A AFRICAN POETRY, VERNACULAR: ORAL. Ver­ tion to the multiplicity of local classifications . nacular poetry in Africa is mostly oral, and A basic distinction must be made between the greater part is still unrecorded. The con­ ritual and nonritual forms ; by far the most ventions of oral v.p. belong to the whole per­ important are the ritual forms associated, either formance and its occasion, and are therefore in origin or in present reality, with formal not exclusively literary. Internal classifications customary rites and activities. Modern public within the society have no referellce to the occasions may include traditional ritual forms Western categories of prose and poetry, and suitably adapted. Nonritual forms, of course, Afr. definitions of "literary" do not necessarily belong to informal occasions. In either general coincide with those of Eng .-Am. culture. For category the creative role of the performer(s) instance, Afr. proverbs and riddles are major, is important, for even within customary rites not minor, literary forms for which the term the evaluation is of the contemporary per­ "poetry," if it is applied, need not relate only formance. Ritual forms include panegyric and to the forms with rhyme. The evaluation even lyric, whereas nonritual forms include lyric of these identifiable genres can be made only and, possibly, narrative. by a complete understanding of the signifi­ Panegyric is one of the most developed and cance of any given member (e.g., a particular elaborate poetic genres in Africa. Its specialized praise song) of a genre (e.g., praise poetry) form is best exemplified in the court poetry of within the society at the time of utterance. the Southern Bantu, about which there is a Convention involves not only the verbal con­ large literature by scholars in South Africa. tent, but also such factors as status of the These praise poems have been described as in­ performer(s), nature of the audience, mode of termediary between epic and ode, a combina­ performance, and character of the related arts, tion of exclamatory narration and laudatory especially music, which act interdependently apostrophizing. Similar poems occur elsewhere in the representation of the genre. Literary among the Bantu, notably among the cattle­ distinctions may be irrelevant in a perform­ owning peoples of East Central Africa. While ance which has no overt literary function. praise poems can be concerned with almost Babalola's work on Yoruba poetry, for instance, anything-animals, divining bones, birds, beer, shows that the mode of performance is as clans-the most developed forms are those in significant for the Afr. critic as actual con­ which people, living or dead , are directly tent or structure, and many other cases could praised and addressed. Praise poetry often be cited in support of this. plays an essential part in rites of passage when There are growing signs of a fuller apprecia­ an individual or group moves from one status tion of the extent and nature of Afr. v.p., but to another in society. Self-praises by boys at even now it is only beginning to be established initiation, as among the Sotho or the Galla, are as a serious field of systematic study for Afr. an important aspect of their claim to adult­ scholars . Where the poetic tradition is strong, hood . oral v.p. is adapted to changing conditions, as The eulogies involved in funeral dirges, as in topical and political songs and modern among the Akan-speak ing peoples of southern praise poems. Generally speaking, however, the Ghana, are also included in this category , as extensive corpus of Afr. oral v.p, which forms are oral poems in praise of the Prophet Mo­ the basis for description and discussion today hammed by the Hausa and other Islamic socie­ belongs to, or is derived from , traditional Afr. ties. Finnegan has noted that one cannot al­ society. The relevant language preserves its ways draw the line between Afr. military soul, and in translation the soul is lost. The poetry and panegyric. Southern Bantu praise survival of Afr. v.p, in the future is dependent, poems have war and military prowess as one among other things, upon the status of the of their main themes, and the same blend of vernacular in particular communities as the praise and interest in battle heroism can be medium for both oral and written forms. At seen in the "heroic recitations" of the Ankole the present time evaluation of recorded texts Hima. In Rwanda military poetry, the form from oral performance is heavily dependent called ibyivugo is panegyric, but the narrative upon nonliterary factors , but it is recognized element is more marked in a second form , that Afr. v.p. has its own artistic features called ibitekerezo, songs preserved by the court analogous to, bill 1I0t always identical with, bards and taught to military recruits. Narra­ literary forms from a literate society. tive poetry as a ritual form is not extensive Although the question of genres has not been enough, however, to be assigned a special cate­ seriousl y discussed, Finnegan has drawn atten- gory. In hunting songs praise and celebration -[ 909 ]- SUPPLEMENT are often reserved for the killing of particu­ establish the existence of narrative as a sepa ­ larly outstanding or dangerous game.A domi­ rate genre of Afr. oral v.p, nant theme in the Yoruba hunting poems The Oxford Library of Afr. Literature, Ox­ called iiata is verbal salute and praise, but ford at the Clarendon Press, presents studies Ambo hunting poetry is lyrical poetry charac­ of particular Afr. traditions of oral v.p., no ­ terized by the mode of delivery. It is not always tably in works by B. W . Andrzejewski and possible to make a firm distinction between I. M. Lewis (Somali), S. A. Babalola (Yoruba) , ritual and nonritual forms. There are derived T . Cope (Zulu) , A. Coupez and T. Kamanzi forms, like the nonritual praise songs of the (Ruanda), D. Kunene (Southern Sotho), H. F. Hausa itinera nt singers, which are relatable to Morris (Ankole) , and I. Schapera (Tswana).­ the ritual ltir4ri, a sung proverb, traditionally W. R. Bascom, "Folklore and Lit ," in The Afr. performed as court poetry. World: A Surve y of Social Research , ed . R. A. Lyric, probably the most common genre of Lystad (1965); The Mwindo Epic from the oral poetry in Africa, has a great variety of Ban yanga , tr . and ed. D. Biebuyck and K. C. forms, but basically it is a short poem sung or Mateene (1967); R. Finnegan, Oral Lit. in recited either antiphonally or by an individual. Africa (1970). L.H. As a ritual form, lyric has as its most common WRITTEN . Except for the v.p. derived directly occasions rites of passage such as birth, child­ from oral poetry and written in roman script. naming, initiation, betrothal, marriage, acquir­ like the v.p. of South Africa and Ethiopia, ing a new title or status, and funeral cere ­ Afr. written v.p, as a direct literary activity is monies. The occasions for lyric are extended a feature of Islamic societies. Arabic speakers, in urbanized Afr. society to informal, non­ mostly in North Africa, outnumber the speak­ ritual occasions, like the drinking and dancing ers of an y other single vernacular on the Afri· town songs of the Zulu and the Sotho in South can continent. Besides written v.p, in Arabic Africa . The radio provides opportunities for there is the Islamic written v.p. of non-Arabic nonritual lyrics to be performed. It is a com­ speaking peoples, particularly the Fulani, the mon pattern for a prose narrative to be marked Hausa, and the Swahili. North Afr. written structurally from time to time by the inclusion v.p. in Arabic was no doubt a vehicle for the of a song, led by the storyteller and sung by spread of Islamic poetry in West Afr. vernacu­ the audience. The song is relevant to the lars , while in East Africa Swahili written v.p. story, but mayor may not forward the narra­ derives from the popular Islamic poetry of the tive. The subjects of lyric are about every Hadramawt and the Persian Gulf. Some of conceivable topic in the Afr. experience. Songs the same popularizations are found wherever the about, or attributed to, birds are very common, v.p. is Islamic, as, for instance, vernacular but the main interest is human life and con­ adaptations of early Arabic magazi (raids) duct. Love poetry has a rich tradition among literature occurring in North Africa (Arabic) certain peoples, and is often by women, as and in East Africa (Swahili) , as well as muM ­ among the Zulu of South Africa and the Luo diya, poems composed in honor of the Proph­ of Kenya. Songs to accompany rh ythmic work et's birth, occurring in North Africa (Arabic seem to occur in all Afr. societies . and Berber) and in West and East Africa Narrative in oral v.p., in the sense of a rela­ (Hausa and Swahili, respectively). tively long narrative poem, is of infrequent In Arabic written v.p, of North Africa the occurrence. Finnegan considers that although term qasida (q.v.) has a much wider range of many of the lengthy praise poems , particularly application than the classical form, with re ­ those of South Africa, do contain some narra­ placement of classical monorhyrne by a stan ­ tive elements, narrative poetry does not seem zaic structure and multiple rhyme scheme . The to be a typically Afr. form. The most frequent two most conspicuous features are profusion mentions come from the equatorial areas of of rhyme and absence of inflection. The em­ .th e Congo, but even there the traditional pat­ phasis on rhyme in non-Arabic written v.p.