A young man's thoughts before June 16

This poem is essentially a dirge, a song of sadness to be sung at a funeral.

• Whose funeral is he lamenting? (2)

The poet is laminating the death of all those children who died when shot by the police while protesting against inferior apartheid education.

• Comment on the words which the poet uses to highlight this sadness. (4)

The poet speaks of the sweet memory of youth which has been cut down in its prime. He remembers those mothers whose hearts are broken by deaths of their children, the dirges sun by the women who are laminating the deaths, creased foreheads of the old men who died in shock and in mourning. And the poet speaks of the blood that has been shed on that particular day, where the sunset of life is running red with blood.

The poet writes as though he himself were personally involved in the historic event.

• Explain how this is so. (4)

The poet is speaking in first person, putting himself in the shoes of each  the young people who were struck down by the police bullets and died on this particular day. It was a national tragedy and, as so, was felt by each concerned citizen.

"for my sunset is drenched with red"

• Comment on the rich imagery of this line. (4)

“ sunset” is often a metaphor for the end of life death. Here however. It is not a gentle death but one which is “ drenched with red”. Notice the harshness of the word “ drenched “. The life of the young people has been ripped apart by police bullets. And their blood flows freely, drenching the sunset( and street) with red.

"strummed by an old man with a broken brow"

• Comment on the image used in this line. (4)

The song is being sung by the sad women, wailing for the deaths of their children. They are accompanied by the old man, strumming a metaphorical guitar of sadness and shock. His brow is wrinkled with care and sorrow, the broken brow being synonymous with a broken spirit.

Is there any purpose to writing a poem that uses no punctuation, and which ignores the usual rules of grammar? (4)

Yes, Punctuation confers precise meaning to a sentence. Take away punctuation and the poem remains open to individual interpretation in all sorts of ways. Lack of punctuation also denotes a freedom from all rules, which cab therefore also be interpreted as portraying a freedom of spirit.

In detention

* This is a satirical poem written to show the patent absurdity of the reasons given by the police or government spokespersons for people’s dying in detention.

• During the apartheid era, prisoners were held in detention.

• A number of people died because of beatings by the police.

• The reality of the situation is the horror and the brutality of the murders in detention.

• The speaker uses the same sentence structure,

* firstly, to create dark comedy by means of the increasingly entangled

details;

* secondly, to echo the reports of the police in order to emphasize the number

of deaths in detention and show how often the police lied about it.

• The structure of the poem parodies statements made by government officials in a newspaper and/or a news broadcast. It reads like an official document.

• The statements lack any depth or elaboration.

• Verbs such as ‘fell’, ‘hanged’ and ‘slipped’ suggest the lame quality of the official explanations offered by the authorities.

• There is no hint of sympathy.

• A tragic event is made to appear insignificant.

• The lack of full stops adds to the inconclusive nature of the statements, which lack sincerity; it helps with the flow of ideas; it is an activist’s protest against the government.

• The ridiculous excuses were presented as facts.

• The speaker starts each sentence with the pronoun, ‘He’ in order to contribute to the sense of absurdity.

• He shows that police/authorities would portray the victim as the agent of his own death or the victim of a mere accident.

• This would dispel any suspicion that the security police and the prison authorities should be held liable for the prisoners’ deaths.

• The tone of the poem is sarcastic/scornful/ironic. The speaker shows this by manipulating the language to suggest that earlier claims could be accurate, but were not, and the absurdity of the later points suggests this.

[Consider a neutral/indifferent tone, if well substantiated.]

• The details of the excuses/explanations are just apposed/organised in an increasingly ridiculous manner, highlighting the dishonesty of the official versions of events.

Maya Angelou- "old folks laugh"

OLD folks laugh

“They spent their content of simpering,

holding their lips this

and that way, winding

the lines between

their brows.”

1) What did the poet mean  when she says” “They spent their content of simpering, holding their lips this and that way, winding the lines between their brows.”?

A: The poet suggests that most people spend their time holding their lips or tongues and this causes the many wrinkles on their brows. It is stressful to forever holding back lest one offends someone. The old folks however have reached the stage in their lives when they no longer need to do this. They are now free to say whatever they like.

“old folks allow their bellies to jiggle like slow tambourines.”

2) Comment this rather quaint expression.

A: The poet possibly wants to create a pleasant sound to these lines. The old folks laughter makes their bellies wriggle and bounce but there is a note of happiness in this as well and it is  a pleasant sound hearing old folks laugh.

“The hollers

Rise up and spill

Over any way they want

When old folks laugh, they free the world.”

3) What is mean by “hollers”?

A:“Hollers usually means “shouting out “. In this poem however it means that the old folks laughter is loud, as if their laughs itself is shouting out.

4) Comment on the lines “The hollers Rise up and spill over any way they want”?

A:Just as the old folks have stopped trying to please everybody, so have they stopped trying to laugh politely. Now they just laugh anyway they want and as loudly as they want.

5. What does the poet mean when she says, “ when old folks laugh ,they free the world.”

A: Just as old folks free to laugh as they wish, so their laughter itself is refreshing it is such a pleasant thing to be with people who really enjoy themselves and don’t mind other people seeing it.

6) Explain why 'spent' (line 1) is important to an understanding of the poem as a Whole?

A:The focus of the poem is on people who have lived their lives and have now reached old age; they have stopped trying to please others/doing what is expected of them by society. ‘Simpering’ suggests artificially amiable behaviour. They have ‘spent’ (used up) their supply of ‘simpering’ and what it suggests.

7) What impression is created in 'Old folks/allow their bellies to jiggle like slow/tambourines' (lines 6–8)?

A: The quivering of their bellies like tambourines suggests their freedom to laugh as they wish. They have the freedom to enjoy their laughter with no concern for appearances. They engage in the joyful sound of laughter, which is linked to the joyful sound of tambourines.

8) Refer to lines 9–11: 'The hollers/rise ... any way they want.'

Discuss the effectiveness of ONE of the figures of speech in the above lines.

A :Metaphor. The hollers/loud yells are compared to liquid overflowing. This highlights the excess and exuberance in their laughter. The joyous sounds grow louder and louder.

OR

Personification. It is as if the hollers are able to freely exercise their right to rise and spill over at will. They seem to have the power of choice. Their joyous sounds are not restricted in any way.

OR

Onomatopoeia. The emphasis is on the loud yells that become louder and louder until they cannot be contained and burst out (‘spill over’). The word ‘hollers’ helps the reader to ‘hear’ the loud voices of the elderly. It sounds like the kind of loud noise they make.

9) Refer to lines 22–23: 'they consider the promise/of dear painless death'.

In your view, is the paradox used in the above detail effective? Discuss your

Response.

A:Yes. It emphasises the contrast between the idea of death, and that of ‘dear’ and ‘painless’. The paradox emphasises that these old folks embrace death because it will offer them rest from their physical pain. Hence, death is ‘dear’ and friendly to them.