tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6767171424873716071.post2784519248495195781..comments2024-03-22T08:34:22.248+00:00Comments on A Collection of Poems: Whited Sepulchre - John Ngong Kum NgongBruce-the-Sheephttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05443407563124531953noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6767171424873716071.post-36986112101086833952016-11-13T12:07:18.895+00:002016-11-13T12:07:18.895+00:00Hi Tesnime - thanks for your comment and question....Hi Tesnime - thanks for your comment and question. I'm no expert, but here's my take on the poem.<br /><br />Firstly, each stanza starts with a description of the "entity" to whom this poem is addressed, so we have whited sepulchre, backpeddlar and snake in the grass. From this we can see that this "entity" is dead (sepulchre), inconstant (backpeddlar) and a camouflaged enemy (snake in the grass). So we're looking at someone or something that is BAD.<br /><br />Next we have a description of what the bad person/thing has made us do - in stanza 1 there is the imagery of having to work very, very hard (fingers to the bone) for no return (idiots to reap the harvest); in stanza 2 we see that the bad person/thing has made us feel impotent (You filled up the only wellspring from which we washed off frustration); and lastly we see that all the work we have done - literally, like sweating blood - is as nothing as far as the bad person/entity is concerned: for them it is a "fart".<br /><br />I think that there is probably a 4th stanza starting at the line "I will not set myself ablaze" but it doesn't appear so on the source page so I have left it as it appeared. Anyway, this last part is about the reaction to all this bad stuff: rather than react with violence (like the abused Tunisian youth) they will react with reason, trying to change people's hearts.<br /><br />For me this poem is about the evil of colonialism (i.e. this is the bad person or entity) and its effect on the people of Cameroon; but the poet doesn't want this to poison the future so instead of reacting violently, as has happened elsewhere, they should react with reason: instead of using fire to destroy it will be used to change people's hearts.<br /><br />So ultimately it's a poem of renewal and rebuilding despite all the evils of the past.Bruce-the-Sheephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05443407563124531953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6767171424873716071.post-35053798000421057382016-11-13T10:19:56.764+00:002016-11-13T10:19:56.764+00:00I really like the poem but I couldn't understa...I really like the poem but I couldn't understand its message along with the main idea , would you be kind enough to clear that up for me ? Thanks ! Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01064515074115327137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6767171424873716071.post-47460599356918671252016-07-28T20:53:38.297+00:002016-07-28T20:53:38.297+00:00Appreciate you sharing.Appreciate you sharing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com