Critical Analysis of Gabriel Okara's poems

Critical Analysis of Gabriel Okara's poems

   

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Name: Maru Riddhi

Paper: 14.The African Literature

Topic: What is different between movie and book in Harry Potter

Roll No: 20

Class:  M.A.Sem.4

Year: 2016-2018

Emil Id: riddhimaru27@gmail.com

Submitted To: M.K.Bhavnagar University,

                     Department of English

Topic : Critical analysis of the " Were i to  Chose"

%..... Were I To Chose by Gabriel Okara's

%.....Introduction of the poet

In African literature limited poets are remembered today and Gabriel Okara is one of them, whose name is 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.

Moreover, Gabriel Okra’s poem tends to reflect the problems that Africa faces as they torn between the culture of their European colonist and their traditional African heritage. Okara has written many poems but here we are concerned with his 3 poems as enlisted under…..

·        Once Upon a Time 

·        Mystic Drum

·        Were I to choose etc.

So, now let’s take bird’s view in detail.

%....Okara's language:

 For his use of language, he says,

               

 “I have endeavored in my works to keep as close as possible to the vernacular expressions. For, from a word, a group of words, a sentence and even a name in any African language, one can glean the social norms, attitudes and values if a people.”

                        Okara’s remarks are clear. Contrary to the example of Nazi Boni, Okara’s writing is a conscious attempt to use the words and expressions in the way he has chosen. Both poems are famous and thus they show Okara’s potentiality in writing poems.

%....." Were I to Choose" - Content and explanation

“Were I to Choose” –reminiscent à Yeats’ “Adam’s Curse”

                                                       
 Adam’s 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 multilingual diversity that reaches the womb Africa. These lines present it,

         

                                “When Adam broke the stone

                              and red streams raged down to

                                        gather in the womb”

                            

                                                  Cain metaphorically represents the next generation. ‘I’ in Okara’s poems generally refers to the tribe. This lines talks about Cain,

                                 “in Cain, unblinking gaze”

                                            
         The earlier generation’s gaze would not go beyond. Written in 1950, the period of Nigerian Independence, the poet sees his ancestors – their slavery, their groping lips, the breasts muted by heart – rendering suffering.

                                                          
  At the turn of 31 years, the poet is multi – lingual and he wonders what should be the medium of his instruction. The tower of Babel symbolizes unity.

                                “and thirty turns, the world

                                   Of bones is Babel, and”   

                                                     
 During the construction of the Tower of Babel, God cursed the people concerned. God despised the very fact there now remains no proper foundation, or structure and his world has deteriorated to a ‘world of bones.’

                                             
       He wants free himself from the imprisonment of this dark halo. The poet likens his predicament with the Harmattan, a parching wind mingling with dust during the month Dec. to Feb. in Nigeria.

                                    “And when the harmattan

                                  of days has parched the throat”

                                             
   The colonial period has made him 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 even cheating the worms because he would enjoy that state of affairs.

%....." Were I to Choose"

  

This poem is written by Gabriel Okara. Here poet tries to compare Adam and Black Negro man. Here poet also talks about generation gap. Adam is father and Cain is metaphorically represented new generation. He talks about the language. The red streams are suggests multilingual new generation. Poet compares Cain (son of Adam) with African man that Cain is wonderer and he doesn’t have any kind of aim in his life. He just wanders here and there without destination. Same man have not aim in their life. Poet indirectly satirized modern men. The tower of Babel is symbol of unity. Because when tower is constructed, people wanted to this tower is a tower of oneness or unity. But god gives them different languages and makes them different through language. The line “And O of this dark halo was the tired head free.” Poet tries to be free from this dark halo. 

Works Cited

Jasani, Nidhi. 2014-16. <http://jasaninidhi2014-16.blogspot.in/2016/03/topiccritical-analysis-of-poems-african.html>.

Saiyad, Nargis Ibrahimbhai. <http://saiyadnargis142011.blogspot.in/2013/04/once-upon-time-and-were-i-to-choose.html>.