The poetry of David Livingstone Phakamile Yali-Manisi.

242 Pages·2016·3.59 MB·English

THE POETRY OF DAVID LIVINGSTONE PHAKAMILE YALI-MANISI
- BY
Alfred Telele Bokoda
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Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the

Degree of Master oyf Arts.
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Supervisor: Prof S.C. Satyo
March 1994
The University of Cape Town has been given
the right to reproduce this ther.is In whole
or In part. Copyright is held by the author.
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The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No
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quotation from it or information derived from it is to be

published without full acknowledgeement of the source.
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commercial research purposes only.

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Published by the Universit y of Cape Town (UCT) in terms
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of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I wish to convey my deepest gratitude to:
• Professor S.C. Satya, my highly regarded supervisor, for his inspiration,
academic guidance, consistent encouragement and active interest.
• Mr D.L.P. Yali-Manisi, 11Vasuka yahlal'intaka yamahlathi!11 for cooperating fully
during our interviews and fruitful discussions on some of his poems.
• Mr M.A. Nyamende for kindly editing the manuscript. Ukwanda kwaliwa
ngumthakathi!.
• All the staff of the Department of African Languages for their generous
assistance in one way or another. Niyazazi ke nina!
• My wife, Azana and the children for their tolerance, their love, their unceasing
inspiration and understanding over the years in whi.ch they had to be content
with only half of me.
• My colleagues who often held the fort during my absence for their kind regard.
Above all I thank the Almighty God for the strength and the perseverance to complete
this task. Ndingaba/iba/anga nooNgoconde.
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ABSTRACT
Yali-Manisi, a Xhosa writer, performs and writes traditional praise poetry (izibongo) and
modern poems (isihobe) and can, therefore, be regarded as a bard because he also
performs his poetry. One can safely place him in the interphase as he combines
performance and writing. The influence of oral poems and other oral genres can be
perceived in his works as some of his works are a product of performances which
were recorded, transcribed and translated into English. The dissertation, among other
things, examines the way in which Yali-Manisi's work has been influenced by such
manipulations.
In this study we examine lzibongo Zeenkosi ZamaXhosa, lmfazwe kaMianjeni.
Yaphum'igqina and other individually recorded poems. His poetry is characterised by
an interaction between tradition and innovation. The impact of traditional poetic canon
on the poet, the way of exploiting traditional devices are the most outstanding
characteristics concerning his poetry. His optimistic disposition towards the future of
the South African political situation leaves one with the impression that he envisages
an end to the Black-White political dichotomy.
Yali-Manisi manipulates literary forms to articulate specific socio-political and cultural
attitudes which are dominant among the majority of South Africans. His writings
coincide with some of the major political changes in South Africa. In his recent works,
he is explicit and protests against Apartheid structures especially in Transkei and
Ciskei. In his earlier works he could not articulate the feelings of his people as an
imbongi because of the fear of censorship and themes of protests had to be handled
with extreme caution if one's manuscripts were to be published at all. He often alludes
to national oppression of the majority by the minority and instigates the former to be
politically conscious.
In some instances (e.g. in his historical poems) he seeks to correct inaccuracies which
are presented in history books. Thus showing the listener/reader another side of the
coin. He displays very keen interest and deep knowledge of natural phenomena such
as seasons of the year and the behaviour of animals during each period. Poems.
about historical figures are characterised by certain allusions which refer to realities
and events in the life of the 'praised one' or his forefathers. This helps to shed ljgh!__
on the present situation. Although fictitious adaptations of genuine events have been
done, an element of reality is still prevalent.
The concept of ostranenie is realised in Yali-Manisi's poetry through the employment
of compound expressions, archaic expressions and the astute use of well-known
poetic techniques such as symbols, metaphors, similes and repetition that characterise
his poetry. He demonstrates the interdependence between the oral and written
literature. We get various views on humanity to reconcile the Christian and traditional
African views about God and death. It is these views to my mind that make him one
of the best African writers of our time.
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In an attempt to examine Yali-Manisi's background, we have included a short
biography which helps to demonstrate how he has developed to be the mature
imbongi he is today. The African socio-cultural background influences his poetry
(Chapter 1).
Much attention is also paid to the influence of oral literature on his poetry, (Chapter 2)
where he draws much from traditional literature genres like folktales, myths and
riddles. From the mission school background we find the Bible constantly used as a
source of reference. Recording, transcription and translation influences the original
performance of an oral poet. This is also investigated.
Chapter Three represents an attempt to examine themes. He writes poems on nature,
philosophical poems, poems in memory of black dignitaries, historical figures,
historical events and committed poetry. The latter is examined against the
background/conditions under which South African writers have to write. He does not
only protest against political issues but also religious, moral and cultural ones. He
also gives vivid impressions of the view of both the Christian and traditional African
views about death.
Form, the much debated and controversial point in Nguni languages, is discussed in
Chapter Four. All kinds of repetition, including rhythm and rhyme, are scrutinised,
bearing in mind both the physical and mental form.
Chapter Five represents an attempt to identify Yali-Manisi's poetic style. Imagery
symbolism and various figures of speech have been used. We try to ascertain their
value and effectiveness in context. Through his abundant use of rural vocabulary Yali
Manisi manages to produce good traditional and modern poems.
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3.6 COMMITTED POETRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
3.6.0 INTRODUCTION . ·. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
3.3.6.1 Protest: A Brief Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
3.6.2 SOCIAL COMMITMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3.6.3 POLITICAL COMMITMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
3.6.4 YALI-MANISI'S WEAPONS OF PROTEST ............ 138
3.6.4.0 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
3.6.4.1 Words of Protest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
3.6.4.2 Lines that are Often Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
3.6.5 CONCLUSION ......... : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
3.7 THE POET'S VIEWS ABOUT DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
3.7.0 INTRODUCTION ............................... 142
3.7.1 FEATURES OF DEATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
3.7.2 DEATH AND THE HEREAFTER .................... 148
3.7.3 SOME COMMON FEATURES IN HIS POEMS ABOUT
DEATH ...................................... 153
3.7.4 CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Chapter Four
FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
4.0 INTRODUCTION ........... ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
4.1 THE LINE AND VERSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
4.2 RHYTHM . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
4.3.0 RHYME .........· . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
4.3.1 INITIAL RHYME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
4.3.2 END RHYME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
4.4. PARALLELISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
4.4.1 LINKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
4.4. 1. 1. Parallelism by Means of Initial Linking . . . . . 169
4.4.1.2 Parallelism by Means of Final Linking . . . . . 170
4.4.1.3 Parallelism by Means of Oblique Linking . . . 171
4.4.1 .4 Parallelism by Means of Cross Linking . . . . 172
4.5. REFRAINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
4.6.0 THE STANZA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
4.6.1 REGULAR STANZAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
4.6.2 IRREGULAR STANZAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
4.6.3 UNDIVIDED POEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
4.6.4 SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Chapter Five
STYLE IN YALI-MANISI'S POETRY .....••••..•. ; •...•.•...••.••, . . • • • . • . 179
5.1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
5.2 THE WORD (LANGUAGE USAGE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
5.2.1 . NEOLOGISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
5.2.2 USE OF IDEOPHONES ............ ·. . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
5.3 IMAGERY ...............................· . . . . . . .. . . . 188
5.3.1. IMAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................... .
ABSTRACT -.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
Chapter One
INTRODUCTION ••..•.•.•.......•........... ,. . • • . . • . • . . • . • . • • • . . • . . 1
1.0 PREAMBLE .................................... : . . . . 1
1.1 THE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE POET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 YALI-MANISI AS A BARD AND POET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.3 THE SCOPE OF THIS WORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.4 CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter Two
TRADITIONAL LITERATURE AS ORAL LITERATURE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 15
2.1 TRACES OF TRADITIONAL GENRES IN HIS WORK . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.1 FOLKTALES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.1.2 MYTHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.1.3 RIDDLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.2 THE BIBLE AND HYMNS AS SOURCES OF REFERENCE . . . . . . 31
2.2.1 HYMNS ................... .' .................. 32
2.2.2 THE BIBLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.3 THE INFLUENCE OF RECORDING AND TRANSLATION ON
THE PERFORMANCE OF A BARD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.3.1 RECORDING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.3.2 TRANSLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.4 SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter Three
THEMES ON WHICH HE WRITES . . . • • • . • . . . . . . . . . . . • . . • . • . . . . • . • . • . . . 49
3.0 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
ftO"
3.1 ON NATURE .............................. · · · · · · · · ·
®
3.2 · PHILOSOPHICAL POEMS .......................... ·. ...
3.3. IN MEMORY OF FORMER EDUCATIONISTS AND OTHER
WRITERS .......................................... 68
3.4 HISTORICAL EVENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3.5 HISTORICAL FIGURES (IZIBONGO ZEENKOSI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
3.5.0 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
3.5.1. UNGOTYA UGQR. K.D. MATANZIMA (A Daliwonga!) . . . . . 93
3.5.2. UN KOSI LENNOX LESLIE SEBE (Aa Ngweyesizwe!) . . . . 102
3.5.3 UKUMKANI UXOLILIZWE SIGCAWU (Aa! Xolilizwe!!)
lzibongo zeenkosi p.94 ........................ ·. . 10 7
3.5.4 UNKOSI JUSTICE MABANDLA (Aa! Jongilizwe!) . . . . . . . 113
3.5.5 CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
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3.6 COMMITTED POETRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
3.6.0 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
3.3.6.1 Protest: A Brief Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
3.6.2 SOCIAL COMMITMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3.6.3 POLITICAL COMMITMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
3.6.4 YALI-MANISI'S WEAPONS OF PROTEST . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
3.6.4.0 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
3.6.4.1 Words of Protest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
3.6.4.2 Lines that are Often Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
3.6.5 CONCLUSION ........... , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
3.7 THE POET'S VIEWS ABOUT DEATH ..................... 142
3.7.0 INTRODUCTION ............................... 142
3.7.1 FEATURES OF DEATH ....................... .'.. 142
3.7.2 DEATH AND THE HEREAFTER .................... 148
3.7.3 SOME COMMON FEATURES IN HIS POEMS ABOUT
DEATH ...................................... 153
3.7.4 CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Chapter Four
FORM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
4.0 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
4.1 THE LINE AND VERSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
4.2 RHYTHM· ........................................... 159
4.3.0 RHYME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
4.3.1 INITIAL RHYME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
4.3.2 END RHYME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
4.4. PARALLELISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
4.4.1 LINKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
4.4.1 .1 . Parallelism by Means of Initial Linking . . . . . 169
4.4.1.2 Parallelism by Means of Final Linking . . . . . 170
4.4.1.3 Parallelism by Means of Oblique Linking . . . 171
4.4.1.4 Parallelism by Means of Cross Linking . . . . 172
4.5. REFRAINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
4.6.0 THE STANZA ....... :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
4.6.1 REGULAR STANZAS ............................ 175
4.6.2 IRREGULAR STANZAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
4.6.3 UNDIVIDED POEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
4.6.4 SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Chapter Five
STYLE IN YALI-MANISI'S POETRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
5.1 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
5.2 THE WORD (LANGUAGE USAGE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
5.2.1. NEOLOGISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
5.2.2 USE OF ldeophoneS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
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5.3 IMAGERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
5.3.1. IMAGES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
5.3.2 FIGURATIVE LANG-UAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
5.3.2.1 Usage of Metaphors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
5.3.2.2 Uses of Similes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
5.3.2.3 Personification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
5.3.2.4 Words Associated with _Human Beings . . . . 197
5.3.2.5 He gives Human Attributes to Animals . . . . . 197
5.3.2.6 Inanimate Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
5.3.2. 7 More on Inanimate Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
5.3.3 SYMBOLISM .................- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
5.3.3.1 Limited Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . ·. ; . . . . .. · 201
5.3.3.2 Traditional Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
5.3.3.3 Universal Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
5.4 IDIOMS AND PROVERBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
5.4.1 THE USAGE OF IDIOMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
5.4.2 THE USAGE OF PROVERBS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
5.5 SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Chapter Six
GENERAL CONCLUSION • • . . • . • . . • . . • • . . . • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • • • . • • . • • • 213
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............. ; . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217