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Cronin's essay was an interesting one because it dealt with poetry in a similar way as the Rich article did, since Cronin is basically saying that oral poetry in South Africa is politically charged. This was a particularly interesting essay to read because it comes from a time when Cronin and other South African blacks were still suffering under the oppression of apartheid, which makes it emerge from different kinds of issues than some of the other essays in the Poetry in Theory book.

That being said, I have to take issue with how he talks about oral poetry, particularly since he relies on Ong to make some of his points. He seems to want to call attention to the oral poetry of South Africa but doesn't seem to want to make a case that oral poetry deserves the same critical attention that literate poetry does. "It should be remembered that the poetry we are considering is often performed in the worst imaginable acoustic situations" (530). So, he seems to think that the oral poetry of his countrymen is important because it is politically charged but does not seem to want to suggest that it is important because it is oral.

Despite my feelings that I would liked to have seen him support more the worthwhileness of oral poetry, I am glad to see him remind his readers that poetry is supposed to be performative. "Functionally, like much of the emergent culture and all of the poetry I have described, it serves to mobilize and unite large groups of people. It transforms them into a collective..." (531). This is important because it makes poetry relevant to everyday life and empowering.