Telephone conversation

Wole Soyinka’s poem expresses racism towards black people. Using Diction, structure, tone, and
Imagery the poet describes the racism of black people. (28)

The poet conveyed his feelings on racism through a telephone conversation with a landlady.
The tone of the verse form was satirical and playful. He compared the instruction degree
between himself and the landlady and expressed his choler towards this incident, on the other
minus. He besides mocked the landlady as his own enjoyment. The poet expresses the
prejudiced human life through satirical and playful tones. (66)

The poet uses meaningful diction that portrays different emotions and tones. Examples
include the landlady’s repetition of the word ‘‘Dark’ ’it shows how much the landlady cared
about the speaker’s skin colour, because “Dark’ usually connects with the dark skin colour of
African. The poet expresses the discrimination and prejudice towards black people. (53)

The poet uses imagery to portray the racism towards black people. An example of imagery
includes, “lip stick coated, gold rolled cigarette holder piped” is the mental image of the lady
made by the African speaker by just listening to her voice on the phone. The use of imagery
in the poem emphasized the racial discrimination against black people. (59)

The poets use of structure throughout the poem highlights the discrimination of black people.
The poem uses enjambment, where it tends to appear in the speaker’s moments of self-
assurance and confidence. The structure of the poem contributes to the prejudice the black
people faced. (44)

Using tone, diction, imagery, and structure the poet highlights the prejudice and
discrimination black people faced. (19)

269 words

Reapers in a mieliefield
Mtshali’s poem expresses the harsh condition under which labourers worked.Through the use
of diction,tone,imagery and structure the poet describes these harsh conditions.(25)

The poet uses tone to portray the conditions in which the slaves worked.Throughout the poem
the tone is oppressive and shows signs of slavery.This is illustrated by the description of the
conditions under which the labourers worked.The poet expresses the oppressed human life
through different emotions and tones.(51)

The diction the poet uses portrays the hard working conditions of the labourers.Examples of
the hard working conditions are “faces furrowed”,the labourers faces are froning and
sweating due to exertion as the work is physically demanding.The diction expresses the
working conditions of the people.(48)

The imagery in the poem highlights the tiring working conditions of the labourers .Through
the metaphor “ wasp waist”it calls the waist of the labourers thin like the waist of a
wasp,emphasising how slim their waste is,showing us that they are poor and have no food to
eat,as well as they work extremely hard which results in them losing weight.The imagery
highlights the harsh working conditions.(70)

The structure if the poem emphasises the harsh working conditions.The punctuation in the
poeam slows down the pace,portraying the message of how the labourers worked under the
hot sun everyday.The enjambment adds to the free flow of labourers difficulties in their
work.The structure highlights the hard work the labourers do every day.(56)

Using tone, diction, imagery, and structure the poet highlights the harsh working conditions
of the labourers.(16)

241 words