Compare the ways the poems/poet present injustice. The two poems I have chosen are Limbo by Edward Kamau Brathuaite and Nothings Changed by Tatamkhula Afrika.

Authors Avatar

Compare the ways the poems/poet present injustice.

The two poems I have chosen are Limbo by Edward Kamau Brathuaite and Nothing’s Changed by Tatamkhula Afrika. This poem tells the story of slavery in a rhyming, rhythmic dance. It is either Heaven or Hell, so if you’re in limbo you are in between. It is about the actions of the dance, and the history of a people which is being enacted. Going down and under the limbo stick is likened to the slaves' going down into the hold of the ship, which carries them into slavery. Nothing’s Changed is about the destruction of district 6, where people of all colours and beliefs lived together. However after the apartheid it was declared a ‘whites-only’ area. I chose these 2 poems as they are both injustice and tell in 2 different scenarios. Three techniques I chose to compare are structure, imagery and juxtaposition

Join now!

The structure for Limbo is that there are no punctuation until the last sentence where there is a full stop to end it. This is because it is symbolic to the slaves’ continuous suffering. Also something that is very effective and which is not recognised quickly is that the poem begins with a capital letter, to show the journey has begun and ends with a full stop to show the journey has ended. This is a great technique used to show injustice. Nothing’s changed structure is the poem is set out in six stanzas, each of eight fairly short ...

This is a preview of the whole essay