Go to Knowledge4Africa.com


Charles Mungoshi

If you don't stay bitter
for too long

More challenging questions!

Keith Tankard
Knowledge4Africa.com
Updated: 25 June 2012
Contact the English4Africa Subject Coordinator


It is with great sadness that we have to announce that the creator of Knowledge4Africa, Dr T., has passed away. Helping people through his website gave him no end of pleasure. If you had contact with him and would like to leave a message, please send us an e-mail here.

READ THIS

This poem looks at the inner spirit of mankind, but especially the poet's own society which could remain bitter and angry forever at its treatment at the hands of the former colonial power.

This anger, he says, is quite unnecessary. Indeed, if one surveys the world from the vantage of a positive mind, one might see all sorts of advantages and things to be joyful about. It is purely a matter of the mind and of perspective.



A NOTE ON THE POET

Charles Mungoshi was born of farming parents in Rhodesia -- now Zimbabwe -- in 1947. He is regarded as one of his country's most prominent writers.

He has written novels, short stories and poetry, using both the Shona and English languages.

It has been said that his work deals subtly with the cultural complexities of Zimbabwe, and especially of the conflict between the younger and older generations as well as the different rural and urban loyalties.

From 1975 to 1981, Mungoshi worked for the Literature Bureau of Zimbabwe as an editor, and then joined the Zimbabwe Publishing House.

Later he become the "Writer in Residence" at the University of Zimbabwe. After that, however, he tended to work freelance.

It has been said that Mungoshi's poetry paints a "multi-layered world of meaning" in which he uses a short and condensed style of writing.

It has also been said that his poetry rarely makes socio-political statements but this is questionable. Indeed, his socio-political comments are sometimes hidden in what appears to be a rather simple comment on reality.

His writings have won him several awards, including an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Zimbabwe.

Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:



GENERAL QUESTIONS:
  • What is the TONE of this poem? (4)

[Need help?]

  • Comment on the poet's style of writing. (10)

[Need help?]

  • What message is the poet proposing? (2)

[Need help?]

  • Comment on the poet's use of the personal pronoun "you" throughout this poem. (4)

[Need help?]

  • Is there any point to the use of the lower case throughout the poem? (4)

[Need help?]




"Mungoshi's poetry has generally been perceived as rarely making socio-political statements."
  • What is meant by a "socio-political statement". (2)

[Need help?]

  • Is the above statement true in the context of this poem? In other words, is the poet making any socio-political statements here? (4)

[Need help?]




Try another worksheet?


See also:
This document is copyrighted. No part of it may be reproduced in any form whatever without explicit permission in writing from the author. The sole exception is for educational institutions which may wish to reproduce it as a handout for their students.

Contact the English4Africa Subject Coordinator