Nothing’s Changed

1. Nothing’s Changed By Tatamkhulu Afrika

2. Before you read the poem… • Divide a piece of paper into two by drawing a line from top to bottom. Label one side RICH & POWERFULand the other side POOR & POWERLESS. Work with a partner to fill each side with words / images that could be placed underneath these headings.

3. About the author • Tatamkhulu Afrika was born in Egypt to a Turkish mother and an Arab father.At the age of two he was orphaned and was fostered by white South Africans. When classification by race was introduced in South Africa he was classified as white because of his pale skin. He refused this classification and was eventually classified strangely enough as Malay. He was ordered to leave District Six after living there for two years when the apartheid regime reclassified the area as whites only. He fought and wrote against the regime. His name is the code name he was given as an undercover agent for the ANC.

4. More about the author • In this autobiographical poem the poet meditates on District Six, still a wasteland after being bulldozed by the apartheid government. He reflects that, even after the victory of democracy and the new anti-apartheid government, nothing has changed and racism and inequality still exist.

5. Structure & Language • On the page, the poem is set out in six stanzas, each of eight fairly short lines. This kind of regularity in the lay-out creates a sense of control: the poet is very clear about what he is feeling - no sudden flying into a rage. • But within that pattern the length of the sentences varies from a whole stanza to just two words.

6. Imagery • We can imagine how his hands burn to take revenge. It is a physical image - one we can almost feel ourselves. • The images in the poem - of the wasteland itself, the expensive restaurant, and the working man's cafe - are sharply contrasted. Which two images seem to you to highlight most strongly the inequalities which the poet observes?

7. Attitude, tone and ideas • Much of the meaning of a poem is conveyed by the attitude it expresses toward its subject matter. 'Attitude' can be thought of as a combination of the poet's tone of voice, and the ideas he or she is trying to get across to the reader. • A good way to decide on the tone of a poem is to work out how you would read it aloud. Should this poem be read: • Angrily, to show the poet's attitude to the fact that nothing has changed? • Or in a resigned way, as if he knows that it's almost too much to hope that things can change? • Select a short quotation to justify your choice.