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Summary Random notes to my son - Keorapetse Kgositsile
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Random notes to my son - Keorapetse Kgositsile Colourful notes referenced from previous examination papers.
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Random Notes to Line 41. Beware, my son, words
my Son 2. that carry the loudnesses
In plain terms he says “words also
carry illusion”, something imagined.
3. of blind desire also carry
Keorapetse Kgositsile He extends this statement by
4. the slime of illusion
creating an image of illusion as
5. dripping like pus from the slave's battered back
slime, a negative word. But it gets
6. e.g. they speak of black power whose eyes
worse when he compares illusion to
7. will not threaten the quick whitening of their own intent
pus dripping off the back of a slave
8. what days will you inherit?
who has been beaten and whose
POET 9. what shadows inhabit your silences?
wounds have become infected. All of
Keorapetse William Kgositsile, also 10. I have aspired to expression, all these years, this together creates a very negative
known as "Bra Willie" (born 19 11. elegant past the most eloquent word. But here now image of something rotting and
September 1938), is a South African 12. our tongue dries into maggots as we continue our slimy diseased. And he is describing
poet and political activist. He was 13. death and grin. Except today it is fashionable to scream words! This emphasises how
inaugurated as South Africa's 14. of pride and beauty as though it were not known that carefully words must be used.
National Poet Laureate in 2006 . 15. 'slaves and dead people have no beauty'
Keorapetse was one of the first to
bridge the gap between African
poetry and Black poetry in the 16. Confusion
Summary: Random Notes to my Son
United States. He is the father of 17. in me and around me
is a wise and complex poem, an
hip-hop recording artist Earl 18. confusion. This pain was
imaginative exploration through
Sweatshirt 19. not from the past. This pain was
which the speaker warns his son that
20. not because we had failed
words are powerful tools. However,
21. to understand:
if used carelessly, the words could
22. this land is mine
very well hurt someone and could
23. confusion and borrowed fears
be interpreted as anything. The
24. it was. We stood like shrubs
poem has a powerful message
25. shrivelled on this piece of earth
written in free verse with many
26. the ground parched and cracked
metaphors throughout. The poem
27. through the cracks my cry:
does seem “random” in its
approach as it switches between
themes and ideas quite frequently
and erratically.
, 28. And what shape
29. in assent and ascent
30. must people the eye of newborn
31. determined desire know
32. no frightened tear ever rolls on
33. to the elegance of fire. I have
34. fallen with all the names I am
35. but the newborn eye, old as Lines 1 - 4:
36. childbirth, must touch the day
Line 1: The poet is telling his son that his
37. that, speaking my language, will
work/words should not be loud and
The poem starts with a father telling his 38. say, today we move, we move.
without purpose. The ‘blind desire’ he
son to be “Beware” which makes the speaks of is the same as
reader feel both cautious and curious ambition/aspiration that has no
about what is to follow the lines. Mr direction/purpose. He extends this
Kgositsile is warning his son Thebe, statement by creating an image of
a.k.a. Earl Sweatshirt. It’s unlikely that illusion as slime, a negative word.
Earl will listen to the man that left his
life when he was six. 1. Beware, my son, words
2. that carry the loudnesses
3. of blind desire also carry
Line 5: 4. the slime of illusion
5. dripping like pus from the slave's battered back Lines 6 - 7:
He compares illusion to pus dripping 6. e.g. they speak of black power whose eyes Activists spoke of democracy without
off the back of a slave who has been 7. will not threaten the quick whitening of their own intent allowing anger or fear to stop them.
beaten and whose wounds have 8. what days will you inherit? This ‘black power’ was their dark
become infected. All of this together 9. what shadows inhabit your silences? (secret/hidden) ambition for liberation
creates a very negative image of
without restraint.
something rotting and diseased. He is 10. I have aspired to expression, all these years,
describing words! This emphasises how 11. elegant past the most eloquent word. But here now
carefully words must be used. 12. our tongue dries into maggots as we continue our slimy
Kgositsile’s simile suggests that 13. death and grin. Except today it is fashionable to scream
illusions are also beaten into us by our 14. of pride and beauty as though it were not known that
culture
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