Abstract

In South Africa, during the apartheid years, a question was repeatedly posed: Should South African poetry serve the public or the private good? Critics frequently pointed out how irrelevant lyrical poetry was in a time of struggle. They argued that lyrical poetry served white communities and excluded the cause of the oppressed black masses. For this group, it was senseless for white poets to write about beauty when fellow human beings were being killed under the apartheid system. In contrast, the black poets, spurred by the Black Consciousness Movement, wrote about suffering and freedom. This article focuses on the work of a postapartheid poet—Mxolisi Nyezwa—and examines two of his anthologies, “Song Trials” (2000) and “Malikhanye” (2011). The following questions are posed: Is this poetry for private good? How can an individual write poetry that stands for public good?