Critical analysis of Gabriel Okara's poem
Name :- Gohil Umaba B
paper 14 African Literature
Roll No : 16
Topic :- Critical analysis of Gabriel Okara's poem
Gabriel Okara is a Nigerian writer. He was born in Nigeria, in April 1921. Okara may be described as highly original and uninfluenced by other poets. He has been extremely successful in capturing the moods, sights and sounds of Africa. His poems show great sensitivity, perceptive judgements and a tremendous energy. Okara also shows a concern regarding what happens when the ancient culture of Africa is faced with modern western culture, for example in his poem, 'Once Upon a Time'. Gabriel Okara
1. ONCE UPON A TIME
Gabriel Okara’s Once Upon A Time is about the artificiality of relationships and manners prevailing in the present day world. The past, according to the poet, is better than the present; because there were love, sincerity and faithfulness in the past. Now that in the present, everything has changed. Hence the poet wants to relive the past.
Once upon a time, the people used to laugh with their hearts and eyes. That is, there was genuineness in what they said and did. But in the present, there is only outward ‘teeth laugh’ without understanding the speaker’s real self. The eyes are described as ‘ice block – cold’. The people have become money minded and naturally develop their relationships with the rich. Even when shaking hands with others, they are very artificial and hence mechanical.
Guests are no longer welcome these days. They are given a warm reception only once. If they visit their friends or relatives thrice or more number of days, the doors are shut on them. In this material and artificial world, the poet has learnt many things – especially wearing many faces like putting on many dresses. One has to have ‘home face’, ‘office face’, ‘cocktail face’ and so on. All are fixed just like the portrait smile. As this is the way of the world, the poet – cum – speaker has also learnt laughter with teeth; the art of saying‘goodbye’ when he means ‘Good riddance’; ‘Glad to meet you’ when he is not glad; and ‘Nice talking to you’ when bored.
The poet wants to be like his son with all the exemplary conduct. He himself becomes the victim of the present showing ‘the fangs of a snake’. Towards the end of the poem, the poet appeals to his son to show him how to smile wholeheartedly. Desire to relive the past is nothing but a yearning for the innocence, faithfulness and sincerity. The poem is written as though a father were talking to his son.
2. 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.
3. “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.
No comments:
Post a Comment