Sem
:- 2
Roll no
:- 17
Batch
:- 2017-2019
Paper
no :- African
Literature
Enrollment no :-
2069108420180002
Email id
:- kajalbambha16@gmail.com
Submitted to
Department of English, MKBU
Topic: -Poems by Gaberial Okara
Introduction: -
Gabriel Jibaba
Okara born on 25 April, 1921 is one of the most distinguished poets of the
African literature. He is a Nigerian poet and novelist who was educated at
government college, Umuahia, and later at Yaba higher college. In addition to
His poetry and fiction, Gabriel Okara has also written plays and features of
broadcasting but he is more notable for his poems. Gabriel Okara also studied
journalism at North-western University in 1949.
His most famous
poem is "Piano and Drums". His famous poem is "You laughed &
laughed & laughed". It's a frequent feature of anthologies. Okara is
worried about the attack of Western culture over the African ancient culture.
His poem "Once upon a time" deals with the same theme. Also his
novel- 'The Voice ' depicts this theme. Its protagonist Okara, like many post
colonial. Africans is hunted by society and society by his own
ideals. Unfortunately many of Okara' s manuscripts have been destroyed in the
civil war.
Okara’s poems tend reflect the problems that African nations
face as they are torn between the culture of their European colonists and their
traditional African heritage. He also looks at the traumatic effect that
colonization and DE-colonization can have on the self and a one's sense of
personal identity. For example Okara often depicts characters suffering from
'Culture shock' as they are torn between these two irreconcilable cultures. On
the one hand there is Christianity and the definite material benefits such as
classroom education and well-paid jobs that the European way of life offers,
while on the other hand, there is the unspoken expectation that the 'true'
African was allegiance to his original tribal culture and should embrace these
'roots'.
Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a
Time is a poem consisting of 7 stanzas each containing between four and eight
lines. Once Upon A Time highlights the guilt and resentment an African man
feels for himself to accepting the culture of the westerners. The entire poem
has the man talking to his son.
There are no other voices in the poem, and the son remains mute throughout the
entire poem. The past, according to the poet, is better than the present. The
speaker in this poem reminisces about a time when people were sincere and
caring in their dealings with one another, he speaks regretfully about the
present time, when people are not like before. Okara examines the contrast
between the modern culture and his African ancient culture. He wants Africans
to be positive for their right future.
Once Upon Time’ was written as a conversation of father and son. It is Okara’s
style to explain what happens when a traditional African culture meets the
forces of the western way of life.
The poem feels of the
conversation between what seems to be father and son, where the father wants to
learn from his son how to go back normality and no longer be fake. Acquire
knowledge of a subject or a skill through studying Something that you have
learned, forget it or ignore it
As far as my reading is concerned about this poem here ‘They’ refers to western
people who are white also this description in the poem gives the impression of
genuine emotion given off by the people. This indicates fake negative and false
feelings and it is a very cold description. This affects the tone of the poem
that now becomes sinister and bitter. The lines….
‘They used to shake
hands with their hearts’
By this we can understand that the poet is reminding us of how we invite people
to our homes and for tea and when the invited person does feel at home once it
is okay so in other words we can say that when people invite. After that
summing up stanza four, this stanza has been focused on how people tend to
change their facial expressions for different occasions.
Personal unlearn the things
which he learned. He expresses a desire to unlearn whatever he has forced
himself to learn, in order for him to gain his sense of self back. The
Poet starts off stanza five by signifying that he also has adapted to the
environment around him so to summarise this stanza the writer is saying that
there are no true emotions. Learning necessitates
“unlearning” what was learning and “relearning” what was lost.
He
notices a marked change in the attitudes of his people—those whom were once so
genuine, warm and sincere have now suddenly turned cold and hostile towards
him. The stanza five deals with the fake
attributes to go along with the fake looks. This poem has many repetitions. The
poet says that he has also ‘learned to laugh with only his teeth’ and ‘shakes
hand without his heart’.
In stanza six the poet describes how he used to be. It comes that he is talking
to a child or a young man who has not yet experienced the changing of heart who
has not yet been influenced by the environment. In stanza seven he asks the
‘son’ almost pleads with him to ‘show me, son how to laugh; show me how I used
to laugh and smile’. He beseeches his son, the only person
he knows who has not been affected by the new culture, to teach him how to be
enthusiastic and happy and live life again. He asks his son to help him go back
to who he was, and get back his lost identity.
Telephone Conversation
Telephone
Conversation depicts a conversation between a white lady and an African
American man which casts a harsh light on the racism and prejudice which grips
society. The price seemed reasonable, location Indifferent. The landlady swore
she lived off premises. The man is searching for a house and
the land lady has named a considerable price, and the area where it is located
is an impartial and not racially prejudiced.
Cultural
conflict is one of the most striking points in African poetry. In African what
is culture and tradition that seems uncultured or peculiar to the western.
African poet Gabriel okara focuses the ice cold attitude of Europeans to the
African culture.
“Beautiful
weather, isn't it?"e; made when it is raining or nasty. Irony differs
from sarcasm in greater subtlety and wit.”
In African what is
traditional and cultured and humorous to Europeans. They also represent the
African culture in humiliated sense. He was awarded the commonwealth poetry
award in 1979.his most famous poem is “you laughed & laughed & laughed”
it’s a frequent feature of anthologies. Okara is worried about the attack of
western culture over the African ancient culture.
The speaker of the
poem
Dark west African man
Speaker for new
apartment
They discuss the
speaker skin colour
The land lady as a
polite well-bred woman
African is haunted by
society and society by his own ideals. Unfortunately many of okara’s many
scripts have been destroyed in the civil war. Unfortunately many of okara’s
many scripts have been destroyed in the civil war. Gabriel okara was born in
Nigeria when there was a British colony and indeed would be nearly forty years
before his country was to gain independence in October 1960. During his life
okara did jobs like initially working as a book binder.
The land lady assume
he is because of his skin colour
She is shower racist
Really is create a
sense of verbal irony
Okara’s poems tend
reflect the problems that African’s notions face as they are torn between the
culture of their European colonialist and their traditional African heritage. Material
benefit such as classroom education and wellpaid jobs that the European way of
life offers while on the other hand.
The land lady assume
he is because of his skin colour
She is shower racist
Really is create a
sense of verbal irony
The poem display
between really is create a sense of verbal irony
The mystic Drum
The
mystic Drum is okara’s love lyric. The Mystic Drum evinces a tripartite ritual
pattern of imitation from innocence through intimacy to experience by
comparison to the way of zone as manifested in the experience of Zen master
Chin Yuan- wei-Asian this pattern resolves itself into an emotional and
epistemic logical journey from conventional knowledge to learn of experiences
empowers the lover to understand that beneath the surface attractiveness of
what we know very well may lie an abyss of the unknown and unknowable
belching darkness. But experience teaches us at this stage of substantial
knowledge not to expose ourselves to the dangers of being beholden to this
unknown and unknowable reality by keeping our passions under strict control
including the prudent decision to ‘pack’ the ‘mystic drum’ of our innocence and
evanescence making sure that it dose not beat so loud any more.
Okara
mentions in one of his interviews that the mystic drum is essentially a have
poem:
This
was a lady I loved and she coyly was not responding directly but I adored her
demeanor seemed a mask her true feelings at a distance she seemed adoring
however on coming closer she was after all not what she seemed.
This
lady may stand as an emblem that represents the lure of western life how it
seemed appealing at first but the mystic drum and light.
“The mystic drum beat in my
And
fishes danced in the rivers
And
men and women danced on land
To
the rhythm of my Drum.
“But
standing behind a tree
With
leaves around her waist
She
only smiled with a shake of her head.
“the drum in African poems generally stands for the spiritual pulse of traditional African life the poet asserts that first as the drum beat inside him fishes danced in the rivers man and women danced on the land to the rhythm of drum but standing behind the three there stood and outsider who smiled with an air with quickened tempo. Compelling dead to dance and sing with their shadows. The ancestral glory over powers other outside rations so power full mystic drum that is brings back evens the dead alive. The rhythm of the drum is the aching for an ideal Nigerian state of harmony.
“Were I to Choose”
Gabriel
Okara’s “Were I to Choose” is reminiscent of Yeats’ “Adam’s Curse.” Adam
toiling in the soil can be compared to the Negros working in the soil. They
broke the stone themselves which was their very foundation. The red streams are
symbolic of the multilingual diversity that reaches the womb Africa.
In
this poem Gabriel Okara wants to free himself from the imprisonment of his dark
‘halo that is generally considered as ‘blessed; but seems dark to him. His
conflict is not being able to choose from the different languages. He is torn
between worlds. The poet likens his predicament with mingling with dust during
the month December to February in Nigeria. The throat is dry and he is unable
to speak out. He is delirious ass the flames of torture are burning his
existence. The colonial period has made the poet an amalgam of European and
African Cultures, and now he finds himself in a no man’s land. He relishes the
idea of resolving the crisis by seeking refuge in the silence of the grave. He
then would be cheating the worms because he would enjoy that state of affairs
so these are the things which are discussed by Gabriel Okara in this poem.
Conclusion
The
poet Gabriel Okara uses this poem to convey his feelings about the loss of
traditional African culture against western influences the overall theme of
this poem I about happier times gone past and hopes for a happy ending. All
prejudices are by highlighting the woman’s poor choice of rejecting the man
just because he does not share the same skin color. ‘Telephone Conversation’ is
a favorite, both for its excellent use of rich language and the timeless
message it conveys. Negritude
into a people who were probably very closed off, and rallies his Negro brethren
to take pride in their heritage.
Works Cited
Saiyad, Nargis
Ibrahimbhai.
<http://saiyadnargis142011.blogspot.in/2013/04/once-upon-time-and-were-i-to-choose.html>.
http://riddhimaru45.blogspot.com/2018/03/critical-analysis-of-gabriel-okaras.html
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