A push into the fray: the presence of authorial intention in selected poetry written by black South Africans

Abstract

This article affirms the presence of the intentional consciousness in poetry written by politically conscious black South Africans during the years of the struggle for liberation. Intentionality, in the context of this article, is determined by positing that the content and meaning are linked to the author and context of situation. To this end, content analysis of specific poems is done towards identifying the relationship between the author and the audience upon which a pragmatic interpretation can be built. By linking the authors’ intentions with the outcome they seek within the world, I reach for an interpretative position in which the author is re-inscribed within the process of interpretation and the text becomes the signifying medium which links the author and the audience.