Critically Analyse the Poem "rock of Zimbabwe" by Musaemura Zimunya

Rock of Zimbabwe entails to the myths that come with the building of  Great Zimbabwe  one rock after the other one wall inside the another . In this presentation the writer seeks to define the key terms which are tone , mood and intention and then later on critically analyse the poem “ Rock of Zimbabwe “ by Musaemura Zimunya.

Tone is the attitude of a writer toward a subject or an audience .Tone is generally conveyed through the choice of words or the view point of a writer on a particular subject (Duncan 1998). Tone reveals the poets attitudes and feelings , in the styleof language and expression of thought used to be developed the subject .Ngara (1991) concurs that poetry has the power to evoke emotions and feeling in the readers and audience. The emotions and feelings help establish a certain atmosphere or mood. He further on asserts that tone is related to mood but tends to be associated with voice

The persona in the poem ‘ rock of Zimbabwe “ is calm , warning its son to guard jealously their heritage before its too late. It also maps out both individual and national identities through stone that was used to build the Great Zimbabwe. It’s urging the son to be firm not to be moved by anything for their heritage needs to eternal against yourself.

 Here the voice is conscientizing the son to safe guard their heritage . The  father is giving advice to the to the son this is evident when the poet  says in the first stanza  “ Son, approach time like the stone capturing time – dead telescoping the zero .......”.  The son is being  likened to a stone because a stone is not moved by change of weather or circumstances.

 According to Merrian –Webster  heritage is something that comes or belong to one by reasons of birth .Heritage can also refer to practices or characteristics that are passed down through the years from one generation to the next. Taking a closer look at how he introduces the first letter in the poem “ son! “ this clearly brings out the calamity in the voice.

 The use of a  comma  creates a neutral scenario were the atmosphere is rather relaxed and a calm voice can be heard signifying people to safeguard their heritage before it’s too late. This is evocatively revealed revealed in such lines” .....Telescoping the zero and Alpha of time before the hands of clock do so “ and hold iron ,sand and gold or air and water . These lines suggest that although the city of Great Zimbabwe is ancient it contains to mediate between past and blacks identities .The poet uses imagery language as telescope is making something shorter within a period of time.

The persona makes use of minerals like iron , sand and gold air and water with the dumb silence of confidence and the bird......” The  use of these natural resources makes it clear and brings out the themes which are birthright and heritage because they are precious and valuable which are inherited naturally and we  the audience have to preserve and protect their minerals jealously. Zimunya re – inscribes the pre colonial past and the cultural spaces it represents in order to construct alternative identities for blacks than those that they were accorded in colonial Rhodesia and Zimbabwe.

From this perspective it is also possible to regard the addressee in this poem . Great Zimbabwe is therefore imaged as a site of memories of creativity and above all a site of rebellion against constructions of it in colonial discourse as “ruins” .Its greatness or modernity as iconography is also its capacity to be recalled as a rallying point for the nationalist cause even when its building must have caused pain and death to those whose labour it exacted.  

The son in this poem represent  the modern Zimbabwean nation which the persona urges to adopt the qualities represented by its predecessor Great Zimbabwe . This is reflected in the line “...... but be a ruin of stone eternal unto yourself” Great Zimbabwe is therefore imaged as a site of memories of creativity .  

 The enduring qualities of the stone that are celebrated throughout the poem are symbolic of the resilience of this ancient city built of rock which survived beyond its time and serves as an embodiment of the values of the ancient generations that built it. “Son ,approach time like the stone capturing time....” it indicates a voice that is telling its son to move along with time . Ngara (1990) affirms that although much African poetry denied the subsequence and energy from tension that was a result of conflict between the interest of colonial rule and capitalist exploitation on the other hand and the pressure ideological imperative of nationalism on the other hand.   He uses the stone as model whose qualities his son should emulate so as to build an enduring identity.