Touch
Hugh Lewin
By Adrian MacKenzie
Tone = imploring (someone to touch him) Mood = melancholic (yearning for touch)
Summary = imploring someone to touch him because he has not been treated with affection and compassion for so long
Hugh Lewin = sentenced to 7 years in prison by the Apartheid government for being an anti-apartheid activist
When I get out → wants to remember touching being linked to affection and not dominance and pain in prison
I’m going to ask someone → imploring someone to touch him
to touch me
very gently please → Slow Rhythm = wants to savour the moment of affection. Wants to restore his humanity.
and slowly,
touch me
I want
to learn again → isolated for so long that he has lost connection with normality
how life feels. → yearning to be touched with affection (wistful mood) + enjambment (unwavering time in prison)
I’ve not been touched
for seven years
for seven years → Repetition = foregrounds how long he has been imprisoned
I’ve been untouched → when he has been touched, it has been without care (also not touched emotionally)
out of touch → ousted from society and caring affection, now in a harsh place (isolated)
and I’ve learnt
to know now
the meaning of → danger to society, he is not accepted
Untouchable. → untouchable (s): Lowest Indian caste, ‘pariahs’ of society
Untouched – not quite → Dash used to explain that has been touched but not with care.
I can count the things → touched by things not caring people, no intimacy and affection involved
that have touched me
Hugh Lewin
By Adrian MacKenzie
Tone = imploring (someone to touch him) Mood = melancholic (yearning for touch)
Summary = imploring someone to touch him because he has not been treated with affection and compassion for so long
Hugh Lewin = sentenced to 7 years in prison by the Apartheid government for being an anti-apartheid activist
When I get out → wants to remember touching being linked to affection and not dominance and pain in prison
I’m going to ask someone → imploring someone to touch him
to touch me
very gently please → Slow Rhythm = wants to savour the moment of affection. Wants to restore his humanity.
and slowly,
touch me
I want
to learn again → isolated for so long that he has lost connection with normality
how life feels. → yearning to be touched with affection (wistful mood) + enjambment (unwavering time in prison)
I’ve not been touched
for seven years
for seven years → Repetition = foregrounds how long he has been imprisoned
I’ve been untouched → when he has been touched, it has been without care (also not touched emotionally)
out of touch → ousted from society and caring affection, now in a harsh place (isolated)
and I’ve learnt
to know now
the meaning of → danger to society, he is not accepted
Untouchable. → untouchable (s): Lowest Indian caste, ‘pariahs’ of society
Untouched – not quite → Dash used to explain that has been touched but not with care.
I can count the things → touched by things not caring people, no intimacy and affection involved
that have touched me
