The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka

The Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka

The "Telephone Conversation" by Wole Soyinka is a poem that's title is

very casual and straight forward. The poem's title shows the reader

that what they are meant to read is realistic and free flowing.

Like most poems there is a general theme that is carried on from start

to end. The "Telephone Conversation" has two main obvious themes;

these are racism and the lack of education and understanding that some

people may have. As the reader reads through the play they become

aware that the persona is African and therefore has a darker skin tone

than white skinned people.

The poet has given the persona as well as the landlady different forms

of speech. The persona appears to speak a little more formally than

the landlady and this could perhaps be to lack of education and

understanding towards the landlady or even that she feels the persona

is unclear of the English language. The persona tends to be more

formal and use more official ways of speaking,

"Down in my passport."

The speech of the landlady is written in capital letters. This could

have been done deliberately by the poet to emphasize how the landlady

imagines the persona to look like.

"ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?"

This illustrates to the reader that the landlady speaks slowly and

clearly to the persona as she may see the persona to be dumb and

unfamiliar with the words coming out of her mouth.

The poem's form is different to most other poems. The "Telephone

Conversation" has been written to make the reader feel more at ease

and relaxed when reading it. It is written in blank verse and

therefore there is no rhyme...

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...fect of sinking into the mind of the reader. It is

a poem which has a real meaning that is obvious to people and can help

them understand some of the problems that we face in today's society,

problems like racism. The subject of this poem is not one that is only

faced by one person. The poem can be used in a therapeutic way to

those who have experienced the same or similar discrimination in their

life. This poem helps others become more aware that they are not the

only people in the world with these thoughts and feelings and that

they have every right to speak up and express their feelings

defensively. Not only is the effect of this poem beneficial to those

who have been discriminated but also to those who are discriminating.

It allows them to open their eyes and see how they are affecting the

lives of innocent people.