"A Long Journey" is a free verse poem by the Zimbabwean poet Musaemura Zimunya. Zimunya included "A Long Journey" in his book Country Dawns and City Lights, published in 1985—just five years after Zimbabwe attained independence from Britain. In “A Long Journey,” a Zimbabwean speaker describes the effects of industrialization and the complex changes that their village undergoes during British colonial rule, appreciating the many comforts and conveniences of modern life while also struggling with the immense legacy of suffering and violence that preceded it.

• Read the full text of “A Long Journey”

• “A Long Journey” Summary

• “A Long Journey” Themes

  • 

    The Complicated Legacy of Colonialism

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-30
  • 

    The Cost of Development

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-30

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “A Long Journey”

  • Lines 1-4

    Through decades that ...
    ... long long journey

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    When the motor-car ...
    ... every village boy

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-11

    With the arrival ...
    ... behind the horizons

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-13

    Such a long ...
    ... bush to concrete

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 14-17

    And now I ...
    ... my mother country

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-22

    I fight in ...
    ... rain and cold

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 23-27

    We have fled ...
    ... rattling around me

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 28-30

    We moved into ...
    ... for our shirts

    

    

    

    

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• “A Long Journey” Symbols

  • 

    City Lights

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 25: “the halo of ,” “tower lights”
    • Line 28: “We moved into the lights”

• “A Long Journey” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “decades that ran like rivers / endless rivers of endless woes”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “ran,” “rivers”
    • Line 3: “jail”
    • Line 4: “journey”
    • Line 5: “car came”
    • Line 6: “cart”
    • Line 7: “but,” “bicycle,” “Britain”
    • Line 8: “boy”
    • Line 17: “capital,” “country”
    • Line 19: “road runs”
    • Line 23: “witches,” “wizards”
    • Line 26: “blood”
    • Line 27: “bones”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

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    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “rivers”
    • Line 2: “endless rivers of endless woes”
    • Line 3: “pick and shovel sjambok and jail”
    • Line 4: “long long”
    • Line 12: “long travail”
    • Line 13: “long journey”
    • Line 22: “wind and rain and cold”
    • Line 24: “long long road”

  • Extended Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “O such a long long journey”
    • Line 13: “a long journey from bush to concrete”
    • Lines 19-22: “but my road runs and turns into dusty gravel / into over-beaten foot tracks that lead / to a plastic hut and soon to a mud-grass dwelling / threatened by wind and rain and cold”
    • Lines 28-30: “We moved into the lights / but from the dark periphery behind / an almighty hand reaches for our shirts.”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “through pick and shovel sjambok and jail”
    • Line 6: “the sledge and the ox-cart began to die”
    • Line 15: “eighteen ninety”
    • Lines 16-17: “new-found luxury / in this the capital city of my mother country”
    • Lines 19-22: “dusty gravel / into over-beaten foot tracks that lead / to a plastic hut and soon to a mud-grass dwelling / threatened by wind and rain and cold”
    • Line 23: “witches and wizards”
    • Lines 26-27: “I hear the cry from human blood / and wicked bones rattling around me”

• “A Long Journey” 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.

  • Sjambok
  • Sledge
  • Yearn
  • Travail
  • Bush
  • Eighteen ninety
  • Over-beaten foot tracks
  • Periphery
  • (Location in poem: Line 3: “through pick and shovel sjambok and jail”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “A Long Journey”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “A Long Journey” Speaker

• “A Long Journey” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “A Long Journey”

• More “A Long Journey” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Zimbabwe's History — Read a brief history of Zimbabwe via the Encyclopedia Britannica.

    • Zimunya Sings — Watch a video of Zimunya performing.

    • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Zimunya's life and work.

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