Boy On A Swing By Oswald Mtshali: Mood Of The Boy

Motive

Boy On A Swing by Oswald Mtshali is a poem that reminds the readers of the common Yoruba proverbs that says: "When a boy is given a sword, he would ask his mother about the kind of death that killed his father."

Overview

According to the poem, a boy was placed on a swing enjoying its to and fro, with the assistance of his mother. The act of swinging heightened the boy's delight, it placed the boy in a pure pleasant picture of the world.

The boy began to wonder why they lacked things including the presence of his father, he wondered about the source of his own origin, he also wondered h
ow long it would take him to measure up with those wearing trousers.

According the last stanza of the poem, the boy posed three thoughtful questions:
"Mother!
Where did I come from?
When will I wear long trousers?
Why was my father jailed?"

Structure

Boy On A Swing by Oswald Mtshali is a four stanza poem void of end rhyme scheme, it has a very simple word usage. All the beauties of the poem is compressed into one with the aid of rhetorical questions and by so doing, the theme of childhood innocence and bewilderment, the theme of complexity in human lives and living, the theme of effects of delight, etc; became evident in the poem. 

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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Preoccupation Of Oswald Mtshali In Nightfall In Soweto

The violence and all forms of crimes perpetrated at night by the white against the black in the poem titled "Night Fall In Soweto" are the things that preoccupied Oswald Mtshali.

With the use of simile, the poet referrred to nightfall as a "dreaded disease". The agents of the nightfall acrocities are shown "lurking in the shadow" and "clasping a dagger" awaiting their victims.

From the first person point of view, the readers of the poem are told that the poem speaker is one of the victim:
"I am the victim"
"I am the prey"
"I am slaughtered"

Urgency for survival made Oswald Mtshali seek means of escape. He put his worries in form of rhetorical questions "Where am I safe?" "Where am I safe?".

His feelings of fear are shown with the words like "quake" "tremble" "beast" "disease" "prey". His fear made him undermine his abode with the use of litotes by referring to it as "matchbox house".

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