Uploaded by Vanessa Matsukis

Poetry Touch by Hugh Lewin

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Touch
By Hugh Lewin
• Born in 1939 in Lydenburg –
Mpumalanga, under old
apartheid regime. Died in
2019.
• He studied at Rhodes
University- liberal
university.
Background of South African poet
Hugh Lewin
• He became a freedom
fighter and was found guilty
of sabotage against the
government. Hugh Lewin
was an anti-apartheid
activist in South Africa.
Hugh Lewin
• He spent 7 years in prison. He then went into exile- you are forced to flee.
• Hugh Lewin grew up during South Africa’s apartheid years. Upon leaving school, he became a
journalist, working for Pietermaritzburg’s Natal Witness, Drum and Golden City Post.
• His observation of the repressive South African regime eventually became too much for him and he
resorted to fighting vehemently to bring about its downfall. In 1965 he was sentenced to seven years
imprisonment for sabotage. The poem “Touch” is an attempt to capture his feelings during those
horrific years in Gaol.
• Upon being released from prison in 1971, Lewin chose to leave the country on what was known as a
“permanent departure permit”. In other words, he could never return to the place of his birth. He
would spend ten years in exile in London, followed by a further ten years in Zimbabwe.
• He returned to South Africa in 1992 upon the cessation of the apartheid system and thereupon became
the Director of the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism in Johannesburg.
• Lewin has written several books and poems, and he has been the recipient of several literary awards.
Structure and Format
• Structure: Free verse with one stanza of short, fragmented lines.
• Structure is important as it gives us the vessel - how the poem is delivered.
• Significance: Reinforces fragmentation while in prison- needs healing
touch.
• Structure is important as it gives us the vessel- how the poem is delivered.
Touch in prison makes him feel inhumane.
• The structure is free verse however, speaker is not free hence ironic.
• Tone: Plaintive - sounding sad and mournful.
• What comes to mind when touch comes to mind?
Important sensory experience. Important from birth for development.
Touch
The Poem by Hugh Lewin
When I get out
I’m going to ask someone
to touch me
very gently please
and slowly,
touch me
I want
to learn again
how life feels.
I’ve not been touched
for seven years
for seven years
I’ve been untouched
out of touch
and I’ve learnt
to know now
the meaning of
untouchable.
Untouched – not quite
I can count the things
that have touched me
One: fists
At the beginning
fierce mad fists
beating beating
till I remember
screaming
Don’t touch me
please don’t touch me.
Two: paws
The first four years of paws
every day
patting paws, searching
– arms up, shoes off
legs apart –
prodding paws, systematic
heavy, indifferent
probing away
all privacy.
I don’t want fists and paws
I want
to want to be touched
again
and to touch,
I want to feel alive
again
I want to say
when I get out
Here I am
please touch me.
Analysis
About his experience while being incarcerated. It was not easy as
he was Caucasian, liberal and against government.
Title
Touch
verb
come into or be in
contact with.
noun
an act of touching
someone or something.
A need for loving contact and connection that is disrupted with (ironically) harsh contact. Does not tell us whether it is
about positive touch or negative touch. In the poem the speaker wants loving touch but what he receives is brutal touch
from the prison guards which is violation. Guards hurt him and strip him of his humanity. Touch refers to a noun. Touch
can also be seen as T-ouch : ouch showing pain.
When – it is not up to the speaker
when they may leave, confirms the
fact that the speaker is
incarcerated(prison).
get out shows that he is
incarcerated. (Hugh Lewin was
in Pretoria central prison)
When I get out
I’m going to ask someone
Note of desperation. Touch
sounds so basic.
to touch me
very gently please
adverbs
Repetition “touch me”- reference to the
title.
Different kinds of touch (what he wants to
feel vs. what he actually feels) Emphasizes
how badly how he is searching for a kind
spirit.
Enjambment- slows down the poemdescribes the type of touch he wants to
experience slow and gentle.
Almost like stunted speech of someone who
has not interacted with many people.
Someone is so
general - almost
going to ask anyone.
and slowly,
touch me
I want
to learn again
how life feels.
Relates to touch
gently and slowly - indicate a tender
sensitive engagement which is
required from speaker(warmth and
kindness). The word please signifies
that he is asking nicely.
(learn again) - Conveys the sense
that the speaker has almost
forgotten what it feels like.
Living and existing difference.
Existing in the prison for daily
survival. He has a great need to fulfil.
I’ve not been touched
for seven years
for seven years
out of touch: being isolated from
others such as family and he is
unaware of what is happening in
other situations.
I’ve been untouched
out of touch
and I’ve learnt
Time being in prison
to know now
the meaning of
untouchable.
He elaborates that he has not
been touched for 7 years.
Implies no normal human
contact.
Repetition is emphasizing the
length of time.
untouched: it has not
affected the emotions of
him wanting a kind touch.
untouchable: unable to touch, dehumanized, rejected.
Figurative meaning= society dictates that you are avoided and
shunned. For e.g. The view of black people during apartheid
and times of slavery. Makes you feel like an animal or less than
human.
Hindu caste system: lower cannot ascend to certain positions
and can never marry of higher caste. It is a very sad state of
affairs. A person who is despised.
They are all negative.
punctuation the dash
shows the interruption of
the statement to
show it is not quite true.
Untouched – not quite
an object that one need
not, cannot, or does not
wish to give a specific
touched me
name to. Implying that it
is inhuman, not decent,
emphasizes the struggle
of prison life and the
Negative connotation: depict harm, pain harshness thereof.
I can count the things
that have
The first
‘thing’ he
refers to.
One: fists
At the beginning
fierce mad fists
His response to the beatings. He
endured abusive beatings meant to
injure him. Why is “screaming” on its
own? Emphasizes the loneliness and
isolation despite being “touched”.
Juxtaposition with first stanza“I want to” vs. “Don’t”
He even asked nicely.
beating beating
till I remember
screaming
Don’t touch me
please don’t touch me.
referring to the physical ill treatment that he
endured in prison associated with aggression
and harshness. Fists that beat him into
submission.
Enjambment and pace of lines- sound of
beating fist, also used to emphasize certain
words.
Repetition of beating- sound of fists hitting
skin-onomatopoeia.
encapsulates so much pain and
isolation. It is him against those
forces. He cannot defend himself.
Second
‘thing’ he
refers to
Two: paws
The first four years of paws
Paws suggest animal rather
than human attributes. It is
deliberate use of word. Paws
suggest ill treatment, it is
intrusive. Paws are demeaning.
The paws demoralize him.
every day
Patting paws- alliteration, soft sound
not as harsh as the beating.
To touch with the
flat of your hand
To poke or jab
They are not gentle,
rough and heavy
Critical examination/ deep scrutiny
powerful as it suggests
the repetitive indignity
he was meant to feel.
patting paws, searching
– arms up, shoes off
legs apart –
Done so often it
becomes routine
prodding paws, systematic
heavy, indifferent
probing away
all privacy.
He is talking about the bodily searches.
This is the lack of privacy in prison.
Indifferent- no feeling and no emotion
from person violating the privacy.
Juxtaposition
I don’t want fists and paws
Negative: resembles pain
He has had enough.
I want
Repetition- so dehumanised that
he battles to say he wants to be
touched.
There is a shift of emphasis- I.
He wants to feel alive same as line 8
and 9. Both statements show his
needs to feel human again.
Sense of dominance in meaning
coming through personal pronoun.
He wants control after being a
victim.
Note: Look at the placing of the
words- forced to move your eyes. You
are absorbing the impact of his reality.
It is an emotional reminder of human
interaction through the sense of
touch and to touch that he wants to
reciprocate.
to want to be touched
again
Positive: resembles warmth and kindness
and to touch,
I want to feel alive
again
I want to say
when I get out
Touch is a vital component of human life- he
felt dead/sub-human without it.
Repetition of again- he can
remember what it is like to
be touched.
Enjambment- stop start speech- lack of contact, unfamiliar with
communicating with people
Here I am
please touch me.
The tone is a dignified request. Touch will restore his
humanity. He is vulnerable due to a long time is
spent in prison. The prisoner loses his
Humanity, through lack of positive interaction with
others, all he experiences is negative interaction.
Prison is dehumanizing.
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