The years 1990 to 1994 were the most critical years in the lives of all South Africans. For writers, this period presented an opportunity for expressions that have long been suppressed due to the censoring of writers in South Africa. Poetry was one of the ways in which a writer was able to reveal and express his or her thoughts about what they see, hear and the general events that are related to their lives and society at large. Maphalla is also one of the writers who used the pen to spread the messages of death, pain, love, hope and peace, whilst also being very critical of the socio-political environment at the time. As his name (the peaceful one) implies, Kgotso Maphalla was a writer who was able to rebuke, criticise and give hope in a peaceful manner. This article analyses four of Maphalla’s poems from his poetry book called Seitebatso [Oblivion]. The four poems were selected to address the themes of freedom, hope and injustice. There are many traditional methods used to analyse poems. In this article, I have chosen to use critical discourse analysis, which is a method of analysing spoken language and text, to demonstrate the balance between language, identity, social relations, and power. Discourse is therefore molded by relations of power and invested ideologies. In this kind of analysis, I show that Maphalla used language in a manner that reflected freedom, peace, and hope that the volatile situation will settle down, at a very uncertain time in South Africa.

1990 年至 1994 年是所有南非人生活中最关键的几年。对于作家来说，这一时期提供了一个机会，让他们表达长期以来因南非作家审查而受到压制的言论。诗歌是作家能够揭示和表达他或她对他们所见所闻以及与他们的生活和整个社会相关的一般事件的想法的方式之一。Maphalla 也是使用钢笔传播死亡、痛苦、爱、希望与和平信息的作家之一，同时也对当时的社会政治环境持批评态度。正如他的名字（和平的）所暗示的那样，Kgotso Maphalla 是一位能够以和平的方式斥责、批评和给予希望的作家。本文分析了 Maphalla 诗集中的四首诗，名为Seitebatso [遗忘]。这四首诗被选中来表达自由、希望和不公正的主题。有许多用于分析诗歌的传统方法。在这篇文章中，我选择使用批判性话语分析，这是一种分析口头语言和文本的方法，以证明语言、身份、社会关系和权力之间的平衡。因此，话语是由权力关系和投资的意识形态塑造的。在这种分析中，我表明 Maphalla 使用语言的方式反映了自由、和平，并希望在南非非常不确定的时期，动荡的局势能够安定下来。