The Marriage of Anansewa by Efua Sutherland (Act One Summary)

Introduction 

This post is to summarize the Act One of the drama book title "the Marriage of Anansewa by Efua T. Sutherland. Hopefully to be useful for the students of Literature-In-English and fans of literature in general. 

Act One Summary

The scene opens with Ananse entering his home, soaked from the rain. He has bought some typing materials to write letters to the suitors he had chosen for Anansewa, his only daughter.

 Anansewa comes in shortly after her father calls for her attention. She is all dressed up, ready to go out, but her father persuades her to stay and type the letters. 

The letters are typed according to Ananse's preference: the first letter is addressed to Chief Sapaase, the second one to TogbeKlu IV of Akate, the third to Chief of the Mines, and the fourth and final one to Chief-Who-Is-Chief. The first three letters are similar in tone and content, but the last one is different. It is more personal and emotional, because Ananse prefers Chief-Who-Is-Chief to the others.

When Anansewa is done typing the letters, her father gives her the sum of 120 cedes, which he says is her school fees for the E. P. Secretarial School. The money is actually part of the cash gift from Chief-Who-Is-Chief. 

Anansewa soon realizes her father's scheme and protests against being sold into marriage. However, Ananse resorted to emotional blackmail, lamenting his poverty and how he struggles to cater for Anansewa. Anansewa cannot help but sympathize with his father, and she agrees reluctantly to accept the cash gift.

The scene was followed by a brief interlude of traditional musical performances known as Mboguo, followed by a conversation between a young couple, Akwesi and Akosua. This scene is to establish the fact that only the presentation of the head-drink gives a man the right to claim a woman as his wife. 

The final scene in the Act shows Ananse receiving more gifts from his daughter's suitors, specially, TogbeKlu IV, which is delivered to him by the Postman.

Conclusion 

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Analysis of to a Bedbug by Sam Mbure

Two important messages surfaced from the complaining voice of the poem speaker are; the victim's constant nuptial lost of blood and the victim's poverty condition. It can be said that one problem led to another in the sense that it might be the poem speaker's poverty that caused his "little bed" infested.

Sam Mbure, in this poem title "To A Bedbug" wrote about the negative effect and the inconvenience caused by bedbug; not only that, the chosen words of the poem marveled at the wisdom of the bedbug. Saying that the "tiny creature" only takes advantage of his unconscious sleeping state to feed and breed in his bed.


Clever thou art, tiny creature;
You attend me when I am deep asleep;
When thou art sure, I can’t you capture,
Just at the time I snore deep.

‘Tis so strange that before twilight,
The bed clear of you would seem;
For not one of you is in my sight;
As if your presence was in a dream

Mbure adopted the use of Elizabethan English to communicate his poem to the readers, such found in line 9 and 11 "thou art". Imagery is also evident; image of manner and of sight "you awful parasite", "By sucking blood from my poor head", "Just at the time I snore deep."

Sam Mbure is a Kenyan poet and author who is fond of writing and publishing collections of children's stories. Sam Mbure is an African and it widely known till this day that poverty and suffering are ravaging the continent beyond present attempted repairs. The suffering and poverty in Africa are linked to many factors such as cultural dogma, bad maintenance, greed bred oppression, and many more. Sam Mbure employed a very funny angle of human living to express the human problem of Africans.

It is very reasonable for the reader of the poem to relate with the setting, which has to do with the night and the tiny bed. The speaker of the poem supported his setting with words like "snore deep" "deep asleep" "tiny creature" "twilight" "For supper, diner and lunch".

How did Mbure managed to develop his themes? A very good question to consider. Few of the themes in the poem are (i) the effect of poverty (ii) the intelligence and nature of bedbugs. Though the poem didn't obviously broaden the message of poverty but the complaining voice of the speaker depicted a suffering person sleeping a "tiny bed" without escape from bedbugs sucking his "poor head". When the commenced, the voice of the poem, in his bewilderment, referred to the bedbugs as parasite sharing his bed uninvited. To feed and breed, the bugs depended solely on him which made him to ponder how plenty human blood can be.

The poem carried so much absolutely the image of sight and emotion; "awful parasite" "from my sweet dreams be lost" "is so strange that before twilight/ The bed clear of you would seem". There is synecdoche in line 5 "head" and metonym in line 1 "parasite". Alliteration in line 9 "my bed breed".

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

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Joy And Pleasure By William Henry Davies

"Joy and Pleasure" by William Henry Davies is a poem of class. The title of the poem is in form of a symbolism where "joy" symbolizes poverty while "pleasure" symbolizes riches; this can be further proven in line 1 and 2 respectively where joy and pleasure are personified: "Now, joy is born of parents poor/ And pleasure of our richer kind".
With simple diction, alternate end rhyme scheme pattern, symbolism and personification; the readers are able to see the contrasting opinion embedded in the poem.

There are lots of simile in the poem for the purpose of juxtaposition. In line 9 "Joy’s like a Bee" in line 11 "pleasure’s like a greedy
Wasp" in line 13 "Joy’s like a Lark" in line 15 "Pleasure like a Cuckoo". "Pleasure’s a Moth" is an instance of metaphor while "sings and laughs with strangers near" seen in line 20 is a good example of alliteration.

"Now, joy is born of parents poor,
And pleasure of our richer kind;
Though pleasure’s free, she cannot sing
As sweet a song as joy confined."
According to the stanza one above, joy is capable and lively in its condition of poverty while pleasure is free but not lively and free in its condition of riches.

"Pleasure’s a Moth, that sleeps by day
And dances by false glare at night;
But Joy’s a Butterfly, that loves
To spread its wings in Nature’s light."
According to the stanza two, the freedom in poverty can be expressed even in daylight while that of riches is confined to arenas such as nightclubs.

"Joy’s like a Bee that gently sucks
Away on blossoms its sweet hour;
But pleasure’s like a greedy Wasp,
That plums and cherries would devour."
According to stanza three, "joy" which symbolizes poverty is seen to  maintains moderation, prudence, and decency in dealing with freedom while "pleasure" is voracious and greedy in dealing with any slight chance of freedom acquired.

"Joy’s like a Lark that lives alone,
Whose ties are very strong, though few;
But Pleasure like a Cuckoo roams,
Makes much acquaintance, no friends true."
According to the fourth stanza, "joy" chooses friends wisely with deep and lasting emotional connection while "pleasure" acquire to many friends who are not true.

"Joy from her heart doth sing at home,
With little care if others hear;
But pleasure then is cold and dumb,
And sings and laughs with strangers near."
According to the fifth stanza, another character trait surfaced between both contrasting symbols. "Joy" is portrayed to be very reserve while "Pleasure" is full of showoffs.

There are varying themes in the poem, such as poverty, riches, prudence, friendship, avarice, moderateness, etc.

"Pleasure’s a Moth, that sleeps by day/ And dances by false glare at night" since moths are fond of the shining lights at night, "false glare" could probably be the colourful bulbs seen in nightclubs.

William Henry Davies also called W. H. Davies is an English poet born 3rd of July 1871. He died on the 26th of September, 1940 due to ailments from his lost leg. According to the article on Wikipedia, "Davies' health continued to deteriorate and he died, in September 1940, at the age of 69. Never a church-goer in his adult life, Davies was cremated at Cheltenham and his remains interred there."

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

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The Poetic Analysis Of The Poem Ambassador Of Poverty Written By JosephOnome

NOTE: The post you are about to read was written by JOSEPH ONOME @fungistcrib website, always make sure after you read this post click the link and read more poetic analysis. Joseph Onome is professional when it comes to writing poetic analysis

THE POETIC ANALYSIS:
This post is actually for Jamb candidates writing Literature in English in the forth coming Exam...
I was able to dig into some books and atleast i've revisions of poems and the recommended Books.This is just my first token of help...


Ambassadors of poverty
Written by Philip Umeh.

Poetic analysis
The poem is a long narrative and comprehensive Poem. it tells of corruption ravaging our society, caused by our actions, individually or collectively.
The poem makes us understand that we are all reponsible for the problems we face.

"ambassadors of poverty are
all of us whose in-actions
steal our collective joy..."

Ambassadors are agents and representatives of government in foriegn lands. The poem illustrates ambassadors as any group of persons serving others, not for the good of the people but for their own interests. in the poem, they are seen as enemies of the economy. because the funds taken away into foriegn accounts, aids in the development the foriegn country while the local economy suffers.

"Who boost the economy o the colonial order
to impoverish brothers and siss at home"

The second stanza examines those who sit in offices for their own interests. They are the "Barons of Incompetence". The rest stanzas harp on political thugs, coupists and all other economic saboteurs, working against the interest of the economy. and our inability to fight against evil makes us partakers. The poems however tries to make us understand that whether we are actively involved in the degrading of our country or not, we all are ambassadors of Poverty.

Notify me if you need the themes and poetic devices.

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