English: Poetry Commentary Haven’t I Danced the Big Dance? By Jack Mapanje :: English Literature

English metrical composition Commentary Havent I Danced the Big Dance? By Jack MapanjeThe poem Havent I jumpd the big bounce? by Jack Mapanje concernsthe traditional rain move of a high-flown tribesman. The modernrepresentation of his dance that he sees today provokes this nostalgicand excited response.The speaker, a formal tribal rain dancer, is thinking back to the durationwhen he used to dance this traditional dance, and looking at the impudentgeneration, dancing only for show, with sadness. The poem is dividedinto three stanzas, the two scratch line ones being dedicated to the past,when he was a dancer, and the last one to the present. The introductorystanza talks about the appearance he used to dance this traditional raindance, in a circle around the drums, with amulets, anklets and snakes.The twinkling stanza is insisting on the expertness he put into this dance,on how beloved he was. The third stanza brings us to the present time,now that his daughters are doing the dance, more than as an attraction fortourists than as a in truth tradition, and the speaker is non able to showthem the real meaning of the dance.This rain dance is depart of the speakers traditions, and he seems tobe very attached to it. He remembers the way they danced it in thearena to the sound of the big drums. They used to mounting away special clothesand use specific accessories, Skins wriggled with amuletsRattled with ankletsto wee the dance seem real and magical, at the same time. It had areal value for the speaker. However, this dance, in which he had putso much energy into when he was younger, How I quaked the earthHow my skin trembledHow my neck peakedhad non kept the same value. He talks about the way the novelgeneration, his daughters generation, dances the dance now, andemphasised the lack of authenticity it has. He says they just wearbabble-idea-men-masks, to make it look alike a traditional rain danceto tourists, while it is not really. He compares the mystic drums heused to dance to, with the slack drums his daughters dance to now.Finally, he lets us understand he would like to show the newgeneration how the big dance is supposed to be danced, what itsoriginal value. However, this helplessness is not the only emotion felt in this poem.At the beginning, the speaker reminisces on the old days, his glorydays, both with gaiety and excitement and with sadness and regret.As he describes the different characteristics of the dance and the way