A detailed line by line analysis of the poem "Portrait of a Loaf of Bread" created by a 90% matric 2020 English HL student (top 1% in the subject).
Explains the meanings of lines, figures of speech used, structure and more.
‘Portrait of a Loaf of Bread’ -Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali (1940-)
Look back to the rolling fields
waving golden-topped wheat stalks sound devices & puntuation
mowed by the reaper’s scythe,
bundled into sheaves contrast of rich & poor eating
carted to the mill
and ground into flour. labour & workers
Kneaded into mountains of dough
to be churned by rollers figures of speech & imagery
and spat into pans as red hot
as Satan’s cauldron. nature
Brought to the cafe,
warmly wrapped in cellophane,
by ‘East Fresh Bread’ bakery van;
for the waiting cook
to slice and to toast.
to butter and to marmalade
for the food-bedecked breakfast table.
Whilst the labourer
with fingers caked with
wet cement of a builder’s scaffold.
mauls a hunk and cold drink
and licks his lips and laughs
‘Man can live on bread alone’.
Title
Portrait has been twisted into of an object from a person. He wants to show a close-up
version of the bread making process. Bread becomes a symbol of inequality.
Look back to the rolling fields
Starts with command to reader- to reflect where the process starts. Fields = calming,
beauty of nature (misleading because we later deal with oppression of workers).
waving golden-topped wheat stalks
“Birth” of bread. Untouched by man and machinery- peaceful.
mowed by the reaper’s scythe,
Switch in tone. Becomes harsh, dark, violent. Pun- Literal reaper: person who cuts wheat.
Figurative reaper: Grim reaper (personification of death). Reaper harvests grain just like
the Grim Reaper harvests souls.
bundled into sheaves
Gathered into bundles.
carted to the mill
Transported to mill for grinding.
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