READ THIS
A lone prospector is searching for wealth in precious stones. It is excruciatingly hot and dry. The
prospector is suffering from heatstroke. Mirages and hallucinations begin to cloud his vision.
Eventually he is overcome with thirst. He scrabbles for water in a dry riverbed and finds wealth beyond
his wildest dreams. Or is it a vision of wealth? Or is it death?
A NOTE ON THE POET
Douglas Livingstone was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1932. He came to South Africa with his
family at ten years of age when his father was captured by the Japanese. He would settle in Natal where
he went to Kearsney College.
He attended university in what was then Salisbury, Rhodesia -- now Harare, Zimbabwe -- where he
trained as a bacteriologist. He was later awarded a PhD in Science from the University of Natal.
Livingstone was employed as a marine biologist at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in
Durban.
He produced several volumes of poetry and wrote radio plays -- winning several awards, the highest
being an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Natal.
He died in Durban in 1996.
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:
In the opening stanza, the poet paints a picture of a prospector who is already in a most desperate
situation?
- Explain what techniques the poet uses to achieve this. (4)
[Need help?]
Consider the words "staggered", "locked in a vision" and "the hills that capered on the
molten horizon". There is, of course, the existence of a mirage caused by the unbearable heat. But
is the poet not already telling us that prospector's mind itself is beginning to wander as a result of
sunstroke, causing him to hallucinate?
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"Waterless, he came to where
a river had run, now a band
flowing only in ripples
of white unquenchable sand."
- Why does the poet begin this stanza with the word "waterless"? (4)
[Need help?]
This is a "punch word", isn't it? It refers to two things: the land is waterless and the prospector is
waterless. The word is presented up front, abruptly. The poet then continues to describe how this
desperately thirsty, waterless man arrives at a desperately thirsty, waterless river bed.
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- The river is presented almost as a sinister trick of nature? Explain how. (4)
[Need help?]
The prospector is desperate in his need for water. He is already beginning to hallucinate, and to see
mirages. His vision of the river is one of ripples. With the heat, he might even be seeing a mirage of
water in the river bed, although the poet does not say so. When the prospector gets close, however, he
finds that the ripples too are only an illusion, a sign that once there had been water flowing along this river
bed.
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"Cursing, he dug sporadically
here, here, as deep as his arm,
and sat quite still, eyes thirstily
incredulous on his palm."
- What feelings are revealed in the description of the prospector's behaviour in the first two lines of this
stanza? (4)
[Need help?]
There is a study guide currently on sale which offers the rather baffling opinion that the prospector is
cursing because he has so far been unable to find his much sought-after wealth and so he doubts he will
find it now!
Consider this:
It is clear that the prospector is suffering from sunstroke. The title says so, and the prospector's blurred
vision indicates the same. Is it likely therefore that he is still looking for wealth? Surely he has now turned
his entire attention to his desperate search for water.
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[Need help?]
His cursing is because he has to have water or he will die. His frantic search for water, however, is
fruitless. Wouldn't you be cursing under such circumstances?
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- Why does the poet repeat the words "here, here"? (4)
[Need help?]
The repetition of "here, here" emphasizes this panic: a frantic search of water, digging first here,
then here, and then here!
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"A handful of alluvial
diamonds leered back, and more: mixed
in the scar, glinted globules
of rubies, emeralds, onyx."
- Give a good scientific reason why the handfuls of precious stones he has found must have been an
illusion. (4)
[Need help?]
Is it at all possible to find handfuls of diamonds, emeralds, onyx, etc, all at one site? Does one ever find
such a collection of stones together? And in such quantities! Surely this has to be his mind playing tricks
on him?
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"And then he was swimming in fire
and drinking, splashing hot halos
of glittering drops at the choir
of assembled carrion crows."
- Why does the poet speak of a "choir" of crows? (4)
[Need help?]
This could be a very comical scene if it were not so tragic. The man is dying of thirst. There is the murder
of crows, all dressed in their religious black and white garb like so many choir boys getting ready to sing
at a funeral. Instead of burying him, however, they are getting ready to eat him!
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- Is the poet trying to make us laugh at this conclusion, or is this too an illusion? (4)
[Need help?]
The scene is very comical indeed -- but also very tragic. The poet must know this because in works of
art there are very seldom mistakes. Should one not conclude therefore that the poet intends us to laugh?
But our laughter too is an illusion because we are laughing at tragedy.
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GENERAL QUESTION:
- Comment on the play on words in the title "Sunstrike". (4)
[Need help?]
To understand poetry, you need to understand this play on words. Is it a pun or is it a malapropism? The
prospector is looking for a "strike" of precious stones which will make him wealthy. But instead of
his "strike", he gets sunstroke -- and so the play on words from "sunstroke" to
"sunstrike".
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