July 12, 2016
[QUESTION]
Discuss the themes of political revolution and struggle for freedom in Gbanabom Hallowell's "The Dining Table". (NECO JUNE/JULY 2016 LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH)
Discuss the themes of political revolution and struggle for freedom in Gbanabom Hallowell's "The Dining Table". (NECO JUNE/JULY 2016 LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH)
[ANSWER]
The Dining Table by Gbanabom Hallowell is a political dissention poem; no dispute about that. Such led the content of the poem to germinate the themes of political revolution and struggle for freedom.
The Dining Table by Gbanabom Hallowell is a political dissention poem; no dispute about that. Such led the content of the poem to germinate the themes of political revolution and struggle for freedom.
To the best of naijapoets.com.ng ability, both themes are discussed as follows:
Political revolution always leads to chaotic atmospheric situations which is not different from Hallowell's sympathetic narration.
The revolutionary picture of the poem revealed brutality, desperate inhumanity to humans, the use of guns and harmful weapons. On top of that, the victims were placed in condition of homelessness. Victims homelessness gathered every age to the so-called “dinner table”; including the sleepless barefooted children with eyes so sharp and alert like switchblades because the effect of the war or sudden attack had taken away their peace and clipped their voices with silence.
The revolutionary picture of the poem revealed brutality, desperate inhumanity to humans, the use of guns and harmful weapons. On top of that, the victims were placed in condition of homelessness. Victims homelessness gathered every age to the so-called “dinner table”; including the sleepless barefooted children with eyes so sharp and alert like switchblades because the effect of the war or sudden attack had taken away their peace and clipped their voices with silence.
On the side of "the struggle for freedom", the gathering as portrayed by the poet motivates the need for freedom. Common to nights of every assaults, abnormal alertness backed by fear was evident in the poem because the people gathered in an insecure place “where guerillas walk the land while crocodiles surf”; their freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom to live are totally reduced. Their highest wish would be to acquire their deprived freedom.
The poem speaker made the readers to realise how strong revenge was in his heart but the fatigue and pains the bullets have caused, made his/her revolutionary intention so impossible:
“Under the spilt
milk of the moon, I promise
to be a revolutionary, but my Nile, even
without tributaries come lazy
upon its own Nile.”
MOST NOT MISS:-
“Under the spilt
milk of the moon, I promise
to be a revolutionary, but my Nile, even
without tributaries come lazy
upon its own Nile.”
MOST NOT MISS:-
- Discuss the Absurdity of War in the Dining table
- Effects of War on Children in the Dining Table
Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)
(the Leo with wings flying)