YOUR PAIN (by ARMANDO GUEBUZA)Y
our pain
Yet more my pain
Shall suffocate oppression
Your eyes
Yet more my eyes
Shall be speaking of revolt
Your scars
Yet more my scars
Will be remembering the whip
My hands
Yet more your hands
Will be lifted fully armed
My strength
Yet more you strength
Shall overcome imperialism
My blood
Yet more your blood
Shall irrigate our victory
ABOUT THE POEM
Your pain is the poem which was written during the struggle for independence.It was written by the present President of Mozambique (Armando Guebuza).
The little of the poem matches with the content of the poem as we see the persona ennglish-swahili/courage” target=”_blank”>courage other members of the society to take action/part in the struggle for liberation. The pain that the persona repeats every time is the commitment that he asks this fellows so that their straggle can be successful.
The type of the poem
This poem is didactic as it gives instructions to the reader. The poem teaches readers what to do so as to win in their struggle.
The language in the poem
Armand Guebaza has used the standard and understood language as the choice of words match with the content of the poem.
He has also used some figures of speech as follow
· Personification
This has been used for artistic affect of the poem as we see that the inanimate things have given attributes to act as human being. The person says
“Say your pain……
Shall suffocate appression”
Also in 3rd stanza
“Your sears
Yet more sears
Will be remembering the whip”
So scars have been given the ability to act as human being
· Symbolism
This poem is full of symbols
Scars symbolize suffering/ humiliation
Hands/strength symbolize unity.
Blood is symbolize sacrifice.
Repetition
This is done for the purpose of showing emphasis to what the poet is trying to communicate; in this poem we see the repetition of the phrase
“Yet more……” in very stanza. In this repetition the poet wants to mobilize his kinsmen to offer total commitment for their liberation straggle
Sometimes poet repeats so as to catch the music purposes
Rhyme
The rhyming Patten of the poem is regular to the large extent. The regularity of this poem is when we see the repetition of similar words in first two verses of each stanza
For example.
…………..pain
………….. pain
………….. eyes
……………eyes
…….. ……scars
……………scars etc
So the rhyming pattern of this poem is aab, ccd, cce
Due to this pattern, the poem sounds very musical.
Alliteration
We see alliteration in this poem as we observe the repetition of similar consonant sounds in one verse at the beginning of word. For instance
“Your pain
Yet more my pain”
If you observe the poem you will realize that the consonant sound/m/is repeated. This also catch the musical feature of the poem.
POSSIBLE THEMES
There are many issues talked in the poem,some of them are as follow
· Rising awareness/consciousness
The poet rises awareness to his follows by revealing the real situation in which they are. The poet makes, his people aware of the situation so that they can take action hence succeed in their fighting. As we read in the second stanza,
“Your eyes
Yet more my eyes
Shall be speaking of revolt”
Here the poet wants his fellow to open their eyes and see the real situation and by seeing them they can be away of what is prevailing.
· Lack of humanity
In this poem we see words likes “scars” and “whip” which gives the evidence that there is humiliation. These words show that people were whipped as if they are animal hence experienced severe pain. This situation angers the persona and that is why he decides to mobilize his fellows to fight against humiliation. This can be proved form the following verses,
“Yours scars
Yet more my scars
Will be remembering the whip”
This is the indicator of inhumanity and torture the people experienced.
· Oppression
In the first stanza we see the essence of oppression as the person says.
“Your pain
Yet more my pain
Shall suffocate oppression”
This stanza shows that people are oppressed so now they want to start the movement against oppression.
· Struggle against imperialism
We see the issue of imperialism as in stanza five the personal says;
“My strength
Yet more your strength
shall overcome imperialism ”
In this we observe that the persona wants his people to come together and unite so that they can uproot imperialism or colonialism.
· Sacrifice
This is another issue we get from this poem as the personal want this people to sacrifice themselves for their freedom. In the last stanza the poet says
“My blood
Yet more your blood
Shall irrigate our victory ”
The relevance of the poem
The poem still relevant to our country today as we still need unity among us so that we can reach our goals. For instance we need unity so that we can boost our economy; we also need freedom against neo-colonialism. There are good number of problems that we have in our society today which real need cooperation among us so that we overcome them.
SHALL COMPARE THEE TO A SUMMER DAY
Shall i compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate,
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summers lease hath all too short a date.
Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,
An often of his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometimes declines.
By change or nature changing course untrimmed.
But they eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession on that fair thou oust
Nor shall death drag thaw wanders in this shade
When in external lines to time thaw grows
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see
As long as lives this and this gives life to thee
Questions
1. What is the subject matter of the poem?
2. Identify the main theme of the poem
3.Comment the mood of the poet
4. Comment on the rhyme scheme.
5.What type of the poem is that?
Answers
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Subject matter
edu.uptymez.com
The subject matter of the poem is love where by the poet talks about his feelings towards a woman, she is compared with a summer’s day, she is more lovely and temperature with a summer’s day, she is more lovely and temperate. In the two last lines (couplet) the poet says so long as men can breathe or eyes can see.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see meaning so long as life, goes on and many shall pass the woman will never be compared with another.
2. The main theme of the poem is LOVE
The poem is talking about love. The poet has love feelings towards a woman who he describes as the most beautiful and lovely woman. He compares her to summers day. And whatever happens, life
goes in but she will always be the best.
3. The poet is in romantic mood as he expresses his feeling towards a woman
4. Rhyme scheme
abab, cdcd, efef,gg
5. Spencerian sonnet
This sonnet combines the Italian and the Shakespearean poem, it has three quatrains and a couplet but it has linking rhymes among the quaint\trains. The Spenserian sonnet rhymes schema is ababa bcbc ee e.g. however those sonnets are very rare.
