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.
