Lost or Found World - Serote
Background
Mongane Wally Serote (1944 -):
- Born in Sophiatown
- Worked as a journalist
- Studied at Coumbia University on a Fulbright scholarship
- Exiled in Botswana and England
- Spent his lifetime expressing the injustices and harsh realities of life for black
people under aprtheid
- Renowned for his use of imagery in his poems
Lost or Found World: Analysis
Title:
- Usually the saying is ‘lost AND found’
- The change to ‘lost or found’ in the title makes sure that the reader is aware
of the ambiguity and uncertainty of the title and the poem.
- At the end of the poem the speaker wonders if his world is lost (implies failur
and hopelessness) or found (implies success and hope)
- His experiencing conflicting emotions is clear
Structure:
Theme:
- Moving forward
- Hope or lack thereof
- Truth
- Artistic expression
- Identity
Figures of Speech:
- Imagery is used throughout
, Stanza 1
- Dream-like
scenario Skies of truth are now scenes Now: A recent development (he finds it more
- From speaker’s difficult to face the truth)
perspective (this METAPHOR: The poet is explaining how the sky
is what the At the mercy of my curtain eyes, represents the harsh truth or harsh reality AND
speaker his eyes are the curtains that he closes to block
imagines when the truth out
he closes his - Could refer to window curtains or stage
I wink often more often,
eyes) curtains
- No contextual IMAGERY: Image presented in S1 is that of
markers closing eyes.
- A presentation of To draw the curtains - One pictures a man at a window deliberately
ideas and closing his window curtains because he
images does not want to see what is outside
Wink: Blink
To cut and forget the skies.
Often more often: Repetition emphasises the
increasing rate at which the speaker blinks
- This suggests that he is trying to forget
more quickly or cannot believe what he is
seeing
The speaker wishes to escape the truth, and
does so by closing the curtains, knowingly
separating himself from this truth.
Progression of actions:
- He first winks to escape the skies of truth
- Then he deliberately draws the curtains
- Then he forcefully cuts and forgets the skies
Unclear what this truth is but it must be
something so disturbing that the speaker
chooses to escape from it rather than face up
to it.
The skies of truth are at the mercy of his eyes
because if he doesn’t like what he sees he can
simply close his eyes.
Stanza 2
The sea of identity is tears, IMAGERY: A sea formed by tears
ALLLITERATION Identity: The poet expresses his activism of
(SIBILANCE): black consciousness through his writing. His
Draws the reader’s A too salty expression identity is linked to his writing.
attention to the - The identity may have been lost like “tears”
liquid (the ink) The speaker’s search for identity has been so
being absorbed by painful and has brought so much suffering
the sand that he has wept.
- Emphasisies The sea is described as too salty.
Background
Mongane Wally Serote (1944 -):
- Born in Sophiatown
- Worked as a journalist
- Studied at Coumbia University on a Fulbright scholarship
- Exiled in Botswana and England
- Spent his lifetime expressing the injustices and harsh realities of life for black
people under aprtheid
- Renowned for his use of imagery in his poems
Lost or Found World: Analysis
Title:
- Usually the saying is ‘lost AND found’
- The change to ‘lost or found’ in the title makes sure that the reader is aware
of the ambiguity and uncertainty of the title and the poem.
- At the end of the poem the speaker wonders if his world is lost (implies failur
and hopelessness) or found (implies success and hope)
- His experiencing conflicting emotions is clear
Structure:
Theme:
- Moving forward
- Hope or lack thereof
- Truth
- Artistic expression
- Identity
Figures of Speech:
- Imagery is used throughout
, Stanza 1
- Dream-like
scenario Skies of truth are now scenes Now: A recent development (he finds it more
- From speaker’s difficult to face the truth)
perspective (this METAPHOR: The poet is explaining how the sky
is what the At the mercy of my curtain eyes, represents the harsh truth or harsh reality AND
speaker his eyes are the curtains that he closes to block
imagines when the truth out
he closes his - Could refer to window curtains or stage
I wink often more often,
eyes) curtains
- No contextual IMAGERY: Image presented in S1 is that of
markers closing eyes.
- A presentation of To draw the curtains - One pictures a man at a window deliberately
ideas and closing his window curtains because he
images does not want to see what is outside
Wink: Blink
To cut and forget the skies.
Often more often: Repetition emphasises the
increasing rate at which the speaker blinks
- This suggests that he is trying to forget
more quickly or cannot believe what he is
seeing
The speaker wishes to escape the truth, and
does so by closing the curtains, knowingly
separating himself from this truth.
Progression of actions:
- He first winks to escape the skies of truth
- Then he deliberately draws the curtains
- Then he forcefully cuts and forgets the skies
Unclear what this truth is but it must be
something so disturbing that the speaker
chooses to escape from it rather than face up
to it.
The skies of truth are at the mercy of his eyes
because if he doesn’t like what he sees he can
simply close his eyes.
Stanza 2
The sea of identity is tears, IMAGERY: A sea formed by tears
ALLLITERATION Identity: The poet expresses his activism of
(SIBILANCE): black consciousness through his writing. His
Draws the reader’s A too salty expression identity is linked to his writing.
attention to the - The identity may have been lost like “tears”
liquid (the ink) The speaker’s search for identity has been so
being absorbed by painful and has brought so much suffering
the sand that he has wept.
- Emphasisies The sea is described as too salty.
