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This essay will critically analyse the poem, Forgotten People by Nkathazo kaMnyayiza by considering the following respectively:
The title of the poem
Influence on the meaning of the poem
Does it set the mood of the poem?
The text of the poem
Analyse words and phrases in the poem
Ideas within the words and phrases
How they contribute to a theme of the poem
Main theme and themes of the poem
Different major ideas of the poem
How the ideas influence the poem
Speakers emotional attitude towards the poem
How the writer expresses his feeling
The use of imagery used
Attitude of the speaker
The tone/mood of the poem
The purpose of the poem
What message does the poem convey to its audience
The poem will be analysed using the Practical Criticism theory.
An idea about the poem is given through the title of the poem, Forgotten People. The title gives us a sense of abandonment, people being abandoned, and people abandoning other people and so on. ‘Forgotten People’ leaves a feeling of emptiness, worthlessness and deep loneliness. The title of the poem helps to bring out the mood of the poem which is depressing, melancholy and also gives a sense that we will be looking at someone’s feelings.
As we read the poem, the setting of the poem is revealed, it is almost abandoned. The area is not clean or well kept, line 4, ‘fallen leaves on unswept yards’. The pets of the society are not cared for, lines 5-6, ‘where mangy dogs stretch out their empty beings and where fowls peck fruitlessly at unwashed dishes’. The area seems as well as the people to be falling apart, line 8, ‘leaning his old back against the crumbling mud walls’. The poet describes the man as deep in thought, so deep that man cannot even see or touch it, ‘thoughts far off man’s reach and sight’. The old man’s life is empty and lonely. The poet compares him to the setting of the sun which slowly fades away, this thought is reinforced with the idea of ‘dying embers of life’ in the next line. These comparisons suggest
The title of the poem
Influence on the meaning of the poem
Does it set the mood of the poem?
The text of the poem
Analyse words and phrases in the poem
Ideas within the words and phrases
How they contribute to a theme of the poem
Main theme and themes of the poem
Different major ideas of the poem
How the ideas influence the poem
Speakers emotional attitude towards the poem
How the writer expresses his feeling
The use of imagery used
Attitude of the speaker
The tone/mood of the poem
The purpose of the poem
What message does the poem convey to its audience
The poem will be analysed using the Practical Criticism theory.
An idea about the poem is given through the title of the poem, Forgotten People. The title gives us a sense of abandonment, people being abandoned, and people abandoning other people and so on. ‘Forgotten People’ leaves a feeling of emptiness, worthlessness and deep loneliness. The title of the poem helps to bring out the mood of the poem which is depressing, melancholy and also gives a sense that we will be looking at someone’s feelings.
As we read the poem, the setting of the poem is revealed, it is almost abandoned. The area is not clean or well kept, line 4, ‘fallen leaves on unswept yards’. The pets of the society are not cared for, lines 5-6, ‘where mangy dogs stretch out their empty beings and where fowls peck fruitlessly at unwashed dishes’. The area seems as well as the people to be falling apart, line 8, ‘leaning his old back against the crumbling mud walls’. The poet describes the man as deep in thought, so deep that man cannot even see or touch it, ‘thoughts far off man’s reach and sight’. The old man’s life is empty and lonely. The poet compares him to the setting of the sun which slowly fades away, this thought is reinforced with the idea of ‘dying embers of life’ in the next line. These comparisons suggest