South African poetry is best known for his "Unto Dust" and "In the Withaak's Shade", capturing a portrait of Afrikaner storytelling skills and social attitudes. Bosman also wrote poetry, with a predominantly satirical tone. Alan Paton’s world-renowned and highly poetic novel "Cry, The Beloved Country", came into publication, just four months after the separatist National Party came to power in South Africa. Although Paton was most prolific in other literary genre, poetry was a form that interested him throughout his life, as documented in Peter Alexander's biography of him. Some of the best known poets of this violently oppressive and politically turbulent period
Cry, the Beloved Country collection of books on Abraham Lincoln, and the writings of Lincoln are featured several times in the novel. Paton describes Arthur's son as having characteristics similar to his when he was a child, which may allude to the resurrection of Christ. In 1951, the novel was adapted into a motion picture of the same name, directed by Zoltan Korda. Paton wrote the screenplay with John Howard Lawson, who was left out of the original credits because he was blacklisted in Hollywood for refusing to give information to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Kumalo was played by Canada Lee, Jarvis