Victoria falls by William Plomer
WILLIAM PLOMER (1903- ), was born in Pietersburg, in the Northern Transvaal. He was educated at St. John's College (Johannesburg) and Rugby (England). He worked with Roy Campbell to produce a literary magazine called Voorslag. For a time he went to live in Japan and Greece, then settled in England. Apart from poetry he has also written novels, short stories and other literary works. He was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1963.
These are the Victoria Falls, whose noisy gushing
Attracts a noisy and a gushing crowd;
They rush from every country in the world to gape
At this cascade that is the usual shape.
Over the brink a lot of water leaps
By force of gravity, and many a tourist peeps
Into the gulf to .see a natural law fulfilled
And quantities of water that never stop being spilled.
These arc the Victoria Falls, the brightest trinket
In the globe-trotter's box of well-worn curios:
If they want water, good God, let them drink it!
If they want falls, we'll knock them down - here goes!
Why do you come, I wonder, all this weary way?
Is it because you like to smile and say,
'When we were at the Falls the other day . . .'.'
Is it because you like to see the spray?
Is it because you like to feel how far
It is from Boston to these falls of the Zambesi
Which must be falling still? Or do you feel uneasy
Until you know how like their photograph they are?
A female tourist raves: "We're keen as keen
On Africa" It's dusty - but, my dears, the sun!
I had a list of all the things we've seen,
I can't remember half the things we've done!
"The natives? Well, they're black, and live in such quaint kraals.
They're dusty, too! The great thing is to see the Falls,
The rainbows, and the Rain Forest, where we all wore mackintoshes,
Admired the ferns, and were so glad we'd all brought our galoshes.
(The water spirits leered at her, the lurking tokoloshes.)
"My dear, the spray! the noise! the view! the beautiful hotel!
Electric light in every room, and an electric bell!
So clean and comfortable, and they looked after us so well!"
Harsh and insistent, a guide-book on a gramophone.
She will not go away . . . Ach, I long to be alone
With a guide-book to the gentle Fails of Silence.
The Temple of Reticence on the Tranquil Islands,
Where no sound enters, whence no sound goes out,
And waterfalls
......Fall quietly
............As tea falls
..................From a spout.
Questions
Pre-reading Exercise
What tourist sites have members of your group visited?
Did you go alone or as part of an organised tour party?
What did you notice about the other tourists there?
- Quote two phrases used by Plomer to dismiss the falls in the first stanza.
- In what way are the tourists like the Falls?
- What is the tone of the third stanza?
- What reasons does the poet give why the tourists might go to the Falls?
- What is the attitude of the tourists towards the native population?
- What is the poet's attitude towards the tourists? Support your answer.
- What does the poet long for?
- What does he compare the Falls to in the last stanza?
- What effect does this metaphor have on you?
