The Tenant Na Ngulube
There is no room for you
Speaker’s feelings
in my heart. The only tenant
Metaphor: heart = house
who ever lived there left Metaphor: ex-lover = baggage
some luggage behind. Punctuation
Alliteration
I didn't even evict her. She
simply left without a word.
I keep hoping she will come
back and collect the luggage
or at least arrange for disposal
clean out the place, throw out
old memories.
I could possibly live with
the marks on the walls. Some
are completely indelible
some I even like.
But you see I am afraid that
if it all goes, what will I do
with all that empty space.
, Biographical information
• Post-Apartheid poet: There is now a space to move away from political protest to
personal stories.
Meaning/ message
• The difficult of letting love go.
• How all past relationships and connections can affect future ones.
Imagery/figures of speech/diction
• Extended metaphor: A heart is compared to a home and previous relationship is
compared to as baggage left behind.
Structure
• Irregular – disrupted life (caesura).
• Free verse – stop-start rhythm/disjointed.
• Enjambment – flow of impact of past relationship into present (can’t separate the
two).
• Contrast to full stop where there is a sense of finality.
Tone/mood
• Melancholy, scared, yearning.
There is no room for you
Speaker’s feelings
in my heart. The only tenant
Metaphor: heart = house
who ever lived there left Metaphor: ex-lover = baggage
some luggage behind. Punctuation
Alliteration
I didn't even evict her. She
simply left without a word.
I keep hoping she will come
back and collect the luggage
or at least arrange for disposal
clean out the place, throw out
old memories.
I could possibly live with
the marks on the walls. Some
are completely indelible
some I even like.
But you see I am afraid that
if it all goes, what will I do
with all that empty space.
, Biographical information
• Post-Apartheid poet: There is now a space to move away from political protest to
personal stories.
Meaning/ message
• The difficult of letting love go.
• How all past relationships and connections can affect future ones.
Imagery/figures of speech/diction
• Extended metaphor: A heart is compared to a home and previous relationship is
compared to as baggage left behind.
Structure
• Irregular – disrupted life (caesura).
• Free verse – stop-start rhythm/disjointed.
• Enjambment – flow of impact of past relationship into present (can’t separate the
two).
• Contrast to full stop where there is a sense of finality.
Tone/mood
• Melancholy, scared, yearning.
