Analysis of They Too Are The Earth by Niyi Osundare

The Background 

"They too are the earth" is a poem addressing many factors such as poverty, inhumanity, inequality, neglect, etc. The poem speaker felt that if earth is truly for all, why has many lived as if they do not deserve to live on earth_ the beggars, the labourers (carrying heavy loads day and night), the victims of kidnap, the aged abandoned mothers, the scavenger kids, the wanderers, etc.

The Stanzas

In stanza one, the beggars begging by the filthy gutters, pedestrian shoes and halted vehicle tyres are also part of this earth. Stanza two pointed that the sweating muddy labourers that hew woods and hurl water all through the day are also part of this earth. (Stanza three) Many unfortunate souls kidnapped and kept in unknown undergrounds for rituals are part of this earth. (Stanza four) All the figdeting old women who are abandoned in villages are also part of this earth. The fifth stanza of the poem was crafted with the instrument of rhetorical questions inquiring: Are the lazy ones, the unambitious ones, the waif and stray part of this earth? And are the evil doers who thrive through destruction part of this earth?

The Structure 

The poem is a five stanza free verse with an unequal number of lines per stanza. It's tone is revealing and it possesses a diverse setting (street gutters, forest, villages, excavated undergrounds) which are related to humans life on earth. The major poetic device is refrain: "They are the earth" and "They too are the earth". We see other poetic recipes such as paradox "live that earth may die", alliteration "fritter the forest and harry the hills", litotes "Under snakeskin shoes and Mercedes tyres", personification "The dying distant deaths", synecdoche "Millions hewing wood and hurling water".

The Poet

Niyi Osundare is one of the well recognized poets in Nigeria. Born in Ikere Ekiti, Ekiti state, Nigeria in the year 1947; his literary works have globalized his identity and based on his act of conversation at a certain Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) meeting I attended, he is such a very humble personality. Among his poetic crafts, naijapoets.com.ng has privileged to review "Not My Business" and "Ours To Plough Not To Plunder".
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Enunwa Chukwudinma Samuel aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)

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Analysis Of Not My Business By Niyi Osundare

The very first time I saw Not My Business By Niyi Osundare, I so much liked it. Not My Business is far beyond a poem, a poem sculptured by a professional poetic artist which recalled a past experience. Niyi narrated the poem through the third and the first person point of view. As a Nigerian or anyone who has witnessed military oppression, the poem is an easy recap of unjust governance; where fundamental human rights are trampled upon_ no free movement, no free association, no freedom of speech, etc. Like a folk tale, the poem shows the implication of neighbors not standing up to assist their neighbour in need of help. The poem has a Nigerian setting as regards the the names of victims mentioned by the poem-speaker; Akanni (a Yoruba name) Danladi (a Hausa name) Chinwe (an Igbo name).

Few of the figures of speech in the poem are:
1) Simile is figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another, in the case of English generally using like or as. Example from the poem is "Beat him soft like clay" in line 2.

2) Refrain is a figure of speech that repeats a certain line or stanza in a literary work of art in order to create musical effect. Example from the poem is;
"What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?"

3) Symbolism is a figure of speech that uses the representation of a concept through symbols or underlying meanings of objects or qualities to represent such object. Example from the poem is Akanni, Danladi, and Chinwe which symbolized the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria. "a lengthy absence" in line 11 is a symbolic imagery which means a long imprisonment.

4) Metaphor is a figure of speech that uses a word or phrase to refer to something that it isn’t, invoking a direct similarity between the word or phrase used and the thing described, but in the case of English without the words like or as, which would imply a simile. Example from the poem is "A knock on the door froze my hungry hand" where knock at the door was compared to very cold weather.

5) Alliteration is the repetition of consonants at the beginning of two or more words immediately succeeding each other, or at short intervals. Example from the poem is "hungry hand" "went to work" "sack for a stainless record".

6) Personification is a figure of speech, prosopopeia, in which an inanimate object or an abstraction is given human qualities. Example from the poem is "Only to find her job was gone" in line 16, "And stuffed him down the belly/ Of a waiting jeep" in lines 3-4.

The theme in the poem are:
1) Victimization; many lines of the poem shows how different poetic characters suffer different forms of injustices. Akanni beaten for no reason, Danladi jailed without due process, Chinwe suffered job insecurity.

2) Tyranny and dictatorship; all the acts of brutality in the poem are clear traits of a tyrant dictator. And following the context of the poem, the poet reminded the readers of the Nigerian military brutality (which has now become a once-upon-a-time story)

3) What goes around comes around; is also another theme of the poem which teaches the lesson of oneness and unity. Many victims in the poem suffered abuses because there is no unity among people of such country; everyone is living for himself/herself alone. When every others are brutalised, the poem-speaker felt unconcerned until he was brutalised as well.

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
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Analysis Of Ours To Plough Not To Plunder By Niyi Osundare

Denotation
Ours To Plough, Not To Plunder by Niyi Osundare is an agricultural poem using the rewards found in planting and harvesting as the reasons to encourage people to embrace farming. Based on natural phenomenon and the words of the poet, farming is a very useful investment. The poet or the poem speaker is of the faith that people's engagement in agriculture and farming will divert their attentions from wrong implementations of the huge material rewards the Lord God have kept in the soil for humans benefit.

Connotation
The poem has the following theme: (1) the God's treasure in the soil (2) the benefits of farming to humans (3) humans' choice to use or waste

The stanzaic structure of the poem is a free verse of unequal stanzas. The poet was preoccupied with the need for people to embrace farming, so he used the third person point of view in expressing his feelings.

The poem very evident poetic devices in the poem are repetition, alliteration, ant
ithesis, metaphor, etc. "The hoe is her barber" is an example of both metaphor and personification. "The dibble her dimple" is an example of both metaphor, alliteration and personification. "Ours to work not to waste/ Ours to man not to main" both lines are example of a parallelism with embedded antithesis. "Let's put a sun in every night" symbolizes the practice of mining at night. Judging by the use of figurative terms and the grammatical choice of the poet, one can conclude that the diction of the poem is a very easy one. It must also be noted that the poet used a persuasive tone to encourage the love for agriculture and mining.

The Poem
The earth is our to plough and plant
The hoe is her barber
The dibble her dimple

Out with mattocks and machetes
Bring calabash trays and rocking baskets
Let the sweat which smells earth roots
Relieve heavy heaps of their tuberous burdens

Let wheat fields raise their breadsome hands
To the ripening sun
Let legumes clothe the naked bosom
Of shivering mounds
Let the pawpaw swell and swing
Its headward breast

Let water spring
From earth’s unfathomed fountain
Let gold rush
From her deep unsearchable mines
Hitch up a ladder to the dodging sky

Let’s put a sun in every night
Our earth is an opened grain house
A bustling barn in some far, uncharted jungle
A distant gem in a rough unhappy dust

This earth is
Ours to work not to waste
Ours to man not to main
This earth is ours to plough, not to plunder.

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

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