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Wetu the black cow is dead. The people are saddened as they remember her and how she had enriched
their lives. We also learn of a possible reason for her death.
ABOUT THE POET
Francis Carey Slater was born near Alice in 1876, the grandson of an 1820 settler.
He received some of his schooling at Lovedale College, a seminary about 13 kilometres from Alice that
had been created as early as 1841 to educate black children but which did at times enrol the occasional
white child.
Carey's formative years in the Alice area were at a time of great hardship for the rural community. The
young poet was therefore deeply immersed in the tragedy of disease and drought -- the theme of this
poem.
Upon leaving the college, he took up work with the Standard Bank -- a pre-eminent institution in the
Eastern Cape -- where he rose eventually to the position of manager at the Graham's Town branch.
Upon taking early retirement, he moved to Cape Town but maintained his link with the Eastern Cape as
his source of inspiration while he continued to perfect his poetic skills.
Slater is regarded as the first English-speaking South African to write real poetry rather than simple verse.
He grew up with the African people, and wrote of them "as he knew them, with familiarity and
conviction".
His poetry has been described as having "real inventiveness" and "a sensual awareness of his
subjects that lead to the coining of fresh images". It is said that he often evoked "a uniquely South
African experience by image and rhythm".
He died in 1958 at the age of 82.
Have you looked at the questions in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer the following questions:
GENERAL QUESTIONS:
What is a lament? (2)
[Need help?]
A lament is a formal expression of sorrow or mourning for something lost, usually in the form of
a poem or a song.
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This poet makes much use of similes in this poem.
- What is a simile? How does a simile differ from a metaphor? (4)
[Need help?]
A simile is an indirect comparison between two things, usually indicated by the words "as",
"like" or "than".
He was as fat as a pig. She was like a beanpole. The puff-adder was fatter than a
bag of pus.
A metaphor is a direct comparison in which something is said to be something else. She
was a ray of sunshine in our lives.
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- Why is a simile better in the context of this poem than, say, a metaphor? (4)
[Need help?]
A metaphor, because it is a direct comparison, actually identifies the thing with the object to which it is
being compared. As a result, it can sometimes complicate the comparison.
For example, if one were to say that Wetu the cow was an isipingo-berry, it would make her not only dark
by also small and round. That would be an idiotic comparison.
The simile, on the other hand, allows one to compare the cow merely to one aspect: she was black and
shiny like an isipingo-berry. The other aspects of the berry are ignored. Similes are therefore more
versatile.
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List FOUR words in this poem which depict a specific South African flavour. (4)
[Need help?]
The following words are distinctly South African:
- "Siyalila, siyalila, inkomo yetu ifile" -- Xhosa speech from the Eastern Cape.
- an isipingo-berry -- a South African word for this particular berry.
- the sunburnt veld -- "veld" is a South African word.
- calabashes -- is this word used elsewhere in the world?
- kraal -- a typically South African word.
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"Siyalila, siyalila, inkomo yetu ifile!"
- What do these words mean? (2)
[Need help?]
"We weep, we weep, our cow is dead!"
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- Why would the poet want to begin his poem with a Xhosa quotation? (2)
[Need help?]
Using a Xhosa quotation is very useful for placing the poem within a local context and giving it feeling.
It is not just any death: it is the death of a cow which was much loved by the people who lament her
passing by singing about her in their own language.
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"Her horns were as sharp as the horns of the new moon
That tosses aloft the evening star."
- What is the "evening star"? (4)
[Need help?]
The "evening star" is the planet Venus which makes its appearance in the early evening sky very
soon after sunset.
Sometimes, of course, the planet will be seen in the eastern sky just before dawn -- but it would then be
known as the "morning star".
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- Why does the poet connect the sharp horns of the moon with the evening start? (4)
[Need help?]
On very rare occasions, the new moon appears in the evening sky very close to the evening star. This
new moon appears as two sharp horns -- like a metaphorical cow in the sky which, because of its
proximity to Venus, appears to be tossing the planet with her horns.
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