Here is a link to the poem Captive by Francis Carey Slater.

It is terrible to feel sick far from home and loved ones, especially if you have not chosen to leave, but have been forced to due because of economic circumstances. This is what has happened in this poem.

The title of this poem, ‘Captive’, together with the extra information provided in the subtitle, ‘(Lament of a sick Xhosa mine-labourer in a compound hospital)’ give the reader a clear context. The speaker feels captive as he is sick in a mine-compound hospital. We also realise that this is a South African poem because the sick miner is Xhosa and he finds himself trapped as he has had to go and work in a mine.

The poet, Slater, was born in the Eastern Cape in the late 1800s. Although he was white and English speaking, he could speak isiXhosa and tried to express the feelings of a Xhosa man who has been forced to work in the gold mines. It can be seen as a criticism of the migrant labour system that the government put in place at that time. (Notice that this is when it is important to distinguish between the ‘speaker’ – the person speakng in the poem – and the poet. They are NOT the same person. The poet is not a Xhosa mineworker.)

This poem is a monologue because it is written from the speaker’s point of view as he tells the reader about his thoughts while he lies in a hospital bed. The poem is free verse and divided into three stanzas.

The poem starts with an immediate comparison. The title is ‘Captive’ and so the poet continues with the simile, ‘As a wild bird caught in a slip-knot snare’ to show that he is as trapped as a wild bird. The snare is a ‘slip-knot’. It doesn’t kill him as a normal trap might. It captures him carefully so that he can still work. He has been captured by the migrant labour system that requires him to earn money, but he isn’t physically harmed as he needs to work on the mines. The trap is almost invisible as it is made from ‘The plaited tail-hairs of a dun-coloured cow’. Dun is a dull sandy-grey colour, and this imagery introduces the reader to the rural world of cattle from which the speaker comes.

The speaker explains that he is also a captive, ‘tethered in the toils of fever’. He is sick and burning up with fever. ‘tethered’ means tied up but he isn’t literally tied up. He’s restricted by the trap of his fever so he can’t escape. The alliteration of the ‘t’ sound emphasises the harshness of feeling trapped. While he is lying in the hospital bed captured by his illness he listens ‘to the buzzing / Of flies that flutter vainly / Against cold, hard, deceiving window-panes:’. The flies are also trapped in the hospital, just as he is, and they can’t escape out to nature. The poet uses both onomatopoeia ‘buzzing’ and alliteration of the ‘f/v’ sound in these lines. Despite all the buzzing efforts of the flies to escape their attempts are useless. ‘Vainly’ means to do something with no result. The ‘f/v’ sound is soft and demonstrates the futile nature of the flies attempt to escape. While the speaker is trapped by his illness and his need to work on the mines, the flies are trapped ‘Against cold, hard, deceiving window-panes’. The windows are personified as ‘deceiving’ just as the speaker was deceived by a cold and hard system that deceived him into working.

He, too, wants to escape and then hurry ‘hasten / To my home’. He describes his home in an idealistic way, ‘shines in a valley afar’ which shows how much he longs to go home. He speaks about his home being the ‘brightest tooth in the jaws of distance’. In this metaphor he compares his home to a sparkling tooth in the mouth of somewhere far away.

The second stanza is divided into three different descriptions of his far-away home, each starting with the word ‘There’. His tone is nostalgic (longing) as he thinks about ‘the cows I love’ who are feeding in a beautiful, quiet ‘vale’ – valley. He personifies the cow’s shadows as lazy, ‘Their lazy shadows drink the sunlight’ as they seem to absorb the sunlight that shines on the grasses that are ‘rippling’. The cows are relaxed and happy, even their shadows are associated with sunlight. This contrast shows how everything is better at ‘home’, even shadows have light.

The speaker’s next image is the ‘girls and women’ who are singing at the same time as they ‘hoe’ or dig around ‘the mealies’. Mealies is a very South African word which once against places this poem in its context. He uses the imagery of sunlight again as he uses a simile to compare ‘Their swinging hoes’ to the ‘glitter / Of sunshine on water’.

The final image in this stanza is of the boys who herd cattle. The speaker describes them as ‘happy herdboys’. The alliteration of the ‘h’ sound emphasises a soft sound associated with happiness. They are watching the cattle but they are also ‘busy / moulding mimic cattle / From clay moist and yellow’. They are using the wet clay to create ‘mimic’ or imitation statues of cattle. They, too, are enjoying themselves.

These nostalgic recollections continue in the third stanza. He again begins with ‘There’ as he presents an image of a group of people sitting around a fire after the day is over. In the metaphor, ‘the sun has folded his wings that dazzle / And has sunken to his hidden nest beyond the hills’, the speaker compares the sun rays to the wings of a bird that has been folded as it sits in his nest. The sun’s ‘nest’ is ‘beyond the hills’ as it sinks below the horizon. It’s at this time, after sunset, that ‘All shall group together gaily’. They are cheerful and they metaphorically ‘chew the juicy cud of gathered day’. Notice the alliteration of the ‘c’ sounds combined with long vowel sounds to slow everything down. This reflects the relaxed state the villagers are in as they talk about the events of the day. This chat is compared to the slow and enjoyable way a cow chews the cud (its partially digested food).

This description of the villagers continues with the old folk, ‘greybeards’ who reminisce about ‘ancient battles’ and other long ago memories such as the hunters ‘who faced the lion’s thunder / And stalked the lightning leopard to his lair’. In these metaphors, the lion is compared to ‘thunder’ because it is strong and the leopard is compared to lightning because it is fast. Alliteration is used in ‘And stalked the lightning leopard to his lair’ which highlights the quiet ‘l’ sound which reflects the stalking of the brave hunters. The imagery is full of beauty and happiness which shows how the speaker remembers his home. He truly longs to go back.

In the final two lines of the poem the speaker abruptly turns this imagery on its head by using a dash and but ‘– But here I burn and shiver and listen’. The joyful and happy memories are dashed by his return to the present where he is trapped. He reminds the reader how his illness and migrant labour status keeps him ‘Captive’ as much as the flies are. He listens ‘to the buzzing / Of flies against deceiving window-panes.’ This is a repetition of similar lines in lines 4,5 and 6 of the first stanza. All his longing for home can’t change the fact that he is trapped in his circumstances.

This poem highlights the difficult and often dangerous circumstances that migrant labourers were forced into when they were required to pay cash for taxes. It was a brutal system that caused a great deal of destruction to the social fabric of village life in South Africa.