Telephone Conversation Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka is a renowned African novelist and
poet. Soyinka was the first African to
receive the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.
“Telephone Conversation” is a simple and amusing poem. As the title suggests, it is a conversation
over ‘phone between an African and a white lady who is the owner of the
apartment in London. The narrator is
looking for a rented apartment in London
. In this poem, the poet is able to portray the
hypocrisy and cold inhumanity of the white lady who rejects the African only because
he is ‘black’. Thus the poem is a strong satire on racial prejudice.
The speaker of the poem is an African. He is well
educated, cultured and willing to pay the rent demanded by the landlady. At
first the white English land lady is very happy that a tenant has come to stay
in her apartment. The location of the building is not good. But the African is
not worried about it. For him, the rent is reasonable and the landlady promises
that she is living at another place. Therefore the Nigerian is also very glad
to get such an apartment in London City.
But he has a
big problem. His skin is black. So he is afraid whether the white lady
likes him or not. Suppose he travels all the way from Nigeria to London, and if
the landlady does not like him, it is sheer waste of time and money. So the
speaker has decided to confess his identity.
The flora and
fauna in Nature have different colours. The sky is blue, the rose is red, the
oak is black, the crow is black, orange is yellow, there are black dogs and
cows and here the colours are blessing and beautiful. Nature is blessed with
all the colours given by God. But man hates man if his skin is not white. So
the African confesses to the white lady that he is an African. It is a rude
shock to the white lady as if “African” is a criminal or dirty animal.
There is a prolong silence. This silence hurts the African. He is insulted.
Humanity is insulted. After some time she asks politely ‘how dark he is’? She enquires whether he is light black.
She does not say that she does not want an African as
his tenant. Instead she asks again and
whether he is dark or very light. She wants to know how dark he is! The
speaker uses two terms such as plain or milk chocolate to describe his dark skin. He tells her that he is “West African sepia
in his passport”. Again there is a long
silence because she is worried about his dark skin. Her words were compared to stinking or
polluted air because her words are poisonous. She is a hypocrite.
Now the African knows that he will not get the
apartment, because the landlady does not want a black man as her tenant. So the African tells her that the colour of
his face is dark brown (brunette), but unfortunately certain parts of his body
are very dark. The palm and sole of his feet are semi dark. But the bottom is
raven black because of friction by sitting and requests her to see it by
herself personally. At that moment the white lady knows that she is insulted by
the African and she angrily puts the ‘receiver on the thunderclap. Thus the
poem proves that it is the white people who believe in the colour prejudice are
always insulted. The colour prejudice boomerangs upon the white people
themselves!
Comment on the use of satire, irony, sarcasm, imagery
and pun in this poem
“Telephone Conversation” is a vehement attack on
racial discrimination. The poet uses various poetic devices such as satire,
irony, sarcasm, imagery, pun, alliteration and assonance have been used to
bring home to the reader the hypocrisy and racial discrimination of the white landlady.
“Location indifferent”, Nothing remained but self-confession”, “Caught I was
foully” are all used in ironical tone. The speaker very politely tells the
English landlady over phone that he hated a wasted journey- he was an African
is irony because he speaks that he is an African is like a crime. There is also
pun here because African means a criminal. “Plain or milk chocolate” is also a
pun. “Silence for spectroscopic flight of fancy” is an example for double
alliteration of ‘s’ and ‘f’. The satirical poem reaches its climax with the
words ‘wouldn’t you rather see for yourself?” shows the irony in judging people
based on the colour of their skin.
When
We Two Parted Lord Byron
‘When
We Two Parted’ is a famous love poem written by Lord Byron, who is a great
English poet and satirist. This love poem belongs to ‘break up’ or ‘missing
you’ love poem. Lord Byron was one of the great Romantic poets in English
literature. In this poem ‘When We Two Parted’ the narrator tells us how he was
jilted by the infidelity of his beloved.
The
narrator of the poem is a man who loves his dear one in secret. But she has
deceived him and the narrator suffers mental conflict of love and hatred for
his lady love. The narrator still loves her in silence. He says that when they
two parted in silence and tears, she gave him the parting kiss, he felt her
cheek pale and grew cold. It shows her guilty conscience. But the
narrator did not understand it. Later people talked to him about her and only
then did he realize that she has betrayed him. It was like a death-knell for
him. But she is still his darling and he cannot forget her love. Thus the
narrator suffers severe mental pain because he is divided between his intense
love and hate for her. In silence he grieves because she can easily forget
her deception and he cannot. Still he loves her and he says that if he
should meet her after long years, he will certainly greet her with silence and
tears.
Questions 1. “Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this! – That
hour foretold what? Why the speaker is
sad?
2. “In secret we met:
In silence I grieve” Who is the speaker and what is the reason for
his grief?
3.”They name
thee before me,
A knell
to mine year;” – Explain
Longing Matthew Arnold
Matthew Arnold is a great poet and critic in English
literature. His poem “Longing” is a typical love poem expressing the lover’s
intense longing for the presence of his beloved. With the fire of love
burning in his heart, the lover asks her to come to him in his dreams at night
so that he can wipe out all his worries and miseries of day time.
“Longing” is one of the best lyric poems written by
Matthew Arnold and the theme revolves round an ardent lover’s dream about his
beloved. The true note of the poem is sadness. It is pensive melancholy
essentially romantic in origin. In this short poem, the speaker gives
expression to the passionate longing of his heart.
The poet calls his lady love to come to him in his
dream at night so that all his sufferings and sorrow and pain will be vanished
and he will be refreshed again. He considers her an angel from a heavenly place
and her charming smile relaxes him and relieved him from all miseries of day
time. Throughout the day he has been waiting with a burning desire for her
presence in his dream at night.
Now he wants
his dream to be converted to reality. He wants her real presence and combs his
hair and to kiss him passionately and asks him “My love, why are you
suffering?”
The poem ends
with the ardent longing of the speaker that his dream girl must be real to him
and gives him spiritual comfort. Kjt/02-12-2018
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