It’s The Constant Image Of Your Face By Dennis Brutus
It is the constant image of your face framed in my hands as you knelt before my chair the grave attention of your eyes surveying me amid my world of knives that stays with me, perennially accuses and convicts me of heart’s- treachery: and neither you nor I can plead excuses for you,you know, can claim no loyalty-my land takes precedence of all my loves.
Yet I beg mitigation, pleading guilty for you, my dear, accomplice of my heart made, without words, such blackmail with your beauty
and proffered me such dear protectiveness
that I confess without remorse or shame
my still-fresh treason to my country
and hope that she, my other, dearest love
will pardon freely,not attaching blame
being your mistress (or your match) in tenderness.
Background to the poem
Dennis Brutus (1924–2009) was a South African poet and activist who fought against apartheid. Classified as coloured under apartheid laws, he was arrested several times, imprisoned near Nelson Mandela, and wrote his first poetry collection in jail. He led the campaign that got South Africa banned from the 1964 Olympics, later lived in exile in Britain and the U.S., and finally returned home in 2009, the year he died.
Summary of the poem
In the poem “It is the Constant Image of Your Face,” the speaker struggles with conflicting emotions i.e his deep love for his country and his affection for a woman. Although he acknowledges being captivated by her beauty, his ultimate loyalty lies with his homeland.
He ultimately decides to place patriotism above personal desire, choosing his country over the woman. To him, loving her would be an act of betrayal, a form of treason against his nation.
Analysis of ‘It’s the Constant Image of Your Face’
In the first stanza, the persona speaks about the object of admiration and how good looking she /Claiming that the image of her face is what stays with the persona to me. For her beauty has caused the person to become treacherous in his heart since his land or the love for his country is supposed to take precedence over all his other lives but in this case, her beauty is causing the persona’s love for his country to take a backseat for the love he has for her. In the second stanza, from lines 4-6, the persona is emboldened by the love he has for his object of admiration so much so that he is able to openly confess without remorse or the fear of his actions being assumed to be treasonous. The first three lines of the second stanza also introduces the reader to the persona’s delusions. This is because even though his object of admiration is yet to express her love for the persona, he is so deluded by her beauty that he accuses her of blackmailing his heart and claims that even though his object of admiration is yet to say anything to him, she is now an accomplice of his treasonous heart.
Finally, in the last three lines of the second stanza, the persona personifies his country by calling it “She “and by so doing also claims that his country is his other dearest love. From this instance, the persona is able to turn his sin into a matter of cheating rather than that of treason. He then hopes that his former love will forgive him and not blame herself too much for not being able to match his object of admiration in tenderness or love.
Themes in the poem
Patriotism
Love
Divided loyalties
Desires
LITERARY DEVICES
Personification: “I hope that she,my other,dearest love” the persona describes his country as being a woman.
Oxymoron: “heart’s-treachery” the heart which normally represents love and compassion completely contradicts treachery.
Metaphor – “world of knives”
This metaphor suggests the dangers and threats surrounding the speaker as he tries to protect his country from division and destruction.
Irony
The speaker claims to feel no guilt or shame, yet the language he uses words such as treason and pardon to reveal an inner conflict. His plea for forgiveness further emphasizes that he knows he has done wrong
Mood
The mood of the poem is one of pain and anguish as the persona appears to fall in love with his object of admiration even though it would mean forsaking his country and even though the persona knows that his object of admiration won’t be loyal to him “for you,you know, can claim no loyalty”, he continues to live in love with her because of her beauty.
Tone
Reflective
Guilty
Remorse
Conflicted
Confused
Diction
The poet deliberately uses the language of crime and punishment to highlight the speaker’s sense of betrayal. Terms like accuses, convicts, treachery, confess, guilty, and pardon emphasize the seriousness of his struggle between love and duty. At the same time, phrases such as the accomplice of my heart, blackmail with your beauty, and dear protectiveness reveal how powerless he felt against the woman’s charm, which tempted him to act against his country.
Credit to Ann- Marie S.Wilson