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"Bitten-off things protruding" : the limitations of South African English poetry post-1948
Bibliography: p. 362-393.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of English Language and Literature
2016
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| _version_ | 1867614168666865664 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Watson, Stephen |
| author2 | Glenn, Ian E |
| author_browse | Glenn, Ian E Watson, Stephen |
| author_facet | Glenn, Ian E Watson, Stephen |
| author_sort | Watson, Stephen |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Bibliography: p. 362-393. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/22545 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:47:45.614Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publishDateRange | 2016 |
| publishDateSort | 2016 |
| publisher | Department of English Language and Literature |
| publisherStr | Department of English Language and Literature |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/22545 "Bitten-off things protruding" : the limitations of South African English poetry post-1948 Watson, Stephen Glenn, Ian E South African poetry (English) - History and criticism South African poetry (English) - Black authors - History and criticism Bibliography: p. 362-393. In this thesis, the discussion of South African English poetry is undertaken in terms of critical questions to which the body of work, to date, has not been subjected. In the nineteen-seventies and -eighties, several anthologies of South African English poetry were published which, despite their differing foci, attested to the strength, innovation, and international stature of the work. Their editors made claims which emphasised both the importance of Sowetan poetry and the emancipation of white poetry, particularly in the last three decades, from the legacy of a stultifying colonial past. This thesis sets out to examine the validity of these critical evaluations. The impetus for such an examination is threefold. Firstly, in comparison with a world literature, South African English poetry has had little impact on the kinds of aesthetic questions which have led to the radical work of international figures like Milosz, Walcott, Neruda. Secondly, South African English poetry tends to be bifurcated by critical analysis, both locally and internationally, into the work of black poets and the work of white poets. Despite the realities of social history which have indeed dichotomised the human experience of South Africa in racial terms, this dichotomy does not seem the most fertile assumption from which to approach the achievement of a nation's poetry. Thirdly, as a poet himself, the writer of this thesis embarked upon the scholarly analysis of a poetic ancestry to which his own work looked ,in vain for location. The re-examination of the roots and value of South African English poetry begins in the thesis with the dilemmas posed by a legacy of romanticism in its displaced relation to a British colony. From this point the discussion argues that this legacy is visible in the unsatisfactory work of liberal poets in the nineteen-seventies and eighties, and argues that such choices cannot be nourishing to a South African cultural originality. Turning to the work most forcefully emphasised as culturally original - i.e. the work of the Soweto poets in the nineteen-seventies and after - the thesis explores this poetry's claims to stylistic and conceptual innovation. The poetry of the late eighties is then examined in relation to its desire to support, and even to drive, anti-apartheid philosophy and practice. The conclusions of the final chapter, presaged throughout the entire argument, suggest that earlier critical estimations of South African English poetry ignore crucial aspects of what has usually been meant by a fully achieved poetic tradition and that such neglect amounts to the betrayal of the very meaning of the term "poem". 2016-11-16T13:21:29Z 2016-11-16T13:21:29Z 1993 Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22545 eng application/pdf Department of English Language and Literature Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | South African poetry (English) - History and criticism South African poetry (English) - Black authors - History and criticism Watson, Stephen "Bitten-off things protruding" : the limitations of South African English poetry post-1948 |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | "Bitten-off things protruding" : the limitations of South African English poetry post-1948 |
| title_full | "Bitten-off things protruding" : the limitations of South African English poetry post-1948 |
| title_fullStr | "Bitten-off things protruding" : the limitations of South African English poetry post-1948 |
| title_full_unstemmed | "Bitten-off things protruding" : the limitations of South African English poetry post-1948 |
| title_short | "Bitten-off things protruding" : the limitations of South African English poetry post-1948 |
| title_sort | bitten off things protruding the limitations of south african english poetry post 1948 |
| topic | South African poetry (English) - History and criticism South African poetry (English) - Black authors - History and criticism |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/22545 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT watsonstephen bittenoffthingsprotrudingthelimitationsofsouthafricanenglishpoetrypost1948 |