MHRD UGC Epg Pathshala Subject: English Principal Investigator: Prof
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MHRD UGC ePG Pathshala Subject: English Principal Investigator: Prof. Tutun Mukherjee, University of Hyderabad Paper 06: African and Caribbean Writing in English Paper Coordinator: Prof. T. Vijay Kumar, Osmania University Module No. 05: African and Caribbean Poetry - An Overview Content Writer: Ms. Aparna Prem, EFLU, Hyderabad Content Reviewer: Prof. T. Vijay Kumar, Osmania University Language Editor: Prof. T. Vijay Kumar, Osmania University AFRICAN AND CARIBBEAN POETRY—AN OVERVIEW This module gives an overview of the poetry from two different geographical areas— the Caribbean islands and Africa. Because of their complicated colonial histories and influences, both the countries write in many languages other than English. However, this module would focus more on Anglophone Caribbean and African poetry. African Poetry Today’s concept of African poetry constitutes a distinct idea of accepting all the African countries as one. However, the geographical, racial and temporal differences in colonialism, struggles for independence and the postcolonial politics in each country of the continent also reflect in their contribution to the creation of the canon of African poetry. Regionalism added to indigenous poetic traditions make it more complicated to have a definite theorizing of African poetry. England, France, and Portugal are the three main colonial forces that governed the continent, the influence and resistance of which still define African writing. Negritude, Nationalism and Language One easier method of categorizing African poetry is based on language, which is majorly depended on the colonial influences. The practice of assimilation and regrouping of the tribes followed by France and Portugal during the colonial era rewrote the history of the African countries almost forever. When the pressure to accept colonial ideologies increased on the African tribes, Negritude asserted African traditions and reclaimed their identities. Negritude thus became a social as well as literary response to colonialism. Léopold Sédar Senghor, Senegalese poet and political leader was one of the literary and political figures of Negritude. He led his nation’s independence movement and his poetic language highlights his own experiences of political struggle and violence. Indigenous languages, European languages and pidgin version as well as dialects are mixed in most of the literary works of Africa. At the same time, bringing together Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone linguistic traditions into a single idea of African poetry is not that easy too. For the postcolonial Africa, with its diverse regional as well as colonial linguistic influences, multiplicity and the related struggles define their identity and tradition. Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo (Nigeria) Okigbo was one of the traditional African writers from Nigeria, who was heavily influenced by Greek, Latin and European literatures and traditions. Modern poetry, especially the poems of T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, influenced his writing style and choice of themes. Though he died at the Nsukka battlefront while fighting for the independence of Biafra, his contribution to African poetry has been immense. He explored the themes that vary from war to nature, tradition to modernism. Spirituality and freedom were the ruling concepts of his life and his poems. In the beginning of the poem “The Passage”, Okigbo places nature on a supreme pedestal and considers the nature the muse of his writing. The ‘passage’ is the spiritual experience he goes through, by considering himself diminutive in front of the colossal nature. The pain of struggle for freedom is vented out through such spiritual passages, though which Okigbo travels to find his self. John Pepper Clark (Nigeria) Clark wrote poems that highlighted the stark realities of Nigeria and of Africa. The political and social symbos he chose point towards a critical view of national and international relations. Though the symbols and themes overtly appeared to be simple, the politics of national and humanity were openly criticized in his works. Some poems also foreground nature as the supreme power that defines humanity. As he was also part of the Nigerian Civil War, the contrasting images of war and peace appeared in some of his poems. However, he can also be considered as one of the traditional writers with Okigbo and Wole Soyinka as he upheld his traditional heritage in most of his poems. Describing and re- narrating history was one the techniques he chose to find his essence and identity. His book The Casualties: Poems 1966-68 describes the true cruelties and violence happened during the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War. Through his poems, Clark contributed to the building and imagination of a postcolonial Nigeria. Mazisi Kunene (South Africa) Mazisi Kunene can be considered one of the modern poets of Africa, careful observation of language and themes used. Kunene, who wrote in Zulu language, tried to move away from the traditional classical influences in his writing style. His master’s thesis was titled An Analytical Survey of Zulu Poetry, Both Traditional and Modern. He keenly observed and had a deep knowledge about the poetic techniques in Zulu poetry. He was against following the traditional paths that poets like Okigbo and Clark took. He wanted a more analytical documentation of the South African political and social scenario, rather that re-telling the religious and classical traditions. His Zulu Poems (1970) was a collection of his translated poems from Zulu to English. His contribution towards the genre of translated works was thus immense. One of the most famous poems was Emperor Shaka the Great, an epic poem that narrated the life and history of a Zulu leader. It is also a narrative of the history of Zulu language. The epic style that he chose to conceive his ideas of his land, was part of the modern tradition he followed. His other works like Anthem of the Decades highlighted religious and spiritual aspects of the society. Okot p’Bitek (Uganda) Similar to Kunene’s technique of using long poem narrative form in documenting or rewriting the history of his country, Okot p’Bitek too gained recognition for his epic poem Song of Lawino. This long poem portrayed the life of a rural African wife whose husband is trapped in a westernized lifestyle. Song of Lawino depicts the contrasts between rural life and modernized city life through the characters of husband and wife. It also questions the relevance and influence of industrialization and Americanization in the rural areas of Africa. Moreover, this poem describes the struggle of a modern man who finds it difficult to choose between the dualities of tradition and modernity, and of the black and the white. The long poem is also a documentation of traditional values of Africa, which the poet wants to be preserved through his verses. The Okot School of Poetry is a developing genre in African poetry in which works follow a verse monologue technique in traditional song form. It is also called The East African Song School. Okot also wrote a sequel Song of Ocol, which was the husband’s reply to the wife. His other works focus on contemporary and relevant social and political topics. Gabriel Okara (Nigeria) The extreme dichotomies of life, especially the experiences between European influences and African traditions are intensely depicted in the poems of Nigerian poet Gabriel Okara. The symbolic landscapes and African imageries are superimposed with English linguistic techniques, and this blend forms the major characteristic of Okara’s poems. Most of his poems like “Once Upon a Time” and “Piano and Drum”, deal with the old customs and traditions of Africa that are being threatened by the European manipulating powers. In “Once Upon a Time”, Okara describes how artificial life has become: . ‘Feel at home!’ ‘Come again’: they say, and when I come again and feel at home, once, twice, there will be no thrice- for then I find doors shut on me So I have learned many things, son. I have learned to wear many faces like dresses – home face, office face, street face, host face,cocktail face, with all their conforming smiles like a fixed portrait smile. And I have learned too to laugh with only my teeth and shake hands without my heart. I have also learned to say, ‘Goodbye’, when I mean ‘Good-riddance’: to say ‘Glad to meet you’, without being glad; and to say ‘It’s been nice talking to you’, after being bored. As described through the words of a father to his son, Okara records as well as warns the changes that the African culture has gone through because of overpowering influences. Kofi Awoonor (Ghana) Kofi Awoonor was born in an Ewe ethnic group in Ghana. Awoonor’s grandmother was an Ewe dirge singer and he was influenced by Ewe music, culture and tradition, which he tried to incorporate into his verses. By providing a modern form of re-narration and documentation, Awoonor gave his ethnic cultures a platform to develop as well as influence other cultures. At the same time, this technique can be seen as a way of resisting European and American influences on the African ethnicities. Other major themes were religion, spirituality, philosophy, life, death and exile. One of the most famous of his collection of poems is Rediscovery and Other Poems (1964). Again, similar to other African poets, Awoonor has also followed a path to rediscover the identity of the self through poetry and imagination. Through his poems, he tried to find out the wide range of possibilities that a vernacular, ethnic language can offer. The dirge form that he imbibed from his childhood days, blended with an urge to hold on to ethnic traditions, constitutes the major focus of most of his poetry. He died in a terrorist attack in Nairobi, Kenya. James David Rubadiri (Malawi) James Rubadiri is a Malawian poet, playwright and novelist. Rubadiri places himself as one of the major poets who focuses on the cultural and political changes in post- independent Africa.