I have stopped smoking. I mean it would be
silly to smoke with my condition, wouldn’t it? (Another bite) Al-
though it has improved of late … if the withdrawals are too much to
bear, I might have the occasional puff … again … sometime.
(Chews)
If the didascalia is changed in this way, the character of Marion would be represented in
a completely different way. Instead of a woman whose vulnerability is emphasised by
the cold weather and her need for a shawl, in the altered excerpt we see a woman
enjoying the warmth of summer in a light dress, which implies that she does not need
protection from the elements. Furthermore, instead of indulging in an unhealthy habit
(smoking) she is eating fruit. Instead of her actions suggesting that she is lying to her
daughter, not taking good care of herself and possibly sicker than she pretends to be,
the new didascalia suggests that she is genuinely trying to live a healthier lifestyle.
While we know from the original excerpt that Marion did not quit smoking, in the
altered excerpt it seems unlikely that she will take up the habit again.
Do you see how important didascalia is in creating a particular character?
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
DIALOGUE
As mentioned, the dialogue in a drama text are the parts of the text that are meant
to be spoken out loud by the characters. Because in drama a story is shown to the audi-
ence, rather than told, all the information that cannot be conveyed by the didascalia,
must be conveyed by the dialogue. This means that sometimes characters might say
things simply because it is important for the audience to have that information.
Particularly in poorly written plays the dialogue can seem very contrived because the
playwright is trying to convey certain information to the audience in a clumsy way.
Other times, characters’ utterances may fulfil different functions in the play. For
example, an utterance may express the emotions of a character, or it may contribute
to the poetic quality of the play.
DEFINITION: DIALOGUE. The text in a drama that is meant to be spoken

by the actors is called ‘dialogue’.
Because dialogue in drama has to convey certain information, it can have different
functions. Marisa Keuris (1996:61-64) identifies six functions fulfilled by dramatic
utterances. These include: the referential function, the phatic function, the appellative
function, the emotive function, the metalingual function, and the poetic function.
The referential function:
According to Keuris (1996:61), the referential function of dialogue is fulfilled by any

utterance in a drama which gives us more information about the characters and their
world. Therefore, any statement by a character which gives the audience information
about the time, space, events or characters is an utterance that fulfils the referential
function in the drama. (Hint: ‘referential’ means ‘to refer to something’.)
In Zakes Mda’s play, The Mother of All Eating, the character known as ‘The Man’ has a
conversation with an off-stage character. As the audience cannot see or hear the other
character, The Man’s dialogue must convey certain information about the character.
the Man. Good gracious, what brings you here at this time? … They what?
... They plan to do something real terrible to me? But why? …
Why should they hate me when all I did was just to eat? […] At
the moment you are only a messenger in my office, but you are
doing a very good job spying for me on what my colleagues are
doing, or saying, or planning against me.
(Mda, 2002:25)
We can gather from this excerpt that the off-stage character came to warn The Man
that someone is planning to harm him in some way because he has a habit ‘to eat,’
which refers to benefiting financially from corruption. We know this, because The
Man is repeating whatever the off-stage character tells him, as if exasperated. The
Man then continues to say to the off-stage character that although he is only a mes-
senger in The Man’s office, he is a very good spy. The only reason why The Man
would utter this information to the off-stage character, is for the audience’s benefit.
The off-stage character already knows what his occupation is, and that he spies for
The Man. If the audience did not have to know this information at this point in the
play, The Man could have made a less specific comment, such as ‘I appreciate your
efforts and loyalty.’
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DEFINITION: OFF-STAGE CHARACTER. Anything that happens ‘off-
stage’ is not seen by the audience, although it exists in the fictional world of the
characters. An off-stage, or unseen character is therefore a character that is never
seen by the audience but talked about by the other characters. The other
characters can also address the off-stage character as if they can see him or her.
The phatic function:
Just like people in real life, dramatic characters sometimes try to strike up a conver-
sation with each other. For this, they require an utterance which fulfils the phatic
function. Keuris (1996:61) explains that these utterances ‘have the sole purpose of
making contact between’ characters. These utterances often include greetings, but
they can also include unsavoury actions such as street harassment. The way in which
characters establish contact can in some plays be very significant.
In Zakes Mda’s The Bells of Amersfoot, Katja visits her friend, Tami. Tami, however,
is not in the mood for a visit.
There is a knock. [taMi] does not respond. Instead, she takes a sip from the glass. A knock
again. K atJa enters. She is carrying a plastic bag full of a variety of fruit. taMi does not
turn to look at her.
K atJa. Maybe you should lock the door if you want to stop intruders like me.
(Mda, 2002:116)
Katja’s utterance is not really meant to tell Tami to lock her door—Katja is trying to
initiate a conversation with Tami, even though Tami has not acknowledged Katja’s
entrance into her home.
The appellative function:
Keuris (1996:62) defines the appellative function in drama as utterances which are
aimed at influencing a listener (another character, or in plays where the audience is
directly addressed, it can also include the audience). In other words, one character
may appeal to another to do or believe something. This appellative utterance may
or may not have an influence on what happens next in the drama.
In David Peimer’s Armed Response, Lerato and Brenda are trying to convince their
German neighbour to join a security company named ‘Armed Response’. Every
utterance made by both Lerato and Brenda is appealing to Anna to join Armed
Response, while Anna tries, on her part, to convince them that there is no need for
her to join a security company.
brenda. Anna, you must join Armed Response.

Lerato. Everyone in our street is with AR.
anna. I’m not.
Lerato. What?
brenda. Why not?
anna. I don’t want to.
brenda. But you need it!
anna. Why should I have to pay for something like that?
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
brenda. Haven’t you heard a word of what we’ve been saying?

anna. I heard you.
brenda. Then why risk your life?
Lerato. This is not Europe.
anna. I know that.
Lerato. I don’t think you do!
brenda. My husband’s a doctor. You know what he sees every day?
anna. I can imagine.
brenda. I don’t think you can.
Lerato. We’re trying to be helpful.
anna. Please don’t patronize me.
brenda. You must take out a contract.
(Peimer, 2009:178-179)
In this play, Anna refuses to be convinced by Lerato and Brenda (or anyone else) to
join a security company, which sets in motion a series of events that drive the main
plot of the play. The employees of Armed Response go to increasingly greater lengths
to scare Anna to convince her to join Armed Response. The appellative function is
therefore used in a significant way in this play, as the plot depends on which
character succeeds in convincing the other.
The emotive function:
The emotive function is fulfilled by utterances in which the character shows his
or her own emotions (Keuris, 1996:63). These utterances can include, but are not
limited to, exclamations.
In John Kani’s Missing, Robert is a struggle veteran who lives in Stockholm with his
Swedish wife, Anna, and their daughter, Ayanda. Robert is bitter as he expected to
be called back to South Africa after 1994 to serve in Nelson Mandela’s cabinet, but
this never happened. He later discovers correspondence between himself and the
South African government, in which he supposedly declines an invitation to serve
as a cabinet minister. He shows these letters to his family in front of his old friend
and protégé, Peter.
robert. I never wrote that letter—nor did I even receive any letter from the
deputy president.
anna. Robert, this is your signature.
robert. Yes.
ayanda. Who forged it?
Peter. I did. Can I explain?
anna. Ah, Peter! Then why did the deputy president not phone to query
your decision?
robert. Because Peter told him that I wasn’t ready to come home and serve
in the government as I was involved in my wife’s family business.
And that I had also been offered a higher post, a professorship, by
the university. That I was very happy to continue to work with the
Ambassador in Stockholm. Apparently he said I was very valuable
to his office.
ENG2602/501 153
ayanda. You fucking traitor!
anna. Ayanda!
ayanda. I’m sorry, but he stabbed Daddy in the back.
(Kani, 2015:31-32)
Ayanda’s utterance after Robert explains how Peter plotted behind his back fulfils
the function of expressing her anger at the man who undermined her father and
destroyed his political dreams.
The metalingual function:
Often, as is the case with all literature, a drama aims to make a particular point about
language, or how people generally use language. According to Keuris (1996:63), ut-
terances which fulfil the metalingual function concern language itself.
In Xoli Norman’s Hallelujah!, two poets, Menzi and Bonga, discuss the relevance of
their work when Menzi explains to Bonga that relevance is determined by how a
poet uses language. Menzi’s utterance therefore fulfil the metalingual function.
bonGa. […] White people think I’m too black in my writing, black people
say I’m writing outdated protest poetry. What I don’t understand is
that when Jews write about the Holocaust, when they make films
about it, nobody says they are writing about outdated issues.
Menzi. You can say anything, Bonga, be it old or new. It’s not what you say,
it’s in the how. You think what made me is something new? No!
Nothing’s new under the sun. We are saying the same old shit, in
new ways though.
(Norman, 2009:97)
The poetic function:

Drama can also contain poetic devices. In the next section we will discuss some of
the typical uses of poetic devices in drama, but for now it is important to know that
certain utterances can also contain poetic devices. The function of such utterances
is the poetic function.
Reza de Wet’s African Gothic is a play depicting an Afrikaans brother and sister who,
despite being in their thirties, behave like children and live in squalor on a farm they
inherited from their parents. At times, they act out events from their childhood in
which one or both pretend to be their parents. In the excerpt below, Sussie pretends
to be their mother, who is interrogating Frikkie about any sexual dreams or thoughts
that he might have. Frikkie describes one of his dreams as follows:
FriKKie (Sits and thinks.) Ja … Ja … now I remember. I dreamt that
I … woke up. It was late and everybody was asleep. I could
see the moon through the window. A big, yellow full moon.
Something woke me up. A sound. I lay still and listened but I
couldn’t hear anything … Only Pa snoring and the crickets.
Then I heard it again … Something moving out there in the
garden. I pushed up the window and jumped down into the
dahlias. I started walking through the dahlias … They were
very big and high above my head. And then I saw something
… between the flowers … on the ground … Slowly … slowly
I walked nearer … Sjoe! I was scared Ma … very scared. And
then I saw it was a woman!
(De Wet, 2005:46)
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
In Frikkie’s description of his dream, the dahlias in the garden take on grotesque
proportions. They are huge and tower over him, instead of reaching up to his an-
kles, as flowers in a garden usually would. In the dream, Frikkie leaves his parental
home and jumps into the dahlias where he finds a woman lying on the ground. The
dahlias are therefore a metaphor for Frikkie’s budding sexuality and his act of
jumping into them symbolises him embracing his sexual awakening, which excites
and overwhelms him. His mother, on the other hand, tries to shame Frikkie into
repressing any sexual thoughts with her interrogation. Frikkie’s description of his
dream, and the dahlias in particular, therefore fulfil the poetic function in this play.
ACTIVITY 2
Find an excerpt from a play and identify the function of each dramatic utterance.
Write a paragraph on why each utterance fulfils the assigned function in that excerpt.
FEEDBACK
We will use an excerpt from Amy Jephta’s Other People’s Lives for the purposes of this
activity. We have numbered the utterances for ease of reference.
(1) Larry. Brought you coffee.

(2) Meg. Thanks.
(3) Larry. Didn’t know if you wanted some. Made it anyway.
(4) Meg. No, I’ll have it.
(5) Larry. Prefer tea?
(6) Meg. I wouldn’t, no.
(7) Larry. Because the caffeine, with the …
(8) Meg. Does it have vodka?
(9) Larry. No.
(10) Meg. (Sotto voce.) That’s too bad.
( Jephta, 2013:159)
Utterances 1 to 4 fulfil the phatic function, as Larry seems to use the coffee that he
brought Meg to engage her in conversation (utterance 1 and 3), or to reach out to
her. Meg is acknowledging this in utterance 2 and 4, which therefore also fulfil the
phatic function. Utterances 5 and 6 fulfil the referential function as they inform the
audience that Meg prefers coffee to tea. Utterance 7 also fulfils the referential
function as it suggests that Meg might have a condition which may prevent her from
consuming caffeine. Utterances 8 to 10 also fulfils the referential function, as it
informs the audience that there is no vodka in Meg’s coffee, but that she secretly
would want there to be.
The phatic utterances therefore establish a mutually consensual engagement between the
characters (they both consent to interact with each other), while the referential
utterances tell us that Meg has a condition (medical, a pregnancy) in which it would
be inadvisable to consume caffeine. Meg nevertheless breaks this rule and even
wishes that she could have alcohol, suggesting that she is ignoring her condition,
rather than taking care of herself.
ENG2602/501 155
DEFINITION: SOTTO VOCE. ‘Sotto voce’ is an Italian phrase, mean-
ing ‘in a soft voice.’ If a stage direction indicates dialogue to be spoken in this
way, it implies that the other characters are not supposed to hear it. Alterna-
tively, a character can deliver dialogue directly to the audience (by turning
their bodies slightly to face the audience), also with the implication that the
other characters cannot hear it. This is referred to as an ‘aside’.
6.2 FOUR FEATURES OF DRAMA: SYMBOLS AND VISUAL

METAPHORS, RHYTHM, HUMOUR
Although drama shows the audience a story through dialogue and didascalia, rather
than to tell the story as in fiction, drama still contain various poetic devices and
literary features. Many of the devices that we discussed in the units on poetry and
fiction can also be applied to drama, but in this section we shall focus on four fea-
tures that take on special significance in drama.
SYMBOLS AND VISUAL METAPHORS
We find symbols in all art. John Peck and Martin Coyle (1984:71) offer perhaps the
simplest definition of a symbol, namely ‘an object which stands for something else’.
This implies that the reader or audience member must infer meaning, or, in other
words, figure out what the symbol means as if uncovering a hidden message. Marvin
Carlson (2002) describes symbols as ‘a basic feature in most art, since artists com-
monly employ language and representations of objects […] as signs of something else,
that is, as symbols’. Therefore, Carlson agrees with Peck and Coyle that a symbol is
something that represents something else. He goes on to describe symbols as ‘designed to
evoke some concept or emotion in the mind of a receiver while also having a real
existence themselves—a rose is a rose but can also stand for love’.
DEFINITION: SYMBOL. An object or image that stands for something

else.
Because drama is an audio-visual medium, a symbol need not only appear in the
poetic use of language (as in the example from African Gothic discussed under the
poetic function of dialogue), but can also appear in a stage prop, the décor, the po-
sition of the actors on stage, etc. In Carlson’s example above, the rose in question
could be a prop that serves a function. A character could, for example, be a florist,
busy arranging flowers. Yet, the choice of flower (rose) could then also represent
the emotion of love.
M.H. Abrams (2005:320) points out that symbols generally rely on convention and
can be cultural. A good example is the image of a peacock, which can point to pride
in some cultures, and to patience in others. While some symbols are very obvious and
even universal, such as the sun rising or setting, which represent cycles of birth and
death, authors can also make up their own symbols, which means that we have
to examine them in the context of the play to arrive at their meaning. For example,
if a character establishes early on that they feel imprisoned by their job, the office
setting may come to symbolise imprisonment. This could then also be represented
visually with the office burglar bars resembling prison bars.
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
Trigger warning: the example below contains scenes of rape and murder. If
you think this could cause you emotional distress, please skip to where you see
<END OF TRIGGERING CONTENT>.
The plot of Relativity: Township Stories by Mpumelelo Paul Grootboom and Presley
Chweneyagae revolves around the solving of a horrific series of rapes and murders,
thought to be perpetrated by a serial killer. The killer’s modus operandi is to strangle
his female victims with their underwear. The murder weapon is often referred to in
the didascalia or referred to by the characters.
For example, in the opening scene, one of the murders are depicted.
bonGi runs round and round in large circles. The catching, the screaming, the raping and the
killing follow. She is strangled with her G-string. She is miming all this action—she is alone
on stage, the killer invisible …
(Grootboom & Chweneyagae, 2009:4)
When the detectives arrive on the murder scene, they immediately discuss the
murder weapon.
ranKo. Looks like she was strangled with her underwear.

MoLoMo. A G-string?
ranKo. Yes. I think the strangler is back in action.
[…]
MoLoMo. [I]t’s definitely the G-string Strangler.
rocKs. G-string Strangler? You still call him that?
(Grootboom & Chweneyagae, 2009:5)s
Each time the killer claims a victim, her G-string is either seen by the audience, or it
is referred to later by the characters. This piece of underwear then becomes a symbol
for the danger posed to women in the play. Because underwear is considered private
and intimate garments, the frequent references to G-strings is also a symbol for the
gross violation of the victims. This is emphasised by the fact that, throughout the
play, various characters display appallingly misogynist attitudes, meaning that they
say and do things that suggest they hate women. The G-string, which is an intimate
garment for women, thus rather becomes a symbol of danger and violation.
DEFINITION: MIME. Mime: a wordless way of communicating, using ges-

tures and movement. In contemporary times, mime is usually performed without
props, but props may also be used (Law, 2011:331–332).
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Another concept, which is closely related to, but distinct from a symbol, is a meta-
phor, and in theatre specifically a visual metaphor. At this point in your studies, you
should already be familiar with the concept of a metaphor. (If you need to refresh
your memory, refer back to your ENG1501 study material and the units on Fiction
and Poetry in this study guide.) A metaphor is a comparison between two things,
without a direct assertion in the form of the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. A visual metaphor
also compares two things, but conveys this using an image.
DEFINITION: VISUAL METAPHOR. Comparing two things through a

visual image.
Because theatre is a visual medium, the décor, props, costumes and placement of
actors can easily form a visual metaphor.
DEFINITION: COSTUME. The clothing that an actor wears during a per-

formance (Law, 2011:130). The costume could be realistic in the depiction of a
particular character’s clothes. If a play is set in a particular time, its costumes
usually indicate the time period. Costumes can also consist of plain, neutral
clothes with only a few accessories to represent different outfits. If an actor
wears plain clothes in all black, it usually signals the absence of costume. The
audience is then free to imagine the character in any appropriate outfit, be it a
ball gown or business suit.
DEFINITION: DÉCOR. The scenery or set decorations of the play. The décor
represents the immediate surroundings of the characters and, as in the case of
costume, it could be realistic or abstract. In other words, the décor of a play can
resemble a real life living room in someone’s house, or it can consist of a few
blocks and tables, representing different areas.
DEFINITION: PROPS. The word is short for ‘stage properties’, referring to

any article used by an actor during a performance. This excludes scenery, décor,
and costumes (Law, 2011:404).
Martin Koboekae’s Bush Tale shows the audience an encounter between a white
woman and a black man during the apartheid years. Every interaction that they have
is shaped and determined by the political situation that they find themselves in.
Every time the audience sees the man, Jan, he is pushing a heavy wheelbarrow, while
the woman, Mariëtta can move around without any impediment. The didascalia
describes the opening scene as follows:
A rusty wheelbarrow loaded with six bags full of mielies/corn struggles on to the stage. The
man’s shouts of ‘push’ can still be heard. The wheelbarrow is pushed by a black man who
looks like a farm hand. He is dressed in overalls, black gumboots, and a skull cap. He pushes
his load in and collapses next to it, panting heavily.
(Koboekae, 2009:60)
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
Since the play contrasts the positions of a privileged white woman and a disadvan-
taged black man, the heavy wheelbarrow that Jan pushes becomes a visual metaphor
for the burden that apartheid places on him. When Mariëtta runs away from an
unidentified white man, she hides behind Jan’s wheelbarrow, suggesting that she
exploits his disadvantaged position in society for her own protection and benefit.
While a symbol and a visual metaphor on stage can therefore be closely related, it is
important to remember that a symbol can be more abstract, subjective and complex
while a metaphor compares two specific things.
ACTIVITY 3
Consider the following items and imagine them as props on a stage:
• A stack of books with post-it notes, and bookmarks stuck inside the books.
• A broken picture frame containing a photo of a happy family.
• A desk lamp with a flickering light bulb.
Consider the potential of each of these items to be either a visual metaphor or a

symbol. Write a paragraph on each item in which you explore these possibilities.
FEEDBACK
Books generally carry associations of knowledge. The post-it notes, and bookmarks
indicate that the books are read, and not merely used for decoration. There is also a
whole stack of books and not only a single book. This indicates that the person who
is reading them is curious and takes trouble to gain knowledge. The books
themselves with their notes and bookmarks can be a symbol for the advancement of
knowledge. They cannot be a visual metaphor, as the advancement of knowledge is
an abstract concept and cannot be directly compared to the stack of books.
A photo of a happy family, if placed on stage, would refer to the family themselves.
The fact that the frame that contains the picture is broken, suggests that the family
bond might be broken and that the family is no longer happy. The implication would
be that something happened which changed the family’s dynamics. The broken
picture frame containing a photo of a happy family could then be a visual metaphor,
as the previously happy, but now unhappy family is compared to a picture frame
that was once intact but is now broken. The broken picture frame can also be a
symbol if it symbolises family bonds in general. However, the context will determine
whether this object is a visual metaphor or a symbol. If the picture frame is found in
the family home of a couple who recently decided to get a divorce, it would be a
visual metaphor as it directly compares a specific family to a picture frame. If the
frame is found in the offices of a law firm specialising in divorce and the family in the
picture is not related to any of the main characters (the picture could depict the family
of the main character’s boss, for example), the frame would be a symbol for the
fragility of family bonds in general.
ENG2602/501 159
RHYTHM
In ENG1501 as well as the Poetry Unit in this module, you were introduced to the
concept of rhythm. As you know, it is important to read poetry out loud, to appre-
ciate its sound and rhythm. Because drama is an audio-visual medium, and you are
therefore meant to hear the dialogue spoken out loud, rhythm is also an important
feature of drama.
M.H. Abrams (2005:168) explains rhythm as follows:
In all sustained spoken English we sense a rhythm; that is, a recognizable

although varying pattern in the beat of the stresses, or accents (the more force-
fully uttered, hence louder syllables) in the stream of speech-sounds.
Abrams therefore sees the pattern in emphasised syllables as constituting the rhythm of
any kind of sustained spoken language. In poetry, a poet would often use a fixed
rhythmic pattern or metre to create a specific effect.
In contemporary drama, rhythm would usually be used in a more subtle way, since
it is mostly written to mimic the way people speak in real life. However, all dramas
have a rhythm, determined by the exchanges between characters as well as the
dramatist’s use of silence (or pauses).
DEFINITION: RHYTHM. The sound pattern in sustained spoken language. In

poetry it is usually discernible in the stressed syllables, while in drama it is
discernible in the pace, exchanges between characters, and the use of pauses.
Trigger warning: the example below contains scenes recalling violence and
murder. If you think this could cause you emotional distress, please skip to where
you see <END OF TRIGGERING CONTENT>.
Consider the following example taken from Mike van Graan’s Some Mothers’ Sons. In
this play, Braam has been arrested after he shot three men inside a courtroom who
were charged with a hijacking. It later transpires that the same three men killed
Braam’s wife and unborn son and were out on bail when they committed their latest
crime. In this scene, Braam’s friend Vusi tries to come to terms with what Braam
did as they recount what happened in the court room.
braaM. I resented them. Like they had no cares in the world …

Vusi. Then, bang! Bang! Bang!
Beat. The three shots are heard again.
braaM. All rise in court, the orderly said.
Vusi. And before the judge could make his appearance you shot them!
braaM. Yes, I shot them.
Vusi. In cold blood.
Shot.
braaM. Yes!
Vusi. At point blank range!
Shot.
braaM. Yes!
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
Vusi. Their brains on the wall!

Shot.
braaM. Yes!
Vusi. Their blood on your face, your hands, your clothes …
braaM. Yes! Yes! Yes!
Vusi. And you felt nothing!
braaM. Yes! No! I felt nothing!
Vusi. Ten seconds.
braaM. That’s all it took …
Vusi. Ten seconds to end two lives, and nearly a third.
braaM. That about makes it square.
Vusi. Arsehole! You’re such an arsehole!
braaM. I know. But I’ve never felt this good.
Beat.
(Van Graan, 2009:88-89)
Read the excerpt out loud. If possible, read it with a friend so that each of you read
the part of a different character. Only read the dialogue and create the sound effects
by banging on a table with your hand, for example. At first, ignore the stage direction
that says ‘beat’. The sound effects of the three shots, Braam’s repeated reply of ‘yes!’
after Vusi recounts the horror of the event, as well as the repetition of words such
as ‘bang! Bang! Bang!’ and ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ creates a certain rhythm in this excerpt.
Once you observe this rhythm, you’ll notice that each turn of speech should be spoken
within a specific beat. Whenever a beat is missed, resulting in a short silence, this is
indicated with ‘beat’ in the stage directions. The idea is that the actors should not
fall out of the rhythm of the dialogue and that the pause should only last one beat
and it usually signals surprise or shock on the part of the character whose turn it is
to speak. However, the beat could also have different functions.
In this particular excerpt, the overall rhythm emphasises the three shots fired. It is
as if the characters are reliving the moment the shots were fired as they contemplate
what a serious and irrevocable deed Braam committed. The beat after Vusi’s ‘bang!
Bang! Bang!’ emphasises the sound effect that follows, while the beat at the end of
the excerpt might suggest Vusi’s shock at Braam’s revelation that he does not regret
the murder, but feels relief as he avenged his wife and unborn child’s murders. The
significance and finality of Braam’s deed is therefore left to the audience to consider
and the beat also accommodates the audience’s discomfort with his lack of remorse.
ENG2602/501 161
ACTIVITY 4
Find an excerpt from a play (either from the e-reserves, the library or your local
bookstore) that you would like to read out loud. If possible, find someone who can
read the excerpt with you, if it contains more than one character (one person per
character is preferable).
Read through the excerpt a few times until you get a feel for its rhythm.
Does the rhythm add significance to the excerpt? Does the excerpt change when
you do not keep to the rhythm as you read it? Write a paragraph on your findings.
FEEDBACK
For this exercise, we will use an excerpt from Reza de Wet’s Concealment. In
this excerpt, May describes to her father how she became estranged from her
late husband.
May. All his anger … all his bitter disappointments … he turned on me.
He couldn’t bear to be … in the same room with me. Couldn’t share
… the same bed. Averted his eyes … when he spoke to me. As time
went on … I sensed that he had … the most violent feelings towards
me. Everything I did made him angry. Even when he didn’t show it …
he was seething … seething. I became terribly afraid of him, father.
Terribly afraid. Sometimes I even thought that he might poison me.
(De Wet, 2007:48)
If we consider each ellipse as a pause, and we type out the excerpt with the pauses
ending each line, it will look like this:
All his anger …

all his bitter disappointments …
he turned on me. He couldn’t bear to be …
in the same room with me. Couldn’t share …
the same bed. Averted his eyes …
when he spoke to me. As time went on …
I sensed that he had …
the most violent feelings towards me. Everything I did made him angry. Even
when he didn’t show it …
he was seething …
seething. I became terribly afraid of him, father. Terribly afraid. Sometimes I
even thought that he might poison me.
If we look at Amy’s monologue written like this, it is clear that she pauses often
as she starts, indicating that she might be unsure about sharing her experience with
her father. However, her monologue picks up pace towards the end, when there are
fewer ellipses, with her only pausing again as she recounts her late husband’s
seething anger.
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
If spoken in this rhythm, the monologue suggests that Amy is uncertain as she
recounts her husband’s behaviour towards her. The quickening pace might indicate
that she becomes more emotional and adamant as she thinks back to the anger her
husband had for her and her fear of him. Amy therefore struggles to recount her
experience to her father. She doubts herself as she starts, and emphasises her
fear, perhaps to convince her father that she was truly in danger.
If we redistribute the pauses to the end of the monologue, rather than the start, it
will have a significant impact. Consider the following version of the text:
All his anger, all his bitter disappointments he turned on me. He couldn’t
bear to be in the same room with me. Couldn’t share the same bed. Averted his
eyes when he spoke to me. As time went on I sensed that he had the most …
violent feelings …
towards me ...
Everything I did …
made him angry ...
Even when he didn’t show it, he was seething, seething.
I became …
terribly afraid of him, father …
Terribly afraid ...
Sometimes …
I even thought that he might …
poison me.
If spoken in this altered rhythm, Amy starts off sure of herself as she recounts her
late husband’s behaviour towards her and only slows down and starts to doubt
herself when she mentions her fear of her husband. This would suggest that her
father would not have to be convinced and that she feels secure enough in her
relationship with her father to tell him how her late husband treated her. It is only
when she shares her fears that he might pose a danger to her, which makes her stop
and pause, adding an ominous tone to her suspicions.
In this excerpt, the altered rhythm thus reveals more about Amy’s relationship
with her father, to whom the monologue is directed, than about her late husband.
The initial rhythm suggests that her father does not trust her and that she must
convince him of her husband’s ill-treatment of her.
Listen to the recordings of both versions of this monologue uploaded under ‘Ad-
ditional Resources’ on myUnisa, to see if you agree.
HUMOUR
Humour is another feature that you may find in any literary or non-literary genre.
Advertisements, political speeches, poems, novels or short stories can all make use of
humour. However, when used in drama, humour can take on a special significance.
Can you think why this is the case?
ENG2602/501 163
Abrams (2005:340) defines the humorous as something ascribed to ‘a comic utter-
ance or to a comic appearance or mode of behaviour’. Unlike wit, it is not necessar-
ily meant to be comic by the speaker, yet it is perceived as comic or funny by the
audience. In other words, humour makes the audience laugh.
DEFINITION: WIT. A brief verbal expression, specifically conceived ‘to

produce a shock of comic surprise’ (Abrams, 2005:339). These are usually quips,
or one-liners, intended to show off the speaker’s intelligence..
Humour is not only found in the written or spoken word, but also in appearance
and other visual cues. Humour can also be complex, sometimes it results from
the combination of a word, appearance and situation.
DEFINITION: HUMOUR. The comic element in an utterance, visual cue

or situation found funny by its audience. It can be intentional or unintentional..
In Neil Coppen’s Abnormal Loads, the characters Katrien and Vincent have been
planning to run away together. For Vincent, it was just a flight of the imagination,
but Katrien took their plans seriously. In the excerpt below, she is trying to convince
Vincent to run away with her, against the wishes of his grandmother, Moira, as well
as her father and brother, Johan and Leon. Vincent’s room has two doors: one to
the inside of the house and another door leading outside. Moira is standing at the
inside door, while Johan and Leon are at the outside door and all three of them are
urging Katrien to go home.
Moir Vincent.
K atrien. Los ons uit!8
Leon. Katrien, are you listening to me?
K atrien. (Yelling now.) Los ons uit!9
Moira. Vincent! Vincent, I’m talking to you.
K atrien. Fuck off! (Panicking, turning to Moira on the other side of the door.) Why
won’t everyone just fuck off!
Johan. (Sternly.) Ek laat nie toe dat jy so met my praat nie …10
Vincent. Please … Please, we need a few minutes … just a few minutes.
K atrien. If you love me, you’ll help me, now. Not tomorrow, or next year.
Not when we’re old and half-dead, but now.
Johan. Maak oop die deur!11
K atrien grabs Vincent’s hand and presses the car keys into them.
Vincent. It won’t work.
K atrien. Why?
Leon. (Rattling the door, angrily.) Maak oop die deur!12
Vincent. Because …
8 Leave us alone!
9 Leave us alone!
10 I don’t allow you to talk to me this way …
11 Open the door!
12 Open the door!
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
K atrien. Because, why?

Vincent. Because I can’t drive. (Beat.) I don’t know how.
(Coppen, 2012:94-95)
The pace of this scene is quite fast as Vincent and Katrien are threatened by both
of their families. The tension builds as Vincent is pressured to make a decision. His
ultimate reason for not being able to run away with Katrien, is anti-climactic, mean-
ing that the audience expected a very complex and serious reason, and are given a
weak and practical reason instead.
You might already find this scene funny by reading it but try to imagine it being
performed. See Vincent’s bedroom with the two doors, barred by Trellidors in your
imagination. Vincent and Katrien are inside the room and already there must be
tension as she is trying to convince him to take a drastic step—to run away. She is
anxious, while he is reluctant. Now, imagine their families on either side of them—
Vincent’s grandmother at the one door and Katrien’s father and brother at the other.
The pressure on Vincent mounts as these figures at the Trellidors threaten the couple.
The audience also wants to know—will Vincent run away with Katrien? Amid the
rattling of the Trellidors and the shouting of their family members, Vincent keeps on
postponing his final answer to Katrien until it finally comes: he is not afraid to run
away with her, he simply cannot drive and they would therefore have to use another
mode of transportation. With both families threatening the couple, this is unlikely
to happen. Can you see why this example would have to be performed to reach its
full comic potential? Why is that so?
Abrams (2005:340-341) also distinguishes between ‘harmless’ humour, and what he

calls tendency comedy. The laughter evoked by ‘harmless’ humour can be an end
in itself or it can be sympathetic. With sympathetic humour, the audience laughs
with a character, rather than at them. Tendency comedy, on the other hand, entails
that the audience laughs at a person, because he or she is ridiculed. In other words,
tendency comedy makes fun of someone, and not in good spirit. There is an ele-
ment of contempt or malice in tendency comedy and it is used as a weapon against
the person laughed at.
DEFINITION: TENDENCY COMEDY. Humour arising from a person be-

ing ridiculed. It is always malicious and intended to wound the person in question.
In Jonathan Nkala’s play, The Crossing, the character Khumbu tells the audience that
he survived on mulberries when he was homeless.
KhuMbu. […] I knew which houses had the sweetest ones and which ones to
avoid. Then one day as I was coming from my late lunch at Number 53, Forest
Drive, which was: for Starters—Mulberries; Main Course—Mulberries, Des-
sert—Mulberries, I met a lady who worked as an estate agent.
(Nkala, 2011:64)
ENG2602/501 165
Khumbu presents his modest meal of mulberries as a three-course meal in an expen-
sive restaurant. This is funny as there is a huge discrepancy between the meals. It is
ridiculous to refer to mulberries, picked from trees accessible from the pavement as
a three-course meal. Apart from being humorous, the discrepancy also emphasises
the harsh conditions of Khumbu’s life when he was homeless. However, Khumbu is
regarding his own modest meal in a humorous way, which means the audience laughs
with him, rather than at him. This is therefore an example of sympathetic humour.
On the other hand, in Zakes Mda’s You Fool, How Can the Sky Fall? the Minister of
Agriculture sexually harasses the Minister of Health, who then makes fun of him,
insinuating that he has a small penis.
heaLth. You do that again, I am going to cut your thing … which is already
not there in any case.
(Mda, 2002:54)
In this example, any laughter that arises from the Minister of Health’s reprimand of
the Minister of Agriculture is at his expense. The audience is therefore laughing at
the Minister of Agriculture as he is being ridiculed and humiliated and this is
therefore an example of tendency comedy.
Tendency comedy is usually used in satire, a form of political theatre. At this point,
we do not expect you to discuss satire in depth, it is enough to know that it is a form
of political theatre that often uses humour in a derisive way (tendency comedy).
ACTIVITY 5
Look at the last meme on your phone that made you laugh. Alternatively, think
of the last joke that you heard which made you laugh. What kind of humour did it
use? What function did the humour fulfil? Write a paragraph in which you discuss the
kind of humour used in the meme or joke as well as the function it fulfils.
FEEDBACK
We might not always be aware of it, but even innocent jokes told among friends can
have the aim of ridiculing a person or group of persons, or to make a political or
moral point. Other times, something is just funny in and of itself. Now that you know
how humour can fulfil certain functions, consider which functions the things that you
find funny fulfil.
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
6.3 APPLICATION: AN EXAMPLE

Now that we know what drama is, what its textual components are, and are familiar
with a few typical features of drama, it is time to consider how all of this can be used
on stage to elicit a particular response from the audience. As was the case in the
other units in this module, it is not enough simply to identify devices, features,
and strategies in a text. You must also explain to what end these textual features
are used, or in other words, what effect they create. The particular effect created will
differ from play to play, but in this section, we shall look at an example to give you an
idea of the effects that the features and components discussed in this unit can create.
The question used in these examples have been taken from a previous assignment.
SAMPLE QUESTION
Pfarelo N’s play, Chomi chronicles the lives and relationships of four gay friends. In
this excerpt, the character Mike comes home at two o’clock in the morning and finds
his boyfriend, Sicelo, awake and waiting for him. In a carefully worded essay of
about 1 200 words, discuss how the playwright creates a dynamic between
the two characters where it is clear that Mike is hiding something, but Sicelo
is reluctant to confront him directly, through dramatic conventions and/or
linguistic strategies.
A carefree MiKe walks in and is shocked to find siceLo sitting on the couch waiting for
him.
siceLo. You’re back.
MiKe. You’re still awake.
siceLo. I couldn’t sleep, where have you been?
MiKe. I have a deadline at work, so I figured I’d put in some overtime.
siceLo. It’s 2 a.m.
MiKe. I sent you a message, I thought you got it. My car got stuck on the
way back ’cause of a flat tyre, and I had to call John to come and fix
it for me.
siceLo. I tried calling you.
MiKe. My battery’s flat.
siceLo. I thought you said you sent me a text?
MiKe. I did, that was before my battery went flat.
siceLo. I’m just glad you’re back home safe.
siceLo stands up to go and embrace MiKe but MiKe moves back.
What’s wrong?
MiKe. I’m very sweaty from changing the tyre, I need to take a shower and
then hit the sack.
siceLo. Okay, baby.
(N, 2013:266-267)
To answer this question, your first step should be to read through the text a few times
very carefully. Make notes as you read. The question already tells you that several
devices and strategies are used to create the impression that Mike is hiding something.
As you work through the excerpt, underline everything that you think may contribute to
an impression of secrecy.
ENG2602/501 167
If we firstly look at the didascalia, we see that there are two stage directions. The
first one describes Mike as carefree and states that he is shocked to find Sicelo awake
and waiting for him. This means that Mike is taken off guard. Since Mike and Sicelo
are in a relationship, the only reason why Mike’s demeanour should change from
carefree to shock, would be that he is hiding something from Sicelo. The second
stage direction tells us that Mike does not want Sicelo to embrace him. This would
then support the idea that Mike is hiding something from Sicelo.
If we look at the dialogue, we can see that all the utterances either fulfil the phatic,
referential or appellative functions. Sicelo and Mike’s phatic exchange of ‘you’re back’
and ‘you’re still awake’ is not exactly warm. The characters do not sound happy to
see each other and their statements of what the other is doing, creates an awkward
opening to this exchange. The rest of Sicelo’s dialogue is aimed at getting informa-
tion from Mike and informs us that Sicelo has been worried about Mike and pos-
sibly suspicious, as he keeps invalidating Mike’s excuses. Sicelo’s dialogue therefore
fulfils the referential function. Mike’s dialogue also fulfils the referential function, as
he provides information about where he has been. However, if you look a little
closer, you’ll see that Mike is also trying to achieve something with his dialogue: he
is trying to persuade Sicelo that his absence from home was innocent—that it was
circumstances outside of his control that kept him from home. Mike’s dialogue
therefore fulfils the appellative function. Now we must ask ourselves: does Mike
succeed? The fact that Mike comes up with a different reason for his delay each time
Sicelo challenges his excuses, seems very suspicious. The audience probably does not
believe him at this point. Sicelo, on the other hand, decides to drop his interrogation
of Mike and merely says that he is glad Mike is safely back home. Even when Mike
refuses to embrace him, Sicelo accepts his excuse.
If we then examine the excerpt for any poetic devices, we will discover that judging
only from the text at hand, it does not seem to contain any visual metaphors or
symbols.
In terms of rhythm, the text is quite interesting. The verbal exchanges between the
two characters are short and driven by a question and answer sequence. This cre-
ates the type of rhythm that you would associate with a tennis match. The rhythm
therefore builds the tension as the audience wonders whether Mike has been caught.
Sicelo ends this tennis-like tension when he says ‘I’m just glad you’re back home
safe’ which creates an anti-climax. The tension rises again when Mike refuses to
embrace Sicelo, only to be deflated again with Sicelo’s ‘Okay, baby’. Depending on
which character the spectator sympathises with, the anti-climax could lead to either
frustration or relief on the audience’s part.
Judging from the text alone, there are no instances of humour. In a performance
the actors might find opportunities to create comic relief, but from the text alone,
these opportunities are not apparent.
Please note that you do not have to stick to the techniques and strategies discussed
in this unit to analyse a drama excerpt. If you find that techniques or devices from
other units in the module (such as diction or similes) would be useful in your dis-
cussion, you can use them.
Working through all the elements pertaining to drama in this unit as we did above,
clearly shed light on the excerpt and is a step in the right direction to answering the
question. However, these notes alone are not adequate in answering the
question. The question specifically asks you to write an essay in which you
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
discuss how the playwright establishes a dynamic between the two charac-
ters. You therefore must use these notes to craft an essay—with introduction body
and conclusion—in which you argue the point that the playwright uses dramatic
conventions and techniques to establish a particular dynamic between the characters.
Before you start writing your essay, you must use your notes to first plan it. Sketch
out an outline for your essay. When reading through the notes above, the most in-
teresting observations are about the rhythm and how it relates to the dialogue. The
use of didascalia is also interesting. These would then be the only devices/strategies/
conventions that you would discuss in your essay. It is not necessary to mention that
the excerpt does not contain symbols or humour. The didascalia is the first thing
that establishes the dynamic between the characters, together with the phatic utter-
ances. It would therefore make sense to discuss the didascalia first, and from there
move on to the dialogue. The outline of the essay would therefore be as follows:
Introduction
Body:
Paragraph 1: Didascalia
Paragraph 2: Dialogue
Paragraph 3: Rhythm
Conclusion
We had a lot of notes on dialogue, so paragraph two should probably split into two:
one discussing the phatic function of the dialogue, and another discussing the ref-
erential and appellative functions. This would alter the essay as follows:
Introduction
Body:
Paragraph 1: Didascalia
Paragraph 2: Dialogue—phatic
Paragraph 3: Dialogue—referential and appellative
Paragraph 4: Rhythm
Conclusion
Once you have a basic outline of your essay, you can write your introduction. Your
introduction states your main line of argumentation and maps out the rest of the
body of your essay. A useful starting point is to use the essay question to formulate
your main argument and then explain the outline of your essay. Start with an intro-
ductory sentence and a very short summary of what the text is about before stating
your main argument and outline.
Pfarelo N’s Chomi, is a play about life and relationships. The short excerpt in
question shows a couple, Mike and Sicelo, in an interesting dynamic of secrecy,
mistrust, and an avoidance of confrontation. Mike returns home late and is
surprised to find Sicelo on the couch waiting for him. Sicelo questions Mike
on where he had been, but he does not press the matter. This essay argues that
the playwright uses didascalia, dialogue and rhythm to create a dynamic where
Mike is hiding something and Sicelo is reluctant to confront him. I will first
discuss how didascalia establishes their relationship, before moving on to the
role that dialogue and rhythm play in this dynamic.
ENG2602/501 169
Your introduction therefore not only introduces your essay to your reader (in this
case, your marker), but it can also serve as a ‘road map’ to you as you write the rest
of your essay.
Now you can write your first paragraph. You already know that it will be about the
rhythm in the excerpt, but it is a good idea to craft a topic sentence before writing
the rest of the paragraph. Every paragraph has a topic sentence. This sentence sum-
marises the main idea that the paragraph wants to convey. The rest of the sentences
in a paragraph only elaborate on and unpack the idea in the topic sentence. The topic
sentence for the first paragraph will be:
An awkward atmosphere is created by the didascalia in the excerpt as it shows

Mike trying to avoid his partner.
The rest of the paragraph should then unpack this idea. Note that the topic sentence
does not have to be the first sentence of the paragraph. It can be moved to where
it fits most logically.
The first thing that a reader or audience member would notice in this excerpt
is that Mike is caught by surprise by Sicelo’s presence on the couch. The didas-
calia tells the reader that Mike is ‘carefree’ until he notices Sicelo and that this
discovery shocks him, suggesting that he was planning on avoiding Sicelo. Mike
therefore has a carefree side to him, which does not include Sicelo. This should
already alert the reader or audience that Mike is trying to hide something from
Sicelo. After Sicelo has questioned Mike on where he has been, he stands up
to embrace Mike. Mike, however, ‘moves back’. This confirms that he is hiding
something from Sicelo, as he is trying to avoid close contact with him. The two
characters therefore remain physically removed from each other throughout
the scene, even after Sicelo indicates that he believes Mike. An awkward
atmosphere is therefore created by the didascalia, as it shows Mike trying to
avoid his partner.
The second paragraph will now deal with the phatic dialogue. The topic sentence
will be:
The awkward atmosphere in the scene is emphasised by the start of the char-
acters’ dialogue.
As the phatic dialogue supports the awkward atmosphere created by the didascalia,
this can serve as an obvious link between the two paragraphs.
The awkward atmosphere in the scene is emphasised by the start of the charac-
ters’ dialogue. The first set of exchanges between the characters, namely ‘you’re
back’ and ‘You’re still awake’ fulfils the phatic function of dramatic utterances,
as it establishes contact between them. The characters merely declare the state
that the other character finds himself in, of Mike being ‘back’ home and Sicelo
being ‘awake’. The didascalia has already established that there is no physical
contact, such as an embrace or a kiss between them, neither is there any words
of endearment to confirm their commitment to each other. This reinforces the
idea that something is amiss in this relationship. In other words, the scene is
now set for a confrontation between Mike and Sicelo.
The third paragraph will discuss the rest of the dialogue with the following topic
sentence.
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STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
The dialogue furthermore reveals that Mike tries to convince Sicelo that his
late arrival home was innocent.
As the previous paragraph ended with the possibility of a confrontation between

the characters, this will be our starting point in the next paragraph. You will notice
that the topic sentence will change slightly as the paragraph takes shape.
The ensuing confrontation between Mike and Sicelo happens in a sequence of

short questions and answers. On face value, these exchanges fulfil the refer-
ential function of dramatic utterances, as they should supposedly inform the
audience where Mike had been all this time. If Mike is telling the truth, he was
working overtime to meet a looming deadline, sent Sicelo a text message, was
delayed even further when his car got a flat tyre, had to phone a friend to come
and help him and had his phone’s battery die. If Mike’s utterances were merely
fulfilling the referential function, this would be the information that would be
conveyed to the audience. However, Sicelo, despite never directly accusing Mike
of lying, does challenge each of these excuses in a gentle way. When Mike says
that he is home late because he was working overtime, Sicelo says that ‘It’s 2
a.m.,’ implying that it is too late to be working overtime. When Mike says that
he had a flat tyre, Sicelo complains that he tried to phone him and when Mike
counters that his phone is flat, Sicelo asks how he could send him a text. Mike
then says that he sent the text before his phone’s battery went flat. Although
challenging Mike in a gentle way, Sicelo’s questions therefore put Mike in a
defensive position. Mike is therefore trying to persuade Sicelo that his delay in
coming home was for legitimate reasons. In this sense, Mike’s utterances fulfil
the appellative function in that they are aimed at convincing Sicelo of his
innocence. Importantly, Mike’s appeals succeed in that Sicelo does believe him
and drops his gentle interrogation of Mike, even after Mike refuses to embrace
him.
Now we can discuss rhythm in the last paragraph, the topic sentence of which fol-
lows below.
The rhythm in the excerpt emphasises the tension between the characters.
The last paragraph did not end with a clear link to rhythm, which means that we
will have to create a link to dialogue in the first sentence of this paragraph.
The question and answer structure of the referential and appellative dialogue
furthermore creates an interesting rhythm. As mentioned above, the verbal
exchanges between the two characters are short and driven by a question and
answer sequence. This creates the type of rhythm associated with a tennis
match. The rhythm therefore builds the tension in this excerpt as the audi-
ence and reader wonder whether Sicelo will believe Mike or expose whatever
he is hiding. Sicelo ends this tension when he says ‘I’m just glad you’re back
home safe’ which creates an anti-climax, as the reader or audience might be
convinced that Mike is lying and was expecting to see a serious argument. The
tension rises again when Mike refuses to embrace Sicelo, but this turns out to
be a red herring. All tension is released when Sicelo accepts Mike’s excuse of
being sweaty after changing his tyre, with his reply of ‘Okay, baby’. Depending
on which character the spectator sympathises with, the anti-climax could lead
to either frustration or relief on the audience’s part.
ENG2602/501 171
After writing the last paragraph, the only thing left to do is to conclude your essay.
Your conclusion should summarise the main arguments that you made in your es-
say. You should also make sure that you have addressed everything you set out to
in your introduction.
Although it is not clear from this short excerpt exactly what Mike’s secret is, it
does give the reader a surprising amount of information about the relationship
between Mike and Sicelo. The didascalia indicates that not only is Mike not
carefree in the presence of his partner, but also that he avoids close physical
contact with Sicelo, suggesting that he is hiding something. The phatic dialogue
between the characters is rather cold and formal, with no terms of endearment
or confirmation of their commitment to each other, indicating an awkward
atmosphere. The referential and appellative dialogue show Mike making a
series of excuses, all of which are gently challenged by Sicelo. Sicelo, however,
is reluctant to pursue the matter further and ends the confrontation in an ami-
cable manner. Mike’s appeal to Sicelo to believe him therefore succeeds. The
rhythm of the excerpt furthermore builds tension as it resembles the rhythm
of a tennis match. This tension of not knowing whether Mike’s secret will be
exposed dissipates as Sicelo chooses to believe Mike’s excuses. The playwright
therefore uses didascalia, dialogue and rhythm as strategies to establish a dy-
namic between the characters where Mike is protecting a secret and Sicelo only
confronts him up to a point.
It should be evident from this essay that it is not enough to list devices or to find
examples of different devices and strategies in a text, you must explain how these
devices fulfil a certain function.
Please note that it is also important to read through your draft essay many times as
you write it, to ensure that you remain on the right track and that there is a logical
flow in your argumentation.
Conclusion
If you have worked thoroughly through this unit, you will now have a good idea of
what drama is, how its main components function as well as how symbols, visual
metaphors, rhythm and humour can be used in this genre. There are, of course,
many more elements to the genre as well as poetic devices that are of significance to
it. You are always welcome to include these in your essays if you have encountered
them before.
We hope to have also demonstrated to you how to use these components and features
as tools when analysing an excerpt from a dramatic text and that the skills that you
have learned here will serve you well in your future studies and career.
172
STUDY UNIT 7: Drama
SOURCES CONSULTED
Abrams, M.H. 2005. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 8th Edition. Thomson Wadsworth:
Boston.
Carlson, Marvin. 2002. The Continuum Companion to Twentieth-Century Theatre, ed. Colin
Chambers. London. http://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/genres/
symbolist-drama-iid-2545
Coppen, Neil. 2012. Abnormal Loads. Junkets: Mowbray.
De Wet, Reza. 2007. Two Plays: Concealment, Fever. Oberon: London.
De Wet, Reza. 2005. Plays Two: African Gothic, Good Heavens, Breathing In. Oberon:
London.
Foot Newton, Lara. 2009. ‘Reach.’ In Peimer, D. (ed.) Armed Response: Plays from South
Africa. Seagull: London. pp. 127-164.
Grootboom, Mpumelelo Paul & Chweneyagae, Presley. 2009. ‘Relativity: Township
Stories.’ In Peimer, D. (ed.) Armed Response: Plays from South Africa. Seagull:
London. pp.1-56.
Jacobs, Pieter. 2011. ‘Dalliances.’ In Malan, R. (ed.) S.A. Gay Plays 1. Junkets: Mow-
bray. pp. 115-171.
Jephta, Amy. 2013. ‘Other People’s Lives.’ In Malan, R. (ed.) S.A. Gay Plays 2. Junkets:
Mowbray. pp. 141-189.
Kani, John. 2015. Missing. Wits University Press: Johannesburg.
Keuris, Marisa. 1996. The Play: A Manual. JL van Schaik: Pretoria.
Koboekae, Martin. 2009. ‘Bush Tale.’ In Peimer, D. (ed.) Armed Response: Plays from
South Africa. Seagull: London. pp. 57-84.
Law, Jonathan. 2011. The Methuen Drama Dictionary of the Theatre. Methuen Drama:
London.
Mda, Zakes. 2002. Fools, Bells and the Habit of Eating: Three Satires. Witwatersrand
University Press: Johannesburg.
Pfarelo, N. 2013. ‘Chomi.’ In Malan, R. (ed.) S.A. Gay Plays 2. Junkets: Mowbray.
pp. 245-322.
Nkala, Jonathan Khumbulani. 2011. Cockroach: A Trilog y of Plays. Junkets: Mowbray.
Norman, Xoli. 2009. ‘Hallelujah!’ In Peimer, D. (ed.) Armed Response: Plays from South
Africa. Seagull: London. pp.85-126.
Peck, John & Coyle, Martin. 1984. Literary Terms and Criticism: A Student’s Guide.
Macmillan: New York.
Peimer, David. 2009. ‘Armed Response.’ In Peimer, D. (ed.) Armed Response: Plays from
South Africa. Seagull: London. pp. 165-214.
Rozik, Eli. 2005. ‘Origins of theatre.’ The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance.
http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198601746.001.0001/
acref-9780198601746-e-2950?rskey=PZ65nA&result=1
Van Graan, Mike. 2009. ‘Some Mothers’ Son.’ In Homann, G. (ed.) Plays from Post-
apartheid South Africa. Wits University Press: Johannesburg. pp. 69-110.
Van Graan, Mike. 2006. ‘Green Man Flashing.’ In Fourie, C.J. (ed.) New South African
Plays. Aurora Metro: London. pp. 172-221.
Williams, Tennesee. 2009. Sweet Bird of Youth and Other Plays. Penguin: London.
ENG2602/501 173
CONCLUSION
Farah Ismail
OUTCOME
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
• look back at the course outcomes set out in the introduction with a deeper
insight into their complexity.
Let us revisit them together:
Outcome 1: Distinguish between various non-literary and literary genres. You should ask
yourselves, ‘in what ways do these kinds of writings differ?’
After working through this module, it should be apparent to you that the various
genres in literature and other kinds of texts you have encountered are distinct from
each other by various identifiable characteristics that determine our approach when
analysing them. Poetry is characteristically denser in meaning than most kinds of
prose, and possesses structural features and conventions that distinguish it from
other kinds of writing. The fact that dramatic texts are meant to be performed means
we approach them differently from a novel or a short story. Commercial texts like
advertisements and politically persuasive texts such as political speeches appear
in very different contexts and engage our attention through widely varying means
because of the specificities of genre.
However, it should also be apparent to you that these genres have much in common.
Consider the question we put to you at the beginning of this guide regarding what
you understand ‘language’ and ‘literature’ to be in general and in the context of this
module. Throughout this module you have encountered three genres that can be
considered literature—fiction, poetry and drama—and two genres in non-literary
texts—commercial and political persuasion. However, be aware that the texts rep-
resented in all five genres could be considered literature under a broader definition
of the term and language is key in shaping all of them. Genre should be considered
when approaching a text in order to engage with it appropriately, but we should be
careful about categorising texts too rigidly by genre and in doing so, missing how
174
they share many ways of shaping and utilising language and may even overlap in
terms of aim and purpose. A novel, a play and even a poem, for example, could be
politically persuasive in purpose whilst differing in other key respects from the texts
covered in the unit on Political persuasion.
Ultimately, discourse analysis cannot be broken down into a recipe for repeated
application. It is only by patiently and rigorously applying all you have learned to as
many texts as possible that you will grasp the subtleties of critical analysis.
Outcome 2: Analyse the use of figurative language in a variety of genres. You need to be
sure in your minds what figurative language is, and what it does. Why is it being used?
You should be aware by now that figurative language can be employed in a variety
of genres and come in many forms. Figurative language is an effective tool for many
purposes because it engages the imagination and the emotions by infusing writing
with attention-grabbing and resonating creative quirks. Human beings are emotional
and imaginative beings in addition to being rational ones and so we are likely to
engage and even be persuaded by texts that resonate with our emotional and
imaginative faculties. In order to be critical readers of texts, it is important to
understand how figurative language is used in the context of the different genres we
encounter that shape meaning in our world.
Outcome 3: Analyse texts within genres as a means of positioning the reader in order
to elicit a particular response specific to the genre’s purpose. One could ask: ‘how does
the text create a response in me, the reader?’
This outcome is a particularly complex one that we hope has been achieved through
intensive study. In order to understand how a text creates a response in us as read-
ers, we need to stand back from our own responses and consider how it has been
achieved. How have I been persuaded, entertained, moved or perhaps all of the
aforementioned? In order to understand how a text positions a reader, we need to break
down the techniques within the context of genre to understand how texts engage
and sometimes even influence the kinds of readers we are to achieve a certain aim.
We hope we have guided you through some of the ways in which texts in various
genres do this.
Outcome 4: Analyse the creative choices made in the texts of selected genres. We might
enquire: ‘why does the writer use this particular word instead of another, or place
the words in this specific order, not another?’
Finally, to analyse the creative choices made in the texts of different genres, you
needed to learn to be a discerning and eagle-eyed reader who understands that the
effects of texts are the result of choices down to every word that has been used rather
than another, every paragraph shape, every phrase, every blank space.
We hope you have not only gained these skills from this module, but enjoyed sharp-
ening your critical reading skills as much as we do every day, and felt empowered by
the abilities and understanding you have gained. As much as texts shape the world
through the way they create meaning, the world shapes texts. As critically reading
agents, you have the potential to participate in meaning-making within the world
you inhabit and, far more than passing your exams and assignments, this is what we
truly hope you have gained from this course.
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Theory, Style and Poetics

Theory, Style and Poetics

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GENRES IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE

Theory, style and poetics

Study unit 1: Discourse Analysis: Critically reading a text

Study unit 2: Commercial Persuasive Texts 19

Study unit 3: Political Persuasive Texts 44

Study unit 4: Social Persuasive Texts 69

Study unit 5: Prose 90

Study unit 6: Poetry 101

Study unit 7: Drama 144

GENRES IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE

Theory, style and poetics

David Levey and Clifford Ndlangamandla

Thus, when we read a piece of writing, whether it is a book, a poem, an advertise-

Here are three thoughts to get you going:

HOW TO WORK THROUGH THIS MODULE

• Becoming familiar with the features of all five genres

GENRES IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE

Theory, style and poetics

Prescribed reading (e-reserves): pp. 20-21 in Goatly, A. and P. Hiradhar (2016).

• Read texts closely and critically

• a comic strip • a parliamentary address

1.1.1 A brief example

1.1.2 Discourse analysis

Each of the headings above (Topic, Speaker/Writer, Audience, Source, Context,

Topic: is this about a political issue, climate change, brain surgery,

Speaker/Writer: level of education? age? personality? political views? possible

Audience: young/mature/old? general or specialist? sophisticated? gender?

Source: newspaper/news broadcast? magazine? lesson? novel? tweet?

Purpose: instruct? inform? complain? narrate? argue? persuade? sell?

Tone: serious? light-hearted? subjective/objective? imperious? per-

Style: formal? informal? colloquial?

plain/emotive vocabulary? jargon/technical/specialist words?

simple or complex sentence structures? active or passive

literal? figurative? use of specific linguistic techniques e.g. repeti-

non-linguistic features: use of images/diagrams to comple-

1.1.3 A practical strategy for doing discourse analysis

Walking around my neighbourhood this morning, I was so aware of how caged

In guarding ourselves against robbery, we have robbed ourselves. Our sense

Compare your findings with those below.

Topic: security measures have destroyed neighbourly interaction and

Speaker/Writer: educated (good command of vocabulary and sentence struc-

Audience: fellow South Africans living in suburbs. Personal pronouns

Source: possibly a letter to a friend, or letter to the editor of a newspaper;

Context: life in contemporary South Africa; bad crime situation; need

Purpose: to narrate a personal experience and draw a lesson from this;

Tone: serious; personal; subjective; attitude to topic regretful, nostalgic

Style: written rather than spoken (seen in complete sentences, con-

use of first-person personal pronouns ‘I’, ‘my’ and ‘me’ to nar-

use of inclusive ‘we’ shows presumption of shared experience

emotive language: use of intensifier ‘so’ in ‘I was so aware of how

contrast with the positive connotations of ‘played freely’, ‘pop

rhetorical question ‘What happened to friendly chats …’ is used

sentences of varying lengths used. Short sentences create impact

use of wordplay in final paragraph: ‘In guarding ourselves

Compare your findings with the notes below.

Topic: research into mental illness through studying the brain.

Speaker/Writer: a medical professional qualified to discuss brain disorders;

personal pronoun ‘our’ shows he/she identifies with research-