Analysis of the Poem 'Touch' by Hugh Lewin

About the Poet

• Hugh Lewin (1939-2019): South African poet
  • Anti-Apartheid activist
  • Imprisoned as a political prisoner (1964-1971), spent 7 years in jail
  • Imprisoned for resisting the Apartheid regime

Title: 'Touch'

• Simple and singular, focuses on the word 'Touch'
• Connotations:
  • Positive: loving, caring, essential for human development (e.g., skin-to-skin contact with newborns)
  • Negative: invasive, unwanted, inhumane

Stanza 1

• Content:
  • The speaker dreams of being touched gently and slowly when he gets out of prison
  • Emphasis on learning how life feels again through positive touch
• Key Points:
  • Use of 'when' indicates optimism and hope
  • First-person pronoun 'I' adds sincerity and authenticity
  • Desperation for positive human connection emphasized by repetition of 'touch me'
  • 'I want' shows deep desire for positive touch
  • Enjambment and indent convey sincerity and honesty

Stanza 2

• Content:
  • Reflects on not being touched for seven years and feeling 'untouchable'
• Key Points:
  • Personal pronoun 'I' and conversational tone
  • Words like 'untouched,' 'out of touch,' and 'untouchable' emphasize isolation and dehumanization
  • 'Untouchable' refers to his low status in society as a prisoner

Stanza 3

• Content:
  • Describes being touched by 'things' rather than people, highlighting inhumane treatment
• Key Points:
  • Harsh C sounds indicate brutality
  • Counting negative experiences suggests deep scars and negative bias
  • 'Things' rather than people underline inhumane treatment

Stanza 4

• Content:
  • Lists the forms of abuse, focusing on fists and the violence endured
• Key Points:
  • 'One' and colon introduce the list of abuses
  • Diction of 'fists' suggests aggression and dehumanization
  • Repetition and use of transferred epithet ('fierce mad fists') emphasize brutality
  • Use of 'screaming' and pleading shows the intense suffering

Stanza 5

• Content:
  • Describes four years of daily searches and loss of privacy
• Key Points:
  • Terms like 'patting paws' and 'searching' indicate invasiveness and lack of privacy
  • Parenthesis (arms up, shoes off, legs apart) lists demeaning actions
  • 'Systematic, heavy, indifferent' describes the emotionless and invasive touch

Stanza 6

• Content:
  • Speaker expresses longing to be touched in a positive way again
  • Highlights the need for human connection and wanting to feel alive
• Key Points:
  • Sincere statement rejecting negative touch and pleading for positive human touch
  • Equates touch with feeling alive
  • Ends with a Proclamation of wanting to be positively touched when freed

Structure of the Poem

• Free Verse: No set rhyme scheme, free flow of thoughts
• Enjambment: Adds to the sense of sincerity and honesty
• Irony: Free writing vs. lack of personal freedom
• Short, Fragmented Lines: Unsettling and unfree feeling

Tone and Mood

• Tone: Desperate, sincere, pleading, heartfelt, honest
• Mood: Desperation, longing

Themes and Messages

• Human connection
• The importance of physical touch
• Types of touch: positive and negative
• Imprisonment and dehumanization
• Understanding what life truly means

Conclusion

• Emphasizes the significance of humane and positive touch

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