Waiting poem
I believe that Arthur Nortje’s poem, “Waiting”, is about the speaker’s struggle to find meaning and purpose in his life when confronted by “a hole in the mind’s foundation”- the possible decimation of all that he believed to be true about the anti apartheid struggle on which he has based his life. The actions he has felt compelled to undertake in order to realize his hopes for his country have come at great cost to himself, resulting in exile from the “roots” that nourish him. The idea that that these actions may have been based on nothing but flimsy sentiment and have ultimately achieved nothing, as purposeless as an empty warehouse, is the source of the speaker’s present attitude towards his exile. It is this attitude of bitter disillusionment that I wish to explore in this essay and I would also like to focus on his use of imagery, particularly the interplay between imagery of darkness and light, and what I believe these images represent.In line four, the speaker refers to night as being the “beautifier.” It transforms the wharf, which in daylight is usually fairly unattractive, into a place of dancing lights. The implication is that darkness hides the ugly reality, and thus provides escape into illusion. I believe that t
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Africa Referring, Arthur Nortjes, South Africa, Reading Advanced, Company Montgomery, Abrams MH, Nortje Arthur, AndersonKossick Pereira, , speakers attitude, University Press, montgomery et al, montgomery et, attitude towards, apartheid struggle, ambivalent attitude, believe images, al 1992, south africa, anti apartheid, et al, et al 1992,
Approximate Word count = 1065
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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