Gone Are The Days

 Gone are the days when you were kids.

Gone are the days when you were schooling.

Gone are the days when you were single.

Gone are the days when you were ruling.

Gone are the days when you were rocking the parties.

Gone are the days when you were loving and dating.

Gone are the days when you were living your best life, high class, in Greece.

Gone are the days when you were nursing your babies, craving their bright future, caged in parenthood dealing.

Gone are the days when you were a married infidel, nailing every Dick and Harry with hole to poke with endurance pills.

Gone are the days when you were still living on earth (walking with staff or not, rich or poor, healthy or frail, known or hard to be noticed you existed among the living).

So do the right things today,

For sooner or later

Everything you have done shall become

"Gone-Are-The-Days".

Samuel C. Enunwa

http://twitter.com/Naija345

is where I Follow Back and retweet my followers.

Read More

The Secrets Known To Two Eyes

I know you have ears
listen attentively
I'm revealing
the secret known to
two eyes
two legs
two ears
one mouth
one mind
one head
one me and myself
and at the end
you'll applaud this verse
with thy mind
what is it? Cunning is
what I brought to thy hearing

Many men say: tortoise is most cunning

What about hare?

Let me weave you this yarn,
in the days of yore
animal land was famine
hunger and thinning
all animals were bony
tortoise in company of birds
went to feast in heaven
only hare was fresh
fresher than the skin of kings
eating and wining daily
has been selling fellow animals
in exchange for food

"My food reserve is down.
Only few food left,
what am I to do?"

The hare journeyed
40 days and 40 nights
visited goddess of vegetables.

"O! Goddess!
Here I come to strike you a deal.
Give me bag of food and
I shall give you a fellow animal
with whom melody in his roar
will make you swerve and swing all day"

While the goddess waited by the border land
Mr. Hare visited Mr. Leopard
and said:

"Hello! My good friend.
You are cannibal
I am not but
at the border of the land
I found seven motherless puppies
crying with no care
kindly make this a secret"

The leopard followed the hare
whistling as they went
while he whistled through the path
other leopard followed quietly
through the bush
suddenly at the target spot
ropes of vegetables entwined
Mr. Leopard to make him a slave

At the rescue of other Leopards
there was a battle of rage
Mr. Hare took to race
32 leopards behind
he was angrily chased
ran under a rock and
digged into the soil
till this moment
there he lives.

Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry 

Read More

Comment On The Use Of Pun In The Pulley By George Herbert

"Comment on the use of pun in the pulley" WAEC May/June 2017.

One of the reasons why the examination council has added this classic metaphysical poem to the list of recommended poetry for the 2016-2020 Literature-in-English syllabus is to ensure that the candidates sitting for the examination are able to comprehend the the poet's use of language, style and symbolism.

The question here is about the use of pun in The Pulley by George Herbert. It is true that George Herbert wrote the poem to show God's high level of supremacy over humankind. 

The poet channeled his thoughts straight into the hearts of readers by employing some elements of pun.

A pun can be defined as a joke or kind of wordplay in which sounds, or words, or ideas are used to represent its primary meaning.

George Herbert, in the poem created a title that downplayed the serious matter of humans' mortality as he compared humans' habitual dependency on God to a pulley that draws human beings back to the creator; as seen in the poem, the insatiable wants of humans keep pulling them back to God.

Besides the title and the message of the poem, the chosen words of the poet are playful; particularly the way the poet placed "man" "cup of blessing" "span" "weariness" "toss" within the context of the poem to prove that without God, human beings are nothing.

Few prove of playfulness in the poet's lines are:-
When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
“Let us,” said he, “pour on him all we can.
Let the world’s riches, which dispersèd lie,
Contract into a span.”

READ MORE POETIC >>>

Read More

Analysis of New Tongue by Elizabeth Kamara

Introduction 

Based on those messages sent to me through the Tutor-Me link, inquiring about the poem titled "New Tongue by Elizabeth L. A. Kamara", this post will discuss the poem, the background, the theme, the settings, the structure, the poetic devices, the mood, the tone, etc. 

This post will be very useful for students, teachers, and anyone who seek following questions such as "what are the themes of New Tongue by Elizabeth Kamara", "summary of New Tongue by Elizabeth L. A. Kamara", "lesson note for New Tongue by Elizabeth L. A. Kamara", "can I get the pdf review of New Tongue by Elizabeth Kamara", etc. 

Elizabeth L. A. Kamara

She is an author, poet and teacher of English language literature. Born and bred in Sierra Leone. 

New Tongue 

The poem titled "New Tongue" by Elizabeth L. A. Kamara is poem that indirectly decried Africans foolishness for neglecting their own culture and norms for borrowed modernisation; the poem also examined few of the flaws associated with the new culture or lifestyle adopted. 

Tone and Mood

The tone of the poem is worrisome and lamentation in order to create the mood for awareness and reflection.

Diction

The choice of words by the poet, aligns with a layman's understanding. Therefore, making the message easy to comprehend.

Third Person Point of View 

New Tongue by Elizabeth LA kamara has a third person plural narrative technique. By employing words, "they", "their", "family", "bonds", "minds"; it gave the readers a sense of general phenomenon in term of the change accepted. 

Stanza

The poem is of 5 stanza of uneven count of lines per stanza. (Stanza 1) they have adopted a new culture and language they so much cherished to the extent that the old is now a mere dream_ which has affected the ties that used to exist between family and friends. (Stanza 2) the new generation doesn't give a damn about the bond that comes from sticking to the norms of family, traditions, and heritage. (Stanza 3) they are now against gerontocracy_ or simply the principle of elders first. (Stanza 4) they glorify their new way of life which prioritizes the boring self-centered attitude. (Stanza 5) they hung on to the borrowed culture and decided to never look back. 

Lines

New Tongue by Elizabeth L. A. Kamara is poem with the total of 46 lines void of planned rythmns_ which makes poem a free verse. 

Flow

The poet hit on her concern in the first stanza, then expressed the negative impacts or effects of her concern in stanza two, three, four while she noted in the final stanza that there might never be any solution to the damage already done. In a nutshell, New Tongue by Elizabeth L. A. Kamara possessed a downward or climactic flow. 

Change

The theme of change is obvious if we consider the title of the poem and the context of the poem as well. "New Tongue" denotes transformation or change while the repetition of the word "new" and "borrowed" tell the readers that were once old and unborrowed lifestyle. 

Clash of Culture

Let's quickly shed a floodlight on  the theme of cultural clash in the poem. Besides the fact that the poem gave the readers literal and societal sense of the clash between African culture and westernisation or perhaps modernisation or synonymously called civilisation , the poet sends a message of clash between the old and the new; the past, the present and the future, not excluding the clash between the heritage and the borrowed, the loss and the found, 

Take a look at line 1 - 7 quoted below and you see the evidence of cultural clash I have explained: 

"They speak in a new tongue 

And dance new dances 

Minds battered into new modes and shapes 

Their eyes revel in the wonder of the new 

Embraced and bound to hearts with impregnable chains 

The old songs as disregarded dreams 

Remnants of a past."

Disunity and Disrespect 

The theme of disunity and disrespect exposed in the poem are addressed as part of the negative effects of the borrowed culture as opposed to the African culture and beliefs. All over the poem, there are complaints about how the new generation now lack family unity because they have disunited or disconnected with their tradition and their cultural heritage. An instance is shown below from stanza 2 of the poem:

"A new generation 

Careless of bonds 

Of family 

Of tradition 

Of heritage 

They care not 

Nor revere the old 

Their minds turn inwards 

Only inwards 

Like the insides of clothes 

That marry the bodies of mankind" 

Even the stanza 3 further complained about the disrespect the new generation bestow elders and the position that should be reserved for elders in their scheme of activities. 

Allusion 

In line 43 of the poem, there is a biblical allusion "their borrowed minds parted the red sea long time ago", which alluded to the fact that among the borrowed culture in terms of religion is Christianity. The allusion reminds the readers of the Moses and the Israelite's captivity story in the Bible. 

Symbolism 

Let's point out some symbolism in the poem are "minds" in line 3 and 43 which symbolizes a belief system or lifestyle. "dances" in line 2 and "shoes" in line 42 both symbolize mode of entertainment. "tongue" in line 1 and 30 symbolizes language. 

Alliteration 

Some glaring alliteration in the poem are "and dance new dances" [line 2], "last lock"[line 44], "coldness descending like snow covered mountain"[line 35], "bathing at the back of the house"[line 36], etc. 

Simile

Elizabeth injected like three similes in the Poem, as seen in line 6 [the old songs as disregarded dreams], seen in line 35 [a strange coldness descending like snow covered mountain], and also in line 36 [or like bathing at the back of the house]. 

Imagery 

Here are some imageries in the poem_ "new tongue", "new dances", "new modes and shapes", "impreganable chains", "the old songs as disregarded dreams", "a strange coldness descending like snow covered mountain", "on a rainy July day", "last lock on their culture", "without a backward glance", etc. 

Metaphor 

Few metaphor existed in line 25 "Not even on the edge of their minds" and "Ties of family and friendship/ Loosened, broken, burnt/ The ashes strewn into the bottomless sea" seen in lines 8 and 9 is a metaphor or maybe an extented metaphor at that.

Closing the Curtain 

I feel like drawing the post to a close at this juncture. Hopefully, you should find it easier to comprehend the poem as regards the connotation, denotation and the figuratives.

You can as well contribute to the discussion via the comment box and be kind enough to share this post to social media platforms. 

Feel free to motivate the writer of this post by clicking on BuyMeACoffee

CONTINUE READING MORE TOPICS SHOWN BELOW >>>

Read More

The Use of Juxtaposition In Once Upon A Time by Gabriel Okara

 Introduction

Let's look into the use of juxtaposition in the poem "Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara". This post is going to be of usefulness to anyone searching for: the central message in Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara, the structure of the poem Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara, Summary of the poem Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara, etc. 

The Poet

Gabriel Okara who lived between 24th of April, 1921 and 25th of March, 2019 was a Nigerian poet, novelist and a human right activist. Some scholars, among other qualities, consider him the first modernist poet of Anglophone Africa. Gabriel Okara was born in Bumoundi in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.

One of Gabriel Okara's poem is on this table of discussion. The poem "Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara" is an eight stanza free verse that centered on the negative impact of human exposure in a corrupt society. It must be noted that the poem shares similarities with Piano and Drums by Gabriel Okara in terms of juxtaposition and nostalgia. 

The Use of Juxtaposition in the Poem 

The poet employed the use of juxtaposition to channel his message to the readers. While creating a climactic flow of narration, he juxtaposed his present with his past. 

Speaking of juxtaposition, there are two types of juxtaposition I noticed in the poem "Once Upon A Time by Gabriel Okara"_ the first is behavioral juxtaposition and the second is personality juxtaposition. 

Personality refers to an individual's unique pattern of thoughts, feelings, and tendencies that influence their behavior. It's the underlying framework that shapes how a person perceives, processes, and interacts with the world. Personality is relatively stable over time and across situations.

Behavior, on the other hand, refers to the specific actions or reactions a person exhibits in response to their environment, situation, or stimuli. Behavior can be influenced by personality, but it's also shaped by external factors like context, culture, and learning.

There are many behavioral juxtaposition in the poem starting from the beginning of the poem_ the first stanza down to the third stanza.

The poet revealed some forms of insincere or corrupt behaviors such as "they shake hands without hearts" while pretending "to shake hands with their hearts". 

Below is the stanza two of the poem, backing the claim of behavioral impurity the poet was complaining about:

"There was a time indeed

they used to shake hands with their hearts:

but that’s gone, son.

Now they shake hands without hearts

while their left hands search

my empty pockets."

In terms of personality juxtaposition, the poet compared his innocence with exposure. The voice of the poem, while narrating his ordeal to his little son, revealed that the society has built in him guilt, corruption, worldliness, cynicism, depravity; unlike when he was a little boy with innocence, purity, naivety, guilelessness, sincerity, innocuoness, virtue, cleanliness, and unblemished. 

A good instance of the personality juxtaposition can be found in stanza six and seven of the poem quoted below:

"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.

But believe me, son.

I want to be what I used to be

when I was like you. I want

to unlearn all these muting things.

Most of all, I want to relearn

how to laugh, for my laugh in the mirror

shows only my teeth like a snake’s bare fangs!"

While I decide to put an halt to this discussion here, the privilege is yours to drop your comments below in the comment box. 

If like this blog, feel free to click on BuyMeACoffee

Find it necessary to share this post to social media platforms via the available social media buttons. 

CONTINUE READING MORE TOPICS SHOWN BELOW >>>

Read More

The Use Of Poetic Devices In Mending Wall By Robert Frost

Introduction

 This post here is about one of the finest classic poem of Robert Frost titled "Mending Wall" ; here we'll refresh our memories with the Use of Poetic Devices in Mending Wall By Robert Frost.

We'll be figuring out figures of speech such as symbolism, alliteration, repetition, simile, hyperbole not excluding the style and language employed by the poet.

Poetic Devices 

Symbolism :- This is a device where symbols are used to represent real things and feelings. 

"And set the wall between us once again" as seen in line 14 of the poem.

The wall stood as a symbol of limitation people set around themselves.

Another symbolism in the poem "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost is found in line 40 "like an old-Stone savage armed". Such line represented the level of mind of the poem persona neighbor who was conservative in deals and thoughts.

Hyperbole :- This is a literary device for the deliberate use of excessive notion or overstatement by a writer for the purpose of impression, laughter or humour. 

Take line 18-22: "We have to use a spell to make them balance/"Stay where you are until our backs are turned"/We wear our fingers rough with handling them/One on a side, it comes to little more/There where it is we do not need the wall"

Those lines portrayed a humorous message and within was elements of hyperbole, satire and irony as the whole process was turned into a thing of game. The hyperbole also extended to lines between 35-37.

Simile:- It involves a direct comparison between two unlike things, with words such as "like", "as", "as if", etc. 

When you take a keen look into the lines 38-40 "He said it for himself, I see him there/Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top/In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed".

From the behavior and thought of the neighbor were compared to that of a savage without a mind and brain of their own. 

Repetition:- A figure of speech in which a word, phrase or idea is expressed more than once in a piece of written work of art. 

"Something there is that doesn't love a wall" happened to be one of the lines repeated multiple times in the poem_ repeated in line 1 and 35.

"the wall between us" also had repetition in line 14 and 15.

Style and Language:- In terms of the style of the poem "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost, surely a narrative poem of one long stanza which flowed climactic because of the simplicity and informal tone of language used. It is satire-filled, humorous ganished with irony. I have the feeling that the poem can be considered a blank verse.

If in any way you found this post helpful, kindly share to family and friends _ maybe even foes. Yeah, funny.

Samuel Enunwa aka samueldpoetry

Read More

Analysis Of Freetown By Sly Cheney Coker

This article is the analysis of freetown by Sly Cheney Coker as understood by naija poets.

Cheney-Coker picked his pen and paper to write about how Africans are trying, in every form, to change their African color and race to something else. 

As a wise African poet, he began his poetry by showering praises on Africa while accepting the fact that he had been far away from home like the biblical prodigal son by comparing himself to a wandering Fulani cow:
"Africa I have long away from you
wandering like a Fulani cow
but every night
amidst the horrors of highway deaths
and the menace of neon-eyed gods
I feel the warmth of your arms
centrifugal mother reaching out to
your sons
but all calling you mother womb of
the earth" (from line 1-8).

From line 9, Sly Cheney-Coker generalized that Africans were living with differences_ not excluding himself. Though he didn't condemn civilisation but he felt it was part of the sins, Africans had committed. 

Part of the things he complained about were that he had been fond of travelling out of Africa, African ladies and women were bleaching their black skins to white, black African men were not living the African way; he put it like this "and I think of my brothers with ”black skin and white masks” ( I myself am one heh heh heh)". The poet's heart was so heavy because he could not describe Africa, the African way:
" my heart becomes a citadel of disgust
and I am unable to write the poem of your life
my creation haunts me behind the mythical dream
my river dammed by the poisonous weeds in its bed".

If you do not understand the structure of this poem "Freetown" by Sly Cheney-Coker, then let me try and table it based on my own understanding. The poem is not broken into stanzas, it has simple dictions with more of enjambments, the setting is Freetown, as suggested by the title of the poem and the context.

 

Figuratively in the poem; the phrase "Black Englishman" is a sarcastic oxymoron, African is personification and metaphor in the poem: "I feel the warmth of your arms/ centrifugal mother reaching out to your sons/ but all calling you mother womb of the earth", "this third anniversary of my flight" symbolized travelling in airplane, "citadel of disgust" is a metaphor used by the poet to compare the feeling in his heart, "shadow of Freetown" is a metaphor as well, ( I myself am one heh heh heh) "heh heh heh" is an onomatopoeia which means laughter.

Looking at the poem, the following themes are evident:
(1) Africans and civilisation
(2) Devaluation of the African black skin

In many African poetry, the issue of Africanism and Civilisation is very common and it is no surprise that such exist in this poem. Sly Coker was so concerned with the way Africans are embracing civilisation far more than their own culture. He also stated in the poem that they were not satisfied with having a black skin.

Syl Cheney-Coker is a poet, novelist, and journalist from Freetown, Sierra Leone; he was born on 28 June 1945. He spent much of his life in exile from his native country, and wrote extensively (in poetry, fiction, and non-fiction) about the condition of exile and the view of Africa from an African abroad.

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

#civilisation #poetry #africa #poet

Read More

Analysis of Katerina: An Angel In The Flesh by Femi Fani Kayode

THE ANALYSIS:-

"Katerina: An Angel In The Flesh" is a descriptive love poem that embraced the instrument of praise and prayer.

The most part of the poem described Femi Fani Kayode's Katerina as an extraordinary beauty; using the same hyperbolical language of William Shakespeare's craftiness. The ending part of the poem carry some hope words that are tabled in form of prayer.

Few of the poetic devices in the poem are enjambment (as ideas or expressions flow beyond a single line), simile (many comparisons are made in the poem using "like" for instance "Your
words, like the Balm of Gilead" and "blazing red hair like a Royal Princess"), allusion in the poem "the Game of Thrones", alliteration in the poem "deep dimples" and "poor and less privileged", metaphor in the poem "thirst and quest for knowledge and understanding" and "wisdom oozes", the imageries in the poem a mostly of sight.

The major theme of the poem is love, beauty, and the excitement in pleasant human qualities. From the context of the poem, human achievement can also be considered as part of the themes in the poem.

THE POEM:-

Emerald-green eyes and blazing red hair, like a Royal Princess of Westeroth from the Game of Thrones. Beautiful deep dimples and a lovely warm smile. Pale, silk-like skin and waifer-thin lips. Such natural beauty. Your crown glistens and your glory is self-evident.

Most captivating of all is the power of your soul, the beauty and strength of your inner man and the profundity of your learned tongue: wisdom oozes. Your words, like the Balm of Gilead, bring hope: they soothe and heal.
Your compassion for the poor and less privileged and your empathy for the persecuted, the oppressed, the misunderstood and the downtrodden is self-evident and compelling. Your thirst and quest for knowledge and understanding is insatiable and never-ending.
Your love of the Living God is inexplicable, indescribable, unfathomable, profound, deep and utterly moving. You are a woman of substance, an angel in the flesh, a handmaiden of Jerusalem, a speaker of divine truths, a Daughter of Zion.
You are the stuff of which great Queens are made. May you live long and prosper and may you be a blessing to your generation and to generations unborn.

THE POET:-

Chief Femi Fani-Kayode is a Nigerian poet, a lawyer, and a politician born in Lagos, Nigeria on 16th October 1960 to Chief Remilekun Adetokunbo Fani-Kayode and to Chief (Mrs) Adia Adunni Fani-Kayode.He was christened David Oluwafemi (meaning “the beloved of the Lord”) Adewunmi Fani-Kayode. He was the Special Assistant (Public Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006.

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

Read More

Analysis Of Is My Team Ploughing By A E Housman

Analysis of "Is My Team Ploughing" by A. E. Housman from the naijapoets.com.ng perspective. According to wikipedia, "Alfred Edward Housman 26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936 was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad." The poem "Is My Team Ploughing" touched the following aspects of human lives which are friendship, career, leisure, and love. The poem through its questions and answers took the form of a dialogue between the dead man and his friend (the poem speak). Few among the ways a dialogue of this nature can happen are through imagination, vision or dream. The context of the poem didn't give the readers the exact clue of where the dialogue took place between the living friend and his dead friend.

The m has 8 interesting stanzas of 4 lines per sta
nza where the end rhymes between the second and the fourth lines of each stanza.

Okay, let's look at "Is My Team Ploughing" stanza by stanza:-

Stanza 1
"Is my team ploughing,
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?"
The dead man asked his living friend whether the people used to work on the farm with when he was alive were still working; this aspect of the poem is about career.

Stanza 2
"Aye, the horses trample,
The harness jingle now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plaugh."
This is the reply to the stanza 1 question. The friend told the dead man that farm operations had not ceased because of his death; this part of the poem is about leisure.

Stanza 3
"Is football playing
Along the river shore,
"With lads to chase the leather,
Now I stand up no more?"
This showed that the dead friend was young and loved to play football before he died. He wanted to know if people young groups still play football along the river shore like they used to do when he was alive. This aspect is about leisure.

Stanza 4
"Aye, the ball is flying,
The lads play heart and soul;
The goal stands up, the keeper
Stands up to keep the goal."
The living friend's reply was an assertion that nothing had changed since his death.

Stanza 5
"Is my girl happy,
That I thought hard to leave,
And has she tired of weeping
As she lies down at eve?"
This stanza about love. The dead friend wanted to know whether his girlfriend still mourned him and couldn't fall in love with someone else because her love for him was so strong when he was alive.

Stanza 6
"Aye, she lies down lightly,
She lies not down to weep:
Your girl is well contented.
Be still, my lad, and sleep."
The friend replied his dead friend to stop worries because his girlfriend still lived her normal life.

Stanza 7
"Is my friend hearty,
Now I am thin and pine;
And he has found to sleep in
A better bed than mine?"
He requested to know how his living friend was fairing after his death; whether his living friend cherished his bas he slept in a thin grave

Stanza 8
"Yes, lad i lie easy,
I lie as lads would choose;
I cheer a dead man's sweetheart,
Never ask me whose."
This stanza reminds of the common Yoruba proverb that says that when a man dies because of a woman, thousands of women will trample his grave. The living friend replied his dead friend that his love life is very easy and cool; in fact, he was now dating a dead man's sweetheart and concluded by telling the dead friend not to ask him which of the dead man which implied that his dead friend's girlfriend is now his own girlfriend.

The major idea in this poem is that life goes on irrespective of whether someone dies or someone lives.

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

Read More

Deep Analysis Of Post Mortem By Wole Soyinka

Post Mortem was written by the Nigerian world class poet, Prof. Wole Soyinka.

Denotation
The poem began with the poem speaker, preferring dead plants to dead human beings because human beings become stiff and cold "in the cold hand of death..."(line 4) and everything in them become opposite: their talking become "cotton filled", their manhood or man-pike become small like larva of an insect.

The poem speaker in the third and forth stanza revealed the futility of post mortem where the dead man's head was hollowed and his brain was scaled when death had already done a damage no medical practitioners could recover.

The poem ended with the encourag
ement to love science, scientists, practice of post mortem, old age, etc.

Connotation
Now, let's look at the themes in the poem. (1) Theme of Untimely Death (2) Theme of Death's Supremacy Over Science And Human Being (3) Theme Of The Importance Of Dying Old.

(1) Untimely Death. The poem reminds the readers of the fact that untimely deaths are the major causes of post mortem. Such deaths hold mysteries that prompt scientists into action of searching the cause of such death; in a very rare occasion, the death of a very old person post mortemed.
(2) Death's Supremacy Over Science And Human Beings.
"in the cold hand of death...
his month was cotton filled, his man-pike
shrunk to a subsoil grub" (stanza 2)
The stanza explained how powerful and dominating death is. The following two stanzas backed the fact that science and scientific experiments are under the feet of death.
(3) The Importance Of Dying Old. Although, the last stanza of the poem look ambiguous, out of the ambiguity came the importance of dying old where "grey" symbolized old age, "one grey sleep and form" sydmbolized lying in coffin while old, "grey slabs" symbolized the undertaker grey- color Cadillac. The poem speaker stressed the importance of old age by saying: "let us love all things of grey;"(line 13).

Language, Style, Poetic Devices
The poem is a five stanza poem with three lines each stanza.
The language of the poem is simple.
The use medical title and instrument gave the poem a medical setting.
Alliteration in line 1 "functions to freezing", in line 2 "beer; cold bier", in line 11 "head hollowed".
Imageries "stocking beer", "harnessed_ glory be!_", "trick to prove fore-knowledge after death", "grey sleep and form".
Euphemism in line 5 "his man-pike", "how not to die" in line 12, "subsoil grub" in line 6.
Symbolism "stocking beer" symbolized dead beings, "cold bier" symbolized the embalmed, "grey images" symbolised victims of post mortem.
Allusion in line 2. Bier alluded to William Shakespeare's Hamlet Act 4, scene 5: "They bore him bare-face on the bier".

MUST NOT MISS:-
>>>Analysis of Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka

>>>Analysis of I Think It Rains by Wole Soyinka

>>>Analysis of Abiku by Wole Soyinka

READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS>>>

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

Read More

What Is Freedom In Letter To Martha 17 By Dennis Brutus

Letter To Martha 17 written by Dennis Brutus is a great poem that revealed that one never misses a good thing till it departs. The poem speaker found importance in things that never amounted to anything.

The major theme of the poem is freedom. Because of imprisonment, the poem speaker realized the importance of being able to move freely from one distance to another without barricades, the importance of being able to see whatever one wishes to see without blockades, and the importance of being independent.

Cloud, sky, stars, birds, became the agents of freedom. In line 1 and 2, it was said that "In prison/ the clouds assume importance", then the hope of seeing the stars came to the mind of the poem speaker in line 11 followed by the thought about the complex aeronautics of the birds, their absolute freedom from care and the graceful unimpeded motion of the clouds which was likened to music, poetry and dance in stanza 4, 5, and 6.

It was shown in the poem that the hope for freedom and the admiration of those or things that are free would definitely lead the confined person into the realm of rhetorical questions. That is why four lines of rhetorical questions ended the poem:
"_where are they going
where will they dissolve
will they be seen by those at home
and whom will they delight?

The themes of the poem are (1) the importance of freedom (2) the effects of imprisonment (3) the unnoticed freedom of nature. The poem holds a tone of bewilderment and the language was simple with enjambments. Similes and personifications accompanied the great use of imagery to polish the poem.

Dennis Brutus was born in 1924 in Rhodesia, lived in South Africa, taught in South African High school, arrested for protest against Apartheid in 1963, etc.

READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS

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

Read More

Analysis Of The Poem Passion Flower By Christopher Okigbo

According the article of St. John D. Parsons, "Christopher Okigbo originally wrote Passion Flower as a continuation of his poem "Sacrifice" in the series called Heavengate.

[View The Poem Passion Flower by Christopher Okigbo]

The passion flower is so named because its parts are said to resemble ceetain aspect of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, e.g. the corona represents the crown of thorns, the pistil and stamens the nails of the cross, and the sepals and petals the apostles. The passion refers to the sufferings of Christ between the night of the Last Supper and his death.

In line 3, Lacrimae Christi is a Latin meaning "the tears of Christ". "dumb bell" in line 6 referred to the practice in the Roman Catholic Church where bell are not rung between Maundy Thursday and the first Mass on Easter Sunday. Messiah in line 8 pointed at the expected King and Savior (Jesus Christ). "after the argument in heaven" which appeared in line 9 of the poem was looking at the shaking of the powers of heaven referred to in The Gospel According to St. Luke, Chapter 21, verse 26, prior to the coming of the Son of Man, described in verse 27.

Lumen mundi is also a latin, meaning the Light of the World ( Jesus Christ). "Penitence"(line 11) meant sorrow for faults or sins. "palm grove"(line 14) meant the place of sacrifice. In line 15, "vegetable offering" the fruits of the earth that are being sacrificed, that is, palm oil, kola nuts, alligator pepper and eggs of white hens. "five fingers of chalk" in line 16-17 referred to the sacrificial chalk which is sold in "fingers". The prodigal uses five of these for his sacrifice because his own personal symbol is the pentagon (see the poem Sacrifice):

'on palm beam imprinted
my pentagon_'"

Christopher Okigbo before killed in 1967 in Biafra war, was a Secretary, a Latin teacher, a librarian, a West African representative of Cambridge University Press. He was a graduate of University of Ibadan and was born in 1932 in Anambra state.

READ MORE CLASSIC POEM [Post Mortem by Wole Soyinka]

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

Read More

Connotation And Denotation Of Futility By Wilfred Owen

Futility happens to be a poem written by Wilfred Owen, English poet and soldier who was born in March 18, 1893 at Oswestry, Shropshire England but died in November 4, 1918 at Sambre Oise Canal France. Owen was said to have started poetry at the age of 17, today, he's still remembered for his beautiful war poems like "Anthem Of Doomed Youth" "Dulce et Decorum est". This post is to look at the denotation and connotation of the poem Futility.

DENOTATION:
The poem of two stanzas revealed in the first stanza where the poem speaker request
someone referred to as "him" to be brought into the sun maybe it could wake him as it has done before "At home" (line 3) and "in France" (line 4), claiming the sun is the only option for his revival. In the second stanza of the poem, the poem speaker showed the sun had revived seeds, clays, among other things but wondered why it became very difficult to wake the man this time. The poem speaker became angry, blamed the sun and gave the sun an abusive name while questioning it by saying "_O what made fatuous sunbeams toil/ To break earth's sleep at all?"

CONNOTATION:
The poem has the theme of life's futility. It is said that the poem was talking about world war 1 where men dead in battle were spread under the sun like grains. The poem speaker saw futility in the effort of those in battle because their fighting led them to nothing but shameful sudden death. The poem also saw futility in the effort of the sun that revived at some points but lost its power of revival at a point to death.

The poem also has the theme of death's supremacy over everything. The poem speaker showed the power of the sun was limited to a certain period of season when he/she said "Until this morning and this snow" (line 5) and also revealed that the sun would have equaled death if it had not foolishly toil "To break earth's sleep at all". It must also be noted that the sun was used to symbolize daybreak in line 13 and 14.

Another theme of note in the poem is the impact of the sun on human and living things. According to the poem speaker the sun has the power to wake things not excluding the dead victim but one might be tempted to ask how the sun does its revival? The sun is used as a metonymy in the poem to refer to the morningtime. In the morning, the sun wakes alongside humans and even plants but with the power of hyperbole the poet turned the sun to an entity with the ability to wake or revive.

POEM:
Move him into the sun_
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of field unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know

Think how it wakes the seeds_
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved-still warm-too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
_O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth's sleep at all?
© Wilfred Owen (18-03-1893 04-11-1918)

READ MORE POETIC ANALYSIS

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

Read More