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The poet considers the harshness of the Cape Colony: its bleak mountains, its gales and shipwrecks, and
its slavery and other civil crimes. He nevertheless concludes that there are some strong links which hold
him to the Cape, links of family and friends.
ABOUT THE POET
Although he only spent six years in South Africa, Thomas Pringle nevertheless has the reputation for being
the father of South African poetry because he was the first successful English speaking poet and author
to describe this country.
He was born in 1789 in Blakelaw in Scotland and was educated at Kelso Grammar School before
continuing to the University of Edinburgh. It was there that he developed his love for writing which would
guide his future life.
He began work as a clerk before taking up a career in the editing of journals and newspapers. During this
time he also developed his talent for writing poetry. When one of his poems caught the attention of the
great novelist, Sir Walter Scott, a friendship sprang up between the two men.
Conditions were harsh in the United Kingdom at that time as the country struggled under a recession
following the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars. When Pringle saw an offer for a free passage to the
Eastern Cape as part of what became known as the 1820 Settlers, he decided to apply.
Although the settlers were meant to be frontier farmers, Pringle soon saw an opportunity to continue his
career in newspapers. He therefore settled amongst the growing urban community at Graham's Town
where he founded South Africa's first newspaper, The Graham's Town Journal.
He was soon lured by the greater opportunities offered in Cape Town, and there he founded another
newspaper called The South African Commercial Advertiser. His continual criticism of Governor
Lord Charles Somerset, however, saw his newspapers quickly suppressed, thus starting the first battle
for freedom of the press in South Africa.
In the meantime, with no prospect of earning an income in Cape Town, Pringle returned to England. He
settled in London where an article he had written while at the Cape caught the eye of the Anti-Slave
Society who appointed him as their secretary. It was then that he published much of his poetry and
sketches which he had drafted while in South Africa.
Pringle did not see the eventual liberation of slavery. He died of TB in 1834. He was only 45 years of age.
Although he was buried in Bunhill Fields near London, his bones were exhumed in 1970 and re-buried at
the Pringle Family Church at Eildon in the Baviaan's River Valley in the Eastern Cape.
He had only spent six years in South Africa and has been described as a man "of distinctly limited ability
who died a material failure". He has nevertheless inspired admiration for what he managed to achieve.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"And though along thy coasts with grief I mark
The servile and the slave, and him who wails
An exile's lot - and blush to hear thy tales
Of sin and sorrow and oppression stark."
- What point is the poet making about the Cape in these lines? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet witnessed the Cape in the 1820s at a time when the British Empire was moving away from
slavery. There were no slaves in England or Scotland, and so it must have been a shock to the poet
when he arrived in Cape Town to find servants in shackles. Indeed, it disturbed him so much that he
took to writing articles for newspapers in which he condemned slavery and, once back in England, he took
a leading role in ending this form of brutality.
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- Why does the poet "blush to hear tales of sin and sorrow and oppression stark"? (4)
[Need help?]
Slavery was an extremely savage form of oppression. The slaves had no rights and had to accept
whatever oppression their slave masters inflicted on them. There were stories of how a slave mistress
would disfigure her female slave by slicing off her nose if she was pretty and might be sexually attractive
to the woman's husband. The slave master in turn might rape any female slave.
For a person such as the poet who had only heard of slaves, it must indeed have come as a shock to
witness such brutality - the ultimate sin of one human against another. Stark sorrow indeed.
Although isn't his word "blush" somewhat gentle? Why would he "blush". Anger, perhaps, but "blush"?
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"Yet, spite of physical and moral ill,
And after all I've seen and suffered here,
There are strong links that bind me to thee still,
And render even thy rocks and deserts dear."
- Rewrite "spite of physical and moral ill" in your own words so as to make the meaning
clear. (4)
[Need help?]
What about "Despite the gloomy landscape and the gale-force winds, and despite the moral decline of
society in that they accepted slavery . . ."
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- When the poet speaks of "And after all I've suffered here", to what would he have been
referring? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet had come to South Africa from the United Kingdom where such things as freedom of the press
were already taken for granted. Since he had been a newspaper man in Scotland, he decided to dedicate
himself to that career in both Grahamstown and Cape Town. He also started a school to help children
be educated.
In both these ventures, however, he found himself at odds with the Governor. Lord Charles Somerset was
a military man who believed in barking orders and being obeyed. When Thomas Pringle began to criticise
his actions in the press, the Governor's response was simply to close down the newspaper, and also to
close down his school.
Although this initiated a fight for freedom of the press in the Cape Colony, the poet was nevertheless out
of work and therefore reduced to penury. It must have been a very stressful time for him, eventually
causing him to return to London where he would have fewer restrictions on what he wrote.
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- When the poet says "And render even thy rocks and deserts dear", what does he
mean? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is saying that thoughts of his beloved family and friends would make living in the Cape
completely worthwhile. Although he does exaggerate somewhat. He probably had never been far enough
north to witness the desert. Perhaps he is referring to the Great Karoo as a desert. By hey, the Great
Karoo is actually very beautiful and not a desert at all. "The man ain't got no culture! But it's all right, Ma!"
(Who said that?)
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"Here dwell kind hearts which time nor place can chill -
Loved Kindred and congenial Friends sincere."
- When the poet says "which time nor place can chill", he is omitting an essential word for the sake of
having only ten syllables in this line. What word has been omitted? (2)
[Need help?]
The line should read "which NEITHER time nor place can chill".
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- What reference is he making to the Cape in these lines? (4)
[Need help?]
The poet is in fact making a desperate criticism of the Cape. The place, he says, is so despicable
because of its weather and its slavery, that it is hardly worth living there. However, he also says that there
are some people who somehow have managed to remain honest human beings despite this.
The poet must have been a very bitter man indeed - although his bitterness is perfectly understandable.
Or what do you think?
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- Why has the poet used the upper case for "Kindred" and "Friends"? (4)
[Need help?]
The upper case turns ordinary nouns into PROPER NOUNS. By doing so, the poet draws special
attention to these words, and makes these people very important indeed.
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- The poem "Cape of Storms" was written in 1825. What word in these lines tells us that the poet was
still in Cape Town when he penned it? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet says "Here dwell kind hearts". If he were already back in London, he would have said,
"There dwell kind hearts".
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If this were not one of the very first English poems written in South Africa, it would not be worth studying.
Would you agree? (10)
[Need help?]
This is of course somewhat of a harsh criticism and, in answering such a question, it is always best to take
the "truth on both sides" approach.
Thomas Pringle is NOT a good poet. That is true. Indeed, there are several weaknesses in this piece
which make him appear to be very schoolboyish. And it's also not a very accurate picture of Cape Town.
True, in winter Cape Town is somewhat of a bleak place but it is really spectacular in summer. One
wonders why the poet couldn't reflect that part of it?
On the other hand, the poet does portray a very bleak opinion of Cape Town society where slavery and
other forms of brutality were rampant. It forced the poet to take up the struggle against slavery, a struggle
which was not ended in the poet's own lifetime.
But there was more than just slavery. Even the "free" servants were themselves still almost slaves, and
it would take another ten years before laws were enacted to set that right - laws by the way which triggered
the Great Trek because the Voortrekkers largely believed in slavery and oppression of the work force.
The poem is therefore an interesting social comment even if one finds the poet lacking in his sense of
natural beauty.
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