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Johannesburg by Lesego Rampolokeng
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DECLARATION REGARDING PLAGIARISMDECLARATION
Name and student number:
Assignment topic: ‘Johannesburg’ – Lesego Rampolokeng
I declare that this assignment is my own original work. Where secondary material has been used
(either from a printed source or from the Internet), this has been carefully acknowledged and
referenced in accordance with departmental requirements. I understand what plagiarism is and am
aware of the department’s policy in this regard. I have not allowed anyone else to borrow or copy my
work.
Signature:
Date:
, Module: ENG 1501 Assignment 01: Poetry
Name:
Student Number:
Unique number: 650089
‘Johannesburg’ – Lesego Rampolokeng
1.1 The speaker refers to the gold as “Judas” because a lot of people come to Johannesburg to fulfil
their dreams but fail to do so. The people that they look for to assist in order to pursue their dreams
are not reliable in a sense that they give them promises which are never fulfilled or even delivered.
1.2 It is common knowledge that in the Bible, Judas betrayed Jesus Christ whereby he denied
knowing Christ therefore the poet derived “Judas” from the Bible as a metaphor to describe
Johannesburg in the poem, “Judas” is the portrayal of the poet’s feelings about the city. Just like many
other people, Johannesburg has let them down because they had hopes of achieving their dreams. The
city itself is depicted to be the place of gold hence we go there in hopes of getting the “gold” but end
up betrayed.
2.1 The second stanza, line 7, the speaker talks about the “eternal time-bomb” of “extinction”. This
metaphor is used to compare living with an existing bomb. We are aware that a bomb is a weapon that
demolishes everything within its reach therefore the assonance and consonance of the words “sick”
and “tick” makes you think of a real-life ticking time bomb. Johannesburg is painted with the image
of death which is not suitable for people and the eternal time-bomb clearly states the extinction of
humankind.
2.2 The metaphors in lines 15-16 in the poem emphasises concerns about what is happening in
Johannesburg. The poet said that “the green pastures of wealth are vaults of death” meaning that
nothing is as it seems in from afar about the city. The “green pastures of wealth...” represent the
hopes, dreams and change people think they will get in their lives when flocking to Johannesburg and
acquiring wealth, but it is the opposite. Promised dreams and desires are hit with disappointment.
2.3 The poet portrays the city as a place where according to stanza 2, line 5 and 6 “traffic flows in the
sick vein of life” many people are moving up and down trying to make something of themselves but
are affected by the sickness they keep passing on to each other and line 7 speaks of the extinction
meaning as time goes by, death will carpet the city. Stanza 3 mentions the “walk of uncertainty”
referring to people walking around with a sense of doubt, the kind that makes them wonder if they
will make it in the city.
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