Poetry III

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LECTURE THREE

Major Movements and Traditions

The development of English literature (not literatures in English) can be identified under five major historical movements. These movements, otherwise known as periods or ages are determined by the prevailing language or ruler or world philosophy or literary technique or prominent writer(s), or any best thing that characterizes the age or movement. It must be emphasized, however, that there is no clear-cut demarcation between one stage and the other. The historical literary ages have been suggested to include, The Anglo-Saxon (Oral tradition)
 

Epic Poetry

Form and Significance

Epic poetry is known to be one of the earliest literary forms, and indeed one that has attracted discussions right from the days of Homer up to this present day (Brass 1989). These various discussions at different times and in different places show that the epic is a long narrative poem that is conceived on a grand scale. It treats a serious theme that has both national and international significance. This theme is presented in a style that is elevated. In treating its theme, it centres its narration on the celebration of the achievements of one or more heroic personage of history or tradition.

It presents characters of high position in a series of adventures (Brass 1989). These adventures form an organic whole in two ways (i) through their relation to the central figure who has heroic and superhuman proportion: and (ii) through their development of episodes that are important to the history of a nation or race.

The works of Homer and Virgil are the main examples of classical literary epic while "Beowulf and Paradise Lost" are the most obvious examples of English epic. In Africa, some of the popular epics include Ozidi. Sunjata and Chaka

(Excerpts from) Beowulf

(Anon)

The Coming of Grendel

A powerful monster, living down

In the darkness, growled in pain, impatient

As day after day the music rang

Loud in that hall, the harp's rejoicing

Call and the poet's clear songs, sung 5

of the ancient beginnings of us all, recalling

The Almighty making the earth, shaping

These beautiful plains marked off by oceans.

Then proudly setting the sun and moon

To glow across the land and light it; 10

The corners of the earth were made lovely with trees

And leaves, made quick with life, with each

Of the nations who now move on its face. And then

As now warriors sang of their pleasure:

So Hrothgar's men lived happy in his hall 15

Till the monster stirred, that demon, that fiend,

Grendel, who haunted the moors, the wild

Marshes, and made his home in a hell

Not hell but earth. He was spawned in that slime,

Conceived by a pair of those monsters born 20

Of Cain, murderous creatures banished

By God, punished forever for the crime

Of Abel's death. The Almighty drove

Those demons out, and their exile was bitter.

Shut away from men; they split 25

Into a thousand forms of evil spirits

And fiends, goblins, monsters, giants,

A brood forever opposing the Lord's

Will, and again and again defeated.

Then, when darkness had dropped, Grendel 30

Went up to Herot, wondering what the warriors

Would do in that hall when their drinking was done.

He found them sprawled in sleep, suspecting

Nothing, their dreams undisturbed. The monster's

Thoughts were as quick as his greed or his claws: 35

He slipped through the door and there in the silence

Snatched up thirty men, smashed them

Unknowing in their beds and ran out with their bodies,

The blood dripping behind him, back

To his liar, delighted with his night's slaughter. 40

At daybreak, with the sun's first light, they saw

How well he had worked, and in that gray morning

Broke their long feast with tears and laments

For the dead. Hrothgar, their lord, sat joyless

In Herot, a mighty prince mourning 45

The fate of his lost friends and companions,

Knowing by its tracks that some demon had torn

His followers apart. He wept, fearing

The beginning might not be the end. And that night

Grendel came again, so set 50

On murder that no crime could ever be enough,

No savage assault quench his lust

For evil. Then each warrior tried

To escape him, searched for rest in different

Beds, as far from Herot as they could find, 55

Seeing how Grendel hunted when they slept.

Distance was safely; the only survivors

Were those who fled him. Hate had triumphed.

So Grendel ruled, fought with the righteous,

One against many, and won; so Herot 60

Stood empty, and stayed deserted for years,

Twelve winters of grief for Hrothgar, king

Of the Danes, sorrow heaped at his door 65

By hell-forged hands. His misery leaped

The seas, was told and sung in all

Men's ear: how Grendel's hatred began,

How the monster relished his savage war

On the Danes, keeping the bloody feud

Alive, seeking no peace, offering

No truce, accepting no settlement, no price 70

In gold or land, and paying the living

For one crime only with another. No one

Waited for reparation from his plundering claws:

That shadow of death hunted in the darkness,

Stalked Hrothgar's warriors, old 75

And young, lying in waiting, hidden

In mist, invisibly following them from the edge

Of the marsh, always there, unseen.

So mankind's enemy continued his crimes,

Killing as often as he could, coming 80

Alone, bloodthirsty and horrible. Though he lived

In Herot, when the night hid him, he never

Dared to touch king Hrothgar's glorious

Throne, protected by God - God,

Whose love Grendel could not know. But Hrothgar's 85

Heart was bent. The best and most noble

or his council debated remedies, sat

In secret sessions, talking of terror

And wondering what the bravest of warriors could do.

And sometimes they sacrificed to the old stone gods. 90

Made heathen vows, hoping for Hell's

Support, the Devil's guidance in driving

lheir affliction off. That was their way,

And the heathen's only hope, Hell

Always in their hearts, knowing neither God 95

Nor His passing as He walks through our world, the Lord

Of Heaven and earth; their ears could not hear

His praise nor know His glory. Let them

Beware, those who are thrust into danger,

Clutched at by trouble, yet can carry no solace. 100

In their hearts, cannot hope to be better! Hail

To those who will rise to God, drop off

Their dead bodies and seek our Father's peace!

So the living sorrow of Healfdane's son

Simmered, bitter and fresh, and no wisdom 105

Or strength could break it: that agony hung

On king and people alike, harsh

And unending, violent and cruel, and evil.

In his far-off home Beowulf, Higlac'sº

Follower and the strongest of the Greats – greater 110

And stronger than anyone anywhere in this world -

Heard how Grendel filled nights with horror

And quickly commanded a boat fitted out,

Proclaiming that he'd go to that famous king,

Would sail across the sea to Hrothgar, 115

Now when help was needed. None

of the wise ones regretted his going, much

As he was loved by the Geats: the omens were good,

And they urged the adventure on. So Beowulf

Chose the mightiest men he could find, 120

The bravest and best of the Gears, fourteen

In all, and led them down to their boat;

He knew the sea, would point the prow

Straight to that distant Danish shore.

Then Wulfgar went to the door and addressed 125

The waiting seafarers with soldier's words:

"My lord, the great king of the Danes, commands me

to tell you that he knows of your noble birth

And that having come to him from over the open

Sea you have come bravely and are welcome. 130

Now go to him as you are, in your armor and helmets,

But leave your battle-shields here, and your spears,

Let them lie waiting for the promises your words

May make."

Beowulf arose, with his men

Around him, ordering a few to remain

With their weapons, leading the others quickly

Along under Herot's steep roof into Hrothgar's

Presence, the silvery metal of his mail shirt

Gleaming with a smith's high art, he greeted

The Dane's great lord:

"Hail, Hrothgar!

Higlac is my cousin and my king: the days

Of my youth have been filled with glory. Now Grendel's

Name has echoed in our land: sailors

Have brought us stories of Herot, the best 145

Of all mead-halls, deserted and useless when the moon

Hangs inskies the sun had lit,

Light and life fleeing together.

Ms people have said, the wisest, most knowing

And best of them, that my duty was to go to the Danes' 150

Great king. They have seen my strength for themselves,

Have watched me rise from the darkness of war,

Dripping with my chains, chased

All of that race from the earth. I swam 155

In the blackness of night, hunting monsters

Out of the ocean, and killing them one

By one; death was my errand and the fate

They had earned. Now Grendel and I are called

Together, and I've come. Grant me, then, 160

Lord and protector of this noble place,

A single request! I have come so far,

O shelter of warriors and your people's loved friend,

That this one favor you should not refuse me -

That I, alone and with the help of my men, 165

May purge all evil from this hall. I have heard,

Too, that the monster's scorn of men

Is so great that he needs no weapons and fear none.

Nor will I. my lord Higlac

Might think less of me if I let my sword 170

Go where my feet were afraid to, if I hid

Behind some broad linden shield: my hands

Alone shall fight for me, struggle for life

Against the monster. God must decide

Who will be given to death's cold grip. 175

Grendel's plan, I think, will be

What it has been before, to invade this hall

And gorge his belly with our bodies. It he can.

If he can. And I think, if my time will have come,

There'll be nothing to mourn over, no corpse to prepare 180

For its grave: Grendel will carry our bloody

Flesh to the moors, crunch on our bones

And smear torn scraps of our skin on the walls

Of his den. No, I expect no Danes

Will fret about sewing our shrouds, if he wins. 185

And if death does take me, send the hammered

Mail of my armor to Higlac, return

The inheritance I had from Hrethel, and he

From Wayland. Fate will unwind as it must!"

Then Hrothgar's men gave places to the Geats, 190

Yielded benches to the brave visitors

And led them to the feast. The keeper of the mead

Came carrying out the carved flasks,

And poured that bright sweetness. A poet

Sang, from time to time, in a clear 195

Pure voice. Danes and visiting Geats

Celebrated as one, drank and rejoiced.

There was the sound of laughter, and the cheerful clanking

Of cups, and pleasant words. Then Welthow,

Hrothgar's gold-ringed queen, greeted 200

The warriors, a noble woman who knew

What was right, she raised a flowing cup

To Hrothgar first, holding it high

For the lord of the Danes to drink, wishing him

Joy in that feast. The famous king 205

Drank with pleasure and blessed and blessed their banquet.

Then Welthow went from warrior to warrior,

Pouring a portion from the jeweled cup

For each, till the bracelet-wearing queen

Had carried the mead-cup among them and it was Beowulf's 210

Tum to be served. She saluted the Geats'

Great prince, thanked God for answering her prayers,

Por allowing her hands the happy duty

Of offering mead to a hero who would help

Her afllicted people. He drank what she poured, 215

Edgetho's brave son, then assured the Danish

Queen that his heart was firm and his hands

Ready:

"When we crossed the sea, my comrades

And, I already knew that all

My purpose was this: to win the good will 220

of your people or die in battle, pressed

In Grendel's fierce grip. Let me live in greatness

And courage, or here in this hall welcome

My death!"

Welthow was pleased with his words,

His bright-tongued boasts; she carried them back 225

To her lord, walked nobly across to his side.

The feast went on, laughter and music

And the brave words of warriors celebrating

Their delight...

Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty 230

Hills and bogs, bearing God's hatred,

Grendel came, hoping to kill

Anyone he could trap on this trip to high Herot.

He moved quickly through the cloudy night,

Up from his swampland, sliding silently 235

Toward that gold-shinning hall. He had visited Hrothgar's

Home before, knew the way

But never before nor after that night,

Found Herot defended so firmly, his reception

So harsh. He journeyed, forever joyless, 240

Straight to the door, then snapped it open,

Tore its iron fasteners with a touch

And rushed angrily over the threshold.

He strode quickly across the inlaid

Floor, snarling and fierce: his eyes 245

Gleamed in the darkness, burned with a gruesome

Light. Then he stopped, seeing the hall

Crowded with sleeping warriors, stuffed

With rows of young soldier resting together.

And his heart laughed, he relished the sight, 250

Intended to tear the life from those bodies

By mourning; the monster's mind was hot

With the thought of food and the feasting his belly

Would soon know. But fate, that night, intended

Grendel to gnaw the broken bones 255

Of his last human supper. Human

Eyes were watching his evil steps,

Waiting to see his swift hard claws.

Grendel snatched at the first Geat

He came to, ripped him apart, cut 260

His body to bits with powerful jaws.

Prank the blood from his veins and bolted

llim down, hands and feet; death

And Grendel's great teeth came together,

Snapping life shut. Then he stepped to another 265

Still body, clutched at Beowulf with his claws,

Grasped at a strong-hearted wakeful sleeper

- And was instantly seized himself, claws

Bent back as Beowulf leaned up on one arm.

That shepherd of evil, guardian of crime, 270

Knew at once that nowhere on earth

Had he met a man whose hands were harder;

His mind was flooded with fear - but nothing

Could take his talons and himself from that tight

Hard grip. Grendel's one thought was to run 275

From Beowulf, flee back to his marsh and hide there:

This was a different Herot than the hall he had emptied.

But Higlac's follower remembered his final

Boast and, standing erect, stopped

The monster's flight, fastened those claws 280

In his fists till they cracked, clutched Grendel

Closer. The infamous killer fought

or his freedom, wanting no flesh but retreat,

Desiring nothing but escape; his claws

tad been caught, he was trapped. That trip to Herot 285

Vas a miserable journey for the writhing monster!

The high hall rang, its roof boards swayed,

And Danes shook with terror. Down

The aisles the battle Except angry.

And wild. Herot trembled, wonderfully 290

Built to withstand the blows the struggling

Great bodies beating at its beautiful walls;

Shaped and fastened with iron, inside

And out, artfully worked, the building

Stood firm. Its benches rattled, fell 295

To the floor, gold-covered boards grating

As Grendel and Beowulf battled across them.

Hrothgar's wise men had fashioned Herot

To stand forever; only fire,

They had planned, could shatter what such skill had put 300

Together, swallow in hot flames such splendor

Of ivory and iron and wood. Suddenly

The sounds changed, the Danes started

In new terror, cowering in their beds as the terrible

Screams of the Almighty's enemy sang 305

In the darkness, the horrible shrieks of pain

And defeat, the tears torn out of Grendel's

Tautthroat, hell's captive caught in the arms

Of him who of all the men on earth

Was the strongest.

That mighty protector of men

Meant to hold the monster till its life

Leaped out, knowing the fiend was no use

To anyone in Denmark. All of Beowulf's

Band had jumped from their beds, ancestral

Swords raised and ready, determined

To protect their prince if they could. Their courage

Was great but all wasted: they could hack at Grendel

From every side. tring in Opel

puth for his evil soul, but their points

Could not hurt him, the sharpest and hardest iron 320

Could not scratch at his skin, for that sin-stained demon

Had bewitched all men's weapons, laid spells

That blunted every mortal man's blade.

And yet his time had come, his days

Were over, his death near; down 325

To hell he would go, swept groaning and helpless

To the waiting hands of still worse fiends.

Now he discovered - once the afflictor

of men, tormentor of their days - what it meant

To feud with Almighty God: Grendel 330

Saw that his strength was deserting him, his claws

Bound fast, Higlac's brave follower tearing at

His hands. The monster's hatred rose higher,

But his power had gone. He twisted in pain,

And the bleeding sinews deep in his shoulder 335

Snapped, muscle and bone split

And broke. The battle was over, Beowulf

Had been granted new glory: Grendel escaped,

But wounded as he was could flee to his den,

His miserable hole at the bottom of the marsh, 340

Only to die, to wait for the end

Ofall his days. And after that bloody

Combat the Danes laughed with delight.

He who had come to them from across the sea,

Bold and strong-minded, had driven affliction 345

Off. purged Herot clean. He was happy,

Now, with that night's fierce work; the Danes

Had been served as he'd boasted he'd serve them; Beowulf,

A prince of the Geats, had killed Grendel,

Ended the grief, the sorrow, the suffering 350

Forced on Hrothgar's helpless people

By a bloodthirsty fiend. No Dane doubted

The victory, for the proof, hanging high

From the rafters where Beowulf had hung it, was the monster's

Arm, claw and shoulder and all. 355

And then, in the morning, crowds surrounded

Herot, warriors coming to that hall

From faraway lands, princes and leaders

Of men hurrying to behold the monster's

Great staggering tracks. They gaped with no sense 360

Of sorrow, felt no regret for his suffering,

Went tracing his bloody footprints, his beaten

And lonely flight, to the edge of the lake

Where he'd dragged his corpselike way, doomed

And already weary of his vanishing life. 365

The water was bloody, steaming and boiling

In horrible pounding waves, heat

Sucked from his magic veins; but the swirling

Surf had covered his death, hidden

Deep in murky darkness his miserable 370

End, as hell opened to receive him.

Then old and young rejoiced, turned back

From that happy pilgrimage, mounted their Hardhooved.

Horses, high-spirited stallions, and rode them

Slowly toward Herot again, retelling 375

Beowulf's bravery as they jogged along.

And over and over they swore that nowhere

An earth or under the spreading sky

Or between the seas, neither south nor north,

Was there a warrior worthier to rule over men. 380

(But no one meant Beowulf's praise to belittle

Hrothgar, their kind and gracious king!)

Example of an African oral epic

IZIBONGO: Zulu Praise-Poems.

Shaka

imgwana son of Ndaba!

Ferocious one of the Mbelebele bridge,

Who raged among the kraals,

So that until dawn the huts were being turned upside down.

5 He who beats but is not beaten, unlike water,

Axe that surpasses other axes in sharpness;

Shaka, I fear to say he is Shaka,

He is the chief of the Mashobas.

10 He of the shrill whistle, the lion;

lle who armed in the forest, who

Amed in the forest, who is like a madman,

The madman who is in full view of the men.

He who trudge wearily the plain going to Mfene;

The voracious one of Senzangakhonu.

15 Spear that is red even on the handle.

The open-handed one, they have matched the regiments.

They were matched by Noju and Ngqengenye,

The one belonging to Ntombazi and the other to Nandi;

20 Brought out by the white one of Nandi.

They called him to Mthandeni despising him, they said

We cannot compete in dancing with this Ntungwa from up country,

Whereas he was going to annihilate Phakathwayo in the return competition.

The small beast of consent flying like a flag,

25 Why did the ferocious one consent?

Why has he accepted Godolozi,

Thinking that he was on this side at Nandi's place?

Whereas he was far away at little Ntombazi's place?

The sun that eclipsed another with its rays,

30 For the present it eclipse the one of Mthandent.

There are two words for which I am grateful,

I am grateful for that of Mpandaba and that of Ndungenkomo,

Saying "The string of beads does not fit the neck'

Please inquire from the people of Zinkondeni,

35 They said he who is frustrated they would stab at Hlohloko,

The curdled milk got spilt and dish got broken.

The joke of the women of Nomgabhi,

Joking as they sat in a sheltered spot,

Saying that Shaka would not rule, he would not become chief,

40 Whereas it was the year in which Shaka was about to prosper.

The beast that lowed at Mthonjanent,

And all the ridges heard its wailing,

It was heard by Dunjwa of the yengwenikraal,

It was heard by Mangecongeza of Khall's kraal

45 Fire off the long dry grass, son of Njokwane;

Fire of the long grass of scorching force.

That burmed the owls on the Dlebe hill.

And eventually those on Mabedlana also burned.

He who travelled across to Ndima and Mgovu,

50 And women who were with child gave birth easily;

The newly planted crops they left still short,

The seed they left amongst the maize-stalks,

The old women were left in the abandoned sites,

The old men were left along the tracks,

55 The roots of the trees looked up at the sky,

He who reached the top of the Bhuzane Mountain,

He came across a long line off buch.

He passed by Mcombo as the cattle were leaving

He whose routes they inquired from Dunjwa,

60 Whereas they should we asked Mbozancaboutthem,

As for him he was hurrying to go to Nomagaga,

A cook came and prevented him

He who is only the adults who will fee by themselves,

65 Dunjwa alone it has crushed

He who want and created temporary huts at the Thukela,

Where a leopard was ensnared in a trap.

He defeated Khungwayo by means of the Ngobizembes.

He who moved slowly along one ridge and returned on another,

70 Attacking Bhoyiya son of Mdakuda;

Nduba did not intend to go there

He was going to fetch Macingwane of the Ngonyameni kraal

He who moved slowly along a long ridge,

He traversed the bones of the people of Tayj

75 Who were cold going to Macingeane at Ngonyameni.

The people of Zihlandlo......

I criticized them, the evil-dowers,

They did not tell the king the ford,

80 Which was recently vacated by Ntube of the Majolas:

They made him cross at the one with hippos and crocodiles,

The hippos and crocodiles gaped with mouths wide-open

He who looked down towards Hadungela,

The cattle of Sihayo returned,

85 And then there followed those of Agfongosi,

That were milded by an hysterical person at Mavela's place,

He who was a pile of rocks at Nkandla.

Which was a shelter for the elephants in bad weather,

Which sheltered Phungashe of the Butheloziclan.

90 And Zihllandlo of the Mkhize clan,

And the elephants ran away from the place;

Feather that bobbed down on the side of Nkanla,

Bobbing down always and devouring men.

He who panted up to the top of Nomangoi Mountain,

95 Going to give judgment in the contention at the Nyuswa's

They were not contending over castor-oil seeds in deserted sites,

They said just a moment, wait for the pigeons,

And he came and killed them both.

100 Pursuer of a pursued Zwide son of Langa,

Talking him from where the sun rises

And sending him to where it sets;

As for Zwide he folded his two little shoulders together.

105 It was then the elder was startled by the younger.

Fierce animal in the homes of people;

Wild animal that was in charge at Dibandlela's

He who dressed late was eventually overtaken,

He who puts on his fivery at the water's edge.

110. His things will be washed away.

Trickster, abstain from enemies, it is summer,

The grass is long, it will get the better of you.

Buffalo that stood glaring with a spear on the banks of the Nzimvubu

And the Pondos feared to come down to it:

115. You Gambushe and you Faku,

Do not stab him.

If you do stab him,

You will not be stabbing him,

You will then be stabbing him, Phunga and Mageba.

120. You will them be stabbing the unborn Ngqungqushe.

The attacker has long been attacking them:

He attacked Phunga she of the Buthelezi clan.

He attacked Sondaba of Mthanda as

He sat in council, He attacked Macingwaneat Ngonyameni.

125. He attacked Macingwame

Of the Mbathaclan,

He attacked Diadlama of the Majolas

He attacked Gambushe in Pondoland,

He attacked Faku in Pondoland.

130. The young viper grown as it sits,

Always in a great rage,

With a shield on its knees.

He who while devouring some devoured others,

And as he devoured other he

Devoured some more.

135. He who while devouring some devoured others,

And as he devoured others he devoured some more,

He who while devoured others

And as he devoured others he devoured some-more,

He who while devouring some devoured others,

140. And as he devoured others he devoured some more:

He who while devouring some devoured others,

And as he devoured other he devoured others

And as he devoured others he devoured Some more.

Painful stabber, they will exhort one another,

Those who are with the enemy and those who are at home.

145 He who is dark as the bile of a goat,

Butterfly of Phunga,

With colours in circle as if they had been painted on,

He who is hazy as the shadows of the mountains,

When it is dark the evil-doers move about,

150 The rival of Phunga and Mageba

Which looked at me until I got accustomed to it,

Powerful limbs, calf of a beast.

The kicking of this beast puzzled me,

It kicked the milker and left the one holding it.

155. Hawk that I saw descending from the hills of Mangcengeza,

And from those of Phungashe he disappeared;

They said 'Hawk, here he is, there ho is',

Whereas he was silent in the forest

Like the leopards and lions.

Shaka went and erected temporary huts.

160. between the Nsuze and the Thukela.

In the country of Nyanya

Son of Manzawane,

We ate up Mantondo son of Tayi,

to devoured Sihayo.

165 He who came dancing on the hillside of the Phuthies,

And overcame Msikazi among the Nclimoshes.

He met a long time oh haha-dedahs (ibis birds)

When he was going to destroy the

Foolish Pondos,

Shaka did not raid herds of cattle,

170. He raided hers of buck,

He who gets stift!

He who was cooked in the deep pot of Ntombazi,

He was cooked and got stiff.

le who goes about making fires

and leaving behind conflagrations.

175. Who when he who rubbed flareed like a fire

There was no longer a beast lowing

at little Ntombaz's

It was now lowing at our place at Bulawayo.

Our own bringer of poverty at Bulawayo.

Who made Zwides destitute by great strides.

180 The sky that rumbled, the sky of Mageba,

That thundered above Nomange Mountain.

It thundered behind the kraal at Kughobeken and struck

It look the shields of Maphela and the Mankayiya,

And the little melons of the Same paka were left on the vines.

185. He devoured Nomahlanjana son of Zwide of the Maphelas,

He ate up Nphepha son of Zwide of the Maphelas,

He killed Nombengula son of Zwide of the Maphelas,

He destroyed Dayingubo son of Zwide of the Maphelas.

He ate up Sonsukwana son of Zwide of the Maphelas;

190. He devoured the chief wife, daughter of Lubongo,

He ate up Mtimona son of Gaqa of the Maphelas,

He killed Npondo-phumelakwezinde of the Maphelas,

He devoured Sikloloba -singamabele of Zwide's people,

He ate up Sihla-mthini-munye of Zwide's people.

195 He devoured Sihla-mth ini-munye of Zwide' d people

He destroyed Nqwangube son of Lundayane,

He belonged to our side, having turned round his shield.

Return, Tricksters, indeed you have finished this matter,

As for Zwide, you have made him into a homeless criminal.

200 And now today you have done the same to the son.

The people of Zwide, Shaka, you have lept over them

Sikhunyana is a girl, he has married you,

He found you sitting in council in the cattle-fold at Nkandla,

Not knowing that your soldiers had a cross-questioning.

205 Bearer of the homed viper, they have beaten you!

Types of Epic Poetry

As already mentioned, there are two types of epic poetry - traditional or folk epic, and literary or written epic

Traditional epic tells the tale of a man who has superhuman qualities that other men do not have. These qualities are used for the benefit and development of his people. Such an epic is a product of a non-literate society. The poem is "narrated" or "performed" by a bard or a griot who accompanies his rendition with music instruments. The bard, like most oral poets, is conscious of his audience and he performs with deep sense of public image (Finnegan 1981). When this poem is orally transmitted, information passes from mouth to mouth and from generation to generation. There are no specific authors for specific poems. Each poet builds on and improves on the information that he has received about a particular epic poem. In other words, the content does undergo some changes from time to time. It could cat subjects that are heroic, romantic or historic in nature.

Literary epic like the traditional epic, tells the tale of a man who has superhuman qualities which he uses for the development of his generation. It has similar content with traditional epic. However, the poetry is in written form because it is a product of a literate society. So the issue of performance does not arise. It is different from traditional epic in that it has specific authorship.

Both traditional and literary epic poetry aim to please through the medium of word and the images that are created through them (Okpewho 1979). The basic difference between traditional and literary epic is in how they are transmitted and the process that is involved in transmitting them.

Basic Requirements of an Epic Poem

In whatever form and through whatever means epic poetry is transmitted, there are certain basic requirements that are generally agreed upon for it to be regarded as an epic. They are as follows:

Action

The action should normally consist of deeds of great valour which would require superhuman courage. It depends heavily on ancient legends and depicts the adventurous exploits of some great warriors. The action further tells of the nature, character and spirit of their national heritage. In general, it reflects an age, a race, a civilization and a culture through its hero's life. "Beowulf" involves the values of a warrior society where there is mutual trust and respect between a warrior and his lord.

The action of the traditional epic stresses the conflict of the individual against his society or against himself. Beowulf, the hero of "Beowulf" concerns himself with fate. He tests his relationship with an unknown destiny by attempting to slay mother-dragon, Grendel and later, Grendel's siblings. He is very much aware that he either kills them or he gets killed by them. He is lucky to kill the siblings but he is not as lucky when he challenges the mother-dragon. Fate is against him so he is killed. In John Milton's "Paradise Lost:, Satan's downfall also comes about by fate (line 116-119):

This downfall since by fate the strength of God

And this Empyreal substance cannot fail,

Since through experience of this great event

In Arms not worse, in foresight much advan't

Interaction between men and the supernatural forces

Supernatural forces like gods, angels and demons interest themselves in the action of the poem. They usually problems for the human characters in the poem. It is this problem that the epic hero usually faces challenges and conquers For example, Grendel, her mother, the dragon and the worm are some of the supernatural forces Beowulf had to Contend with In "Paradise Lost" all the characters that peopled the poem apart from Adam and Eve, are supernatural forces God, Satan,

Beelzebub and the other fallen angels. Similarly, in the African epic, for example, Clark Bekederemo's "Ozidi" the supernatural forces are either directly engaged or Ozidi seeks their support.

The Epic Hero

The hero is a figure of imposing stature. When Beowulf the hero of "Beowulf" appears with his party on the coast of Danes, he is immediately noticed by the Danish coast guard who is attracted by his good looks: ("Beowulf" line 247-257);

I have never laid eyes upon earl on earth

More stalwart or sturdy than one of your troop

A hero in armor, no hall-than he

Tricked out with weapons, unless looks believe him

And noble bearing.

He is of national and universal significance in view of his great historical and legendary relevance. The hero is like the spokesman and saviour of his age and community. In other words, he embodies the mores and the aspirations of his society. In the case of the hero of most African epics, there is usually something mysterious about his birth and his early youth. Sunjata is an example of this. He stayed seven years in his mother's womb before he was born (lines 48-49). This advantage of his supernatural conception puts him above his peers. For example, the hero of "Sunjata" is the son of a king and also an emperor. When finally born, it is during the dry season. The sky darkens, there is great cloud with thunder rumbling and lightning flashing and strong wind blowing. Rain starts and then stops and immediately, the sun appears, as conveyed in the following lines:

Suddenly, the sky darkened and great clouds coming from the east hid the sun, although it was during dry season. Thunder began to rumble and swift lightning rent the clouds, a few large drops of rain accompanied by a dull rattle of thunder burst out of the east and lit up the whole sky as far as the west. Then the rain stopped and the sun appeared and it was at this moment that a midwife came out of Sogolon's house, ran to the antechamber and announced to Nare Maghan that he was the father of a boy.

("Sunjata" IV, 13).

These mysterious circumstances set the hero apart from the natural course of life. This serves as a source of inspiration for the hero who sees himself as possessing superhuman qualities. It serves as a source of awe about the hero for other people who see him as possessing "storage" qualities. His growth and development from childhood is usually extraordinary. He appears too advanced, too serious for children of his age. Sunjata could not associate with children of his age. When they are playing, he is too serious to join them. Apart from this, he starts walking (at the age of seven) as a result of his step-mother's cynical comment about his inability to walk. On the same day he uproots a whole baobab tree. In addition, he bends an iron rod made by his father's blacksmith into a bow. Before the age of ten, he has become a master hunter, a titled that is reserved only for men who have distinguished themselves.

Setting

The setting of the poem is vast in scope covering great nations, the world or the universe. In "Paradise Lost", the setting covers the whole of heaven, hell and the earth.

Style

The poem has a grand style of sustained elevation and grand simplicity. It usually has sublimity of style and grandeur of content. There is extraordinary richness of rhetorical elaboration, which alternates and, at times, combines with the barest simple statements. In one of Beowulf's speeches during his first meeting with Hrothgar, the King of the Danes, he concludes his mission in his determination to come back and challenge the monster thus:

But I shall show him soon now,

The strength and the courage of the Geats, their warfare.

Afterwards he will walk who may be

Glad to the mead, when the morning

Light of another day, the bright-clothed sun,

Shines from the south on the children of men.

The Epic Formulae

There are common devices and conventions which are employed in most epic poems. They include the following:

Theme

The poem opens by stating the theme. In "Paradise Lost", the theme is man's first obedience, fall and eventual restoration. This is declared in the first lines of the poem:

Of man's First Disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal test

Brought Death into the World, and all our woe

With loss of Eden, till one greater man

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat.

Invocation

He implores the Muse to inspire and to instruct him. In "Paradise Lost" the poet calls on a muse in lines, 6-19, for example:

Sing, Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top...

I thence

Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song,

Instruct me for thou know'st;

in medias res

He opens the narrative not from the very beginning but in the middle of events. He later gives the necessary exposition in the latter portion of the epic thereby filling the missing gap. Paradise Lost begins with Satan and his legion of angels discussing their miserable fall into Hell. This is obviously the middle of events. Apparently so many actions had taken place before then - Satan had rebelled, had lured some angels to his side, had ruined his relationship with God, lost his position in heaven, and had been thrown out of heaven before the reader encounters him and his cohort. The chaos accompanying their condemnation into the burning lake and their confusion thereafter are also exempted at the beginning of the poem. Similarly, Beowulf was in his early fifty's and already had a record of great achievements at home and abroad as a great warrior by the time the reader first encounters him.

Sporadic Wars

These include catalogues of warriors, ships and armies. After the arrival of Beowulf and his company, the poet describes the situation thus:

The boat lay fixed, rested on the rope,

Boar-images shone, over check-guards

Gold-adomed gleaning and fire-hardened...

The warriors hastened, marched together...

Epic Oration

The poem gives extended formal speeches by the main characters. For example, in introducing himself in the presence of the people of Heorot, Beowulf states his mission in this formal speech before the gathering of people. (C.W. Kennedy, Beowulf 1978, lines 407-421).

Hail! King Hrothgar! I am Hygelac's thane,

Hygelac's Kingsman. Many a deed

Of honour and daring I've done in my youth.

This business of Grendel was brought to my ears

On my native soil. The seafarers say,

This best of buildings, this boasted ball,

Stands dark and deserted when sun is set,

When darkening shadows gather with dusk.

The best of my people, prudent and brave,

Urged me, King Hrogthar, to seek you out;

They had in remembrance my courage and might.

Many had seen me come safe from the conflict,

Bloody from battle; five foes I bound

Of the giant kindred, and crushed their clan.

Hard-driven in danger and darkness of night

I slew the nicors that swam the sea,

Avenged the woe they had caused the Weders.

And ended their evil-they needed the lesson!

And now with Grendel, the fearful fiend,

Single-handed I'll settle the strife!

Prince of the Danes, protector of Scyldings,

Lord of nations, and leader of men,

I beg one favor-refuse me not,

Since I come thus faring from far-off lands-

That I may alone with my royal earls,

With this hardy company, cleanse hart-hall.

Epic Simile

Epic simile is a simile of great length and ramification which functions as a separate ornament within the poem Onsby 1992). Its function in the poem is lyrical rather than narrative.

Unlike the straightforward simple simile, it suspends the action of the poem by causing a digression from it. In other words, rather than advance the action, it suspends it. These digressions are largely responsible for the unusual length of the epic. A good example is found in "Paradise Lost" when Satan and all his legion of angels, out of confusion and shock, talk of how to overcome their calamity. They talk of what reinforcement they may gain from hope. The poet suspends the actions of this scene but comes in with an extensive comparison between Satan and Leviathan the whale in the poem. Satan is said to be as huge in length as the whale (Lines 192-209).

Thus Satan talking to his nearest mate (4)

With head uplift above the wave, and Eyes

That sparkling blaz'd, his other Parts besides

Prince on the flood, extended long and large

Lay floating many a road, in bulk as huge.

As whom the fables name of the monstrous size,

Titanian, or Earth born, that warr 'd on Jove,

Briaries or Typhon, whom the Den

By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast

Created hugest that swim th 'Ocean stream.

Him haply slumbering on the Norway foam.

The Pilot of some small night-founder 'd skiff,

Deeming some Island, of, as sea-men tell,

With fixed Anchor in his scaly rind

Moors by his side under the lee, while Night

Invests the sea, and wished Morn delays:

So stretch out huge in length the Arch-fiend lay.

But from line 242 the poet resumes the discussion of Satan and his angels on their discovery of the truth, and their dismay about their situation.

The Structure of an Epic

An epic, as I have mentioned earlier, is a very long narrative poem. Usually, the traditional (oral) epic may take about seven days for the bard or griot to perform. The performance is unique in many ways. For examples, the structure of a traditional epic is fore grounded in the multiplication of singularized units of episodes in the daily celebration lasting about seven days.

Similarly, a standard literary epic has about twelve volumes, cantos or books. As it is the case with oral epics, the plot-structure of a standard literary epic is episodic. In other words, an epic poem whether oral or written beginning, middle and an end. In addition, the copious use of digressions, suspense, rhetoric, repetitions, and a loose plot because it is arranged in episodes. Each episode is a complete narrative experience with a allusions, particularly, the epic simile, is largely responsible for the unusual length of the epic.

The Example of John Milton: Paradise Lost

John Milton's "Paradise Lost" readily provides a good example of a literary epic. Even though it is a Renaissance protestant epic, it is unique in many ways as a very successful Christian epic. Therefore, I shall briefly discuss its theme and some aspects of the technique employed by the poet shortly.

The thematic preoccupation of an epic, as I have mentioned earlier, is usually of great importance. Even though most epics have their subjects revolving around such issues as destruction of cities, or the foundation of an empire, the subject of paradise Lost revolves round the fate of man and the world, the revolution in heaven and on earth, the rebellion of Satan and his cohorts against God and the overthrow of their host and punishment or their crime, John Milton clearly states his mission and theme in the introduction: "And justify the ways of God to Men" (line 26). This he achieves by showing God's efforts following the defeat of Satan and his host and their expulsion from Heaven. The efforts include the creation of a new race of reasonable creatures and their original state of happiness and innocence, their immorality, all of which they forfeit because of the sin of disobedience, their final restoration to hope and peace through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Milton himself, a young and uncompromising gentleman, is determinedly moralistic in Paradise Lost. Like any standard epic, the book involves issues that directly bring humanity and the supernatural together. It celebrates the heroic hinged partly on greatness and partly on rare virtues. The question then arises: whose heroism does Milton celebrate in Paradise Lost - Satan, man (Adam) or Jesus? This question tops the list of the controversies that this poem has generated.

John Dryden has described John Milton as being "of the devil's party without knowing it". This position is justifiable, considering that Milton is more comfortable celebrating the daring and promethean spirit of Satan, his exploits and doggedness. Given the romantic spirit and thrust which Lord Byron readily recognizes as the propelling force that informed the actions of Satan/Lucifer, it is correct to say that Satan vehemently opposes and rejects the monopolist status quo, that he remains defiant, uncompromising, promethean in the face of defeat, and as a true leader of the fallen angels, leads where the action is hottest, and being fully aware of the consequences of his actions, takes full responsibilities for the same, all quality him as a romantic hero or Byronic hero.

In the context of Milton's vision and thematic concern, a romantic hero is not good enough. Therefore, Satan, put in a clearer perspective, is a tragic figure. Despite his qualities, like Chinua Achebe's Okonkwo in his novel Things Fall Apart, Satan/Lucifer remains stubbon, adamant, and unrepentant. His spirit is undistilled, his being turned into a serpent that must crawl and forever eat ashes; all these have nothing noble in it. There is nothing about Lucifer and, or his cohorts that is worth emulating. Therefore, he qualifies better as a tragic figure.

Man (Adam) is believed by some critics to be the hero of Paradise Lost. A critical study of this character, Adam, will help in this regard. Adam, in the beginning, is in a perfect state: immortal, he is the King of the new world. A temporary separation of his wife, Eve, from his "protective side" at the instance and insistence of the latter leads to her eating of the "forbidden fruit". Adam also made a deliberate choice of the path of destruction by taking the forbidden fruit. Thc full implication of his action qualifies him as a romantic hero. However, as the plot unfolds further, Adam undergoes a distillation of spirit, he comes thoroughly purged and repentant.

He is as repentant and purged as Sophocles' King Oedipus or Ola Rotimi's King Odewale. Adam (Man) in the context of Milton's artistic vision is a tragic hero, but certainly not the hero in Paradise Lost.

Is Jesus the hero? If we cast our mind back to Milton's thematic concern: "And justify the ways of God to men", it is obvious that Jesus Christ's choice to leave His glorious throne and His choice to give Himself up as the scape-goat qualifies the boundless love that God has for mankind. Jesus, in effect becomes the carrier-hero and trough His death and resurrection He defeats Death and restores Man to his original state of immortality and perfection. Jesus, therefore, becomes the hope and peace of those who care to accept Him as God's medium of reconciliation. As a Christian epic, Jesus Christ is the hero in Paradise Lost. In the context of Milton's vision, therefore, the poet has been able to "justify the ways of God to men".

Hints on Milton's Technique

John Milton is fond of the use of apposition. In this case, he introduces a new dimension through the use of semi and lull colon to emphasize cause and effect, e. g

"She eat:

Earth felt the wound" IX, 782-2

Original metaphors are given demonstrative roles for effect, thereby giving both literal and metaphoric references; e.g

“This intellectual good" meaning "Fruit/Death".

Milton uses parallelism to achieve a balance between abstract and concrete terms, to balance opposites and to equates time and space e.g., “Day/cloud”.

The poet uses copula (word joining the subject and predicate) for equating abstractions in didactic statements not only for startling metaphors but for throwing doubt on identities in a way that often reflects real uncertainty and achieves meditative or ironic effects.

Through his use of simple reference (SR), Milton avoids vagueness and deliberately creates double Iiteral meanings by his use of "the" and "my"

"the faithful side...my conduct"

There is the use of make-link with its strong active element that suspends disbelief for vivid expression such as "flight/wheel", "heaven/hell". At times, the link is combined with others to suggest several things, even ambiguously, e.g.:

“The rest, we live,”

Law to our selves" (X, 653-4)

Milton also makes use of the genitive link. That is, the use of "of" and the "possessive", which he uses for all relationships instead of the common apostrophe and "S" ('S), e.g.

“Nature...her seat”

…..words…... gave signs of woe" (1X, 782-3).

Milton’s use of adjectives is very flexible and varied. The adjectives are employed to create sensory effects such as taste, pain, light and dark. They are also employed to humanized the divine and divinize the human.

The poet’s choice of sentence structure is Latinate; this explains the unusual placement of the subject and sentence. It is an apparent imposition of the Latin liberal sentence structure, e.g, "Adam, by sad experiment I know" X, 967.

We have examples the use of epic simile which constitute the major source of digression in paradise Lost, e.g (0, 198-209 see Pg. 41.)

The issue of technique may remain inexhaustive in our discussion on paradise lost. What we have done is to bring out units that tend to confirm this work as a standard “modern” epic.

Conclusion

We have attempted, so far, to explore the epic poetry tradition in general and identify its basic characteristics in particular. However, it is instructive to note that not all epic poems satisfy all the characteristics we have considered here. Where this is the case, it does not mean that such a work is not an epic. It is our hope that our discussion so far will serve as a guide to any student who wishes to identify the basic characteristics of an epic poem in works that we have not examined in this study.

Poetry III

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Date :Thursday, September 8, 2022

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Poetry II

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LECTURE TWO

Forms of Poetry

There are endless varieties of human culture which have given rise to different poetic cultures. For the purpose of this study, let me speak on four major poetic forms. These are:

i. Narrative

ii. Satirical

iii. Dramatic

iv. Lyric and Ode

Narrative Poetry

A narrative poem tells a tale in verse, and usually from an omniscient point of view. The epic*, the Romance, and the Heroic chants fall under this category. The epic is a very long narrative poem. It is significantly a product of the feudal stage in the historical development of society. Epic poetry is the ultimate the farthest a poet can go, and the sublime or the hallmark in poetic attainment. Only a negligible number of poets ever attained the mark. The epic celebrates real historic events and the greatness, the heroic achievements, the mores and the civilization of a race (or nation) as embodied in a central hero. The destiny of the nation is delicately tied to the fate of the central hero.

There are two kinds of epic poetry, the oral (primary epic), and the written (secondary epic). The epics of Homer like "Odyssey and Iliad" (Greek); the Anglo-Saxon "Beowulf", and in Africa, John Pepper Clark- Bekoderemo's "Ozidi"; Gorden Innes' recorded three "Sunjata" versions; The epic of SON-JARA text by Fa-Digi Sisoko; "the Mwindo" epics of the Baganda, recorded by Biebuycks; and Daniel Kunene's "Chaka" are all oral epics

On the other hand, epic poems like John Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Virgil's "Aeneid" belong to the tradition of secondary orality because they are written epics. The epic is expressed orally or in written form in highly elevated language and style. A standard secondary epic (written) usually has twelve books often subdivided into cantos. On the other hand, an oral epic may take up to seven days to run through by a minstrel, or a traditional griot. The use of epic simile (main source of digression), repetition, etc., is largely responsible for this unusual length or volume of epic poetry.

Romance in this context does not have anything to do with lovers necking under some innocuous tree in the dark. Romance is a poetic form that blossomed particularly in the medieval English society. It was generally believed to have originated from ancient Rome. Romance is a poetic tradition that is very close to the epic in form, structure and topicality. It is also a very long narrative poem, but not as long as epic. Like the epic, romance poetry celebrates the greatness and heroic exploits of a central hero, usually a knight riding a horse

(eg, Sir Gawaine of the legendary King Arthur's Court, or a Christian Knight, the Knight of the Red Cross in Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene"). Romance often does adopt allegorical approach in its treatment of topicality. Its setting usually alternates between the physical or realistic world and the supernatural world where the unusual is willed or made to happen. Like the epic, the central hero embarks on a dangerous and long journey in search of greatness. Like his epic counterpart, he encounters difficulties in the course of his journey at the end of which his society is the better for it. The medieval England's "Sir Gawaine and the Knight of the Greene Castle" and Edmund Spenser's "The Facric Queene" which belong to romance tradition shall be given a more detailed attention in this study. Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Locke", Lord Bryon's "Don Juan", S.T. Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and quite a good number of modern short poems like, Thomas Hardy's "At the Draper's" or J.P. Clark's (-Bekederemo) "Night Rain", all share the narrative poetic form

Satirical Poetry

Satirical poems comment on human experience. They lampoon the follies or vices of men by the use of exaggeration, ridicule, sarcasm, irony, and humour for the purpose of reducing the subject to absurdity. A satirical poem criticizes actual life in intelligible poetic structure of varying length. Often they assume a journey motif of similar dimension as those of epic and the English medieval romance. A satirical poem may sound acerbic and biting yet hilarious, witty and elegant, thus compelling the audience to laugh at him/herself.

Dramatic Poetry

This is a form of poetry that is usually written in dramatic monologue. Monologue as opposed to dialogue involves only the poetic voice (persona) presumed to be addressing, or responding to, someone else (unseen). It is done in such a way that only the poetic voice is heard, and through whose address, response or reaction it is possible for the audience to imagine what the unseen addressee might likely be saying. The drama takes place in the audience's imagination. The dramatic verse form was popularized by the English metaphysical poets and other poets like Percy B. Shelley, and Lord Byron.

We must quickly add, however, that later development has confirmed the possibility of a dramatic verse having a dramatic situation in which characters engage in a dialogue. Thomas Hardy's "At the Draper's", is a good example. In contemporary African poetry, dramatic verse form is known to have been popularized by Okot p'Bitek in "Song of Lawino", "Song of Ocol" and "Song of Malaya". Other examples include, Wole Soyinka's "Telephone Conversation" and L.S. Senghor's "Chaka". More African poets have continued this poetic trend because it readily identifies with indigenous African oral poetry tradition. They include, Niyi Osundare, Moon Songs, Okinba Launko Ire and Other Poems for Performance Tanure Ojaide, and lately, Ademola Dasylva's Songs of Odamolugbe.

Lyric Poetry

These are poems composed with the mind to produce songs or music with a relatively fixed form. Lyrics are normally short, and between eight and hundred lines. They usually conform to the rules of music such as beat, meter, rhyme and rhythm The ballad, the sonnet and pastoral poetry strictly belong to the lyrical mode. Although, the ode may fall under this category too, its lyricism is largely intrinsic. I shall briefly comment on each:

The Ballad

It is one of the oldest and simplest lyrics that originate from oral tradition. It is a song narrative which tells a story of heroic exploits or of a common-place event, expressing basic human emotions such as love, hate, fear or surprise at physical or supernatural world. Structurally, the melody is made simple by the four-line stanza of iambic verse coupled with interlocking rhyme and a refrain that gives it a dramatic touch. E.g.,

Sir Patrick Spens

(Anon.)

The king sits in Dumferline town,

Drinking the blude-reid wine: blood-red

"O whar will I get a guid sailor

To sail this ship of mine?"

Up and spak an eldern knicht, spoke; ancient, knight

Sat at the King's richt knee: right

"Sir Patrick Spens is the best sailor

That sails upon the sea."

The king has written a braidº letter broad

And signed it wi'his hand,

And sent it to Sir Patrick Spens,

Was walking on the sand.

The first line that Sir Patrick read,

A loud laughed he; laugh

The next line that Sir Patrick read,

The tear blinded his ee. eye

"O wha is the has done this deed, who

This ill deed done to me,

To send me out this time o' the year,

To sail upon the sea?

"Make haste, make haste, my mirry men all, merry

Our guid ship sails the morn." not/so

"O say naº sae, ºmy master dear,

For I fear a deadly storm.

"Late late yestre'en I saw the moon old

Wi'the auld moon in her arm,

And I fear, I fear, my dear master,

That we will come to harm."

O our scots nobles were richt laith loath

To weet their cork-heeled shoon, wet/shoes

But lang owre a'the play were played long, after

Their hats they swam aboon above

O lang, lang may their ladies, sit,

Wi their fans into their hand,

Or e'er they see Sir Patrick Spens

Come sailing to the land.

O lang, lang may the ladies stand,

Wi' their gold kembs in their hair, combs

Waiting for their ain glear lords, Own

For they'll see thạme na mair. them no more

Half o'er, half o'er to Aberdour

It's fifty fadom deep,

And there lies guid Sir Patrick Spens, fathoms

Wi'the scots lords at his feet. good

Soonet

A sonnet is the most common and the most formal of the lyric poems. Its poetic form, like the ballad, has an imposed pattern. The English sonnet is a more common one. The sonnet is believed to have originated in Italy through Petrarch (1303-74). This is why the original form is referred to as Italian or Petrarchan sonnet. The Italian sonnet was later introduced to England by Edmund Spenser who had cause to travel to Italy where he got fascinated by this novel form of patterned poetry. On his return from Italy, he introduced the Italian sonnet. The English called the new form after Spenser's name. The same sonnet form is referred to as an Italian, or Petrarchan or Spenserian sonnet. The latter sonnet which was largely influenced by the former was introduced by William Shakespeare. This is why it is often referred to as Shakespearian sonnet. It is also known as Elizabethan or the English sonnet.

Both types of sonnet have fourteen lines cach. However, not every poem with fourteen lines qualifies as a sonnet. The Italian sonnet has the first eight lines called the octave, i.e. made up of two quatrains, and the last six lines called the sestel. The octave, which raises an issue of philosophical magnitude, has a rhyme scheme a-b-b-a/a-b-b-a. The rhyme scheme of the sestet varies from c-d-c/c-d-c or c-d-e/c-d-e to something close to these. The sestet suggests an answer or gives a clue to the issue or question raised in the octave.

The Elizabethan or English sonnet does have a different structure even though it has fourteen lines. It has three quatrains of not too distinct stanzas of four lines each, and a couplet. The couplet has a slight initial indention. The rhyme scheme is in the following order.

the first quatrain: a-b-a-b

the second quatrain: C-d-c-d

the third quatrain: e-f-e-f

and a couplet: g-g

The Elizabethan sonnet usually has its lines arranged in iambic pentameter.

We must emphasize, however, that in identifying the rhyme scheme, we must be conscious of the fact that a rhyme may be visual (i.e. eye rhyme), as we have in the following lines:

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me and be my love."

Note that "move" and "love" do not sound the same / mu:v/ and /lv/. however, the two words end with the same order of letters m-ove and l-ove. There lies the rhyme. Similarly, a rhyme can be determined purely through a similar sound produced by the end-words. This is called audio or ear rhyme, for example;

… and for this I

the king must pluck an eye

Often a rhyme may be determined by words with similar sound and with similar order of letters. This is a perfect rhyme. e.g.

"And then again I have been told

Love wounds with heat, as Death with cold."

Upon Westminster Bridge

(Williams Wordsworth)

EARTH has not anything to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth, like a garment, wear

The beauty of the morning: silent, bare,

Ship, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky;

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill;

Ne'er saw I never felt, a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep:

And all that mighty heart is lying still!

The World Is Too Much with Us

(Williams Wordsworth)

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste or powers:

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This sea that bares her bosom to the moon; 5

The winds that will be howling at all hours.

And are upgathered now like sleeping flowers:

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not, - Great God! I'd rather be

A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn; 10

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn,

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

Sonnet 116

(William Shakespeare).

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O.no! it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests and it never shaken.

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time's fool, though rosy lips and checks

Within his bending sickle's compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error, and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved

Holy Sonnet 6

(John Donne)

DEATH, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so.

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure then, from thee much more must flow

And soonest our best men with thee do go.

Rest of their bones and soul's delivery.

Thou'rt slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men.

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more. Death, thou shalt die.

Pastoral

Originally developed in classical times, pastoral poetry became popularized during the Renaissance, and at the end of the eighteenth century as a reaction against the so-called urban-civilization of the neo-Classical period.

Pastoral poems have identifiable subject matter without a structurally fixed stanzaic form or length. They have elaborate stylized language devices, measured rhythm and consistent movement of sounds and topicality. Pastoral poems are traditionally and thematically preoccupied with a celebration of the beauty of, and abundance in nature. These include a romanticized celebration of fertility, birth, maturity in nature. In other words, pastoral poems celebrate an idealized self-sufficient world of nature and its purity, devoid of decay or pollution of particular interest is the rustic simplicity of the nature-loving and nature-dependent lifestyle of shepherds or shepherdesses. Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" is a good example of poetry in this tradition.

Christopher Marlow's "A Passionate Shepherd to his love":

Come live with me and be my love

And we will all the pleasures prove,

That hills and valleys, dales and fields,

And all the craggy mountains yields.

There we will sit upon the rocks.

And see the shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow rivers to whose falls

Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses

With a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold.

With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,

With coral clasps and amber studs:

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherds' swains shall dance and sing

For thy delight each May morning:

If these delights thy mind may move,

Then live with me and be my love.

Elegy/Pastoral Elegy

Still in the pastoral tradition is the elegiac poetry. An elegy laments or speculates on death or the loss of a beloved, a protector and a provider, while at the same time expressing fear of insecurity and uncertainty of the future. A good example is the Anglo-Saxon "Deor's Lament". In tradition Africa we have "Owusu", among others. Another sub-pastoral group is the Pastoral elegy. It has a rustic, almost mystical rural setting in which shepherds, nymphs and ghomids interact. In pastoral elegy, nature joins in the lament. John Milton's "Lycidas" and Matthew Arnold's "Adonais" are good examples.

Poetry II

Posted by : Osofowora Oluwatobi (Surest)

Date :Tuesday, September 6, 2022

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Tag : Apostrophe, English Language, Poetry

Poetry I

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LECTURE ONE

Introducing Poetry

What Poetry is.

Let me begin with a part-quotation from one of the many existing definitions of poetry this time, by a famous English poet and critic, William Wordsworth. He defined poetry as spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. The uniqueness of human experience is largely responsible for the often controversial responses or reactions to poetry. What should be of concern to you as a student of poetry or me as a teacher of poetry, however, is the dimension of the controversy and its effect on both students and teachers of poetry. To many, poetry is a scary mystic. It is regarded as something inaccessible, a puzzle. Many teachers of poetry have also not helped matters. Some of them unwittingly compound the fear and the apparent helplessness or students by turning poetry into some nameless "crow" through unwholesome teaching methods, partly because they themselves are insufficiently equipped. The result is predictable as it literally kills poetry as an exciting study.

Definitions of Poetry

Poetry means different things to different people. Carefully read and digest the following excerpts from different attempts by some great poets and critics at the definition of poetry. They certainly will explain further the import of this statement. Poetry is:

i. "The power to define the undefinable in terms of the unforgettable." Louis Untermeyer and Carter Davidson in Poetry: Its appreciation and Enjoyment (New York, 1934), p.9.

ii. "The music of the soul, and above all of great and of feeling souls. One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more in fewer words than prose." Voltaire, in "Poets," a Philosophical dictionary, trans. William F. Fleming (New York, 1901), p.218

iii. "Simply the art of electrifying language with extraordinary meaning." Lascelles Abercrombie, The Theory of Poetry (New York, 1926), p.93

iv. "Simply the most beautiful, impressive, and widely effective mode of saying things." Matthew Arnold, "Heinrich Hein," Essays in Criticism: first Series (London, 1921)London, 1921), p.161

v. "Transfiguration, the transfiguration of the actual or the Real into the Ideal, at a lofty elevation, through the medium of melodious or nobly sounding verse." Alfred Austin, "The Growing Distaste for the Higher kinds of Poetry," Fortnightly Review, LXXIV N.S. (March, 1904), p.383

vi. "A comforting piece of fiction set to more or less lascivious music-a slap on the back in waltz time- a grand release of longing and repressions to the tune of flute, harps, sackbuts, psalteries and the usual strings." H. L. Mencken, Prejudices. Third Series (New York, 1922), p.151

vii. "The art of uniting pleasure with truth, by calling imagination to the help of reason." Samuel Johnson, "John Milton," Lives of the English Poets (London and New York, 1958), 1, p.100

viii. "The lava of the imagination whose eruption prevents an earthquake." George Gordon, Lord Byron, Letters and journals, III, ed. Rowland E. Prothero (London, 1922), p.405.

ix. "Man's rebellion against being what he is" James Branch Cabell, Jurgen (New York, 1927), p.333

x. "Poetry comes with anger, hunger and dismay; it does not often visit groups of citizens sitting down to be literary together, and would appal them if it did." Christopher Morley, John Mistletoe (Garden City, New York, 1931), p.55

xi. "I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of prose and poetry, that is, prose words on their best order, poetry - best word in the best order" Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Table Talk and Omniana of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, ed. T. Ashe (London, 1896), p.54

xii. "The business of words in prose is primarily to state; in poetry, not only to state, but also (and sometimes primarily) to suggest." John Livingstone Lowes, Convention and Revolt in Poetry(Boston and New York, 1919), p. 181

xiii. "Perhaps no person can be a poet, or can even enjoy poetry, without a certain unsoundness of mind by poetry we mean the art of employing word in such a manner as to produce an illusion on the imagination,

the art of doing by means of words what the painter does by means of colours." Thomas Babington Macaulay.

"Milton," Essays and Biographies (London, 1906). 1. p. 7

xiv. "I could add that in Africa poetry is our very essence, our being and life; it is our day-to-day interaction with one another, it is our music and dance, the prayers of the traumatized, the pain of the pauperized, it is the cries of abandoned babies, the aroma of our cuisine, the birds and their songs, the gouts and their bleating the glamour of our environmental decay, our democracy and its casualties ..." Ademola Dasylva

The list is inexhaustible. By the end of this course you should be able to add your own definition to the endless list

Recent development in modern poetry, particularly the emergence of modern African poetry, is a pointer to new efforts being made to bring about necessary and gradual de-mystification and de-mystification of poetry. It is with this in mind that I intend to introduce to you, using the DLC, University of Ibadan, adopted methodology for effective study of modern poetry. In addition, it is intended to stimulate students' interest in poetry and possibly assist them in writing their own original poems.

My choice of method in this course is primarily intended to meet the need of the different categories of students of poetry, especially the introductory, as well as the intermediate levels of poetry studies in the DLC, the University of Ibadan programmes. In the light of our target audience, I have designed a two-pan teaching method with two basic steps to facilitate the study and understanding of poetry. Part I informs students on the general background and possible sources, as well as the distinguishing features and forms of poetry. Part II focuses on major movements and traditions in English Poetry, except in the case of the epic whose peculiarities

I find expedient to draw, largely, from the Anglo-Saxon "Beowull," John Milton's Paradise Lost and other selected African epics. Besides, Part II introduces students to the study of some poets and their works, and to understand each poet's spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." This is a culmination of the informing ethos that catalyses the poet's creative (manner of crafting of the poems) and critical sensibility (the poet's expressed opinions on different subjects, and his level of consciousness which in turn, informs his interpretation of the reality around him). It involves the poet's society-including his general background, experience and exposure, ideological alignment or philosophy, among other things.

Possible Sources of Poetry

Although it may not be easy in determining how long poetry has existed one may just as well be contented with simply tracing the likely sources that have given birth to poetry in general. Nature possesses distinct orderliness birth and death: night and day. The sun, the moon and the stars give their natural light or blackout at determined time, pace and space. The planets revolve at a terrific precision around their orbits round the sun. The Earth too rotates on its axis with similar speed and precision, and simultaneously revolves around the sun on its orbit. The orderliness, or the observable precision I have described above as real as they are poetic. Naturally, they in turn, provoke poetry.

Similarly, the relationship between man and man (woman); or the interaction between man and nature quite often leads to some experience, or specific human feelings such of, for example, joy, sorrow, laughter, disillusionment, etc. These intense human feelings, when expressed in words, could be poetic. For example, man's interaction with nature gave rise to his acknowledgement of a Supreme Being, or God, or gods and goddesses, believed to be capable of assisting him in any helpless or hopeless situation. That was the beginning of religious worship. In such worship, the greatness, the enduring mercy, the omnipotence and the omniscience of the Supreme Deity are celebrated. This is done with a touch of hyper exaggeration. And over exaggeration is a common feature of poetry. For example, in Yoruba praise worship of the Supreme Deity referred to as Olorun (from Olu-Orun, meaning the Ruler Creator Owner of the Heavens of heaven), or Olodumare (Ruler/Creator/Owner of the universe, to whom I must return) it 1s in this regard, among others, that God is referred to as:

· Eleti gb'aróyé (He whose cars are meant to receive all complaints). Something close to this is observed in the next example which gives the impression of some Being with a pair of cars the size of a giant satellite dish- atypical over exaggeration: Eléii gbòrogodo (He whose ears are extremely large).

· Olowo gbogborogbo (lHe who possesses extremely long hands).

· Ogbagbà ti i gba ará àdúghò (The Deliverer who protects our neighbours)

In the same vein, certain historical figures who were elevated to the pedestal of deities or demi-gods by virtue of what the people believed were unparalleled achievements or contributions to their respective societies have found their ways into indigenous praise poetry and, or heroic chants, and epic poems.

Regardless of man's geographical location or colour pigmentation, is naturally an animist, and as such tends to react or respond to some natural phenomenon the same way. Some Shakespearian plays, or D.O. Fagunwa's novels, among others, are eloquent testimony in this regard. Although through science and modern technology he has successfully cleared some of the mist, the residue of the old belief in the existence spirit or supernatural forces is still very much with the indigenous African society. Man's interaction with nature and subsequent awareness of his limitations led his quest into the possibility of applying metaphysical means, including the power of the spoken word as coping strategy to subdue as well as control some of the nature-elements for the purpose of serving his needs. The metaphysical powers are otherwise called magic. Incantations are imbued with magical potency. Examples of incantatory poetry can be found in, (a) the encounter between Odewale and

Oba Adetusa in Ola Rotimi's The Gods Are Not To Blame (III.i.):

ODEWALE. What are these before my eyes?

What are these before my eyes?

Are they mountains or are they trees?

They are human beings and not trees.

They are human beings and not mountains.

For trees have no eyes;

Then let these eyes around me close

Close, close in sleep, close in sleep.

That is my word the mountain always

Sleeps. Sleep...sleep...sleep...

Sleep till the sun goes to sleep.

and

(b) When a strainer takes in water,

All the water immediately goes out of it

When a wicker fish-trap takes in water

All the water immediately goes out of it.

The drake cannot even in a fit of anger, crow.

…Oriji leaf commands you to forgive me,

no matter what I may have done amiss...

(translated by Olabimtan in Senanu & Vincent's A Selection of African Poetry. 12)

Poetry in this regard is perceived in the use of over-exaggeration (hyperbole), repetition and anaphora, imagery, use of negative or positive correlates, and rapidity of delivery (in the case of incantation)

In institutional mediation, poetry arises from the effects of social life. For example, songs to celebrate the arrival of new baby: wedding songs: elegiac songs and dirges to mark the departure to the great beyond of a beloved, religious hymns: chants celebrating courage or mocking human foibles, all handed down, orally, from one generation to another.

Traditional chanters, palace minstrels (or griots) poets, among others, were at liberty to employ their skills to pull down their society or assist in lifting it up, (see Niyi Osundare's "A Dialogue of the Drum"). Poetry becomes especially localized as an art expressed verbally.

Language, it must be emphasized, is a cultural production. Similarly, poetry subsists in expressed words (spoke or written). By implication, certain developments become perceivable, such as increased capacity for mental retention of poetry, refreshing poetry as a specialized (verbal) art, as well as sophisticating its many aspects. The development of poetry became more enhanced with the arrival of printing technology. One of such areas of development is the separation into oral and written poetry. Oral poetry still retains its spontaneity and uniqueness.

Written poetry now becomes more specialized and formalized; and except in few cases as in Okot p'Bitek's Son of Lawino and Song of Ocol, Okinba Launko's Ire and Other Poems for Performance or Ademola Dasylva's Songs of Odumolugbe in which the poets consciously retain the orality, the original aesthetics and form of the indigenous African oral poetry while the topicality engages contemporary issues. An example from Ademola Dasylva's Songs of Odamolugbe:

The hoe nips at mother Earth,

Like a blowing wind, my mercuric song reveals

The naked anus of the fowl feigning god.

Kange-Kange, my song from the broken gong.

Barren of Osundare' pastoral images,

The untiring Odamolugbe himself;

Lingering lyrics of Olosunla yesterlores,

Wigwagging lores whipping delinquent adults

Who add salt to our noon sores!

Singers of lore incapable of weaving songs

Into fighting spirits should observe, learn from

My master the Odamolughe himself

A drummer with a drum does not beat his belly instead.

My song, devoid of Soyinka's verbal smithing.

The rhythmic stirrup of Ogun metalines ... (p.28)


Poetry Appreciation I

Introduction

The first step in the appreciation of poetry is to learn to read a poem correctly, with every word pronounced correctly, and aloud; if you cannot do this: learn to read it attentively so as to hear the sounds of its words in your inner car. The second step is to bear mind always that some poems are simple, some complex, but no good poem yields all its meaning easily, or at once. A good poem has to be read repeatedly before it can be fully appreciated. Note also the following:

· Do not start by worrying about the meaning of a poem.

· Begin by appreciating its sounds, noting the variety of sound repetitions.

· Move on to know the meanings of the words used in the poem, and to determine whether the words have been used denotatively or connotatively.

· Identify the figures of speech, the rhetorical devices used, and their meanings. Then try to determine who the speaker in the poem is, what is his/her situation, and what tone does he/she use.

· Go over the poem again and again and again and again and...). By this time, a meaning of the poem will have suggested itself to your mind - in fact, you will have arrived at the meaning without realizing it!

Distinguishing Characteristics of Poetry

What distinguishes poetry from other forms of literature besides the characteristic economy of words is its exploitation of the resources of language music. In other words, the distinguishing features of poetry are both intrinsic. The exploitation is intense, more frequent and more discriminate than we have in other forms of literature.

i. Poetry and the resources of language

Diction Until recent times, the uniqueness of poetry was linked with its specialized use of poetic diction. In the light of this, some words are considered more "poetic" than others, and poets naturally prefer such poetic words to common place words. We must emphasize, however, that there is a thin difference between the language of prose and that of poetry. A casual reading of the first few pages of Wole Soyinka's The Interpreters (a novel) will definitely prove this. What is important is how best words are put to use. A good poet finds the best words to effect the best expression. The tendency, however, is for a poet to prefer a choice of words that are imaginative and more figurative than a writer of, for example, prose fiction. Consider some lines in Okot p'Bitek's "Song of Lawino".

When the sun has grown up

And the poisoned tips

Of its arrows painfully bite

The backs of the men hoeing

And of the women weeding or harvesting (83)

Or Christopher Okigbo's "Idoto".

BEFORE YOU, mother Idoto

naked I stand

before your watery presence

a prodigal... ("The Passage", 3)

Denotation

It is the primary meaning of a word is called its denotative meaning. For example, "There is a rat in the room In this context, the animal, rat, is unwanted in the room and may constitute a health hazard.

Connotation

It refers to the secondary meaning of a word; its symbolic meaning E.g., "There is a rat in this room." At the secondary or symbolic level, the meaning of rat transcends the mere animal. It suggests that a traitor is in the room. The implication is that they must be more careful about what they say or do.

Imagery

This is often used interchangeably with figurative language, or figures of speech. It is the concretization of otherwise could have been a mere abstraction in a way that gives sense experience. Our sense or mental response makes imagery possible. Imagery, therefore, evokes concrete mental images which in turn inform our emotional or intellectual response We must emphasize too that while imagery makes use of images, not all images qualify as imagery. For example, compare the two statements below:

(1a) I have been to Bodija market before; it was rowdy and stank terribly.

(1b) I have been to Bodija market before, it was a ranch of disorderly cattle, the odour hit one right in the face like the fist of some deadly boxer

In (1a) the statement is straightforward. The image or picture suggested is that of a disorderly and stinking market. In (1b) the statement has not expressed anything less. In addition to this, however, the statement also evokes some mental pictures that make the speaker's experience more enduring in the mind of his audience:

The image of disorderliness among a herd of cattle in a ranch suggests the rowdiness of the people, "a ranch", in this context, is suggestive of a market that is more suited for animals (cattle) than human beings. "Disorderly cattle" "ranch" are used metaphorically. Similarly, the stinking odour merely stank in sentence (la), now assumes the picture of a human being - a boxer the punches of whom are mischievous and deadly. The idea of filthy odour hitting one is a personification, and since the fist blow is likened to that of a boxer, it is a simile. Since imagery contributes significantly to poetry, I shall give it further attention under figures of speech in other help your understanding.

Figurative language

This has to do with some relationship between that which is said and that which is non-literal language. The relationship is at different levels:

Simile

It involves a physical or emotional similarity made between a given image and what is intended. In other words, is an expressed comparison between two unlike things in which "like", or "as", or any other similar expression is used. I must emphasize however that it is not every statement where "like" or "as" occurs that qualifies as a simile, hence the emphasis on two unlike things in the subjective or the objective). For example:

(2a) Olugbenga plays football like Angulu.

(2b) Anselm plays football like a bull.

(2c) Kareem is as good as Weah on the football pitch.

In (2a) Olugbenga and Angulu are two-like (similar) personages, therefore, the statement does not qualify for a simile

In (2c) Kareem and George Weah (the Liberian footballer who was declared the World Footballer of the Year 1995/96), are two unlike personages. The international weight of Weah makes it possible for this comparison to be a simile. Similarly,

In (2b), Anselm and a bull are two unlike entities hence the statement simply suggests that Anselm is a very rough or aggressive footballer whose manner of playing gives one the mental picture of a bull on the field of play. Therefore, it qualifies as simile. Other example of simile are;

(2d) "Except that like some fish

Doped out of the deep

I have bobbed up belly wise

From stream of sleep

And no cockcrow... (J. P. Clark, "Night Rain")

Clark likens a deep sleep to a stream or flowing river. The poet compares the discomfort of his sudden waking from a deep sleep and the attendant fear and surprise, with the shocking fear of a fish caught with a hook or the net, and forcefully drawn out from the deep of the sea, onto an open, waterless space, panting for life. Also in the same poem, "Night Rain":

(2e) Great water drops are dribbling

Falling like orange or mango

Fruits showered forth in the wind

Or perhaps I should say so

Much like beads I could in prayer tell

Them on string as they break

In wooden bowls and earthenware.

The thickness, heaviness or intensity of the rain drops which fall on the rooftop under the impact of powerful wind is likened to the effect of orange or mango fruits dropping, and the regular intervals or pace at which the rain drops drop into "wooden bowls and earthenware," the poet compares with the pace at which prayers are said on the rosary or the tesbiyu.

Epic Simile is a type of simile. However, unlike normal or usual simile, the reference is not only drawn from classical events, figures, elements, etc., but forms a good basis for digression(s), giving detailed information (clarification) about the referent. For example, John Milton draws a parallel similarity between the striking beauty of Eve (immediately after leaving Adam's side to work separately) and that of a Greek goddess.

“...Thus saying, from her husband's hand her hand

Soft she withdrew, and like a wood-nymph light,

Dread or Dryad, or of Delia's train,

Betook her to the groves, but Delia's self,

In gait surpassed and goddess-like deport,

Though not as she with bow and quiver armed,

But with such gardening tools as art yet rude

Guiltless of fire - had formed, or angels brought

(John Milton, "Paradise Lost" IX: 385)

Metaphor

In this case the comparison between the two unlike things are implied. Remember that in simile, it is an pressed comparison; in metaphor it is an implied or compressed comparison. Often it is difficult to recognize a metaphor

For example;

3(a) Chigozie is a bull on the field (metaphor)

(b) Olusegun plays football like a bull (simile)

4 (a) The angry man butchered his helpless wife (metaphor)

(b) The angry man killed his helpless wife as one butchers a cow (simile)

No doubt, the example given in (3a) may appear quite unusual since the most common ones are derived from nouns, for example "a bull", etc., however, the verb "butchered", no doubt, is a verb that conjures a mental picture of an abattoir scene where a butcher runs his knife through the throat of a cow, and finally cuts the cow into pieces.

Extended Metaphor

This is a reference that involves not only a one-to-one comparison, but which provide for the purpose of clarification, provides more information about the referent, e.g:

“….But it's a common proof.

That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,

Whereto the climber-upward turns his face;

But when he once attains the upmost round,

He then unto the ladder turns his back,

Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees

By which he did ascend,

(W. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, II.i)

Personification

In this literary device, human attributes are given to abstractions, inanimate objects and non-human beings. In other words, it is transferring personal qualities to a non-person. It is, therefore, a misapplication of term to talk of personification where real living human characters are the points of reference. This is so because human characters are understandably persons already. However, where or when a poet chooses to give anything other than a living person the attribute(s) human being he makes a person of it. That is personification. Very close to personification is apostrophe. Examples of personification "The cold and monstrous hands of Death snatched my love."
The trees in the forest opened their boughs attentively to our tired helpless waiting
"In those days

When civilization kicked us in the face

When holy water slapped our cringing brows"

(our emphasis)

(David Diop. "The Vultures", lines 1-3)

"Civilization", "holy water", and "brows" are personified in the above examples "The ripest fruit was saddest."

(W. Soyinka, "Abiku" line 29) "O, Conspiracy seek not to hide your face" (Julius Caesar. Brutus, addressing the conspirators in one their nocturnal meetings)
"Love is gentle, meek and kind

Love does not loath to anger". (1 Cor. 13:4-8)


Apostrophe

In apostrophe a character, or the poetic voice (persona) addresses directly an inanimate object, or an abstraction as one would a living human being. The direct address could be to a dead person (as Antoni addresses the body of Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: Antoni: O mighty Caesar! Dost thou lie so low?

Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils.

Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well. Antoni: O! pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,

That I am meek and gentle with these butchers:

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man

That ever lived in the tide of times.

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,

Which like dumb mouths do open their ruby lips,

To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue, ...

(W. Shakespeare: Julius Caesar)

or the biblical David to the slain bodies of Jonathan and King Saul) as if they were alive:

Excerpt from Lament of the bow by King David;

Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights.

How the mighty have fallen!

Tell it not in Gath,

Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon.

Lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad.

Let the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice...

How the mighty have fallen in battle!

Jonathan lies slain on your heights.

I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;

You were very dear to me.

Your love for me was wonderful,

More wonderful than that of women

How the mighty have fallen!

The weapons of war have perished!”

(II Sam. 1:19-20. 25-27, NIV Topical Study Bible, p. 324)

Such addresses may also be directed to someone who is not at the scene of an event but addressed as if he were present.

Allusion

This is an implicit or explicit reference to person, places, things or events, with historical or mythological significance. It can be reference drawn from the Bible, the Qu'ran, the Olfa corpus, or any classical literature of a given culture Greck, Oriental, African, etc. Allusion can be considered on three levels:

1. Classical allusion: a reference to person, place, thing or an event in the ancient classical Greek, on or African culture, eg

a) "You are the Helen causing the cities in my head to be at war with passion. (Reference is made to the classical beauty Queen that was said to be the cause of the sporadic wars between the Greek and Trojans. The two cities (Greece and Troy), had contested for the possession of the controversial Queen.

b) "Like the seven children of the legendary Oduduwa, your princes have launched out to found new literary kingdoms for themselves." A reference to Oduduwa and his seven children. Oduduwa is believed to be the father of the Yoruba race. His seven children were believed to have founded seven notable Yoruba towns.

2. Historical allusion: reference to person, place, thing, or an event in the contemporary history, for example;

a) If General Abacha's rule was characterized by a Tsunami of extra judicial killings, President of Obasanjo's eight years of democratic rule revealed a country submerged under a Katrina of institutionalized corruption in high places. (relevant to contemporary Nigerian political development). Can you suggest other relevant examples?

3. Biblical/Qu'ranic allusion: reference to person, place, thing or an event in either the Bible or the Qu'ran. Can you identify any such allusion in the passage below?

"...most African countries today constitute the modern Babylon. The deluge of poverty drowns and drags aw the people into perdition, leaving a few self-seeking opportunists in the Ark, afloat." (A.O. Dasylva, "A rudderless State-ship").

Apposition

It is an additional statement or word(s) to a preceding word, for the purpose of clarification or explanation. E.g

i. "...Mother has dipped three fingers

three fingers of her left hand:

thumb, forefinger and middle finger

I have dipped three fingers

three fingers of my right hand

thumb, forefinger and middle finger."

(our emphasis)

(Birago Diop, "Viaticum" lines 7-12)

The idea of "three fingers" is given further clarification in "thumb, forefinger and middle fingers."

ii. "The great fall through the Adamic experience has earned man, among other things, sickness: Death's harbinger."

* "Death's harbinger" (i.e. messenger of Death) is in apposition to "sickness".

Metonymy: is a figure of speech in which the poet substitutes the subject, profession, or person with an object closely associated with what is substituted e.g. "the King" can be substituted with the crown", the labour(er) with spade; writer with pen, soldier with gun, lady with skirt, etc., for example; The English archery Struck the French horses (Drayton, "The Ballad of Agincourt").

Synecdoche: is a form of metaphor in which the poet uses a part to represent a whole of the referent. The choice of the part of referent must be the most important part if the synecdoche is to be effective. E.g. (i) "all hands are on deck" meaning "everybody is at work", (ii) "We shall need mote Hands as the work progresses", meaning, "More people shall be needed as the work progresses." Blind mouths! That scare themselves

Know how to hold.

A sheep hook, or have learned aught else

The lease...

(John Milton, "Lycidas).

Symbols/Images/Allegory

These are sometimes difficult to distinguish. The word "image" often suggests a mental picture, that is, something perceived in the mind's "eye". An image, on a more general note, is what it exactly is.

Symbols

A symbol is something other than what it states or shows. It operates on two levels; that which is the symbol and that which it represents

White (as in colour): purity, or innocence, or death (as in ghost, or a shroud)

Red (as in colour): danger, or sacrifice, or victory (as in the Blood of Jesus Christ)

Green (as in colour): a rich vegetation, or naivety or ignorance, or inexperience.

Lamb: innocence, purity

Sheep: ignorance, foolishness, stupidity.

Allegory

An allegory is a narrative or descriptive poem which has a secondary or symbolic meaning besides the prime or literal meaning. The emphasis in this case, is usually on the ulterior, symbolic or literary (secondary) meaning.

It is not common in short poems but in long narrative poems, e.g. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", by ST Coleridge, "Faerie Queen" by Edmund Spenser, and "Paradise Lost" by John Milton.

Oxymoron

It is a figure of speech in which a poet places two contrasting words side by side to suggest an idea that seems contradictory e.g. "Bitter-sweet" or as in Coleridge's "The nightmare Life-in-death was she" (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner).

Antithesis

It is a figure of speech in which a poet uses a sentence or a paragraph, words or ideas of expression that are contrasting. The difference between this and oxymoron is in the fact that while oxymoron involves contrasting words placed side by side, antithesis does not place contrasting words or ideas side by side, for example; "To live, you must die first",
"What goes up must come down.

Paradox

This can be likened to "truth standing on its head." It is a strange truth. This strangeness resides in the statement's apparent contradiction which contains (some) seminal truth when carefully analyzed, for example; "A child is the father of the man,"
"A child is a man in small letters."

Understatement

It is a figure of speech in which the poet appears to say or state far less than he actually means, or where the poet chooses to say what he means with far less a force than expected, for example:

The grave's a fine and private place

But nose, I think, do there embrace.

(Andrew Marvell "To His Coy Mistress").

Hyperbole/Exaggeration/Overstatement

They all refer to a figure of speech in which the poet uses deliberate exaggeration without the intent of literal persuasion. A poet uses hyperbole with the aim of heightening effect, for example:

Had we but World enough, and Time...I would

Love you ten years before the Flood:

Thine Eyes, and on thy Forehead Gaze.

Two hundred to adore each Breast:

But thirty thousand to the rest

An age at least to every part,

Nor would I love at lower rate.

(Andrew Marvell "To His Coy Mistress").

Irony

It is a situation or a use of language, involving some incongruity or discrepancy,

There are different types of irony. These include: Verbal irony: this is saying the opposite of what one means;
Dramatic irony: here, the poet/playwright implies a different meaning from that intended by the dramatis persona;
Irony of situation: this involves an incongruity between actual circumstances and those that seem appropriate and that which come to pass.

What I have tried to explain through the different illustrations, so far are, some of the uses of the resources of language in poetry. Let us now consider how the poet exploits the resources of music. Poetry and the Resources of Music (the sound of poetry)

For the purpose of this study, let me discuss two relevant basic musical elements. These are melody and beat. Poetry often makes use of sounds which are carefully selected and organized to give harmonious appeal through repetition, or metrical patterns, or rhythmic flow. I must emphasize also that since poetry is a product of human utterance, it naturally has rhythm. I also like to add, however that not all poetry has rhyme (rime), and not all poetry has meter. The rhythmic flow of a poem is enhanced by the use of any or a combination of alliteration, anaphora/repetition, assonance, and consonance.

Alliteration

Repetition of initial identical, mostly consonantal, sounds in two or more words on the same line in a poem for the purpose of creating lyrical effect to give meaning to the overall effect of the poem. e.g

1. "Solo speaking of complex ways" (s - sound)

2. "Is it indeed Rome and room enough?" (r - sound)

3. "The hissing snake sails swiftly across the green lawn" (s - sound)

In example (3), the effect of the 's' sound suggests the swiftness of the snake, the hissing sound and S suggesting a snake symbol. Occasionally, there can be alliteration of sounds within words on a line; example; murmuring of innumerable disgruntled commuters."

Accent

Emphasis that has to do with the combination of any of - loudness, duration timing), pitch (low or high), and timbre.

In poetry, accent is synonymous with stress.

Cadence

Recurrence of accent or emphasis accompanied by modulations of rising and falling of voice.

Caesura

The main internal (media) pause of a line of poetry usually indicated by the use of natural stops in speech, punctuation or rhetoric rendered orally. The pauses which contribute to the rhythm of poetry do vary in length. Where a line of a poem requires a pause at the end, it is called "end-stopped". End-stopped is a line of poem in which both the thought and sentence) structure conclude simultaneously. In John Keats "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", the poet makes use of double caesura to emphasize serenity and the barrenness of the natural setting: And no//birds//sing."

Anaphora Repetition of the same word(s) at the beginning to two or more lines of a poem, for example:

With her three fingers red with blood,

With dog's blood

With bull's blood

With goat's blood

(Birago Diop "Viaticum").

Note the repetition of the word "with". It is meant to function as anaphoric element.

Repetition The same line occurring in two or more places, or used as refrain in a poem. The repeated lines may slightly vary, in some poems, they still qualify as repetition. The repeated lines with slightly variation can be found in poems like "The Sun on this Rubble after Rain", by the South African Poet Dennis Brutus.

Parallelism

Repetition of words at the beginning of some lines in a poem. If a poet frequently stresses the equal parts of sentences, such is referred to as balanced. Parallelism, aside from providing emphasis enhances the musicality of a poem. Diop's Viaticum offers a good example.

Assonance

Repetition of internal vowel sounds followed by consonants in two or more words on the same line of a poem, and in more than one stressed syllable for the purpose of creating lyrical effect that suggests the mood and meaning the poet wishes to convey. This is usually more effective in oral rendition, for example:

(i) “feeble reeds" (ii) "often we will our real desires".

(iii) "Blake breaks the snaking flakes" (iv) "Float...goat".

Consonance

Repetition of similar consonantal sounds at the middle or end of two or more words on the same line of a poem e.g. "terrible trouble".

Sounds in poetry are similar to melody in music. Similarly, music has beat and so do some poems. Often, poems have meters and where they lack them there is rhythm. In other words, as we have mentioned much earlier, not all poems have meters and/or rhymes (rimes) but certainly all poems have rhythm. Besides the earlier mentioned musical sources, other elements of music employed by the poet include: rhyme (rimes), refrain, onomatopoeia, euphony and cacophony. Other ways by which lyricism is achieves in poetry is through a conscious arrangement of accents. There is the need to explain further this constituent in this arrangement of accents.

Rhythm

This wave-like recurrence of sounds in music is a unique phenomenon in poetry. It is the flow of words and phrases or the movement of thought which helps to convey mood and meaning in poetry. Any fixed pattern or rhythmic arrangement of words is called meter. In other words, meter is a special kind of rhythm. It is a pattern that has to do with the stressed and unstressed syllables. Foot usually this contains one or two syllables only. One unstressed syllable with one stressed:

an iamb/v:/ (arise) One stressed syllable with one unstressed:

a trochee /:v/ (welcome) Two unstressed syllable with one stressed:

an anapest /v v:/ (in my heart) One stressed syllable with two unstressed:

a dactyl /v v/ (photograph) Two unstressed syllables:

a spondee /v v/ (my name) A monosyllabic foot stressed or unstressed:

/;/ (come) or /v/ (a, of, in) One stressed syllable between two unstressed”

an amphibral /v: v/ (Jehovah)

Line: Usually a line can have one or more feet.

One foot - monometer

Two feet - di-meter

Three feet - tri-meter

Four feet - tetra-meter

Five feet - penta-meter

Six feet - hexa-meter.

Rhyme: It suggests simply the use of matching sounds at the end of two or more lines of poetry. Types of rhymes include; Alternate rhymes: a sequence of alternately rhyming lines e.g.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness! –a

Close bossom-friend of the maturing sun; -b

Conspiring with him how to load and bless –a

With fruit the vines that round the thatch-leaves run; -b

(J. Keats, "To Autum") Couplet: a sequence of two rhyming

"Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack, -a

Pressed to the wall, dying, fighting back!"

(C. McKay, "If We Must Die")

Note: All Shakespearian sonnets end with an indented couplet. Initial or beginning rhyme: a sequence of two similar words, or words with similar syllable(s) at the beginning of the lines of a poem, e.g.

…… the tranquil souls,

the breaths of the ancestors,

the ancestors who were men, the ancestors who were sages...

(Birago Diop, "Viaticum") End-rhyme: rhyme that occurs at the end of the lines e.g.:

and I have raised my three fingers towards the Moon

towards the full Moon, the full, naked Moon...

beyond the seas and further still

beyond the sea and further, further still

(Birago Diop, "Viaticum") Visual or Eye-rhyme: a sequence of two or more visually (that appear correct from the spelling) sound effect or pronunciation is half-rhyme e.g

Come live with me and be my Love,

And we will all the pleasures prove,

And if these pleasures may thee move,

Come live with me and be my love,

(Christopher Marlowe, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love") Half-rhyme: imperfect rhyme resulting from the use of consonance and at times of assonance e.g. as in (v) above.
Triplet, and multiple rhymes: a sequence of three or more rhyming lines e.g.

"With her three fingers red with blood"

"With dog's blood"

"With bull's blood"

"With goat's blood"

(Birago Diop "Viaticum").

* Rhyme generally helps the musical quality of a poem. However, frequent use of rhyme can become monotonous, too artificial and which, most often, allows for a distortion of the syntactic elements of the syntactic lexical structures in poetry.

Poetry Appreciation II

In terms of its subjects, technique and mode, poetry can be put into various uses. The subject of a poem can be either of two things, public or private, depending on what informs the subject. A private poem deals with private feelings, subject and emotions, for example, love or a poet's identity. Christopher Okigbo's "Idoto" belongs to this category. A public poem deals with public life, politics socio-economic matters, wars, etc. For example, Okigbo's "Paths of Thunder" or Niyi Osundare's Village Voices. The idea of public or private is a mere demarcation of convenience. Most often we do have a combination of the two.

The fundamental areas to address your mind to when appreciating a poem include the theme, subject matter, (setting), technique/style, languages, diction, mood, and tone. I shall briefly comment on them.

Theme and Subject Matter

Quite a good a number of critics believe that theme and subject matter is one and the same thing. Perhaps this is so because of the very narrow margin between the two which only a discerning mind can perceive. I need to emphasize that there and subject matter are, indeed, not the same thing.

Theme (Topicality)

Every poet has a purpose for writing a poem regardless of manner of presentation. A poet may choose to state directly his/her theme or such thematic preoccupations may simply be implied. In other words, the theme may be suggested through the poetic voice, atmosphere, setting, style, and plot in case of a narrative or dramatic poem (like the epic, romance, heroic chant). By implication, theme is a composite statement which requires our understanding of other basic elements.

Locating a theme in a poem may be a little difficult where a poem appears vague or ambiguous or inconsistent. Nevertheless, identifying a theme should not be a matter of guess work. In identifying a theme, you must know how the poet suggests his/her theme, whether through the use of symbols, allegory, irony, or satire. Or whether the poet chooses to state his/her theme through the poetic voice (persona), or through the conflict arising from opposing ideas, situations, or characters (as in a narrative or a dramatic poem). Contextually, the theme of a

poem, or of any other literary form, is informed by its social, moral, individual, political, or spiritual reality of the author's, and in this case poet's, universe. Therefore, in order to find meaning in, or derive full pleasure from a poem you must put yourself in the poet's universe and consciously subsume a part of yourself.

Since theme is the key or central meaning or message or idea in a literary work, in this case, a poem, it must therefore be emphasized that it is not the same thing as subject-matter. Subject matter is the content-summary that gives a clue to the central idea (theme). In other words, subject matter makes the theme deducible. The illustration below further explains the correctness of this latter position. It is a simple animal story, entitled, Rebellion

Once upon a time in the animal kingdom, the Cat also known as Zimbo the Prophet, announced to the animal community that there would be famine throughout the land. The famine, the prophet warned, would last seven cars. Nobody ever took Zimbo's earlier prophesies lightly because of their precision.

King Lion therefore summoned all his subjects to deliberate on how to avert the impending doom. At last, it was decided that the animals would, collectively, cultivate a very large farm and store its produce after harvesting them in a very big barn from which members of the community would receive their daily supply for the period of the famine.

The following week, all the animals including the young one's and their mothers set to work. After several months, the task was completed. A very hard task, no doubt. The animals left for their respective homes to attend to other personal matters while waiting for the harvest which, again, they agreed, was to be collectively carried out.

Throughout the period of the hard labour, a family was missing. It was the tortoise family. Tiroko had instructed his wife, Yanibo, and children not to participate in the communal farming. It was characteristic of him to have some tricks up his sleeve. He and his family members had cleverly avoided detection by other animals throughout the period of the hard labour. They spent their time for leisure, and nobody detected.

At last, the harvest day was announced. A night preceding the day, Tiroko instructed Yanibo and his four children to carry a big basket each and follow him. In the dead of the night, Tiroko led his family to the community farm. They picked the choicest of the farm produce in their baskets and made for home.

On the way, a light wind gradually gave way to violent storm, uprooting and felling giant trees. The tortoise family was forced to seek refuge under an Iroko tree with the hope that whenever the storm abated, it would continue on its journey. But the storm became more and more violent. Suddenly, the quaking Iroko tree was uprooted by the force of the violent storm. Before Tiroko and his family could move or think of anything to do, the Iroko tree came crashing heavily on the six-member family. Tiroko, Yanibo and their four children were crushed to death. The end of the story.

For you to identify the theme of the story you must pay close attention to the intention of the narrator. What does he want to achieve? What does he aim at? It is the story of a rebellious family, yes, but it is more than that. The core message of the passage is the same thing as the theme. In this passage, the core message is implied, not directly stated. You may suggest any of the following as the theme of the passage; Unpatriotic acts are evil
Rebellion against a common goal is self-destructive.
The wages of sin is death

The difference between a theme and a subject is that while the former expresses an author or a poet's intention the latter is a summary which brings out the major highlights of a story, or a poem. Therefore, a there is not summary in the strict sense of the word, whereas a subject matter, more or less, is a summary. It is in the light this explanation that the subject matter of the above passage must recognize the "topical issues that constitute the story and the development of the plot. The issues include, the cat's prophecy of famine; animal decision to have a communal farm; and hard labour, tortoise family and the attempt to cheat and steal; the storm and the tragic end of tortoise family. That summary is the subject matter. No more, no less.

Similarly, a poem can best be handled the way the above passage is treated. Another example: Christopher Marlow's "A Passionate Shepherd to his love":

Come live with me and be my love

And we will all the pleasures prove,

That hills and valleys, dales and fields,

And all the craggy mountains yields.

There we will sit upon the rocks,

And see the shepherds feed their flocks,

By shallow rivers to whose falls

Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses

With a thousand fragrant posies,

A cap of flowers, and a kirtle

Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool

Which from our pretty lambs we pull;

Fair lined slippers for the cold,

Poetry I

Posted by : Osofowora Oluwatobi (Surest)

Date :Sunday, September 4, 2022

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Tag : Apostrophe, English Language, Imagery, Metaphor, Metonymy, Poetry