Physical form in Selected Siswati Poetry: A Linear Approach

Abstract

The objectives of this article are to identify and discuss the repetition techniques that are depicting physical form in selected Siswati poetry. These structural techniques entail parallelism, linking, refrain and rhyme. They are integral parts of Siswati poetry that give literary taste, sense of appreciation, rhythmical and rhyming effects. They all produce rhythm that refers to a patterning of the sounds of words in a poem. Rhythm imposes a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables which create a strong effect and hold attention. It is enforced by using pauses, stops at the end of the lines, enjambment, the sounds of words which are soft or harsh, monosyllabic or polysyllabic. When there is rhythm in a poem, it ought to help to suggest the meaning and to create a certain mood in keeping with the theme. We could talk of a fast rhythm which might probably convey a sense of urgency and determination. A slow rhythm might suggest sadness, tiredness and long cycles. The poet’s tone, which will be recognized by using certain words helps in determining this. The repetition techniques depict the lexical organization, (the word stem, word or word group repletion); the syntactic organization, (the repetition of lines, parts of lines or syntactical parallelism) and semantic organization (the use of semantic relations and coherence). A linear approach occurs either vertically or horizontally to display a special schematic pattern.