Compare how the two poets explore cultural issues in their work

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Compare how the two poets explore cultural issues and attitudes in their work

I have been studying two cultural poems. They are called ‘Nothing’s changed’ by Tatamkhulu Afrika and ‘two scavengers in a truck, two beautiful people in a Mercedes’ by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Both poems are referring to a difference between two races or types of people. The two countries mentioned are Cape Town and America. In this essay, I hope to see how the two poets contrast each others attitude and issues and to see how their poems are alike in aspects.

The first poem I have been studying is called ‘Nothings changed’. The poem is about a black man living in Cape Town. The poem is set during the apartheid when all black people were discriminated against. The poet has written the poem in first-person viewpoint because he wants us to see it from the mans point of view. Writing in first-person makes us feel sympathetic towards the man and feel like he is feeling. The poem basically details how these men have been treated during and after the apartheid and how it has made him, and others, feel. The poet, Tatamkhulu Afrika, was alive during the apartheid so this subject would’ve been close to his heart and that may be why he produced a poem about it.

The first verse of the poem sets the scene of the man walking through district six, a part of Cape Town. The poet uses descriptive phrases such as ‘bearded seeds into trouser cuffs, cans trodden on, crunch…’ The words describe the untidiness of this area of Cape Town and how mis-treated it has become. The area is described as being run-down and neglected and this is evidential with the words and phrases that Afrika uses in the first verse.

In the second verse of this poem, the poem starts to build up tension with stronger and more influential phrases appearing. For example, he uses phrases such as ‘No board says it is but my feet know and my hands…’ This suggests that the feelings of this man are beginning to change as he progresses through district six. There is also evidence of a build up of tension and, as the last line of the verse says, this man is becoming angry as he looks around him and sees what place he’s living in. The phrases that Afrika uses are also suggest that the man is keeping a lid on his feelings. Also, it suggests that he is trying to control how he feels, e.g. by controlling his breathing. The sentences being used are also becoming more structured and more complex as he describes how he feels and how he knows where he belongs and where he doesn’t belong.

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Verse three of the poem starts describing how the man feels as he approaches an haute-cuisine close by. There are many phrases and words in the verse that suggest he hates this restaurant and doesn’t like it being there. For example, ‘brash with glass’ and ‘it squats, in the grass and weeds’ These suggest that he feels the restaurant is showing off to the rest of the people and shouldn’t be there. It also suggests that he feels that it is too obvious sitting there with a posh look and posh exterior. Afrika also uses phrases such as ‘guards ...

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