2012 english

Poems have their own part to play in the struggle to create a new man. Use the following poem to prove the statement. Use the following poem to prove the statement.

“Lost Beauty”   by Juan Mwaikusa

There are only white women around

Awful fakes of white females

Reflecting an awful mass of ugliness

And I want a lady To mount the rostrum with

And declare to the world

''Black is beautiful!''Yes,

I want a black beauty queen

With ebony thighs and huge hips

With skin sweating blackness

And a face dark as the night

And bare breasts bouncing

Vigour and energy.

But my eyes, oh my eyes!

They don't see anything black;

It's only white skins and masks

i lashing past and slashing,

Destroying my sight so

I can't get what i want.

I cry and sing to them

The inbred tune of our people,

I shout to them in the black tongue

But no black sister hears me;

Only white masks I see

I turn and weep upon myself

And then, only then I realize:

I am not black either.

About the poem

The heading of the poem “Lost Beauty” shows the effects on the beauty of African women. Women do not look as beauty as African women supposed to be. They have been affected with the use of western chemicals that have totally affected the nature of African ladies.  Their skins are not longer black but fake white skin.

The writer tries to teach how our customs, traditions, and culture have been affected by adapting culture from other nations or society, we even try to look like white people and do what white people do instead of improving our own and fail to maintain our beautiful black looking and beautifying gifted surroundings.

He also tells us that we don’t have black beautiful girls anymore but we are surrounded with fake white girls, they were born black but they now look white.

“But my eyes, oh my eyes!

They don't see anything black;

It's only white skins and masks

I lashing past and slashing,

Destroying my sight so

I can't get what i want”

We don’t have girls with African body structure and such an African appearance which is attractive and natural. They no longer have ebony thighs and huge hips. Their skins don’t sweat blackness, they do not have bouncing breast and they are not vigour and enegy.

He finally finds that he is not black either as he is affected with the surroundings or adapted the white culture too.

“I turn and weep upon myself

And then, only then I realize:

I am not black either

The Poet teaches and want people especially women to change and live using our African cultures. He doesn’t want to see that we continue loose beauty of our women and facing other disadvantages that we have been facing so that we maintain our good African way of living.  

Solution for the question

It is true that poems have their own part to play in the struggle to create a new man. Using the poem titled “Lost Beauty” the truth of this statement can be verified as follow:

Awareness: In this poem the persona shades light on the way women change their skin colour to look like white people. The first stanza reads;

                        “There are only white women around

  Awful fakes of white females

  Reflecting an awful mass of Ugliness”

Loyalty: in this poem the persona shows loyalty to African when he says that he wants to marry a beautiful African woman who is black in complexion, nature and of her origin. This is evident in the first stanza which reads;

            “…to mount the rostrum with

And declare to the world

Black is beautiful”

Responsibility: in the poem, the persona takes the responsibility of bringing changes to his people. This can be seen in the fourth stanza which reads;

            “I cry and weep upon myself

            And then, only then I realized

            I am not black either”

Conscientizing the public: the persona educates African women on the effect of cosmetics they use. These turn their skins white and cause problems in their eyes. This is evident in the third stanza of verse five which reads;

            “…destroying my sight so

            I can’t get what I want”

Positive self criticism: in the poem “ Lost Beauty” the persona is able to see the problem that he has which as well appear to be the same as those oif black women imitating white people`s ways of life. This can be seen in the lask stanza which reads:

            “ I turn and weep upon myself

            And then, only then I realized

I am not black either” 

Therefore, the poems above have a great role in changing and creating a new man as they educate, and suggest a proper way of living. The poem above shows the lost beauty of our women and our societies hence give challenges to us on how to return and maintain our lost beauty. 

2. Explain the important items to be considered in the criticism of a poem.

A poem is a composition characterized by the use of strong imagination, feelings and emotion with significant language and appropriate language.  The following are important items to be considered in the criticism of a poem:

Title: the title of a poem should give a clue of what the poem is about. It should give the reader a hint of the contents even before reading the whole poem. For example “Lost Beauty”, “Your pain” Eat More”. However, readers are cautioned because some title may be ironic.

Poet: is a person who composes a poem. Like the title, the poet`s history may also provide a clue of the themes of the poem. It is possible for a poem composed by a teacher to have themes related to education.

Type of the poem: Here the criticism is focus on what type of poem is. The poem can be narrative, sonnet, ballade or others. Therefore, if the poem is long and tells about a story, it is a narrative poem, but if it is short and expresses very strong/powerful feelings about universal issues such as love, hate, death or torture, it is lyric poem.

Possible themes: These are the central ideas which the poet wants the reader to get from a literary work. In most cases themes are implied but not directed stated. The readers experience both in life and in poetry to understand a poem and making a balance criticism.

Musical or sound features: Here the criticism is focused on things such rhythm, refrain, and alliteration. All of these features are very important since they add music or rhythm and so taste to the poem. Also, they are used to attract readers’ attention because their presence makes readers entertained and wanting to read them. A critic may judge a poetry work as lacking musical features, if the poem lacks rhythm, refrain or alliteration.

Message of the poem: this refers to what the poet wants the readers to do after reading the poem. In criticizing a poem in this aspect, we check the relevance of the poet`s message to the current items.

Relevance: here attention is paid on issues or central ideas presented by the poet in relation to what is happening in the society.  A poem is relevant if it reflects the intended readers` social reality.

Language use: at this stage attention is on the way language has been used in conveying the message and themes the artist wants to convey. This can be judged based on the choice and arrangement of words.

To sum up, the above items are very powerful tools to be considered for the readers in the criticism of any poem.