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    Childhood in Heidelberg by Andries Walter Olifant

    Uploaded by

    Ishani Das
    This poem describes the speaker's childhood home in Heidelberg that his family lived in for generations, and the forced removal of his family to a smaller house by the apartheid government. As a child, he saw the move as an adventure but as an adult looking back, he understands the unfairness of the removal. The contrast between his warm family home filled with memories and the stark new house is highlighted through vivid imagery and use of tense between the childhood experiences and adult reflection.

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    Childhood in Heidelberg by Andries Walter Olifant

    Uploaded by

    Ishani Das
    575 views4 pages
    This poem describes the speaker's childhood home in Heidelberg that his family lived in for generations, and the forced removal of his family to a smaller house by the apartheid government. As a child, he saw the move as an adventure but as an adult looking back, he understands the unfairness of the removal. The contrast between his warm family home filled with memories and the stark new house is highlighted through vivid imagery and use of tense between the childhood experiences and adult reflection.

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    This poem describes the speaker's childhood home in Heidelberg that his family lived in for generations, and the forced removal of his family to a smaller house by the apartheid government. As a child, he saw the move as an adventure but as an adult looking back, he understands the unfairness of the removal. The contrast between his warm family home filled with memories and the stark new house is highlighted through vivid imagery and use of tense between the childhood experiences and adult reflection.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    575 views4 pages

    Childhood in Heidelberg by Andries Walter Olifant

    Uploaded by

    Ishani Das
    This poem describes the speaker's childhood home in Heidelberg that his family lived in for generations, and the forced removal of his family to a smaller house by the apartheid government. As a child, he saw the move as an adventure but as an adult looking back, he understands the unfairness of the removal. The contrast between his warm family home filled with memories and the stark new house is highlighted through vivid imagery and use of tense between the childhood experiences and adult reflection.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    Childhood in Heidelberg by Andries Walter olifant

    ABOUT THE POET


    • Andries Walter Oliphant – born in 1955 in Heidelberg, Gauteng – is a literary
    scholar, writer, and cultural policy advisor.
    • He has worked in the South African Department of Arts and Culture.
    • His writings on South African literature, art and photography are published locally
    and internationally, and he has won awards for his fiction and non-fiction writing.

    About the poem


    • The speaker talks about the family home where his family have lived for
    generations. As a child he did not know they were being forcibly removed by
    the apartheid government, but as the adult looking back, he is able to
    interpret what happened.
    • The contrast between their warm home and the stark little house they are
    moved to is highlighted by strong imagery.
    • The use of the past tense makes the child's experience of his home
    especially vivid.
    • The first stanza and the last ten lines are in the past tense, which makes the
    reader realise that the speaker is remembering as an adult, with
    understanding and judgement, and not as a child in the present who
    experiences the move as an adventure.

    Extra information/background
    • Group Areas Act of 1950 formalised and rigorously implemented
    force removals on an enormous scale.
    • People of colour were removed from homes occupied for
    generations and relocated to areas designated by the Government.
    • The Group Areas Act was repealed in 1991.
    Form and structure
    Form
    • 5 stanzas, not regular rhyme or rhythm patterns.
    • Free verse

    Theme
    • The unfairness of forced removals, childhood innocence.
    Mood
    • Nostalgic, bitter

    Literary Devices
    Sound devices
    • Line 6-7: sibilance – repetition of the ‘s’
    ➢ adds to the sense of peace,
    ➢ creates idea of silence
    • Line 11: alliteration “giant gumtree” – emphasis on
    size
    • Line 31: alliteration “toy town” - emphasis on how
    small the houses are

    Simile
    • Lines 31-32: “houses lined up like tombstones in a
    graveyard”

    Tense
    • Past tense used to describe speaker’s childhood

    Diction
    • Line 13: “The stars are candles”
    • Lines 29-30 “journey through the sky”
    ➢ creates a sense of magic, explores the child’s
    imagination

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