The Poem of Black and White

1. The Poem of Black and White By M.W Serote

2. The Poem if i pour petrol on a white child’s face and give flames the taste of his flesh it won’t be a new thing i wonder how iwill feel when his eyes pop and when my nostrils sip up the smell of his flesh and his scream touches my heart i wonder if i will be able to sleep; i understand alas iunderstand the rage of a whiteman pouring petrol onto a blackchild’sface Setting it alight and shooting him in a Pretoria street

3. Background • M.W Serotewas born in Sophia town, Johannesburg, South Africa, and went to school in Alexandra, Lesotho, and Soweto. • He was arrested by the apartheid government under the Terrorism Act in June 1969 and spent nine months in solitary confinement, before being released without charge • His poems including this one are closely connected to South Africa and the apartheid i.e. his poem City of Johannesburg and the Poem of black and white.

4. Structure • Almost every line in the stanza starts with and I or an A except the last two • This has an effect on the reader because the vowel sound at the beginning of each line start the lines off strongto portrait the poets passion • The vowel sound sort of adds power to the poem when read out loud. The emphasis helps the reader feel the poets rage • Its only one stanza and it is free flowing • The free flowing stanza gets the poet’s point across much easier than rhyming word would • The poem is about a serious issues and rhyming would make it less serious and distract the reader

5. The poem also doesn’t have much punctuation it only has one semi colon in the 7th sentence • The lack of punctuation shows that the poet is ranting and not putting much thought into what he is saying because he has thought so much about the issues before hand • When read aloud it would be loud, passionate and fast. After the semi colon is when the poet slows down and starts to reflect. • The poem also only has 2 capital letters. One of the letter is in the name of a place ‘Pretoria’ and the other capital letter is in the middle of the last line. • The reason for this is because this is when the poet seems to start thinking about what he is said and when he is tired out and just done with what he has to say. • It almost like he has nothing left he could say or do and this shows the reader or audience his passion for what he is saying.

6. Meaning • The key ideas in this poem are racism and double-standard between • The poem starts of with a black man speaking and describing how it would be if he intentionally burnt a white child’s face and the image in my head is of a really scary black man trying to kill and innocent child but when he starts saying that he would understand the rage of white men when they do the same thing to black children but when it done by them its acceptable • There is also this idea of empathy. When he says I would understand it is him putting himself into the white man’s shoes and he sees thinks the way the white men see things • This shows the reader that the poet is passionate about what he is writing about and that he is angry to the point where he is thinking of doing this things just so he can understand how it feels • The writer is coming from the place of a black man living his life with lesser rights because of the colour of his skin and he is outraged about it

7. Images • There is quite a bit of personification in this poem ‘give flames the taste of his flesh’ or ‘scream touches my heart’ - The images created by the poem are disturbing. All the images I get from this poem is someone burning a child in the middle of the street where everyone can see but no one says or does anything. - The images again represent his rage and anger about where and how he and the other black people were living because of the colour of their skin.

8. Language • The poet uses Alliteration and Assonance in the poem • The 1st, 2nd 4th and 5th line in the poem all have include words that have the f sound i.e. ‘flesh, face feel and flames’ • Every line in the poem except the 3rd includes the s sound i.e ‘eyes, scream, shooting and street’ • The f and s sounds are to remind the reader of the cracking and sizzling of flames in the poem • This is yet another thing that really portraits the anger in his voice if he were to be reading this aloud the f sound would be a point where he would raise his voice passionately and the s sounds when he calms back down and starts to reflect. • The poem uses repetition (‘i understand alas i understand’) • The repetition implies that he is thinking and no longer ranting which also lets us know that he is speaking more calmly in the end of the poem • In the finishing statements the poet uses the word ‘alas’. The word alas is used to express grief, pity, or concern.