Thematic Analysis Of Ambassadors Of Poverty By Phillip Umeh

THEMATIC ANALYSIS
(a) Theme Of Poverty And Suffering
(b) Theme Of Selfishness
(c) Theme Of Deceitfulness
(d) Theme Of Political And White-collar Corruption
(e) Theme Of Negligence And Nonchalance

Theme of poverty and suffering must come to mind first in this poem. It is the outcome of mismanagement, embezzlement, and awkward supremacy within the country that led the poet to lament on the wide and deep abysm poverty has become in the country. The poet summarized it in the first stanza before spending the rest stanzas to buttress his summary of poverty, suffering and corruption:
"Ambassadors of poverty are
The corru
pt masters of the economy
With their head abroad
And anus at home
Patriots in reverse order
Determined merchants of loot
Who boost the economy of colonial order
To impoverish brothers and sisters at home"

Theme of selfishness seem to be the root cause of the acts perpetrated by the villians wearing the robe of rulers. Since the dawn of time, mankinds have ceased to cure the disease of selfishness dwelling within them and the generationally inherited selfishness has caused much harm to the country described by poet.

Theme of deceitfulness occurred when the grown selfishness made use of deceitfulness as its evil tool. Those expected to be the savior of the masses became otherwise using "tearful stories of rip-off", heartlessness and "alibi as governance" to play on their citizens intelligence while they amass wealth to feather their own nests.

Theme of political and white-collar corruption, the poet described them with mammoth metaphors and imageries such as
"The political elite/ In air conditioned chambers/ And exotic cars..." (according to stanza 4) "Office loafers in the guise of workers/ Barons of incompetence/ With kleptomaniac fingers/ And suckling filaments/ Position occupants and enemies of service/ Locked in corrosive war of corruption/ With their peoples' treasury/ And killing their future"(according to stanza 2)
They perpetrated their corruption through counterfeiting and vain promises providing the populace "With death traps for roads/ Mud for water, candle for light/ Underneath trees for schools/ Rats for protein/ Fasting as food/ And alibi as governance" in stanza 4 of the poem.

Theme of negligence and nonchalance by the masses was also pointed out as one of the causes of poverty the people suffered; they became nonchalant and neglected the destructive hands causing suffering because they were lazy "able-bodied men on the streets/ Without motive, without vision, without mission/ Men fit for farms/ But glued to the city/ Hungry and desperate/ Constituting willing tools in the hands/ Of political overlords" and because the hardworking one were striving for their own survival:
"Ambassador of poverty are
All of us whose in-actions
Steal our collective joy
Because of what we should do
Which we never do
As we bargain away
Our conscience in the market place
Under the weight of poverty
To assuage our hunger
And our masters' will."

>>> READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings soaring high)