Protection of State Information Bill

"Protection of State Information Bill (abridged)" by Finuala Dowling, is a newly published poem about the new Protection of State Information Bill in South Africa. A lot of Dowlings poems are about the "Secrecy Bill" and its senselessness. The theme is almost an instant giveaway because of the layout of the poem. This is because it is similar to the Bill. One can see that she is the speaker as she writes about her personal feelings towards the Bill and expresses how she interprets it. Through her way of writing one can see she is negative about this Bill and does not support it. Her audience would be South Africa as it is a topic that will affect all South Africans. I will be referring to the above in more detail in my analysis of "Protection of State Information Bill (abridged)".

In this specific poem Dowling takes the Protection of State Information Bill and writes her personal interpretation of it. The layout of the poem is similar to the Bill in that the subheadings in the first stanza are the same as the subheadings in the Bill and they are written in bold, just like in the Preamble of the Bill (Information bill 2). The information found in the second stanza can be found in the content or body of the Bill. This is ironic as this stanza is also the body of the poem (11-19). The last stanza is referring to the conclusion of the poem (20-31) as well as the summary of the Bill (Information Bill 26 -28). The overall layout of the poem adds to the meaning and ones understanding of the poem because it resembles the Bill.