October 25, 2021
TITLE: The Leader and the Led
POET: Niyi Osundare
OTHER POEMS: They Too Are the Earth
GENRE: Poetry
CATEGORY: Fable
DENOTATION: Quest for leadership in the animal kingdom.
POINT OF VIEW: Third person
FLOW: Climactic
THEMES: Leadership, Nature, Imperfection, Balance, etc
STRUCTURE: Twelve (12) Stanzas
POETIC DEVICES: Antithesis, Simile, Alliteration,
FLOW: Climactic
DICTION: Simple
TONE AND MOOD: Rivalry, unrest and disagreement
SIMILAR POEM: Ambush by Gbemisola Adeoti
INTRODUCTION:
The Leader and the Led is a poem crafted by Niyi Osundare in form of a fable. It tells a
story of an animal kingdom lacking leadership based on rivalry and imperfection.
Most powerful animal in the kingdom saw the reason and right to become the ruler yet
their power seemed to be their flaws (the reasons for them not to be voted). The trouble
prolonged until the “Forest Sage” (in line18 stanza 9) proffered solution.
According to the forest sage, strength alone isn’t the yardstick for becoming a ruler. The
balance of strength and weakness is the needed quality for any animal that will rule the
pack well.
Line 17 – 20:
“’Our need calls for a hybrid of habits”,
Proclaims the Forest Sage,
“A little bit of a lion
A little bit of a lamb
Tough like a tiger, compassionate like a doe
Transparent like a river, mysterious like a lake’”
THE POET:
The poet Niyi Osundare was born 1947 in Ikere Ekiti, Ekiti state, Nigeria. Professor Niyi
Osundare is a teacher of language, a mild activist and a member of the Association of
Nigerian Authors (ANA).
Other poems written by the poet are They Too Are The Earth, Not My Business, Earth's
Eye View, Ours To Plough Not To Plunder, and many more.
Summary of the Leader and the Led by Niyi Osundare
SUMMARY OF THE POEM:
Let’s write the context of the poem in prose form.
The antelopes aren’t in support of the lion becoming the leader of the jungle because of
the ferocious pounce of his paws on them. Likewise the impalas are scared of the hyena’s
lethal appetite.
The whole forest stood on the fact that giraffe eyes is too far from the ground; therefore,
he’s not fit for the crown. They saw the fact that zebra possesses too many stripes;
therefore he’s not fit for the crown. They saw the fact that strides of the elephant is too
deadly; therefore, he’s not fit for the crown.
The forest doesn’t want an ugly king, which is why warthog is not an option and they do
not want a riotous king, which is why rhino is not an option as well.
The pack continued to live without a king until the Forest Sage proffered a solution.
The throne should go to any animal with a hybrid of habit. An animal with little quality of
a lion; and little quality of a lamb. Such animal must be tough, compassionate,
transparent and mysterious.
The pack will remain peaceful, once there is a leader who knows how to be a follower and
followers who are mindful of their leadership rights.
Structure of the Leader and the Led by Niyi Osundare
STRUCTURE:
The Leader and the Led by Niyi Osundare is a fable.
A fable is a style in literature where animals are the characters and mostly crafted for the
purpose of teaching a moral lesson. Instances are Animal Farm by George Orwell, Fable
by Ralph Waldo Emerson
The poem (The Leader and the Led) is a 12 stanza couplet void of planned end-rhymes
and rhythms. The first part of the poem juxtaposed varying animals’ choice to lead and
those of followers against their leadership. The final four stanzas of the poem are solution
to the hovering choice of leadership problem.
The diction employed by Professor Osundare was as straight as arrow; no employment of
grammar too hard for an English language beginner.
The poem was narrated through a third person view and the flow of event was climactic;
starting with problem of who-fits-the-throne to the solution proffered by the forest sage.
The tone and the mood can be described as of unrest, rivalry and disagreement.
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