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4.3.2 Moon in the bucket

Look out there

in the bucket

the rusty bucket

with water unclean

Look!

The moon, dancing to the gentle night wind

Look! all you who shout across the wall

With a million hates. Look at the dancing moon

It is peace unsoiled by the murk

and dirt of this bucket war.

The above is an excellent example of the brevity of a poem surpassed by the weighty nature of its content. This twelve-line piece establishes Okara as one of Nigeria’s finest poets. The poem is symbolic in many ways. The poet was greatly affected by the ravages of the Nigerian Civil War, and many of his poems, often echo the poet’s desire for harmony and peace among mankind. The poet makes the moon a symbol of love and peace. A symbol that is steadfast and resolute, in whatever condition it is seen by man. Even when the reflection of the moon is seen in a rusty bucket with murky water, its beauty and light is not distorted in any way. No matter what hatred or discord surrounds the moon, it does not affect its beauty or its luminous nature. The poet appeals to the human heart to be resolute and resilient like the steadfast moon in our love for each other. The poet pleads not to let external forces influences or dampen his inner good self and let it shine untainted like the reflection of the moon in murky water.

1. What does the poet compare the light of the moon with ?

2. What does the poet feel is the most important element for peace in the country?

TOPIC: 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES

5. 
   . TOPIC: THEME AND STYLE IN DAVID BRUTUS’ POEM- 19
   

5.2. OBJECTIVES - - - - - - - 20

5.3. IN-TEXT - - - - - - - - 20

5.3.1. DAVID BRUTUS - - - - - - 20

5.3.2. THE SUN ON THIS RUBBLE - - - - 20

5.3.3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE POEM - - - 21

5.4. SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - - 21

5.0 TOPIC: THEME AND STYLE IN DENNIS BRUTUS’ POEM
5.1 INTRODUCTION:

Dennis Brutus South Africa’s foremost poet’s poem will be thematically and stylistically analysed.

By the end of this topic, you should be able to:

i. Discern how Brutus gives expression to the apartheid system in South Africa through his poem.

ii. Differentiate the use of harsh poetic techniques employed in his poems.

Born in Rhodesia , Brutus migrated to South Africa, where after graduation he taught English and Afrikaans. But he soon participated actively against the apartheid system in south Africa and was harassed and exiled many times from many countries until he settled in the United States America. Most of Brutus’ poems can be categorised as protest poems which was the hallmark of many poets who were subjugated by the inhuman apartheid system.

Having mastered the English poets, his style does bear the stamp of traditional English poetry. Traces of Tennyson, Wordsworth and Hopkins are easily discernable in many of his poems. But he does posses a reliant, sensitive, probing yet controlled tone, that enables the tenderness towards his home and people come through even from his virulent protest poems. Reading his poems, one feels both the pain and the passion that the poet expresses in his poems. The poem below is indicative of both the hurt and the hope the poet feels.
5.3.2 The sun on this rubble

The sun on this rubble after rain.

Bruised though we must be

some easement we require

unarguably, though we argue against desire.

under jackboots our bones and spirit crunch

forced into sweat-tear- sodden slush

- now glow- lipped by this sudden touch:

- sun- stripped perhaps, our bones may later sing

or spell out some malignant nemesis

Sharpsvilled to spear points for revenging

but now our pride- dumbed mouths are wide

in wordless supplication

- are grateful for the least relief from pain

- like this sun on this debris after rain.
5.3.3 THEMATIC AND STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF THE POEM

Just as man often turns to mother nature for solace and respite, Brutus too appeals to nature to mediate and bring about the long overdue peace and happiness to a people that have been unjustifiably tormented, tortured and opposed. He uses the sun as a symbol of life, and nature’s blessing to man trying to survive in defiant and hostile society. The poet’s control and the colloquial tone is noticed when the poet writes of his people’s sufferings. There is no venom or hatred expressed. But most of the themes are conveyed through distilled lyrical verse and ironic humour. Simplicity, irony and cynicism are the main characteristic features of his poetry as can be seen in the poem above.

4. 
   SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE :
   

1. 
   What picture of the society does the poet paint in the poem The sun on this rubble?
   
2. 
   How does the poet express his optimism of better times for man ?
   

6. 
   TOPIC: CONTENT AND FORM IN DAVID DIOP’S POEM- 22
   

6.2. OBJECTIVES - - - - - - - 23

6.3. IN-TEXT - - - - - - - - 23

6.3.1. DAVID DIOP - - - - - - 23

6.3.2. CERTITUDE - - - - - - 23

6.3.3. POETIC ANALYSIS OF THE POEM - - - 23

6.4. SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - - 24
6.0 TOPIC: CONTENT AND FORM IN DAVID DIOP’S POEM
6.1 INTRODUCTION:

The content and form of David Diop’s poem will be examined.

By the end of the topic, you should be able to :

i. Explain how the poet expresses the humiliation of colonization in his poem.

ii. Identify the poetic devices used.

David Drop belongs to the period of protest poetry writing in Africa.

Though he died young in a plane crash, his few surviving poems have placed him as a credible modern African poet. Like poets of his time, who had undergone and experienced the humiliation of colonization, most of his poems are full of nostalgia for Africa’s glorious past. The hypocritical and destructive influences of colonial rule and his dreams and vision for a free and independent Africa are all embedded in his poem titled Certitude. The poet expresses his sincere faith that Africa will one day break the shackles of slavery and return to its former glory.
6.3.2 Certitude

To those fatten themselves with murder

And measures their the stages of their reign by corpses I say that days and men

That the sun and the stars

Are shaping out the rhythmic brotherhood of all peoples

I say that the heart and the head

Are joined together in the battle line

And that there is not a single day

When somewhere summer does not spring up

I say that manly tempests

Will crush those who barter other’s patience

And the seasons allied with men’s bodies

Will see the enactment of triumphant exploits.

6.3.3 POETIC ANALYIS OF THE POEM

In the poem the poet recounts all the harm and degradation Africa and its peoples have been subjected to in the hands of the colonial powers. He expresses his firm belief that nature itself will find a solution to the obnoxious situation African nations find themselves in. Drawing parallels with the changing nature of the seasons, Diop assures the world that after the storm comes the calm. The poet reminds us that indestructible link between man and nature will surely bring hope and peace for the downtrodden.

1. What line in the poem indicates that nature can sooth

mankind’s woes?

2. Pick one or two poetic decrees used in the poem.

6. 
   TOPIC: THEME AND STYLE IN KWESI BREW’S POEM- 25
   

7.2. OBJECTIVES - - - - - - - 26

7.3. IN-TEXT - - - - - - - - 26

7.3.1. KWESI BREW - - - - - - 26

7.3.2. THE MESH - - - - - - - 26

7.3.3. A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE POEM - - 26

7.4. SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - - 26
7.0 TOPIC: THEME AND STYLE IN KWESI BREW’S POEM

7.1 INTRODUCTION :

The style and the theme expressed in the Ghanaian poet Kwesi Brew’s poem, The mesh will be critically analysed.

By the end of the topic, you should b e able to

i. Interpret both the theme and subject matter of the poem.

ii. Identify the figures of speech in the poem.