Breyten en Leonardo: Die mislees van " 'n tipe epistemologie van water" in Graad 12

Abstract

Breyten Beytenbach's poem " 'n tipe epistemologie van water" (a kind of epistemology of water) has been prescribed for Afrikaans Home Language since 2010. In this article I analyse the way in which this poem is taught at school in the light of the CAPS requirements. I argue that the poem is misread in the prescribed poem industry as it is taken out of its context and its intertext is misunderstood. By analysing the poem's intertext in the work of Leonardo da Vinci I show that the underlying views of text and context in the CAPS approach are too narrow and should urgently be brought in line with views of textuality appropriate to the internet age.