This is a poetry analysis of "Touting Taxi" by Isabella Motadinyane and "Memory" by Chris van Wyk.

1. Place and Space in
South African Poetry
English 2A LU 1 Theme 2

2. In the previous lecture, we analysed
“The Cry of South Africa” and wrote
poems with special attention to the
focaliser and narrator.
How do you feel about unreliable
narrators?
Recap

3. Learning Outcomes
LO2.1
Critically
discuss the
major themes of
the prescribed
poems.
LO2.3
Critically analyse the
poetic
representations of
geography, culture,
place, space, land,
landscape, power and
identity within and
across the prescribed
poems.
LO2.2
Discuss the
influence of the
historical and
cultural context of
each prescribed
poem on those
poem’s themes.
LO2.4
Evaluate the
relevance and
significance of
the prescribed
poems to
contemporary
21st Century
South Africa.

4. Free association
Go to menti.com and use the code
81 31 900.
Listen to “Memory” by Chris van Wyk.
Use Mentimeter to add your
associations to a word cloud.
Discuss your reactions, and the sense
of place which the poem evokes.

5. Imagery
List the images portrayed
in “Memory”, then rank
them from most pleasing
to most disturbing.
Do any of the images
become more disturbing
as the poem progresses?
Which character isn’t
objectified? Why not?
LO2.2
The IIE (2017:21)
Images | Freepik.com | Pixabay.com
Go to menti.com and use the code 81 31 900.

6. South Africa’s political context
Based on evidence in “Memory”:
● What kind of work does the father do?
● Does the family have electricity?
● Which race group is most likely to have an
experience like the narrator’s family in 2022 in
South Africa? Why?
Share your honest reflections with the class, and
remember the intersection of geography, culture,
place, space, land, landscape, power, and identity.
LO2.3, LO2.4
Photo | Good Food Stories

7. Themes of “Memory”
Belonging?
Belonging, abandonment, and alienation are common themes for poetry about
space and place.
Are any of them major themes of “Memory”?
What are the poem's major themes?
Share the themes and your reasoning with the class, either in the chat or out
loud.
Abandonment?
Alienation?
LO2.1

8. Poetic licence
Poetic licence means that when using
poetic expression, a writer can break the
rules of a language without it being
considered an error or incorrect
(Sharma, 2014).
More broadly, creators use poetic
licence to rewrite history or when
adapting a written text for screen
(Koski, 2016).
Other terms which refer to this liberty
are dramatic licence and artistic licence
(Koski, 2016).

9. Mixing languages
Listen to these two poems by members of the Botsotso Jesters, recorded
for their CD Purple Light Mirror in the Mud (2001). Known as Isicamtho
poetry, these poems code-switch between English, Zulu, Afrikaans, and
Sotho.
“Mochochonono Crazy”, written and recorded by Ike Mboneni Muila:
https://www.lyrikline.org/en/poems/mochochonono-crazy-1224 [1:58]
“Nonhlanla”,* written and recorded by Isabella Motadinyane:
https://badilishapoetry.com/isabella-motadinyane/#inline2 [4:02]
*CONTENT WARNING for violence against a woman.
wa Bofelo (2018, p.127)
Olivier (2009)

10. Discussion of “Touting Taxi”
What is the poem about?
What does it mean?
What sort of poem is it?
What does it remind you of?
Listen to the recording of “Touting Taxi” by Isabella Motadinyane (read by
Boitomelo Khunyeli) (page 278) and consider these questions.
Discuss the answers in groups of 4-5. You have five minutes.
What is its basic message?
Does it communicate its
message effectively? How?
LO2.1
Moffett (2013:14)

11. Language changes in “Touting Taxi”
What is the effect of the code-
switching in this poem?
Does the change of language
indicate a change of narrator?
Read the poem “Touting Taxi” by
Isabella Motadinyane (page 278)
alone and consider these questions.
Share your reflections in the chat.
switching
CODE

12. Match the speaker to the poem
“Ever-jovial
comedian”
LO2.1
“Carefree
danger-chasing
Tsotsi”
“Vulgar taxi
driver”
“Journalistic
gossiper”
“Independent-
minded
freethinker”
According to Mphutlane wa Bofelo, the following characters are voiced in “Touting
Taxi”. Identify the lines of the poem which you would attribute to each.
wa Bofelo (2018, p.128)

13. Close reading of “Touting Taxi”
Identify significant and repeated
words or lines.
Check punctuation and the effect
it has on pace and meaning.
Identify the musicality of the
words.
Independently complete a close reading. Make notes, highlight and circle relevant words on
the poem itself, or create a mind map. You have 10 minutes.
Report your insights in the chat or out loud. Participate as if you were in the classroom.
Examine images and
comparisons, unpacking the
associations.
Ask How the poem conveys
its message and Why.
LO2.1 Moffett (2013:19-21)

14. Themes of “Touting Taxi”
Belonging?
Belonging, abandonment, and alienation are common themes for poetry about
space and place.
Are any of them major themes of “Touting Taxi”?
What are the poem's major themes?
Share the themes and your reasoning with the class, either in the chat or out
loud.
Abandonment?
Alienation?
LO2.1

15. Political analysis
“Making full use of poetic licence, Isicamtho poetry skillfully fuses language
to give the reader a full view of the South African Landscape and mindscape
in pictorial humorous language, which particularly captures the noises and
nuances of township South Africa.” wa Bofelo (2018, p.127)
“The group advanced a radical aesthetic to challenge the prevailing
orthodoxies of the literary/cultural establishment and, in Jester style, sought
to expose the limitations of the colonial canon by encouraging multi-
lingualism (with isicamtho being celebrated) as well as other linguistic
modes rooted in working class culture. In this manner the torpid boundaries
set by socialist realism and the irrelevance and insipidness of bourgeois art
were both transcended.” Horwitz (n.d.)
LO2.4
Examine how “Touting Taxi” exemplifies the
assertions made in these quotes.

16. Bibliography
Koski, L. (2016) What Is Poetic License: Definition and Examples. Available at:
https://owlcation.com/humanities/What-is-Poetic-License-Definition-and-Examples (Accessed 11 March
2022).
Horwitz, A. (n.d.) A History of Botsotso by Allan Horwitz. Available at:
https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/history-botsotso-allan-horwitz (Accessed 11 March 2022).
Moffett, H. (2013) Seasons Come to Pass: A Poetry Anthology for Southern African Students. 3rd edition. Cape
Town: Oxford University Press, pp.11–29;269;178-179.
Olivier, J. (2009) Isicamtho. Available at: http://www.salanguages.com/isicamtho/index.htm (Accessed 11
March 2022).
Sharma, K.N. 2014. What is Poetic Licence? Available at:
https://www.bachelorandmaster.com/literaryterms/poetic-licence.html (Accessed 11 March 2022).
The Independent Institute of Education (IIE) (2022) English 2A: South African Literature Module Outline,
pp.7–21.
wa Bofelo, M (2018) Bluesology and Bofelosophy: Poetry and Essays. South Africa: Botsotso Publishing, pp.
127-128.