PHASES OF AFRICAN POETRY IN ENGLISH

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 INTRODUCTION

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This article explores the intersection of the modernist era (mid-1960s to early 1970s) and the contemporary phase (1970 to the present) in African poetry in English. By the end of this article, you should be able to:

- Discuss the modernist and contemporary phases of African poetry in English.

- Differentiate between the modernist and contemporary aspects of African poetry in English.

- Identify the philosophy of contemporary English-speaking poets.

Modernist Phases

The Contemporary Phases

There may have been conflicts between the African indigenous tradition of poetry and the poetic experimentations in Western languages, as observed in the poetry of Christopher Okigbo and Leopold Sedar Senghor, who were influenced by English poets like Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. The modernist phase refers to the poetic experiments of early twentieth-century poets who rebelled against the poetic doctrine of the regular rhyme and meter of the nineteenth century.

This led to poetic experimentation by some African poets, using oral traditional materials such as translations from Ewe traditional dirges by Kofi Awoonor in the 1960s. Similarly, the Nigerian poet Christopher Okigbo adopted local imagery in his poems, complementing it with foreign influences of Latin, Greek, and English. For example, he recreated myths, local idioms, and rhythms in his poem 'Path of Thunder.'

In East Africa, poetic license was freely adopted. For instance, Okot P’ Bitek collected folk songs and translated them into English. The poets of this phase creatively experimented with materials from their oral tradition and foreign culture. The poetry of Christopher Okigbo, Wole Soyinka, Atukwei Okai, Mazisi Kunene, and Kofi Awoonor attests to this.

Christopher Okigbo’s Poetry

In Christopher Okigbo’s poem 'The Passage,' taken from his poetry collection 'Labyrinths,' he returns to his traditional African religion and asks for forgiveness from "Mother Idoto," his people’s water goddess. The poet believes that modern civilization has driven the children of Africa from indigenous religion and beliefs, and they need to confess their sins to start afresh, renewed, and stronger. This confession involves a form of cleansing, a total self-surrender to the water spirit that nurtures all creation. Okigbo says:

BEFORE YOU, my mother Idoto,

Naked I stand;

Before your weary presence,

A prodigal

Leaning on an oil bean,

Lost in your legend

Under your power wait I

On barefoot,

Watchman for the watchword

At heavensgate;

Out of the depths my cry:

Give ear and hearken.

The above poem reflects the poet’s longing to reconnect with his roots through the power of Mother Idoto, the water goddess. He pleads and waits, hoping that his cry will be hearkened to.

In another poem, ‘Watermaid,’ the poet is forgiven by the water goddess, who reveals herself to him "wearing white light about her" as she appears beneath the ocean waves. However, the appearance of the water maid could not assuage the yearning of the poet. Instead, in the end, the sea leaves the poet downcast and inconsolable. Okigbo reveals the confusion in the mind of an African due to the infiltration of an alien culture. This is even more evident in another of his poems, ‘Lustra IV, Heavensgate,' where the poet finds himself wrapped in a sense of guilt, the result of his alliance with a foreign culture. He seeks the strength to ward off the encroaching new religion.

So would I to the hills again

So would I

To where springs the fountain

There to draw from

The concern of the poem is self-purification, renewal, or regeneration, but the poet believes that the best cleansing is through traditional ritual. The poet’s initiation into an alien culture has enchained him, and he seeks freedom from the confusion that the new culture has brought upon him.

The use of “marble stretcher” in Okigbo’s ‘Labyrinth’ could represent a grave or the poet’s contemplation of death. Accordingly, the diction is replete with words and phrases that evoke an eerie feeling and the quality of death. The poet alternates between the physical world of the hospital environment and the spiritual. He invokes the images of religion while in search of enhanced spiritual well-being, and like a pilgrim, he carries a symbol of the tenacity of faith to which he is continually subjected. He searches the length and breadth of his existence - “from Dan to Beersheba” for spiritual fulfillment.

After he received anesthesia, he relaxed and glimpsed “on the marble beyond the balcony.” This phrase suggests a mental journey into the metaphysical.

THE CONTEMPORARY PHASE

There is no absolute distinction between the modernist and contemporary phases of African poetry in English, as seen in the works of Niyi Osundare, Hope Eghagha, Remi Raji, and Kofi Awoonor, among others. These poets are known for their lyricism and serious thematic exploration, which includes topics such as corruption, abuse of power, politics, and the mysteries of human life and existence.

Kofi Awoonor’s ‘The Cathedral,’ a protest poem, reveals African disapproval of Western modes of religious worship, social and economic ideologies, as well as political ideology. The poem symbolizes the vanity of Western religion and its sudden incursion into Africa’s religious beliefs. The poet observes:

On this dirty patch

A tree once stood

shedding incense on the infant corn:

its boughs stretched across a heaven

brightened by the last fires of a tribe.

They sent surveyors and builders

who cut that tree

planting in its place

A huge senseless cathedral of doom.

SUMMARY/CONCLUSION

In this article, we have examined the modernist and contemporary phases of African poetry in English, delving into the ideologies of each phase and highlighting some prominent poets associated with them.

REFERENCES / FURTHER READING

Clive, Wake (1960) Anthology of African and Malagasy Poetry in English and French. London: Penguin Books.

Israel, Kopfu Hoh (1950) Voices of Ghana. Accra: Heinemann.

John Janheinz (1963) The Handbook of African Literature. New York: New York University Press.

Nkosi, Lewis (1981) Tasks and Mask: Theories and Styles of African Literature. Ibadan: Longman.

Okot, P. B. (1984) Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol. London: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.

Senanu, K. E. and T. Vincent (1988) A Selection of African Poetry. U. K. Longman. Shaaban, Robert (1920) Swahili Poetry. London: Swahili Publications Bureau.