Poetry/ushairi

It is a way of expressing the feelings, emotions or ideas, using language characterized by imaginary and rhythmical sound.

TYPES OF POETRY

v  There are different types of poetry namely, narrative, descriptive, lyric, sonnet and ballade.

v  These types can be categorized into two forms namely: Open and closed poetry.   

1. NARRATIVE POETRY; is a poem which tell a story.

v  They tend to be long than others. Example “Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol”

v  Narrative poetry includes epic, which is usually a book- long narrative poem about serious subject.

      ii.            Reflective poetry

v  Is a poetry in which thoughtful debates an issue or ideas and comes to a conclusion.

iii. Descriptive poetry:

v  The poetry which concentrates on the description of the people, objects, experience, places etc.

iv. Lyric poetry:

v  This is the most common poetry. It is usually short and express very strong/powerful feelings about universal issues such as love, hate, death, torture etc.eg, “Eat More”

v. sonnet

v  Is a poem of fourteen verses and it is divided into two parts.

a)      Octave – Made up of first eight verses.

b)      Sextet – Consisting of the remaining six verses. Example “If we must die”

vi. Ballad:

v  A poem about the story, example “Ballad of the Landlord”

Closed form / traditional poem poetry

v  It is a type of poetry which strictly observes the rules of writing poems such as;

•      Rhyme partten.

•      Equal number of syllables in each verse.

•      The length of verses.

•      The number of verses in each stanza, etc.

Open form/ free verse/ modern poetry

•      It is a kind of poetry which does not observe the old rules of writing poems.

v      The following books are examples of poetry collection:

•      Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol written by Okot  P`Bitek.

•      Songs of Malaya and prisoner written by Okot P`Bitek.

•      Malenga Wapya written by Institute of Kiswahili, and Foreign languages Zanzibar.

COMMON items USED IN criticism a POEm

Ø  Content: What the poem is about/what it describes.

Ø  Themes/ message: What to be learned by the readers. Examples death, colonialism, alienation, betrayal, exploitation.

Ø   form:  How the poem is arranged.

Ø  A VERSE:  A single line in a poem.

v  STANZA: Arrangement of verse in a poem. Several verses comprising complete ideas.

v  Rhyme: Repetition of similar sounds at a regular interval verses, usually the last sound in a verse.

v  Rhythm: Stressed and unstressed syllables in regular intervals.

Language

ü  Poetic language is full of symbols and figures of speech so as to arose emotions and feelings of the readers.

ü  In criticism a poem one examines whether the language is simple or complex, appropriate or inappropriate, direct or indirect etc.

Tone (voice)

v  The attitude  the poet or poetess talks to wards a subject or audience so as to communicate his feelings

MOOD

v  State of mind/altitude of the poet or poetess about what is said.

Imegery

v  A mental picture drawn through the use of words.

 symbolism

v  A way of presenting an important ideas/issue using an object or thing.

Figure of speech

1. Simile: Comparison of things using words like; “as…as” and like.

ii.  Metaphor: Comparison of things by calling one thing the other, e.g.. He is an elephant.

iii.  Personification: Attributing human qualities and characteristics to non human being.

    iii.            assonance

v  Repetition of similar vowel sounds in stressed syllables that end with different consonant sound.

v  Eg. Lake and fate, side write wide; Clean/cream

    iv.            Alliteration:

v  Repetition of identical consonant sounds at the beginning of a word or stressed syllable within a word in verse.

v  For example, After, life fitful fever.

      v.             onomatopoeia

v  The formation of words by imitation of sounds resembling those associated with the object instead of object itself. Or

v  The use of words that by their sounds suggest their meaning. E.g. “Hiss, buzz, whirl, sizzle”

    vi.            HYPERBOLE (EXAGGERATION): is a figure of speech in which conscious exaggeration is used without the intention of literal persuasion. Eg. I have invited billions of people to my party.

  vii.            Rhetorical question

v  A question propounded for it`s rhetorical effects and not required to reply.

viii.            Euphemisms: A figure of speech in which indirectness replace directness of statement; usually in an effort to avoid offensive.

     Eg. “At liberty” instead of “out of work”, “Senior citizen” instead of old people and “Pass away” instead of “die”

    ix.            Iron: A statement whose meaning is contrary to what is expressed.

      x.            Satire: is the foolishness in an amusing way of laughter that aims at amendment.

E.g.

 Study the following poem carefully and observe some of the way of analysing it.

Eat more, by Joe Corrie

“Eat more fruit!” the slogan say,

“More fish, more beef, more bread!”

But, I`m third year now, wed.

And so I wonder when I'll see

The slogan when I pass,

The only one that would suit me,

“Eat more bloody grass!

Guiding questions

a)      What is the poem about?

v  The poem is about the feelings of an individual about commercial slogan that advertises foods that he cannot buy because he does not earn a living wage as unemployed.

b) At the first stanza, what is the general altitude of the poet towards the slogan?

v  He is angry, complaining about the slogan, he is bitter, full of sorrow and unhappy about the slogan

c)      What is the intention of the poet in the last line of the second stanza that says “eat more blood grass”

v  The poet intention in “eat more blood grass” is to express his desertification at the idea that encourages eating a balanced diet while he does not have any employment so as to buy such a food.

d) What are the two points that make the poet sad?

v  The slogan that insists on the importance of eating a balanced diet that he cannot afford .

v  He is un employment and state of poverty.

e) What is the tone of the poet?

The tone of the poet is angry, satirical, and sad.

f) Comment on the rhyming pattern of the poem?

v  It is regular poem with regular rhythm.

v  It is systematically broken down into two stanzas  each with four verses.

g) How relevant is the poem to your society?

v  The poem is relevant to our society because we have poverty and unemployed people.

v  Even those who are employed can not afford to live on their wages.

v  Many commercial slogan are advertised through mass media by insisting on importance of eating balanced diet that many people cannot afford

h) What kind of poem is this?

v  The poem is lyrical because it is short and expresses the strong feelings of the people about the slogan.

        i)            What are possible themes of this poem?

 the possible themes of the poem can be, un employment, poverty and classes.

        i)            Mention the figures of speech in the poem?

Figure of speech in this poem are:

v  satire – eg. “eat more bloody grass”

v  Personification – e.g. “The slogan say”

v  Repetition – e.g. “the words “eat and more” are used for emphasis.

Procedures of analysing poem

1.      Title of the poem

2.      Form and type of a poem

v  Judge whether a poem is lyric, narrative, ballade etc.

3. Tone of the poet

v  Whether the poet is angry, happy, sad, serious etc.

4. Musical or sound features of a poem

Pay attention on rhyme, rhythm, alteration, or refrain.

5. Possible themes

6. Message of poem

7. Relevance of the poem

8. Language use

8. Success and failure

Growing up with poetry

Editor: david rubadiri

Publisher: heinemann

Year: 1981

Freedom song

(marjorie oludhe macgoye)

v  Atieno washes dishes,

v  Atieno plucks the chicken,

v  Atieno gets up early,

v  Beds her sacks down in the kitchen,

v  Atieno eight years old,

v  Atieno  yo.

v  Since she is my sister’s child,

v  Atieno needs no pay,

v  While she works my wife can sit.

v  Sewing every sunny day

v  With her earnings I support,

v  Atieno yo.

v  Atieno’s sly and jealous,

v  Bad example to the kids,

v  Since she minds them, like a school girl,

v  Wants their dresses, shoes and beads.

v  Atieno ten years old,

v  Atieno yo.

v  Now my wife has gone to study,

v  Atieno is less free,

v  Don’t I keep her, school my own ones,

v  Pay the party, union fee

v  All for progress! Arena’t you grateful

v  Atieno yo?

v  Visitors need much attention,

v  All the more when I work night,

v  That girl spends too long at market,

v  Who will teach her what is right?

v  Atieno rising fourteen.

v  Atieno yo.

v  Atieno’s had a baby,

v  So we know that she is bad

v  Fifty fifty  it may live

v  And repeat the life she had

v  Ending in post-partum bleeding,

v  Atieno yo.

v  Atieno’s soon replaced,

v  Meat and sugar more than all

v  She ate in such a narrow life

v  Were lavished on her funeral.

v  Atieno’s gone to glory

v  Atieno yo.

a)      Who is speaking the poem?

v  The person who speaks in this poem is Atieno`s uncle.

b) What is the poem about?

v  The poem is about a girl called Atieno, who is humiliated by her own maternal uncle.

v  She lives in a bad condition and she is not sent to school as other children although her age allows her be at school.

c) What sufferings does Atieno experience?

v  Atieno suffers from tortures or humiliations in the house of her uncle. Her uncle tortures her physically by treating her badly:

v  Now my wife has gone to study,

v  Atieno is less free,

v  Don’t I keep her, school my own ones,

v  Pay the party, union fee

v  All for progress! Aren't you grateful

v  Atieno yo?

d) Summarize the main idea in each stanza

v  1^st stanza: It is about the humiliation, people are humiliated by giving a lot of work to this young girl and still they do not provide services to her like room to sleep and clothes.

v  2^nd stanza: it is about oppression; this title girl Atieno works while the house wife sits freely. Atieno does all these with no payment.

v  3^rd stanza: Atieno is blamed. Her uncle does not send her to school, and says that Atieno is a bad example to other children in the street.

v  4^th stanza: is about segregation, when the wife of her uncle had gone to school Atieno is left at home without schooling.

v  It does not mean that Atieno`s uncle has no money. He has money that is why he dares to pay money for union fee.

v  5^th stanza: Atieno is blamed again that she has now changed her behaviour, and she spends much time at market during night.

v  6^th stanza: it expresses about the Atieno delivery. She is now having a child, but the baby is given fifty of its life, later on we see it passes away.

v  7^th stanza: it is about Atieno`s death.

e)What is the tone of the poet?

v  The tone of the poet is sympathetic to the girl

f) What messages do we  from the poet.

a)      We should discourage child labour

b)      We should alleviate poverty from the family level

c)      We should uplift human right especially to the children

d)     We should sympathize with the children.