Edward now lives in the West Indies but spent some time in Africa while writing his poem to see for himself what poverty feels like and see how slavery was like in Africa.
He uses the word ‘white’ instead of red as white represents a very hot thing. This shows how angry he is.
The alliteration ‘flaring like a flag’ shows that the name of the restaurant stands up and looking at it burns him from inside. This shows his rage and anger.
The poet uses the personification ‘it squats’ to show us the contrast between the luxurious restaurant and the land surrounding it, covered with weeds. He uses it because the hotel does not blend in with the surroundings and it is there in such a wasteland for no reason.
There are many different aspects of language used in the poem ‘Nothings Changed’.
‘and the soft labouring of my lungs’
‘and the hot white inwards turning’
The poet repeats the words ‘and’ and also uses his body parts to show the anger that develops in his body, when he sees the ruins of District 6 because he was made homeless when their land was taken away by the whites for development.
‘Brush with glass'
Glass is commonly used as it separates the blacks and whites. It also presents the blacks from entering the restaurant as windows are made of glass. Glass is also see through, so the poet can see what is going on inside but can not go in because the glass prevents him from doing so. It also shows the wealth of the restaurant. All this makes the poet angry and separated just because of his race.
‘Hands burn for a stone, a bomb’
Showing his frustration, he simply wants to break the glass, with a stone to go in and end the separation.
Words like ‘haunte cuisine’,’ linen falls’ and ‘single rose’ are used to describe how attractive the restaurant is and it also shows the restaurants high status. This shows the financial form of separation that the whites have introduced. It also shows how comfortably the whites live and live the blacks with absolute poverty.
To describe the ‘working mans café’ he uses words like ‘plastic table top’; ‘wipe your fingers on your jeans’ and spit a little on the floor to show the contrast between the two different eating-places. It also shows poverty.
‘Nothings changed’
The poem concludes in a negative way as ‘Nothings Changed.’
In Ogun, the poet creates the scenes of a journey by imagining his uncle actually making a statue and really into it. While working his uncle goes into nature and also becomes a part of it. This is a spiritual, emotional and a physical journey. E.g.’ and as he cut, he heard the creak of forests’. This shows that as he cut the wood he actually imagined being in the forest and hearing the ‘creak’ sounds of the forest.
Assonance, alliteration and repetition of sounds are the types of language used in this poem. The words ‘shattered, ruined, eaten by pox, ravaged, dry and crying’ all express the anger and feelings of the uncle. These are all words of poverty. These words also describe his poor health. He is in this state because no one wants to buy his products. Instead people buy cheap products imported from the west.
‘emerging woodwork image of his anger’
To show his anger he carves a statue of the God of Ogun. This shows that while he is carving the wood, he is expressing his anger too.
In the poem ‘nothings changed’ the tone is anger. The poet expresses it by showing discrimination and describing two eating-places. The phrase ‘whites only inn’ is used to show discrimination. The poet also uses words like hot, white to express his anger. He also shows his physical anger by using the phrase ‘hands burn for a stone, a bomb. This shows he desperately wants to break the glass to eliminate this separation.
The tone of the poem ‘Ogun’ is anger and poverty. The poet shows his anger by imaging his uncle actually carving the statue of ‘Ogun’. ‘emerging woodwork image of his anger’ shows this. The poet also uses the words ‘cold and hungry’ to describe the poverty of his uncle. The poet starts off describing his uncle and towards the end shows his uncles anger and poverty because the West has taken away his business by selling their cheaper and more fashionable products. This shows the building up of anger in him as he writes his poem.
In the poem ‘nothings changed’ the poet walks us through his poem using long sentences and occasionally short ones to stress on a point. ‘Nothings changed’. He ends the poem with this sentence to show us his frustration and anger and also to tell us that till today nothing has been done on that site. This makes him very angry because they were made homeless for no good reason. This shows that he only uses short sentences to make a point and change the rhythm of his poem. He also uses long sentences to force the reader to read on and not stop. The short sentences also help the reader to visualise, what is going on.
In the poem ‘Ogun’ the poet uses couplets to write his poem. He also uses long lines to create a sense of rhythm. The poet imitates the uncles movements in the workshop by using sounds such as clip clop and tat tat. This makes the poem real and makes the reader go into the poem and forces the reader to finish reading the whole poem and understand it.
The similarities between the poems are that both show anger and separation. They both have long sentences and force the reader to read on.
The differences between the poems are that in ‘nothings changed’ the poet actually experiences separation and in ‘Ogun’ the poet imagines his uncle’s anger and poverty. He also talks about slavery, which Africa does not talk about.
After examining both these poems they are ‘hymns of protest’ because they are protesting against an unjust issue and both show separation and poverty.
