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READ THIS
The poet describes an incident where his train had stopped at a siding in the karoo, a vast flat
semi-desert scrubland in the South African interior. A coal train rolled past them slowly -- truck
after truck that made the train appear never-ending. Nearby a horse and its foal frolicked, and
an old man with wrinkled face and black teeth passed by and smiled up at them.
THE POET & HIS POEM
Sydney Clouts was a South African poet. He was born in Cape Town in 1926 and educated
first at the South African College School and then at the University of Cape Town where he
obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1950.
He worked in an insurance company and then as bookseller before moving into the publishing
world where he became editor for the International Press Agency in Cape Town. In 1961 he
relocated to London, where he would remain -- apart from an occasional visit to South Africa.
He began to write poetry in the 1950s and these were printed in South African magazines.
They had limited readership, however, which meant that he failed to receive any immediate
recognition.
Although Clouts wrote few poems, he is nevertheless remembered as one of the most creative
of South African poets. Indeed, in 1968 he received both the Olive Schreiner and the Ingrid
Jonker prizes for poetry.
He was married and had three sons, but died in 1982 at the age of 56.
His poem -- "Karoo Stop" -- recalls a vivid memory of a very long coal train passing
them while his passenger train was halted in a karoo siding.
The poet uses several interesting devices to present the length of the coal train and the
monotony of its rolling past them. He also plays with many words which rhyme with
"coal". Can you work out why?
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:
"A horse and a foal
beyond were meagre to it, coal-
black horse and foal,
and far-off clouds stroll white
in little mounds, and the coal
in mounds and piles that crawl
and crawl."
- Do you think that the horse and its foal were really coal-black? (4)
[Need help?]
They might have been, and it might have been this blackness of the foal which conjured up the
rhyme with "coal". On the other hand, it might be part of the poet's poetic license to
make the animals black -- or even, for that matter, to create their existence in the first place.
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- Comment on the juxtaposition of the clouds with the coal trucks. (4)
[Need help?]
Note, first of all, the contrast between the white clouds and the black coal train. The two
together create a tapestry in black and white. Although the karoo itself would have been a
combination of orange soil and dull green scrub bush, the close proximity of the passing train
would have obscured the karoo colours completely.
Indeed, the poet would have seen only the black coal train and the white clouds beyond. And
each would have appeared in mounds and piles -- mounded cumulus clouds and mounded
piles of coal on each of the many, many trucks.
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- Comment on the words "that crawl and crawl". (4)
[Need help?]
The poet refers to the train as if it was some form of living being -- a millipede with its
thousand legs or a line of ants -- which crawls and crawls past them. The movement is
eternally slow as truck after truck after truck roll past in slow motion.
He could, however, also be referring to the clouds as crawling because they too would remain
in the sky for ages -- hardly moving, hardly changing shape for hour after hour.
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"A sigh, a grunt from us all,
with one exception: I saw patrol
like a mole
underground, through walls
of skewer patience, cold and fire,
an old old
man's sharp smile, an old
man wrinkled small
with teeth like coal."
- Why would there have been "a sigh, a grunt from us all"? (4)
[Need help?]
In today's world, where we do everything by car, a train ride would be an exciting prospect.
Back in 1950, however, where the passenger train was the only means of transport for most
people, the dusty journey through the karoo usually became most tedious. Added to this was
the continual grime, where one's sleeping compartment and bedding was always dirty
through smuts of coal from the steam engine up front.
When the train had to stop at a siding in the middle of nowhere, therefore, it became extremely
frustrating. People's patience ran thin. Add to this the fact that they had to wait for the arrival
of a dirty coal train! At least another passenger train would have raised a degree of excitement.
The train had to wait, of course, because the railway lines through the karoo -- even on the
main routes -- were single tracks. Overtaking therefore could only happen at sidings in the
middle of nowhere. As a rule, the passenger train was given preference and so, when the
passengers found that they were having to wait for a coal train, they would have been
disgruntled indeed.
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- Can you explain the poet's description of "skewer patience"? (4)
[Need help?]
This is not an easy one. Is the poet referring simply to the fact that the old man's patience and
smile were sharp? But why "skewer patience"? Why not another description?
It is possible that the old man is actually working, collecting bits of rubbish that sometimes fall
from the train or get thrown out by the passengers: things like bits of paper and cardboard,
empty cigarette and match boxes, perhaps some bottles (but not cold-drink cans -- these didn't
exist in the 1950s).
The old man was possibly employed by the South African Railways, therefore, and he would
have gone about his business whenever a passenger train halted there because then he was
more likely to receive a few coins tossed by the passengers as tips for his service.
He would have carried a long and thick wire skewer with which to spike the paper, cardboard
and boxes. It could have been the existence of this skewer that prompted the poet to speak
of "skewer patience".
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- Why did the old man "patrol like a mole underground"? (4)
[Need help?]
Moles are blind. Was the old, old man therefore nearly blind? Did he wear thick-lense
spectacles through which he peered up at the passengers blindly like a mole? Was he
burrowing under the train to spear bits of rubbish? Can you think of any other reason why he
would be compared to a mole?
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- Why does the poet refer to "cold and fire"? (4)
[Need help?]
The karoo can be a bitterly cold place in winter. Is the poet referring to this early morning or
early evening cold? Contrasted with the cold, however, is the fire in the steam engines. As the
coal train passed, the passengers would have witnessed the hot yellow flames licking from the
engine, together with the black smoke and the steam -- all in total contrast to the icy
atmosphere.
On the other hand, the poet is referring to the old man's smile which is "cold and fire"
--
his smile that is cold because of the chilly day but exhibiting the fire within him.
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- Why is the old man "wrinkled small"? (4)
[Need help?]
This is a compression of words. The man is "wrinkled" and "small". In the poem's
usage, however, the "wrinkled" becomes an adjective to describe the old man's
smallness. The man is so old that he is "wrinkled small". Remember too that old age
causes people to get smaller.
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