Analysis of ''The Sun on this Rubble''

THE SUN ON THIS RUBBLE

The sun on this rubble after rain.

Bruised though we must be
some easement we
require
unarguably, though we 
argue against desire.

Under jackboots our bones and spirits crunch forced into sweat-tear-sodden slush
- now glow-lipped by this sudden touch:


- sun-stripped perhaps, our bones may later sing or spell out their
maglinant nemesis
Sharpevilled to spearpoints for revenging


but now our pride-dumbed mouth are wide with wordless supplication
- are grateful for the least relief from pain

- like this sun on this debris after rain.


About the poet
Dennis Vincent Brutus was a South African social activist and prolific poet. He was jailed with Nelson Mandela in the 1960s in the fight against apartheid having their cells next to each other in Roben Island. He was born on 28th November 1924 and died on 26 December 2009.


Summary

   ''The Sun on this Rubble'' is a poem about the effect of nature on man. In fact,it deals with man's inhumanity to man. The humilations and massacres that a lot of  people go through because of their race.The poem shows the nature of apartheid and how people react to it.



Setting:  The poem is set in South Africa during the apartheid era. It is a poet's effort at capturing the reality of life in South Africa in the history of blacks and coloured.

Structure
The poem is a fourteen line poem. It starts with a statement and the conclusion is drawn from it. The relief granted the people by their task masters is seen like ''the sun on this rubble after rain''.Lines 2-6 shows how bruised and tortured the people are but the seventh line of the poem gives the information that there is hope even if it is temporary. It is this hope and relief that we notice in the remaining lines of the poem.

Themes

1. Racial Prejudice: In this poem we can see that the black population is subjected to all kinds of discrimination and violence because the blacks are considered inferior. Their agony is as a result of theircolour.
2. Oppression
3. Torture