Full Matric IEB Poetry Analysis Booklet
By: Natalia Levin 2021
• I Have My Fathers Voice (pg. 2-7)
• Portrait of a Loaf of Bread (pg. 8-13)
• Nightsong City (pg.14-18)
• Lost or Found World (pg.19-23)
• To The Night (pg. 24-30)
• Touch (pg. 31-37)
• To Althea from Prison (pg.38-43)
• Dulce et Decorum Est (pg. 44-50)
• The Cry of South Africa (pg. 51-55)
• Refugee Blues (pg. 56-62)
• The Tenant (pg. 63-67)
• Love’s Farewell (pg.68-72)
• No longer mourn for me when I am dead (pg.73-75)
• The wind began to rock the grass (pg. 76-80)
• Penguin on the Beach (pg. 81-88)
• Assassination (pg. 89-93)
• nobody loses all the time (pg. 94-97)
• My Last Duchess (pg. 97-100)
• Ulysses (pg. 101-111)
• Poetry Overview (pg. 112-128)
1
,‘I Have My Father’s Voice’ Chris van Wyk (1957-2017)
When I walk into a room
where my father has just been
I fill the same spaces he did
from the elbows on the table Sons positioning/
to the head thrown back inheritance
and when we laugh we aim the guffaw Sound devices
at the same space in the air.
Fathers’ personality
Before anybody has told me this I know
because I see myself through Structure
my father’s eyes.
When I was a pigeon-toed boy
my father used his voice
to send me to bed
to run and buy the newspaper
to scribble my way through matric.
He also used his voice for harsher things:
to bluster when we made a noise
when the kitchen wasn’t cleaned after supper
when I was out too late.
Late for work, on many mornings,
one sock in hand, its twin
an angry glint in his eye he flings
dirty clothes out of the washing box:
vests, jeans, pants and shirts shouting
anagrams of fee fo fi fum until he is up
to his knees in a stinking heap of laundry.
I have my father’s voice too
and his fuming temper
and I shout as he does.
But I spew the words out
in pairs of alliteration
and an air of assonance.
Everything a poet needs
my father has bequeathed me
except the words.
2
,Biographical Information
• Poet born in Soweto and family was forced into a coloured township.
• Parents were uneducated but encouraged him to pursue a good career.
• Saw his poetry as a form of protest and critiqued Apartheid by telling stories of
victims’ everyday struggles and experiences.
Meaning/Message
• Son pays tribute to his father who despite his frustrations and limitations of
Apartheid made sure to pass down a rich legacy of life lessons to his son.
• Poet expresses disapproval of Apartheid in a way in which his father couldn’t.
Imagery/Figures of Speech/ Diction
• Sound devices: Alliteration and Sibilance
• Poetry jargon
Structure
• Irregular and free verse: Son continues to grow and mature in a chaotic South Africa.
Free verse can show the father’s unpredictable outbursts in expressing anger.
• First four stanzas are longer: Full and rich connection between father and son.
• Last three stanzas are shorter: Son’s connection isn’t as big and he has potential to
fulfil.
• Enjambment: Flow of past into present of both Apartheid and his father’s legacy.
Tone
Reflective, Honest, Grateful
3
, Title:
Two Meanings:
• Literally has the same physical mannerisms/ sound.
• Figuratively: His real legacy is to be able to express his father’s anger and protest
against Apartheid.
Gives his father’s opinion (voice) by speaking out when his father couldn’t/wouldn’t .
When I walk into a room
• ‘I’ – First Person: Shows Intimacy and conversation – personal connection.
where my father has just been
• Emphasis on connection with father over time.
• Father has died but still holds connection.
I fill the same spaces he did
• ‘Did’ – Past tense (father has passed away)
• Sibilance: Repetition of soothing and soft ‘s’ sound emphasizes the deep and
comforting connection/relationship between his father and him.
from the elbows on the table
to the head thrown back List of
shared
and when we laugh we aim the guffaw physical
‘Guffaw’ – onomatopoeia: hearty and loud laughter mannerisms
at the same space in the air.
Sibilance: Repetition of ‘S’ sound showing a sense of harmony and connection between the
two.
Before anybody has told me this I know
• Son is Aware of this innate connection.
because I see myself through
my father’s eyes.
• He judges and defines himself through the way his father would judge him. He wants
to make his father proud.
• He sees the world from his father’s point of view (attitude towards Apartheid)
Stanza
• Past tense: Speaker is acknowledging his ongoing connection with his father even
though he has passed way (past continues into the present – battle of Apartheid).
• Enjambment: Ongoing legacy of his father is being passed down to son/ son’s
connection to the father is ongoing.
When I was a pigeon-toed boy
• When he was young and awkward/ inexperienced
4
By: Natalia Levin 2021
• I Have My Fathers Voice (pg. 2-7)
• Portrait of a Loaf of Bread (pg. 8-13)
• Nightsong City (pg.14-18)
• Lost or Found World (pg.19-23)
• To The Night (pg. 24-30)
• Touch (pg. 31-37)
• To Althea from Prison (pg.38-43)
• Dulce et Decorum Est (pg. 44-50)
• The Cry of South Africa (pg. 51-55)
• Refugee Blues (pg. 56-62)
• The Tenant (pg. 63-67)
• Love’s Farewell (pg.68-72)
• No longer mourn for me when I am dead (pg.73-75)
• The wind began to rock the grass (pg. 76-80)
• Penguin on the Beach (pg. 81-88)
• Assassination (pg. 89-93)
• nobody loses all the time (pg. 94-97)
• My Last Duchess (pg. 97-100)
• Ulysses (pg. 101-111)
• Poetry Overview (pg. 112-128)
1
,‘I Have My Father’s Voice’ Chris van Wyk (1957-2017)
When I walk into a room
where my father has just been
I fill the same spaces he did
from the elbows on the table Sons positioning/
to the head thrown back inheritance
and when we laugh we aim the guffaw Sound devices
at the same space in the air.
Fathers’ personality
Before anybody has told me this I know
because I see myself through Structure
my father’s eyes.
When I was a pigeon-toed boy
my father used his voice
to send me to bed
to run and buy the newspaper
to scribble my way through matric.
He also used his voice for harsher things:
to bluster when we made a noise
when the kitchen wasn’t cleaned after supper
when I was out too late.
Late for work, on many mornings,
one sock in hand, its twin
an angry glint in his eye he flings
dirty clothes out of the washing box:
vests, jeans, pants and shirts shouting
anagrams of fee fo fi fum until he is up
to his knees in a stinking heap of laundry.
I have my father’s voice too
and his fuming temper
and I shout as he does.
But I spew the words out
in pairs of alliteration
and an air of assonance.
Everything a poet needs
my father has bequeathed me
except the words.
2
,Biographical Information
• Poet born in Soweto and family was forced into a coloured township.
• Parents were uneducated but encouraged him to pursue a good career.
• Saw his poetry as a form of protest and critiqued Apartheid by telling stories of
victims’ everyday struggles and experiences.
Meaning/Message
• Son pays tribute to his father who despite his frustrations and limitations of
Apartheid made sure to pass down a rich legacy of life lessons to his son.
• Poet expresses disapproval of Apartheid in a way in which his father couldn’t.
Imagery/Figures of Speech/ Diction
• Sound devices: Alliteration and Sibilance
• Poetry jargon
Structure
• Irregular and free verse: Son continues to grow and mature in a chaotic South Africa.
Free verse can show the father’s unpredictable outbursts in expressing anger.
• First four stanzas are longer: Full and rich connection between father and son.
• Last three stanzas are shorter: Son’s connection isn’t as big and he has potential to
fulfil.
• Enjambment: Flow of past into present of both Apartheid and his father’s legacy.
Tone
Reflective, Honest, Grateful
3
, Title:
Two Meanings:
• Literally has the same physical mannerisms/ sound.
• Figuratively: His real legacy is to be able to express his father’s anger and protest
against Apartheid.
Gives his father’s opinion (voice) by speaking out when his father couldn’t/wouldn’t .
When I walk into a room
• ‘I’ – First Person: Shows Intimacy and conversation – personal connection.
where my father has just been
• Emphasis on connection with father over time.
• Father has died but still holds connection.
I fill the same spaces he did
• ‘Did’ – Past tense (father has passed away)
• Sibilance: Repetition of soothing and soft ‘s’ sound emphasizes the deep and
comforting connection/relationship between his father and him.
from the elbows on the table
to the head thrown back List of
shared
and when we laugh we aim the guffaw physical
‘Guffaw’ – onomatopoeia: hearty and loud laughter mannerisms
at the same space in the air.
Sibilance: Repetition of ‘S’ sound showing a sense of harmony and connection between the
two.
Before anybody has told me this I know
• Son is Aware of this innate connection.
because I see myself through
my father’s eyes.
• He judges and defines himself through the way his father would judge him. He wants
to make his father proud.
• He sees the world from his father’s point of view (attitude towards Apartheid)
Stanza
• Past tense: Speaker is acknowledging his ongoing connection with his father even
though he has passed way (past continues into the present – battle of Apartheid).
• Enjambment: Ongoing legacy of his father is being passed down to son/ son’s
connection to the father is ongoing.
When I was a pigeon-toed boy
• When he was young and awkward/ inexperienced
4
