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Monday, February 16, 2009
NIGHTSONG: CITY BY BRUTUS
Sleep well, my love sleep well: the harbor light glaze over restless docks, police cars cockroach through the tunnel streets; from the shanties creaking iron-sheets violence like a bug-infested rag is tossed and fear is imminent as sound in the wind-swung bell; the long day’s anger pants from sand and rocks; but for this breathing night at least, my land, my love, sleep well. The sounds begin again; the siren in the night the thunder at the door the shriek of nerves in pain. Then the keening crescendo of faces split by pain the wordless, endless wail only the unfree know. Importunate as rain the wraiths exhale their woe over the sirens, knuckles, boots; my sounds begin again. _________________________________________ Dennis Brutus and his poem “Nightsong: City” Dennis Brutus was born in southern Zimbabwe and grew up in Cape Province since after some time, he and his family moved in to South Africa. He taught English and Afrikaans for ten years at his old high school. Brutus became a victim of the Apartheid laws such as Group Areas Act, the Immorality and Mixed Marriages Act, and the Population Classification Act. As a result of these, he began to protest and write about against such occurrences related to Apartheid. One of the means he fought Apartheid was by officially protesting South African participation in the Olympic Games. This eventually led to his detainment at Robben Island as a political prisoner, thus deterring his teaching career, his plans of studying Law, and publishing in South Africa. One of the incidents that affected Brutus the most was his separation with his lover, who was a white citizen. They had to break up for their affair was forbidden. From 1948, during the time of the Apartheid, the Black citizens were separated from the Whites. Blacks from South Africa had to live in designated areas which were poorly furnished. In fact, these places deprived the Blacks of a good and healthy life within their own lands. Abuses from the police frequented the Blacks’ dwelling place because the Whites believed that they had to keep the Black citizens under their control. And so these incidents that occurred in the time of Dennis Brutus resulted to one of his famous masterpieces, a poem which he entitled Nightsong: City. This poem can be assumed as both personal and political in nature. Its title Nightsong: City can refer to South Africa’s nightsong which was the City—or the incidents or the sounds one can hear in the city. Brutus depicted in his poem the actual happenings in South Africa during the Apartheid. It can be deduced that this poem was based on the sufferings of the Black citizens and the problems that they encountered. A knowledge of what was happening during that time and Brutus’ relationship with these events should be acquired to be able to abundantly understand what this poem is all about, and also to figure out why it was written in a personal and political context. Nightsong: City is a work made up of symbolisms, imagery, and similes that depicts perfectly and concisely actual events, particularly the sounds, that happened in South Africa during the Apartheid. The persona of a man victimize by the Apartheid period could be the poem’s persona. Though the author fits perfectly as the narrator of the poem, it could also be looked at in general terms wherein all the experiences of the Black citizens in South Africa are encompassed. This means that the poem could be looked at in general terms of how Blacks in South Africa actually felt during that time. The setting described was obviously in a city in South Africa, particularly during the night. Its theme generally is about the Black citizens in South Africa and the problems they encountered as a result of the different acts imposed under the Apartheid period. As one reads through the poem, one can assume that the tone used by Brutus was very soft, as if someone telling a story to a child who was about to sleep. It was like a spoken lullaby uttered in mere softness. This tone is very evident in the first few lines of the poem. But if each of the lines of the poem is analyzed, one would realize that this softness in the tone only covers up the frightening underlying meaning of the whole poem. This work now becomes a seemingly true-to-life lullaby where the inferiority of the Blacks and their miseries are carefully being portrayed. Each line of the poem represents a daily scene occurring in the city of South Africa. In the third line Brutus writes… “police cars cockroach through the tunnel streets;” This statement talks about the wailing of the sirens of the police cars which could be a source of their fear since during the Apartheid period there were plenty of abuses done by the policemen. There is also a line in the poem which reads… “from the shanties creaking iron-sheets, violence like a bug infested rag is tossed, and fear is imminent as sound in the wind-swung bell;” This simile describes how this city in South Africa was surrounded by fear and violence—that fear is imminent and violence is somehow “imposed” to the people. Since the Blacks were not in the position to fight back, they eventually had the idea that feeling afraid of their surroundings have become inevitable, and that the city was meant to be fearful. Another statement that would reinforce this idea goes… “the siren in the night the thunder at the door, the shriek of nerves in pain. Then the keening crescendo of faces split by pain;” And from one of the lines of the poem which goes… “the wordless, endless wail only the unfree know,” one could immediately interpret the lack of freedom of the Blacks. And as Brutus continues with the poem… “Importunate as the rain the wraiths exhale their woe over the sirens, knuckles, boots;” this statement could represent the Black’s effort to resist the brutality inflicted upon them. Brutus compared the people to wraiths, or ghosts. And this could mean that no matter how loud the people cry, the offenders could not hear them because for them, the Blacks are better off as ghosts, or corpses. And their wails did not matter anymore no matter how loud, and noisy, and endless they may be. It is also very noticeable in the poem Brutus’ use of descriptive words that accurately describes the sounds that magnifies the fear felt by the Blacks. Brutus utilized such powerful descriptive words so that the readers would be able to clearly imagine and visualize what was actually happening in South Africa. Since the author’s original purpose for writing is to oppose the Apartheid laws, his intention of using such style was probably to show the readers events that are hard to imagine would happen in real life. Brutus probably wanted the readers to see the desperate situation the Blacks in South Africa were in. The poem also has a personal context since Brutus wrote this poem right after a break-up with his white lover. In the lines that reads… “my land, my love, sleep well;” Brutus is both addressing the land, which was South Africa, and his lover whom he was separated from. He is able to simultaneously relay the general South African experience during the Apartheid, and as well as his feelings towards his relationship.
2/16/2009 09:40:00 PM
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