First Day After The War
By Mazisi Kunene
We heard the songs of a wedding party.
We saw a soft light
Coiling round the young blades of grass
At first we hesitated, then we saw her footprints,
Her face emerged, then her eyes of freedom!
She woke us up with a smile saying,
‘What day is this that comes suddenly?’
We said, ‘It is the first day after the war’.
Then without waiting we ran to the open space
Ululating to the mountains and the pathways
Calling people from all the circles of the earth.
We shook up the old man demanding a festival
We asked for all the first fruits of the season.
We held hands with a stranger
We shouted across the waterfalls
People came from all lands
It was the first day of peace.
We saw our Ancestors travelling tall on the horizon.
Summary of First Day After The War
- Popularity of “First Day After The War”: The poem ‘First Day After The War’ was written by Mazisi Kunene, a South African academic and poet. Mazisi Kuene is best known for the Zulu tales, glorifying its culture. He used them as the major theme of his book, Zulu Poems, his collection of poetry which appeared in 1970. The poem is part of the same collection. The poem sheds light on Zulu culture celebrating freedom from long oppression.
- “First Day After The War” As a Representative of Freedom from Oppression and Cultural Festivities: Mazisi addresses his tribe in the plural as “we”. He says when they heard songs, they walked on the grass with hesitation, leaving their footprints. Then he adds that they watched freedom and saw it emerging, smiling and telling Zulu that they are seeing the first day after the war. He states the situation of the people going wild in jubilation, calling people for the festival, and the poet and his comrades asking for fruits of freedom. They also joined the people in celebration with people from all tribes and saw their elders walking great distances to enjoy the first day of freedom.
- Major Themes in “The first Day After The War”: Freedom from oppression, enjoyment of freedom, and tribal affiliations are three major themes of the poem. When the poet opens the poem, he addresses himself in plural terms to show that they have won freedom and freedom announces itself. He watches his people going wild with happiness. He also joins hands with them and sees that people from all walks of life have come to enjoy it. This shows his tribal affiliations and long oppression from the oppressors of the Zulu tribe, the tribe of Mazisi Kunene.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in First Day After The War
literary devices are tools used to make poems beautiful and meaningful. The analysis of these devices in the poem is given below.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /aw/ in “We saw a soft light”, the sound of /uh/ in “She woke us up with a smile saying”.
- Alliteration: It is a device that means to use words in quick succession, having initial consonants such as the sound of /f/ in “first fruits”, /h/ in “held hands.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /s/, /r/, and /t/ in “At first we hesitated, then we saw her footprints”, the sound of /l/ and /r/ in “Calling people from all the circles of the earth” and the sound of /d/ in “We held hand with a stranger.”
- Dialogue: The poem also shows the use of dialogue such as the conversation of freedom and the people such as;
She woke us up with a smile saying,
‘What day is this that comes suddenly?’
We said, ‘It is the first day after the war’.
- Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;
We asked for all the first fruits of the season.
We held hands with a stranger
We shouted across the waterfalls
People came from all lands
It was the first day of peace.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. The poem shows the use of imagery such as “Coiling round the young blades of grass”, “Then without waiting we ran to the open space” and “We shouted across the waterfalls.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poet has used freedom as a metaphor of a human being having celebratory arrival. Some other metaphors or young blades, soft light, and mountains.
- Personification: The poem shows the use of personifications as freedom is presented as a woman smiling on them.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows the use of symbols of war, peace, land, and waterfall to show their jubilation of winning freedom.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in First Day After The War
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction and Tone: Although the diction is filled with various devices, it shows the use of a serious tone.
- Free Verse: The poem does not follow any rhyming pattern. Therefore, it is a free verse poem.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. This is a single stanza, having 19 verses.
Quotes to be Used
These lines from ‘First Day After The War’ apply to use when teaching the ravages of aerial bombing and its impacts on children.
when I saw the jaw of glass,
where once had hung
my window spun with stars;
it seemed the sky
lay broken on my floor.
