You Will Forget
By Chenjerai Hove
If you stay in comfort too long
You will not know
The weight of a water pot
On the bald head of the village womanYou will forget
The weight of three bundles of thatch grass
On the sinewy neck of the woman
Whose baby cries on her back
For a blade of grass in its eyesSure, if you stay in comfort too long
You will not know the pain
Of child birth without a nurse in whiteYou will forget
The thirst, the cracked dusty lips
Of the women in the valley
On her way to the headman who isn’t thereYou will forget
the pouring pain of a thorn prick
With a load on the head.
If you stay in comfort too longYou will forget
the wailing in the valley
of women losing a husband in the mines.You will forget
The rough handshake of course palms
Full of teary sorrow at the funeral.If you stay in comfort too long
You will not hear
The shrieky voice of old warriors sing
The songs of fresh stored battlefields.You will forget
The unfeeling bare feet
Gripping the warm soil turned by the ploughYou will forget
The voice of the season talking to the oxen.
Summary of You Will Forget
- Popularity of “You Will Forget”: The poem “You Will Forget” by Chenjerai Hove, a Zimambwean poet, essayist, novelist, and writer, is not only unique but also matchless due to its thematic strand. The poem first appeared in his book Red Hills Home published in 1985. The poem presents the common phenomenon of living a tough life and the life of luxury that does not let a person look at it. The beauty of the poem lies in the use of refrains that makes a person forget everyday difficulties of the common people.
- “You Will Forget” As a Representative of Difficult Life: Chenjerai Hove opens the poem with a bang, addressing the readers that if they stay too long in comfort, they often forget that the pot of water is very heavy on the head of a village woman who is also bald. He also forgets the weight of thatch grass that a woman carries, the baby who is feeling uncomfortable due to having a blade of grass in his eyes, or the pain of the childbirth of a woman of a valley. All these difficulties cause discomfort when a person experiences them. Hove further states that if you stay in the comfort tool long, you often forget the course palms of the hands, forget the battlefield and soldiering, forget the pain of plowing and forget the seasons and animals. He means that if a person becomes addicted to comfort, he cannot imagine any hard obstacle on his way to enjoy that comfort.
- Major Themes in “You Will Forget”: Addiction of comfort, difficulties of life, and attitude of forgetting are three major themes of this poem. The poem clearly states that a person living in comfort too long becomes addicted and does not know what difficulties the common people have to face to live a good life. The poet enumerates several difficulties ranging from taking drinking water to giving birth to a child. He also states that these difficulties are often put on the backburner when a person lives in comfort too long. He becomes forgetful of these simple difficulties and adopts them as an attitude.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “You Will Forget”
literary devices are literary tools necessary for poetic or prose writing. The analysis of these devices in the poem as given below shows this fact.
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /o/ in “If you stay in comfort too long”, /a/ in “On the bald head of the village woman” and the sound of /e/ in “Had I said, “On the sinewy neck of the woman.”
- Alliteration: It is the use of successive consonant sounds in the initials of the successive words such as /p/ in “pouring pain”, and /t/ such as “talking to.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /w/ in “The weight of a water pot”, /p/ and /r/ in “the pouring pain of a thorn prick,” and the sound of /n/ in “You will not know the pain.”
- 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;
You will forget
The thirst, the cracked dusty lips
Of the women in the valley
On her way to the headman who isn’t there.
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. The poem shows the use of imagery such as “Of childbirth without a nurse in white”, “The thirst, the cracked dusty lips” and “On her way to the headman who isn’t there.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poem shows the use of metaphors such as the season that talks to the oxen like their master.
- Personification: The poet has shown the use of the season as if it has life and emotions of its own.
- 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 the symbols such as village, thatch, grass, and water pot to show the difficulties that life poses to the common folk.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in “You Will Forget”
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: The poem shows the use of simple diction with a serious and tragic tone.
- Free Verse: The poem does not follow any rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. Therefore, it is a free verse poem.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are two ten stanzas with each having a different number of verses.
Quotes to be Used
These lines from “You Will Forget” are relevant to quote when talking about nature and its relationship with human beings.
You will forget
The voice of the season talking to the oxen.