Poetry Analysis Mystic Drum Where I To Choose Telephonic conversation

 

M.A.Part-2 Sem-3

African Literature

Poetry Analysis Mystic Drum Where I To Choose Telephonic conversation

By: Jayshree Kunchala   Submitted To: Heenaba Zala Dept.Of English M.K.Bhavnagar University Bhavnagar

 

Introduction About Poet:

Gabriel Okara

Gabriel Okara is one of the most significant and serious early Nigerian poets. The motifs of childhood, innocence and nostalgia run through many of his poems. He is often concerned about the identity of African people.

“I have endeavored in my works to keep as close as possible to the vernacular expressions. For from a word a group of words a sentence and even a name in any African language one can glean the social norms attitude and values if a people.”

Okara’s remarks are clear contrary to the example of Nazi Boni Okara’s writing is a conscious attempt to use the words and expressions in the way he has chosen. Both poems are famous and thus they show okara’s potentiality in writing poems.

Cultural conflict is one of the most striking points in African poetry. In African what is culture and tradition that seems uncultured or peculiar to the western. African poet Gabriel okara focuses the ice cold attitude of Europeans to the African culture. In African what is traditional and cultured and humorous to Europeans. They also represent the African culture in humiliated sense.

Gabriel jibaba okara was born on 24 April 1921. He is Nigerian poet and novelist who were born in Bomoundi in Bayelsa state, Nigeria. He was awarded the commonwealth poetry award in 1979.his most famous poem is “you laughed & laughed & laughed” it’s a frequent feature of anthologies. Okara is worried about the attack of western culture over the African ancient culture. His poem once upon a time deals with same theme also his novel “the voice” depicts this theme in to protagonist okara like many post colonial. African is haunted by society and society by his own ideals. Unfortunately many of okara’s many scripts have been destroyed in the civil war.

Gabriel okara was born in Nigeria when there was a British colony and indeed would be nearly forty years before his country was to gain independence in October 1960. During his life okara did jobs like initially working as a book binder. Journalist radio broadcaster and news paper editor. He has also travelled to the USA where he helped raise money for Nigeria by giving poetry recitals.

Okara’s poems tend reflect the problems that African’s notions face as they are torn between the culture of their European colonialist and their traditional African heritage. He also look at the traumatic effect that colonization and de-colonization can have on the self and a one’s sense of personal  identity for example okara often depicts character suffering from culture shock as they are torn between this two irreconcilable cultures. On the one hand there is Christianity and the definite. Material benefit such as classroom education and well paid jobs that the European way of life offers while on the other hand there is the unspoken expectation that the true African was allegiance to his original tribal culture and should embrace these roots.

Mystic Drum

The mystic Drum is okara’s love lyric. The Mystic Drum evinces a tripartite ritual pattern of imitation from innocence through intimacy to experience by comparison to the way of zone as manifested in the experience of Zen master Chin Yuan- wei-Asian this pattern resolves itself into an emotional and epistemic logical journey from conventional knowledge to learn of experiences empowers the lover to understand that beneath the surface attractiveness of what we know very well may lie an abyss of the unknown and unknowable  belching darkness. But experience teaches us at this stage of substantial knowledge not to expose ourselves to the dangers of being beholden to this unknown and unknowable reality by keeping our passions under strict control including the prudent decision to ‘pack’ the ‘mystic drum’ of our innocence and evanescence making sure that it dose not beat so loud any more.

Okara mentions in one of his interviews that the mystic drum is essentially a have poem:

This was a lady I loved and she coyly was not responding directly but I adored her demeanor seemed a mask her true feelings at a distance she seemed adoring however on coming closer she was after all not what she seemed.

This lady may stand as an emblem that represents the lure of western life how it seemed appealing at first but the mystic drum and light.

“The mystic drum beat in my

And fishes danced in the rivers

And men and women danced on land

To the rhythm of my Drum.

“But standing behind a tree

With leaves around her waist

She only smiled with a shake of her head.

“the drum in African poems generally stands for the spiritual pulse of traditional African life the poet asserts that first as the drum beat inside him fishes danced in the rivers man and women danced on the land to the rhythm of drum but standing behind the three there stood and outsider who smiled with an air with quickened tempo. Compelling dead to dance and sing with their shadows. The ancestral glory over powers other outside rations so power full mystic drum that is brings back evens the dead alive. The rhythm of the drum is the aching for an ideal Nigerian state of harmony.

The outsider is used in the poem for western imperialism that was looked western alien and there for incomprehensible for their own good as the other. the African culture is so much in tune with nature that the mystic drum invokes the sun the moon the river gods and the trees began to dance. The gap finally gets bridged between humanity and nature the animal world and human world the hydrosphere and lithosphere that fishes turned men, and men become fishes. Life now become dry logical and  mechanical  thanks to western scientific imperialism and everything found its place leaves started sprouting on the woman she started to flourish on the land. Gradually her roots struck on ground   spreading a kind of parched rationalism smoke issued from her lips and her lips parted smile the term suggestive of the pollution caused by industrialization and also the clouding of morals ultimately the speaker was left in the bleaching darkness alludes to the futility and hollowness the imposed existence the outside at the first only has an objective role standing behind the tree. Eventually she intrudes and tries to behave their spiritual life the leaves around her waist very much suggestive of eve who adorned the same after losing her innocence. Leaves start growing on the trees but only sprout on her head implying deforestation. The refrain remains us again and again that this eve turns out to be the eve Nigerian damnation.

The poem where I to choose is reminiscent of yeast poem cold Adam’s curse. The poet has tried to compare Adam’s toiling in the soil with the Negros working in the soil. They broke the stone themselves which was their very foundation. The red streams are symbolized for the multilingual diversity that reaches the womb Africa.

Cain in this poem metaphorically represents the next generation. ‘I’ in Okara’s poems generally refers to the tribe. The poet implies that he is currently imprisoned in the present generation and the crisis of identity of generation. The earlier generations gaze would not go beyond; but he does and to him the world is looked at from the brink.

                 The poem is written in 1950, the period of Nigerian independence, the poet sees his ancestors-their slavery, their groping lips, the breasts molted by heart-rending suffering. The poet’s vision goes outside and backgrounds. The memory is like a thread going through his ears.

          The poet compares Cain with modern man, Cain was a wonderer and if he was caught by anybody, he would be definitely slain. Similar is the condition of the modern uneducated man who does not pass any aim. The poet, at the age of 31, is multilingual and thinks about the medium of his instruction. The tower of Babel symbolizes unity. When the ‘Tower of Babel’ was constructed, God cursed the concerned people. The people wanted to construct a great tower signifying oneness and around it people would stand united. They wanted to speak the same language but God despised the fact. There is no proper foundation or structure remaining. His world has deteriorated to ‘world of bones’.

Telephone Conversation

By Wole Soyinka

                                                                     

Telephone Conversation depicts a conversation between a white lady and an African American man which casts a harsh light on the racism and prejudice which grips society.The title reveals the fact that two people are talking on the phone, so the beginning of the poem is on a positive note: The man is searching for a house and the land lady has named a considerable price, and the area where it is located is an impartial and not racially prejudiced. Also the man could enjoy his privacy as the land lady does not live under the same roof. The African man is ready to accept the offer, but maybe there has been a similar incident in his past, for he stops and admits to her that he is black, saying he prefers not to waste the time travelling there if she’s going to refuse him on that bounds.
There is silence at the other end; silence which the black man thinks is the reluctant result of an inbred sense of politeness. However he is wrong because when she speaks again, she disregards all formalities and asks him to explain how dark he is. The man first thinks he has misheard but then realizes that that is not true as she repeats her question with a varying emphasis. Feeling as if he has just been reduced to the status of a machine, similar to the telephone in front of him, and asked to choose which button he is, the man is so disgusted that he can literally smell the stench coming from her deceptive words and see red everywhere around him. Ironically he is the one who is ashamed by the tense and awkward silence which follows, and asks for clarification thinking sarcastically that the lady was really helpful by giving him options to choose from. He suddenly understands what she is trying to ask, and repeats her question to her stating if she would like him to compare himself with chocolate, dark or light? She dispassionately answers and his thoughts change as he describes himself as a West African Sepia as it says in his passport. The lady remains quite for a while, not wanting to admit to her ignorance, but then she gives in to curiosity and asks what that is. He replies that it is similar to brunette and she immediately clarifies that that’s dark.
Now the man has had enough of her insensitiveness. He disregards all constraints of formality and mocks her outright, saying that he isn’t all black, the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands are completely white, but he is foolish enough to sit on his bottom so it has been rubbed black due to friction. But as he senses that she is about to slam the receiver on him, he struggles one last time to make her reconsider, pleading her to at least see for herself; only to have the phone slammed on him. Wole Soyinka uses two main literary devices to drive home the message of the poem. The first of the two is imagery. Right at the beginning, the imagery used to describe the mental image the man has of the woman: “lipstick coated, gold rolled cigarette holder piped”, just from listening to her voice shows one that he thinks that she is, socially speaking above him, from a higher social class.
Then when he hears her question regarding how dark he is, he is so humiliated and angry that he sees red everywhere. The imagery of the huge bus squelching the black tar is symbolic of how the dominant white community treats those belonging to the minor black one.
The next most evident use is that of irony. In the beginning of the poem, the African says that he has to “self-confess” when he reveals his skin color to the lady. The color of his skin is something that he has no control over, and even if he did, it is not a sin to be dark skinned, so the fact that the man feels ashamed and sorry for this is ironical and casts light on how ridiculous racism is that one should apologize or be differentiated against solely because of the color of one’s skin. Also, it seems almost comical that anyone should be so submissive when he has actually committed no mistakes.
On the other hand, the lady is continuously described in positive terms, suggesting that she is of a good breeding and upper class. Even when the reader finds out that she is a shallow and racist person who exhibits extreme insensitivity by asking crude questions, the man seems to think that she is ‘considerate; and her clinical response to his question shows only ‘light impersonality.’ The repeated and exaggerated assertions of the woman’s good manners and sophistication drip with irony as her speech contradict this strongly.
Also the basis of the woman rejecting to lease her house to the man is because of the prejudiced notion that African Americans are a savage and wild people. This idea is completely discredited by the ironical fact that throughout the poem the man retains better manners and vocabulary than the woman, using words such as “spectroscopic” and “rancid”, whereas she does not know what West African Sepia is and is inconsiderate in her inquiries. Using irony in this manner, Soyinka proves how absurd it is to judge the intellect or character of a man depending on the color of his skin only.

The poem deals with a foul subject, that of racism and prejudice, in a lighthearted, almost comical manner. A most important device which Soyinka has used to highlight this sense of racism, which was previously widespread in western society, is that of the telephone. Had the person been speaking face to face with the lady, this whole conversation would never have taken place. She would have either refused outright, or would have found a more subtle way of doing so. The whole back and forth about ‘how dark’ the man is wouldn’t have occurred. Thus the telephone is used to make the issue of racism clear and prove how nonsensical it really is.
Written in an independent style and delivered in a passively sarcastic tone, this poem is a potent comment on society. Soyinka might be speaking through personal experience, judging by the raw emotions that this poem subtly convey: those of anger, rage, shame, humility and an acute sense of disgust at the apathy and inhumanity of humans who won’t judge a book by its cover but would turn down a man for the color of his skin. In today’s world, racism might be a dying concern; but that does not mean that discrimination against other minorities has been completely eradicated. Despite the progressing times, people continue to harbor prejudices and illogical suspicions about things they do not understand: may it be others ideals, religions or traditions and customs. Thus this poem remains a universal message for all of us, as Soyinka manages to convey just how absurd all prejudices are by highlighting the woman’s poor choice of rejecting the man just because he does not share the same skin color.
‘Telephone Conversation’ is a favorite, both for its excellent use of rich language and the timeless message it conveys.

“were I to choose”

By Gabriel Okara

“When Adam broke the stone

and red streams raged down to

gather in the womb”

                                                       Adam’s toiling in the soil can be compared to the Negros working in the soil. They broke the stone themselves which was their very foundation. The red streams are symbolic of multilingual diversity that reaches the womb Africa. These lines present it,

“in Cain, unblinking gaze”

Cain metaphorically represents the next generation. ‘I’ in Okara’s poems generally refers to the tribe. This lines talks about Cain,

“and thirty turns, the world

Of bones is Babel, and”

 The earlier generation’s gaze would not go beyond. Written in 1950, the period ofNigerian Independence, the poet sees his ancestors – their slavery, their groping lips, the breasts muted by heart – rendering suffering.At the turn of 31years, the poet is multi – lingual and he wonders what should be the medium of his instruction. The tower of Babel symbolizes unity.

“And when the harmattan

of days has parched the throat”

 During the construction of the Tower of Babel, God cursed the people concerned. God despised the very fact there now remains no proper foundation, or structure and his world has deteriorated to a ‘world of bones.’He wants free himself from the imprisonment of this dark halo. The poet likens his predicament with the Harmattan, a parching wind mingling with dust during the month Dec. to Feb. inNigeria. The colonial period has made him an amalgam of European and Africancultures, and now he finds himself in a no man’s land. He relishes the idea of resolving the crisis by seeking refuge in the silence of the grave. He, then, would be even cheating the worms because he would enjoy that state of affairs.

Okara’s remarks are clear. Contrary to the example of Nazi Boni, Okara’s writing is a conscious attempt to use the words and expressions in the way he has chosen. Both poems are famous and thus they show Okara’s potentiality in writing poems.