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READ THIS
This short work -- dedicated to the banned poet Don Mattera -- appears in the form of a
nature poem, describing the dry winter of the South African highveld, where the leaves fall from
the trees and everything becomes lifeless.
The poem is a vehicle, however, to show how the rule of the Whites in apartheid South Africa
will, like every sterile winter, eventually end -- to be followed by the dawn of a new spring.
ABOUT THE POET
Mongane Wally Serote was born in Sophiatown in 1944. He grew up during the violent days
of the apartheid era and was arrested on a few occasions, even serving nine months in solitary
confinement in 1969 for an unspecified "crime", but was finally released without any
charges being brought against him.
In 1974 he was awarded the Fulbright scholarship which enabled him to study Fine Arts at the
Columbia University in New York. He returned to South Africa in 1979 but chose to go into
self-exile in Botswana, returning to South Africa only in 1990 with the collapse of the apartheid
system.
He is renowned for his poetry, although he has also written short stories and a couple of novels.
His work has won him several awards.
"Don M." refers to the poet Don Mattera who was "banned" for nearly nine years
from 1973 to 1982. "Banning" meant that the person was not allowed to attend
functions, speak in public, attend any public ceremonies or visit friends, or even leave a specific
area.
For three of those years, the poet was also under "house arrest", i.e. he was made a
prisoner in his own house, forbidden to leave the grounds for whatever reason.
If a person was banned or placed under house arrest, there was no recourse to law. One could
not challenge it -- nor did the banning authorities have to prove anything or even produce any
evidence to justify their decision.
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:
"it is a dry white season"
- In the literal sense, what season of the year is the poet describing? How do you
know? (4)
[Need help?]
Literally, the poet is speaking of winter on the South African highveld -- i.e. the area around
Johannesburg and Soweto. In winter, the grass turns white because of the frost, and the leaves
fall from the trees, leaving the branches bare.
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"dark leaves don't last, their brief lives dry out
and with a broken heart they dive down gently headed for the earth
not even bleeding."
- What language device (figure of speech) is used in "dark leaves . . . dry out . . . dive
down"? (1)
[Need help?]
This is an example of alliteration, isn't it?
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- Why would the leaves' "brief lives dry out"? (3)
[Need help?]
The leaves quite literally live brief lives. They bud in the spring and live through the summer,
only to dry out and die in the autumn, at which point they fall from the trees.
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- Comment on the leaves having "a broken heart"? (4)
[Need help?]
This is an example of personification, isn't it? The leaves are given the characteristics of a
person. It is winter and the leaves die, falling from the trees. There is a feeling of gentle pain
as the leaves are separated from the branches, falling to the ground to die.
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- Why would the poet remark that the leaves are "not even
bleeding"? (4)
[Need help?]
It would seem to be a strange comment, wouldn't it? After all, leaves don't usually bleed when
they fall from the trees in winter. One is forced therefore to look for another meaning, where
one sees the suffering of the people of South Africa -- but a suffering in such a way that they
too are not actually bleeding. In other words, the poet is speaking about the pain of
imprisonment or house arrest or banning, where no physical wounds are inflicted and therefore
no blood flows.
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"only the trees know the pain as they still stand erect
dry like steel, their branches dry like wire"
- What figure of speech is found in the words "only the trees know the pain"? Explain
your answer. (2)
[Need help?]
This is another example of personification. Trees cannot literally know pain. Animals can
feel pain but they cannot know it. Knowing is something that only
conscious beings can do, i.e. something that people can do.
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- Why would the poet repeat the word "dry"? (4)
[Need help?]
Repetition is usually used to drive home or reinforce a point. The poet therefore wishes to drive
home the dryness -- both the literal and the metaphorical dryness.
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- Comment on the imagery in the words, "dry like steel, their branches dry like
wire". (4)
[Need help?]
These trees are compared to steel which is truly hard, capable of withstanding the most
amazing force. Wire, on the other hand, is capable of being bent. In what way, then, would the
"trees" be both like steel and wire? Both are examples of similes, aren't they?
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"indeed it is a dry white season
but seasons come to pass."
- What season would literally follow "a dry white season"? (2)
[Need help?]
If the "dry white season" refers to winter, then it will be followed by spring when new life
will spring into all the trees.
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