Change is one of the world's most terrifying and concurrently inevitable phenomena. It occurs in all aspects of life, concrete or abstract, and spans the entire globe in all walks of life. Despite its extreme abundance, a huge portion of the world fears change more than anything else, for it is all-encompassing. But the inevitability of change needs to be embraced before any growth can happen, and the world can advance as it always has. The need for change is a major theme in Chris Magadza's poem "Old Tree," and it is a wonderful poem indeed. It's simple and short, yet complex and weighted at the same time. I am very happy I chose this poem to analyze in detail, and it was a very good way to transition myself from the world of facts to the world of poetry, with all its intricacies and perplexities. This is because it is very historically relevant, and the historical knowledge is pivotal to the underlying meaning that can only be seen once the literal has been left behind.
The history of his country is especially inherent in Magadza's poetry. Magadza is from Zimbabwe, but when he was born in 1939, his country went by the name of Rhodesia, after the famous (or infamous) British explorer and colonizer Cecil Rhodes. The British influence in Rhodesia was tremendous, and occupied the lives of every inhabitant of South Central Africa, foreign and domestic. The indigenous Africans, who had been free for thousands of years, were oppressed and discriminated based on convoluted European ideas of Western superiority. But as the ideas of the world (freedom, natural rights, equality, nationalism) spread to every corner of the world and took ample hold, the self-aware took arms against the British. In Magadza's case, this was through poetry. I looked at "Old Tree" through a historical lens, and analyzed it accordingly. "You who heard/The savage angry cry/Of angel turned brute" (Magadza 30-32). These lines entail the majesty of life and angelic manner of humans that is corrupted by greed and false claims of innate superiority. This was exemplified very well during the Scramble for Africa, and Magadza witnessed all the repercussions of this unwanted colonialism first- or maybe second-hand. One of the most hard-hitting excerpts of the poem is: "Seen the slaughter of/Father by son,/The rape of sister by brother,/The innocence of infancy/starve to laughing demon" (Magadza 33-37). This is packed with juicy references, metaphors, and analogies, and so must be broken down slowly and meticulously. The slaughter of father by son and the rape of sister by brother are both pretty horrible occurrences. This is exactly the point, of course, as this would be totally immoral under any circumstances. Magadza tries to get across the message of equality here, and puts Africans on the same level through these lines. Humans are all family. Fathers, brothers, sons, and sisters, no matter what race, are the same, and should be treated equally because of it. Instead, Magadza's country is in political turmoil and it is completely under the thumb of the British superpower. Continuing, the innocence of infancy is starving while a demon laughs. As Africa had been free for such a long time, they did not adopt the West's innovations as rapidly. These lines could allude to the new weapons brought in by the British that serve as the impetus for more fighting and death. Britain is the laughing demon, then, and it is then clear to see how Magadaza, and most Africans felt about the occupation by the British of their homeland.
To say the least I learned a lot during my research of this poem. I learned among many other things how to really break down a complex poem and scrutinize it for all I'm worth. Poetry can be so intricate, so beautiful, so befuddling, and so it behooves me very much to be able to break it down and decipher all the miscellaneous and elusive themes, symbols, and meanings. Another testament to the everlasting nature of change, my views of this poem deviate greatly from start to finish, as I learned more and more about the poem, its author, and the circumstances under which it was written. For example, when I first
read the lines mentioned before, "Seen the slaughter of/Father by son,/The rape of sister by brother,/The innocence of infancy/starve to laughing demon" (Magadza 33-37), I thought of conflicts within Zimbabwe, as I really, ashamedly, had the notion that Africans were always fighting with each other, incapable of "civilizing their societies like the West has. But I learned that Magadza is a very learned man with a PhD in ecology while he still manages to analyze the conflicts with the world and especially in his home country. This disproved my original theory and I revised it as I continued with my research. Another change in analysis was with the title figure, the Old Tree. The first time I read the poem, I paid very little attention to the tree itself, even though it is the title. My mom in our interview even said, "What is the significance of the Old Tree?" This definitely needs some deep thought and we just weren't there yet. After more time spent with the poem, a couple lines jumped out. "Old tree/ Giant towering/ above the forest" (Magadza 1-3). The tree became a deity after pondering these lines. It is the omniscient being that sees everything from its lofty position, above the forest. Unfortunately, it can't do anything to stop some of the terrible things that is happening, except offer hope. "And every blessing summer/ Adorned in new blossom / More life / You bring on earth" (Magadza 44-47). My first impression was that this speaks to the everlasting nature of his African culture by expressing how the tree has remained standing through all of this, and will continue to stand forever. But after further analysis, my understanding of the tree was taken even further. I grew to think that these lines also go with the dogma, Life finds a way. Life finds a way to survive in "Old Tree," and every summer more blossoms, more hope, bloom and flourish. Magadza's countrymen are life, and they will find a way, and they will keep coming back with new hope, until they get what is right. This is very powerful to me and this struggle with oppression speaks to me in a way only poetry can.
This process of finding, reading, working, and finally understanding was a fruitful one. All the steps I went through to try to reach that last step of understanding helped me greatly. To understand this poem, one would need to have all the pieces together, and I believe I rounded them all up during this project. The background knowledge was pivotal in this situation, and changed my view of the poem greatly. Overall, it was about the need for equality between races, which does not mean colonizing in places against the native people's wishes. After several readings and rereadings, it was very helpful to get a second opinion, and this was accomplished through the interview portion. Having a second opinion helps very much, as there is no correct way to interpret a poem. This allowed me to synthesize my thoughts with another's and raise my understanding of the poem to new heights. On a broader scale, I learned how to interpret and understand poetry altogether. This process can be applied to almost any poem, so long as there is plenty of time to undergo it, as the process does indeed take time. I now feel enormously more confident when it comes to understanding poetry and this will stay with me for all of my foreseeable future.
The theme of my research and this poem is change, as it has been made clear now. As I went through the project, my views changed, my ideas changed, my confidence transformed, and my mind expanded its horizons with ever-more knowledge. "Old Tree" is a wonderful and beautiful poem largely about the need for change, and how it will eventually happen. It showed me the persistence of life to overcome its boundaries. For example, the blossoms in the poem have much more meaning to Africans than is stated in the poem. Zimbabwe is located in "the bush" climate zone of Africa, and here, the soil has a nutrient deficiency and there is not much rain to sustain growth. Yet the African daisy still grows, and its colors are so vibrant that they light up the entire, gray-and-brown region. This poem has taught me resilience, perseverance, and confidence, and it has enlightened me in a way only poetry can. There is no description that accurately describes the effect of poetry on its readers. It is spiritual. The words, mood, rhythm all evoke certain emotions that are not felt through simple prose or conversation. It is a special feeing and poetry, understanding poetry, brings it on. Through this project I, albeit having run into some brick walls of befuddlement early on, have learned to adequately understand a complex poem and I will take this skill through my entire life.
"Genuine poetry can communicate before it's understood" -- T.S. Eliot
"To read a poem is to hear it with our eyes; to hear it is to se it with our ears" -- Octavio Paz
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