Analysis of 'Before the Sun' by Charles Mungoshi

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Analysis of 'Before the Sun' by Charles Mungoshi This poem is about a boy chopping wood just before sunrise, and conveys his pleasure in both the physical activity and the closeness he feels to nature. At fourteen, he is on the threshold of maturity and begins to intuit an understanding of life and his place in the universe. The first stanza establishes a tranquil atmosphere in the image of the cloudless 'intense blue' sky. There is a suggestion that there is meaning to be found in its depths. There is also a sense of optimism in the 'promising' of early heat and afternoon rain, as if both are equally welcome. The metaphorical meaning of this image also introduces one of the themes of the poem, namely the child's development into an adult. The 'heat' could allude to the passion of youth while the 'heavy rain' suggests that later life may also bring its troubles. The second stanza describes the physical activity of wood-cutting. With the use of the present tense, we are brought into the immediacy of the moment, and the monosyllabic words in the first two lines and elsewhere in the poem effectively evoke the rhythmic chopping of the axe. This is also visually evoked by the shape of the verse, where some lines have only one or two words, like a log with a piece chopped out of it. The poet describes how the sheer force of the cutting causes the wood chips to follow a trajectory through the air. The isolation of the word 'arc' on a line of its own captures the moment when the chip has reached its highest point and seems to hang in the air for what seems like an age before descending to the ground. It lends an elegance to the activity which contrasts with the brute force of the chopping. It could also symbolise the stage the boy has reached, where he feels that he is at the height of his powers and life seems to stretch before him like an 'eternity' of
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