A Long Journey - Musaemura Zimunya
Message: how colonial rule affects countries and their cultures. This poem follows the experience of one road and one village as they undergo complex changes.
Context: contemporary Zimbabwean poet, born 1949, lived through colonization and Zimbabwean independence in 1980. Britain colonized Zim 1890. Published in 1985, 5 years after independence.
A Problem Poem: there are conflicting feelings within the poem, it isn’t just an anti-colonial piece, there are negative parts of the poets past which he doesn’t wish to return to. While the shift to modernism was sad and perhaps difficult, once that change has been made it is very hard to turn back.
On one hand colonialism bought about a better life for many, on the other there is immense suffering a violence that comes with this.
Reversal of themes:
stanzas 1-4 modernity, colonialism and industrialization encroach on the world of the village
Stanzas 5-6 the images and figures associated with the past encroach upon the modern city - threatening to enter and transform it
Form, Meter and Rhyme:
30 lines
7 stanzas - flexible structure to match the progression of the story
Free verse
Lack of rhyme scheme - helps the speakers voice to feel unstudied and reflective, as if the readers are listening to the speaker’s voice
No meter, but length of lines mirrors message he is trying to convey e.g. stanza 3, as lines get longer, mirrors people looking further out from their hometowns
Language:
Image of a road runs throughout the poem, represents the journey and also his personal, cultural journey
No punctuation used throughout - shows the unstoppable change that occurred, the ‘flow’ of the years of oppression
‘Endless rivers of endless woes’ consonance reiterates the endless years of suffering, they all seem to slip into each other
‘Pick and shovel sjambok and jail’ - these are symbols of oppression as the people were employed to rebuild their country the colonizers had destroyed. These images of punishment and oppression show how the people had their own tools used against them (Sjambok - whip made of hippo hide)
Epizeuxus of ‘long long journey’ - past tense, this is over but the speaker struggles to convey how long this oppression went on for
The shift of technologies ‘oxcart’ ‘bicycle’ shows the change started slowly
Alliteration of bicycle/britain/boy emphasized repulsion over change?
Bus, bicycle and motor car become symbols of a loss of Zimbabwean cultural identity, as they represent a physical move away from their history
‘City was bought into the village’ the merging of two completely different lifestyles/cultures, also shows people moving away from their cultural heritage
Use of ‘yearn’ shows a strong desire/want and a loss of traditional aspirations, demonstrates the unavoidable pull of modernization
‘Bush to concrete’ the speaker has paused to reflect here, they are metonyms for the vast difference of how Zimbabweans once lives and how they live now. Also evokes the way colonialism literally reshapes the environment, not only the people - a dominating change
Volta at the start of stanza 5 - an emotional turning point and shift of perspective ‘and now’
Stanza 5 - these is a ghostly presence of Zim life he never knew, feels disconnected and even a little frightened of his post-colonial past and can’t escape it. The past doesn’t vanish easily + the speaker feels judgment from his ancestors
Slant rhyme of luxury/ninety/country, creates a chime and the idea of the past’s persistency
‘New found luxury’ shows a lack of complete belonging, the past is too far gone but the present isn’t as homely?
‘Threatened by wind and rain and cold’ this stanza is claustrophobic, the past is a symbol of hardship and heathen living? While he may feel a sense of betrayal of his ancestors, the past still isn’t sentimental
Escaping from ‘witches and wizards’ suggests attaining a modern life with the comforts of the city has a cost - Zim has lost a physical AND spiritual way of life, they wanted an escape but these images pursue them
‘Halo’ shows movement from pre-Christian to post Christian world
‘Cry for human blood’ ‘wicked bones rattling’ - echoes of the ancient rituals or the death and bloodshed that occurred for this to happen, cannot escape these thoughts or guilt
‘Almighty hand reaches for our shirts’ - the power of the past,Zim is still not far removed from this poverty and hardship. A sense of unease, instability, insecurity that threatens to yank them back into their memories.
The Poem:
Through decades that ran like rivers
endless rivers of endless woes
through pick and shovel sjambok and jail
O such a long long journey
When the motor-car came
the sledge and the ox-cart began to die
but for a while the bicycle made in Britain
was the dream of every village boy
With the arrival of the bus
the city was brought into the village
and we began to yearn for the place behind the horizons
Such a long travail it was
a long journey from bush to concrete
And now I am haunted by the cave dwelling
hidden behind eighteen ninety
threatening my new-found luxury
in this the capital city of my mother country
I fight in nightmarish vain
but my road runs and turns into dusty gravel
into over-beaten foot tracks that lead
to a plastic hut and soon to a mud-grass dwelling
threatened by wind and rain and cold
We have fled from witches and wizards
on a long long road to the city
but behind the halo of tower lights
I hear the cry from human blood
and wicked bones rattling around me
We moved into the lights
but from the dark periphery behind
an almighty hand reaches for our shirts.
Message: how colonial rule affects countries and their cultures. This poem follows the experience of one road and one village as they undergo complex changes.
Context: contemporary Zimbabwean poet, born 1949, lived through colonization and Zimbabwean independence in 1980. Britain colonized Zim 1890. Published in 1985, 5 years after independence.
A Problem Poem: there are conflicting feelings within the poem, it isn’t just an anti-colonial piece, there are negative parts of the poets past which he doesn’t wish to return to. While the shift to modernism was sad and perhaps difficult, once that change has been made it is very hard to turn back.
On one hand colonialism bought about a better life for many, on the other there is immense suffering a violence that comes with this.
Reversal of themes:
stanzas 1-4 modernity, colonialism and industrialization encroach on the world of the village
Stanzas 5-6 the images and figures associated with the past encroach upon the modern city - threatening to enter and transform it
Form, Meter and Rhyme:
30 lines
7 stanzas - flexible structure to match the progression of the story
Free verse
Lack of rhyme scheme - helps the speakers voice to feel unstudied and reflective, as if the readers are listening to the speaker’s voice
No meter, but length of lines mirrors message he is trying to convey e.g. stanza 3, as lines get longer, mirrors people looking further out from their hometowns
Language:
Image of a road runs throughout the poem, represents the journey and also his personal, cultural journey
No punctuation used throughout - shows the unstoppable change that occurred, the ‘flow’ of the years of oppression
‘Endless rivers of endless woes’ consonance reiterates the endless years of suffering, they all seem to slip into each other
‘Pick and shovel sjambok and jail’ - these are symbols of oppression as the people were employed to rebuild their country the colonizers had destroyed. These images of punishment and oppression show how the people had their own tools used against them (Sjambok - whip made of hippo hide)
Epizeuxus of ‘long long journey’ - past tense, this is over but the speaker struggles to convey how long this oppression went on for
The shift of technologies ‘oxcart’ ‘bicycle’ shows the change started slowly
Alliteration of bicycle/britain/boy emphasized repulsion over change?
Bus, bicycle and motor car become symbols of a loss of Zimbabwean cultural identity, as they represent a physical move away from their history
‘City was bought into the village’ the merging of two completely different lifestyles/cultures, also shows people moving away from their cultural heritage
Use of ‘yearn’ shows a strong desire/want and a loss of traditional aspirations, demonstrates the unavoidable pull of modernization
‘Bush to concrete’ the speaker has paused to reflect here, they are metonyms for the vast difference of how Zimbabweans once lives and how they live now. Also evokes the way colonialism literally reshapes the environment, not only the people - a dominating change
Volta at the start of stanza 5 - an emotional turning point and shift of perspective ‘and now’
Stanza 5 - these is a ghostly presence of Zim life he never knew, feels disconnected and even a little frightened of his post-colonial past and can’t escape it. The past doesn’t vanish easily + the speaker feels judgment from his ancestors
Slant rhyme of luxury/ninety/country, creates a chime and the idea of the past’s persistency
‘New found luxury’ shows a lack of complete belonging, the past is too far gone but the present isn’t as homely?
‘Threatened by wind and rain and cold’ this stanza is claustrophobic, the past is a symbol of hardship and heathen living? While he may feel a sense of betrayal of his ancestors, the past still isn’t sentimental
Escaping from ‘witches and wizards’ suggests attaining a modern life with the comforts of the city has a cost - Zim has lost a physical AND spiritual way of life, they wanted an escape but these images pursue them
‘Halo’ shows movement from pre-Christian to post Christian world
‘Cry for human blood’ ‘wicked bones rattling’ - echoes of the ancient rituals or the death and bloodshed that occurred for this to happen, cannot escape these thoughts or guilt
‘Almighty hand reaches for our shirts’ - the power of the past,Zim is still not far removed from this poverty and hardship. A sense of unease, instability, insecurity that threatens to yank them back into their memories.
The Poem:
Through decades that ran like rivers
endless rivers of endless woes
through pick and shovel sjambok and jail
O such a long long journey
When the motor-car came
the sledge and the ox-cart began to die
but for a while the bicycle made in Britain
was the dream of every village boy
With the arrival of the bus
the city was brought into the village
and we began to yearn for the place behind the horizons
Such a long travail it was
a long journey from bush to concrete
And now I am haunted by the cave dwelling
hidden behind eighteen ninety
threatening my new-found luxury
in this the capital city of my mother country
I fight in nightmarish vain
but my road runs and turns into dusty gravel
into over-beaten foot tracks that lead
to a plastic hut and soon to a mud-grass dwelling
threatened by wind and rain and cold
We have fled from witches and wizards
on a long long road to the city
but behind the halo of tower lights
I hear the cry from human blood
and wicked bones rattling around me
We moved into the lights
but from the dark periphery behind
an almighty hand reaches for our shirts.
