In-depth stanza by stanza analysis of "Touch" by Hugh Lewin. Notes on his background as well, which help to understand the meaning of the poem. Specific notes on diction, assonance, repetition, and structure of the poem.
Touch – by Hugh Lewin
When I get out
I’m going to ask someone
to touch me
very gently please
and slowly, 5
touch me
I want
to learn
how life feels.
I’ve not been touched 10
for seven years
for seven years
I’ve been untouched
out of touch
and I’ve learnt 15
to know now
the meaning of
untouchable.
Untouched – not quite
I can count the things 20
that have touched me
One: fists
At the beginning
fierce mad fists
beating beating 25
till I remember
screaming
don’t touch me
please don’t touch me.
Two: paws 30
The first four years of paws
every day
Patting paws, searching
Arms up, shoes off
Legs apart – 35
Prodding paws, systematic
Heavy, indifferent
Probing away
All privacy.
I don’t want fists and paws 40
I want
To want to be touched
Again
And to touch,
I want to feel alive 45
Again
I want to say
When I get out
Here I am
Please touch me. 50
, BASICS
- While in jail wrote his whole life story between the lines in his bible and then published when he was
freed
- Lived in london - Bandit [about his 7 yrs in sa prison]
- Did Not allow prisons to be spoken about in South Africa during that time so the book = NB
- Included poems and sketches → Touch from that book
- Free verse, no pattern
- Line length varies but the enjambment allows the short lines to flow and make us feel the pain the
fear through a slight rhythm [punctuations, run onlines, enjamberement, line length]
- Sporadic rhythm
- Simple language
STANZA 1
- Talking about jail - 1996 - 1971
- Line 3 - compared to being touched - appealing to someone, to touch him in a way that is not brutal
- Lack of human touch - was often in solitary confinement
- Talking about non threatening intimacy - gently, slowly [not shocking,
- “Life” NB - normal life, wants to feel human again - touch in prison is dehumanising, wants to feel the
energy of passion through gentleness, easy intimacy will make him feel normal and human
Stanza 2
- Lots of references to “touch” - types of touch [emotional touch, out of touch w/ the outside world, cut
off from humanity - become hardened and withdrawn - wonders if he will ever feel again, searching
for human touch]
- Repetition of “for seven years” - time of suffering
- untouchable : considered unclean - rejection, alienated, forgotten
Stanza 3 + 4
Starts listing
- Not quite: engage with how he has been touch brutally in prison [speakers account of the brutality,
violation in prison]
- “F” sound - suggest fast flying hard first - can hear the air moving
- “B” - sound heavy and solid feel the force
- Repetition:
- Assonance: “ea” emphasising the response to pain
- Alliteration:
Stanza 5
- Paw: negative connotation, suggestion of unwelcome touching - daily searches on prisoners
- Repetition: “paws” emphasises the relentless searching and voilotation
- Alliteration: “Patting paws”
- Searches wanted the prisoners to feel uncomfortable - abuse and use of power
- tNothing u could do to stop the guards from searching in the most intimate plates
- Legs apart - is it sexual manipulation? Or a search?
- Searching takes away any and all privacy
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