Poems from different cultures: Cluster 1

Nothing’s Changed

Listen to the poem being read aloud.

Write three words that the poem reminds you of.

Write three questions that you would like to ask the poet to help you understand the poem better.

by Tatamkhulu Afrika

The poem is about the system of apartheid in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s.

Apartheid was a policy of separating people in whites, blacks and coloureds. The government declared which areas were for which types of people. The idea was to keep the groups apart. Inter-racial marriages and relationships were punishable by prison sentences.

The poem was written just at the end of apartheid, just after Nelson Mandela had been released. Mandela was a member of the ANC (African National Congress, which was the organisation fighting against apartheid.) Many members were arrested or silenced.

District 6 had been a thriving mixed-race community in the centre of Cape Town when the government decided to make it a ‘whites only’ area and began to knock all of the buildings down in the 1960s. Most of the land was not built on again.

Background

The Poet: Tatamkhulu Afrika Born in Egypt and brought up in Cape Town as a white South African.

Found out as a teenager that his father was Arab and his mother Turkish.

Lived in District 6 before it was knocked down.

When the government started to classify people as white, black or coloured, he had the chance to be classified as white, but chose to become a Muslim and was classified as ‘coloured’.

Joined the ANC in 1984, was arrested and told that he couldn’t write or speak in public for five years.

Took the name Tatmkhulu Afrika so that he could continue to have his writing published.

Do you think the poem is biographical? How do you know?

Answer this question in 100 words.

Structure What do you notice about the way the poem looks on

the page? Why italics? Why did the poet write it this way?

How does the poet use verses and why?

How does the poet use punctuation and why?

Does the poem rhyme? How does the rhyme scheme add to the meaning of the poem?

How is the poem organised, by topics, chronological order, argument/counterargument? Why did the poet write it this way?

How does the poet use the beginning, middle and end of the poem? Why did the poet write it this way?

How are the verses used in this poem and how do they add to the poem’s meaning?

Answer this question in 100 words. Use PEE.

Language:What ideas does the poet give in the language used in the title of the

poem?

What ‘tone of voice’ does the language suggest that the poem should sound like?

How does the poet use adjectives? Verbs? Other descriptive words? Why has the poet chosen these words?

Does the poem use sound imagery like alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia? Why has the poet chosen these sound images?

Does the poem use figurative techniques like metaphor, simile, personification, repetition? Why has the poet chosen these techniques?

Which words and phrases do you think are particularly effective and why?

How does Afrika use contrasting images?

Answer this question in 100 words. Use PEE.

Understanding the poemWhy do you think the poet wrote this poem, what is

he/she trying to show?

What ideas about life does the poet suggest in this poem?

What is the poet’s point of view?

Do you agree with the poet’s point of view or idea about life?

Does the poem suggest that the only solution is violence?

Answer this question in 100 words. Use PEE.

Themes and Links

What are the main themes suggested in the poem? (These should be single words or short phrases like: death, growing up, being different, oppression, violence, etc)

What is the historical background to this poem? How can you see this in the poem?

What is the cultural background to this poem? How can you see it in the poem?

What does this poem have in common with other texts you have studied?

What do you think Afrika was trying to say about inequality in South Africa? Is this still relevant today?

Answer this question in 100 words. Use PEE.