Dennis Brutus: 'Letter To Martha 17'

DENNIS BRUTUS: ‘LETTER TO MARTHA 17’

                                         

                                          In prison

                                          The clouds assume importance

                                          and the birds

                                          with a small space of sky

                              5          cut off by walls

                                          of bleak hostility

                                          and pressed upon by hostile authority

                                          the mind turns upwards

                                          when it can –

                              10       - there can be no hope

                                          of seeing the stars

                                          the arcs and fluorescence

                                          have blotted them out –

                                         

                                          The complex aeronautics

                              15       and the birds

                                          and their exuberant acrobatics

                                          become matters for intrigued speculation

                                          and wonderment

                                          cliches about the freedom of the birds

                              20       and their absolute freedom from care

                                          become meaningful

                                          and the graceful unimpeded emotion of the clouds

-         a kind of music, poetic, dance –

Sends delicate rhythms tremoring through the flesh

                                    25       and fantasies course easily through the mind

                                               

-         Where are they going

Will they be seen by those at home?

And whom will they delight.

POET’S BACKGROUND

Born in 1924 in Rhodesia, Dennis Brutus spent his childhood days in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Very early in his life, his mother treated him to English poetry, and he grew up to love and write poems. He had his Bachelor of Arts degree from Fort Hare University, and he taught English and Afrikaans in South African high schools for over a decade before he was summarily dismissed in 1962 because of his stand for socio-political justices. In 1963, Dennis Brutus was arrested, detained and imprisoned at the penal colony, Robben Island. His offence was his agitation against racial discrimination and the obnoxious apartheid policy in South Africa.

In 1962, he was awarded the Mbari prize for poetry, and his first collection of poems, Sirens, Knuckles, Boots, was published in 1963. He was released in 1965 with a total ban on his writings or publications. In 1966, he published Letters to Martha, which contains poems of his prison-experiences written as letters to his sister-in-law, Martha.

BACKGROUND TO THE POEM

Because, even on his release from Robben Island in 1965, Dennis Brutus was banned from publishing, he left South Africa for Europe in 1966 on exile. In 1968, he published Letters to Martha, a collection of poems which describe his harrowing experiences as a prisoner but presented in form of letters to his sister-in-law, Martha.

In the main, the poem makes a subtle comparison between liberty and bondage, between confinement within walls of black hostility and freedom unlimited; and it appreciates the freedom of uncaged birds, and the clouds.

THEME

The subject matter of this poem is, lack of freedom or imprisonment. In a tone that is sober and reflective, the poem tries to show that no right or privileged can be more than being free. Among the themes in the poem are:

(a)  That man does not appreciate his freedom until he loses it. (line 1-3, and 19-23)

(b) That even if man’s freedom is denied his thought (mind) cannot be barred. (lines 7-9, and 24-25)

FORM AND STRUCTURE

The poem is divided into six stanzas of unequal lines. The first and the last stanzas have three lines each. The lines too are not of the same length because it is supposed to be a letter; the poem begins by ‘In prison’ which is suggestive of the address of the writer. The poem does not have a rhyme scheme; and, unlike the other poems in this selection, it makes an unusual but prominent use of dashes. It concludes on a rhetorical note with questions packed into the last stanza.

The first stanza is actually the cornerstone upon which the rest of the poem lies. The two key words contained in the stanza – the clouds and the birds – are further elaborated upon in the rest of the poem, as against the detestable loss of liberty of a man imprisoned.

LANGUAGE AND TECHNIQUE

The language of this poem is not indeed difficult, but it is beyond the literal sense.  It discusses a serious matter which is reflected appropriately in the tone of the language. It uses appropriate figurative language as well as imagery. Among the figures of speech used are:

                                                Alliteration:              lines 4, 11, 21, and 24

                                                Metaphor:                lines 24 and 25

                                                Personification:      lines 5 and 6

                                                Rhetorical question:          lines 26 – 28

                                                Metonymy:              lines 7 – ‘hostile authority’ meaning

The agents of the racist and oppressive South African government.

Line 27 – ‘those at home’ meaning those who are not imprisoned; the luck man who enjoy their freedom in the comfort of their homes.

The images prominently used in the poem are: those of birds and clouds. The poet cleverly uses the absolute freedom of the uncaged birds, and the graceful unimpeded motion of the clouds to celebrate liberty which the black South Africans are denied by the racist government. Prison is also used as an image to represent bondage and brutality. This position is clearly explained between lines 5 and 7.

On a note of conclusion, Brutus employs economy of language and vivid image tos to reflect upon the significance of freedom in the of every man. He subtly makes a contrast, through comparison, between the psychological trauma and physical torture that a man imprisoned suffers and the emotional tranquility and grace enjoyed by a freedom.

REVISION QUESTIONS

1.     Brutus’ ‘Letter to Martha 17’ is a lamentation of loss of liberty. Discuss.

2.     Explain how the use of imagery has enhanced the articulation of the message contained in the poem.

3.     Discuss the thematic concern of this poem.

4.     How has the use of figurative expressions contributed to vivid portrayal of the poem’s theme?

5.     Comment on the structural pattern of the poem.

By Eguriase S. M Okaka.