Boy on a Swing by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali poem analysis

Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali, (born 1940, Vryheid, Natal, South Africa), South African poet who wrote in English and Zulu and whose work drew deeply upon the immediate experience of life in the Johannesburg township of Soweto.

Mtshali worked as a messenger before his first collection of poems, Sounds of a Cowhide Drum (1971), won the Olive Schreiner Prize for 1974. After studying in the United States at the University of Iowa and Columbia University (New York), Mtshali returned to South Africa in 1979 and taught at a private school in Soweto. His second volume of poems, Fireflames (1980), was banned by the South African government because it was dedicated to the schoolchildren of Soweto, an obvious reference to the uprising there in 1976. Mtshali later edited the nonfiction work Give Us a Break: Diaries of a Group of Soweto Children (1988).

Boy on a Swing by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

Slowly he moves
to and fro, to and fro,
then faster and faster
he swishes up and down.

His blue shirt
billows in the breeze like a tattered kite

The world whirls by:
east becomes west,
north turns to south;
the four cardinal points
meet in his head.

Mother! Where did I come from?
When will I wear long trousers?
Why was my father jailed?

Also read: Analysis, literary devices in Just a passerby by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

Analysis of Boy on a Swing

The poem, “Boy on a Swing by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali,” is a graphic account of a young boy having a swing. A swing is made of strong ropes or chains hanging on iron stands with a sitting platform. It is usually meant for children to exercise, recreate themselves and have fun. Thus in the first stanza of the poem, the action begins gently and mildly and gradually gathers momentum. This account is illustrated thus:

“Slowly he moves
to and fro, to and fro,
then faster and faster.”

As the boy’s swinging increases, the breeze “billows his blue shirt.” Gradually the tempo continues to increase and the boy’s world seems to be moving rapidly. This fast movement tends to merge or fuse the four cardinal points; east, west, north and south in the boy’s head.

“The world whirls by:
east becomes west,
north turns to south;
the four cardinal points
meet in his head.“

The last stanza of the poem contains series of rhetorical questions begging for answers. The boy, in this stanza, demands to know about his paternity and/ or his root. He asks:

“Where did I come from?”

This is indeed pathetic as the absence of the father leaves the burden of parenthood on the shoulders of the mother alone. To this effect, the boy is obviously denied certain necessities of life, which is why he seeks:

“When will I wear long trousers?“

The absence of a father is bringing pain to the family. His father seems to be a victim of apartheid which was the policy trust of the white minority government in South Africa up till 1990. The reason for his father’s imprisonment is uncertain thus:

“Why was my father jailed?“