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READ THIS
The poet describes his feelings as he travels on a "night train" -- presumably a late-night suburban
train which is taking him to his home in segregated Johannesburg.
He is almost alone on the train and this is something to be feared, for the lone passenger is always open
to be mugged or murdered.
ABOUT THE POET
Fhazel Johannesse is one of those poets who appears to have fallen through the cracks. Very little is
known of him except that he was born in Johannesburg in 1956 and seems to have lived there his whole
life.
He also appears to have lived through religious rifts as a child, with his father being Moslem but his mother
reconverting to Christianity after her husband's sudden death in an accident.
This would have put serious religious stress on the teenage boy who would now have had a foot in both
camps -- and also faced opposition from both.
His poetry appears to have been of fairly short duration, written during the mid-1970s and the early 1980s.
In 1980, Johannesse and Christopher van Wyk started a very short-lived magazine called Wietie
which was a literary platform for Black Consciousness.
This was a political philosophy which took root after Steve Biko's death from police brutality in 1975. The
movement not only promoted active resistance to Apartheid but also fostered a local cultural milieu in
opposition to western thought.
The magazine gave voice to a new generation of writers who were critical of the oppressive apartheid
regime and provided them with cultural weapons for transformation.
The publication was both literary and defiant. It printed fiction, poetry and prose which challenged the
political, cultural and racial milieu.
It did not survive long. The very first issue was banned by the Censorship Board on the grounds of
obscenity because it used a certain word which is now in everyday teenage vocabulary.
The Board also accused the magazine of sedition.
Nevertheless, Johannesse is remembered as a Black Consciousness poet. He published The
Rainmaker in 1979.
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:
"there is no comfort here
in this third class coach
on this green resisting seat"
- What is the connection between there being "no comfort here" and the description of the seat
being "green resisting"? (4)
[Need help?]
The green seat was hard -- "resisting" -- and was therefore uncomfortable.
At the same time, however, it is not just the hard seat which makes the journey uncomfortable. The poet
is also nervous about being in the carriage almost alone so late at night, when he might be mugged or
even murdered.
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"i twitch and glance around --
there are few too few travellers
on the night train"
- Explain the poet's nervousness as it is depicted in these lines. (2)
[Need help?]
The fact that there are so few passengers could provide the opportunity for the poet being mugged or
even murdered. He is therefore very nervous, glancing round the carriage anxiously every so often.
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- What does the poet mean when he speaks about "few to few travellers"? Why does he repeat
the word "few"? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet repeats the word "few" for emphasis. Not only are there few passengers, but there are
even less passengers than just a few.
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"i turn to stare
through the window
into the darkness outside
(or is it my reflection i stare at)"
- Comment on the juxtapositioning of "the darkness outside" and "is it my reflection i stare
at". (6)
[Need help?]
It is night and is certainly dark outside. The poet is therefore staring into the darkness.
On the other hand, it is light inside the train which means that the poet can't really see out because the
window is reflecting the inside of the carriage.
The poet therefore does not know what it is he is staring at: the dark outside or the reflection of himself
in the carriage window.
It is possible that the poet is also using this darkness and this reflection as a metaphor. The darkness
exists within himself -- a darkness of fear and uncertainty.
At the same time, he is not at all sure whether or not the world of apartheid South Africa is itself real or
not, or whether it is perhaps just a reflection of his own fears and anxieties.
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"and glance impatiently at the wrong
stations we stop at"
- Why does the poet focus on a negative reality: that they were "wrong"
stations? (4)
[Need help?]
The world in which the poet lived was a negative one: he was Black and therefore regarded as inferior.
Only White people were superior.
On the other hand, the poet is counting down the stations, wishing to disembark from the train. Each
station is therefore viewed with hope, but each is a wrong station and the poet must stay on the train a little
longer.
Remaining on the train, however, is dangerous and the poet is desperate to get off.
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"out
i must get out of here soon
for in this coach there is a smell
which haunts me
not the smell of stale man but
the whispering nagging smell of fear"
- Why does the poet use the word "smell" to explain his fear rather than "feel" or
"experience"? (4)
[Need help?]
A smell is something that is tangible whereas a feeling is not. Feelings are subjective and may be right
or wrong. A smell is objective and does truly exist.
The same may be said for an "experience" which is also subjective. Two people may experience
the same event but one does so positively while the other does so negatively.
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- What is the poet's purpose in speaking of the "smell of stale man"? (4)
[Need help?]
The inside of a railway carriage carries a strong smell: the leather seats, the varnished wood, perhaps
the smell of oil and brakes and even the stale smell of people.
Why "men" in particular? The suburban trains around Johannesburg are predominantly used by
mine workers, men who labour hard underground and who therefore carry their strong smell of sweat.
The poet, however, wishes to contrast this smell of the train with the fear that he feels. Just as the smell
in the carriage is a strong one, so is his fear strong.
The smell of the carriage is therefore also the smell of his fear. When he climbs into the carriage late at
night, its very smell reawakens his fear of being mugged or murdered.
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- Comment on the poet's choice of words when he speaks of "whispering nagging smell of
death". (4)
[Need help?]
The word "whispering" is onomatopoeic -- it is the quiet sound of hushed voices whispering in
secret.
"Nagging", on the other hand, is a harsh sound and carries a harsh reality. It means a constant
repetition which isn't in any way pleasant. When someone nags, it is not at all pleasant.
In this case, the nagging is quiet but no less irritating. But it is the smell which whispers, which nags. And
it whispers of death, repeats the fear of imminent death.
Can you spot anything else?
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Is there a point to the poet's not using the upper-case and to his almost total lack of
punctuation? (6)
[Need help?]
Is there necessarily a point? Or is it just a useful novelty, a way of being different?
Traditional poets of western tradition use accepted vocabulary and syntax but, since the Black
Consciousness poets wish to be different, the easiest way is by discarding standard syntax and
punctuation.
Avoidance of punctuation, on the other hand, also leads to ambiguity. That, after all, is the purpose of
punctuation: to make the meaning of a sentence clear and unambiguous.
A poem which avoids punctuation, therefore, is one which needs to be treated with extra care because
it might at times carry two or even three different interpretations.
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Provide a brief analysis of this poem, referring to such things as meaning, language and style. (10)
[Need help?]
If one counts the number of syllables used in this poem, one arrives at an interesting result: 79
monosyllabic words, just 10 bi-syllables and only 6 multi-syllables. (Count them yourself and see if this
is correct).
This makes for a very simple poem although not necessarily one which is simple in meaning. It does,
however, lend itself for public recitation to an unlettered audience.
The poem captures the everyday fear of working people having to return home late on an almost empty
train, where the risk of being mugged or even murdered is very high.
Does the rhythm of this poem resemble that of the train itself swaying gently along the rails, with the
occasional lurching over points?
Go through all the points already brought home in the questions above and expand upon them, analysing
the poet's imagery, etc.
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