Allusiveness, Language and Imagery in Francis Moto's Gazing at The Setting Sun
Keywords:
Allusion, Moto, Imagery, Poetry, Political Change, Dictatorship, Kamuzu Banda
Abstract
Francis Moto is a Malawian writer who has published poetry both in vernacular (Chichewa) and in English. His poetry in English appears in a collection titled Gazing at the Setting Sun published in 1994, the year Malawians voted Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda and his Malawi Congress Party (MCP) out of power. Besides recording the suffering of Malawians during the autocratic leadership of the first post-independence president, Dr Banda, and remembering the author's childhood experiences, the poetry also celebrates Malawi's political transformation from one party rule to multiparty democracy in the early 1990s. In the poems, Moto also looks to the future with a sense of hope for a better society where human rights and the rule of law will be respected. This article analyses Moto's poems with the aim of celebrating his successes as a poet. This is done by focusing on his more successful poems in terms of style. It is argued in this article that the success of some of Moto's poems in Gazing at the Setting Sun depends on his allusions to and evocations of dictatorship and political change in Malawi. These evocations and allusions depend on his imagery and choice of words and expressions. In the analysis of the poems, close reading with a particular focus on style is done. The discussion is in two parts. The first part discusses Moto's poems that allude to the dictatorial reign of Dr Banda in Malawi and the second part provides a discussion of Moto's imagery in relation to his evocation of political change.References
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2. Chimombo, S. (2000). The Wrath of Napolo, WASI Publications, Zomba.
3. Chirambo, R.M. (2011). ‘Vipers who Minute our Twitches’: Psychopaths that Served Banda’s Malawian Dictatorship in Jack Mapanje’s Prison Poetry. Matatu: Journal for African Culture and Society, No. 39, pp. 133–161.
4. Chirambo, R.M. (2004). ‘Operation Bwezani: The Army, Political Change, and Dr. Banda’s Hegemony in Malawi.’ Nordic Journal of African Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 146–163.
5. Kerr, D. (2003). ‘Bare Truths,’ in Kerr, D. Tangled Tongues, Flambard, Hexham, p. 47.
6. Mapanje, J. (2011). And Crocodiles are Hungry at Night. Ayebia, Oxfordshire.
7. Mapanje, J. (1997). ‘Leaving No Traces of Censure.’ Index on Censorship, Vol. 26, No. 5, pp. 71–78.
8. Misinde, M. (2016). ‘The Sun as a Motif in Lupenga Mphande’s Crackle at Midnight and Francis Moto’s Gazing at the Setting Sun.’ Long Essay, University of Malawi, Chancellor College, Zomba.
9. Mkamanga, E. (2015). Suffering in Silence: Malawi Women’s 30 Year Dance with Dr Banda, 2nd ed., Montfort Media, Balaka.
10. Moto, F. (2008). The Context and Language of Jack Mapanje’s Poetry. CASAS, Cape Town.
11. Moto, F. (1994). Gazing at the Setting Sun. FEGS Publications, Zomba.
12. Mpasu, S. (1995). Political Prisoner 3/75. African Publishing Group, Harare.
13. Mthatiwa, S. (2018). ‘Bare Truths: Poeticising Poverty, Tyranny and the Quest for Freedom in David Kerr’s Tangled Tongues.’ Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern Africa, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 25–34.
14. Mthatiwa, S. (2012). ‘The “Rhetoric of Animality”: Animal Imagery, and Dr. Kamuzu Banda’s Dictatorship in the Poetry of Jack Mapanje.’ Nordic Journal of African Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 95–117.
15. Mthatiwa, S. (2009). ‘Bird Metaphors in Jack Mapanje’s The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison and Skipping Without Ropes.’ Alternation: Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of the Arts and Humanities in Southern Africa, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 13–34.
16. Nazombe, A. (1994/95). ‘Poetry for Our Times: Jack Mapanje’s The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison.’ Journal of Humanities, No. 9/8, pp. 87–113.
17. Newell, J. (1994). ‘A Difficult Year for Us in Many Respects: Pressure for Change and Government Reaction in Malawi in 1992: An Exercise in Contemporary African History.’ History Workshop, University of the Witwatersrand, viewed 10 May 2017,
18. ReadWriteThink (2003). ‘Defining Style,’ viewed 2 August 2019,
19. Wa Thiong’o, N. (1967). A Grain of Wheat. Oxford: Heinemann.
20. Zhukovska, V.V. (2010). English Stylistics: Fundamentals of Theory and Practice. Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University, Zhytomyr, Ukraine, viewed 1 May 2019,
Published
2020-09-30
How to Cite
Mthatiwa, S. (2020) “Allusiveness, Language and Imagery in Francis Moto’s Gazing at The Setting Sun”, Journal of Law and Social Sciences, 3(1), pp. 52-67. doi: https://doi.org/10.53974/unza.jlss.3.1.451.
Section
Social Sciences