‘Ingrid Jonker' by Sally Bryer
Read the poem on page 244 of Seasons Come to Pass several times and then answer the questions that follow. On page 216 of Seasons Come to Pass you will find a short biography of the poet after which this poem is named. The inscription of Sally Bryer's poem also provides you
with some context as to why this poem might be named after this poet.
1. Based on this biographical information about Ingrid Jonker, what do you expect this poem to be about specifically?
2. Who is the ‘you' the speaker addresses in line 1 (and throughout the rest of the poem)?
3. Why do you think the speaker compares the persona to a ‘hungry bird' (line 2) and a ‘heron' (line 3)? What is the significance of comparing her to these types of birds? What is this type of comparison called?
4. Why do you think the speaker compares the persona in the poem to the Greek goddess Persephone? (Look at the footnote on page 244 of Seasons Come to Pass to assist you in answering this question.)
5. Ingrid Jonker wrote a poem called ‘The child who was shot dead by soldiers at Nyanga'(Seasons Come to Pass, p. 216). Is there a reference to Jonker's poem in this poem by Sally Bryer? Explain.
6. In the second stanza of the poem, the speaker refers to ‘we' (line 15) instead of just ‘you'. Read this stanza carefully, and explain what the people are busy with here.
7. In this poem, Bryer also makes a number of references to a well-known poem written by Ingrid Jonker, translated in English as ‘Escape' (‘Ontvlugting'). The final two lines of Jonker's poem ends with the words: ‘Washed out my body lies in weed and grass/ in all the places where we once did pass'. Do you see a link between these lines by Jonker, and the final two lines of Bryer's poem? Explain. (This is an example of an allusion. The terms ‘allusion' and ‘intertextuality' are explained on page 142 of Introduction to English Literary Studies.)