"First Day After the War," by South African poet Mazisi Kunene, appears in Kunene's 1982 collection The Ancestors and the Sacred Mountain. The poem portrays a day on which a large mass of people, including the speaker, celebrate the end of war. The people rush out to fill the "open space" of the natural environment, calling on the rest of the world to join them in this new era of peace. The poem makes no reference to a specific time or place, but was written during the period of South African apartheid: a brutal regime of racial segregation and discrimination that lasted half a century.

• Read the full text of “First Day After the War”

• “First Day After the War” Summary

• “First Day After the War” Themes

  • 

    The Joy and Optimism of Peace

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-18
  • 

    Community and Togetherness

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-18

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “First Day After the War”

  • Lines 1-3

    We heard the ...
    ... blades of grass.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-8

    At first we ...
    ... after the war"

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-11

    Then without waiting ...
    ... of the earth.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-15

    We shook up ...
    ... across the waterfalls

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 16-18

    People came from ...
    ... on the horizon.

    

    

    

    

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• “First Day After the War” Symbols

  • 

    The Wedding Party

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “We heard the songs of a wedding party.”
  • 

    Nature

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-3: “We saw a soft light / Coiling round the young blades of grass.”
    • Line 9: “Then without waiting we ran to ”
    • Lines 9-10: “the open space / Ululating to the mountains and the pathways”
    • Line 13: “We asked for all the first fruits of the season.”
    • Line 15: “We shouted across the waterfalls”

• “First Day After the War” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “songs”
    • Line 2: “saw,” “soft”
    • Line 4: “first,” “footprints”
    • Line 5: “face,” “freedom”
    • Line 6: “smile saying”
    • Line 7: “suddenly”
    • Line 8: “said”
    • Line 9: “without waiting we”
    • Line 12: “festival”
    • Line 13: “for,” “first fruits”
    • Line 14: “held hands”
    • Line 18: “traveling tall”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “party.”
    • Line 3: “grass.”
    • Line 4: “footprints.”
    • Line 5: “freedom!”
    • Line 7: “suddenly?"”
    • Line 11: “earth.”
    • Line 13: “season.”
    • Line 17: “peace.”
    • Line 18: “horizon.”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-6
    • Lines 9-11
    • Line 15

  • Personification

    

    

    

    

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    Where personification appears in the poem:

    • Lines 4-8: “At first we hesitated, then we saw her footprints. / Her face emerged, then her eyes of freedom! / She woke us up with a smile saying, / "What day is this that comes suddenly?" / We said, "It is the first day after the war"”
    • Line 18: “We saw our Ancestors traveling tall on the horizon.”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “We heard”
    • Line 2: “We saw”
    • Line 4: “we hesitated,” “we saw,” “her footprints”
    • Line 5: “Her face,” “her eyes”
    • Line 8: “We said”
    • Line 9: “we ran”
    • Line 12: “We shook”
    • Line 13: “We asked”
    • Line 14: “We held”
    • Line 15: “We shouted”
    • Line 18: “We saw”

• “First Day After the War” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Ululating
  • (Location in poem: Lines 9-10: “Then without waiting we ran to the open space / Ululating to the mountains and the pathways”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “First Day After the War”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “First Day After the War” Speaker

• “First Day After the War” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “First Day After the War”

• More “First Day After the War” Resources

  • External Resources

    • An Interview with the Poet — Listen to Kunene talk about his work.

    • More About Ululating — Watch a feature on the traditional "Ululating" mentioned in the poem.

    • Kunene's Legacy — Learn about Kunene's impact on African and world literature in an interview with Mathabo Kunene (the poet's wife).

    • Kunene, Remembered — Read the Guardian's 2006 obituary for the poet.

    • The Poet's Life — A brief biography of the poet at the Poetry Foundation.

    • The Era of Apartheid — Learn more about the system of racial segregation and oppression in South Africa during the mid to late 20th century.

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