This Gabriel Okara’s poem took the reader back to his childhood with vivid local memories but at the later part of the poem introduced the foreign piano with technical musical terms to express his civilized lifestyle. The poem is an example of a free verse.
Speaking of the poet’s background, Gabriel Okara is a Nigerian born 1921. He started work as a bookbinder before writing for broadcasting. Okara later joined the civil service as an Information Officer.
Below are three (3) poetic devices from the poem “Piano And Drums”
(1) IMAGERY:
This poetic device played a big role in
the poem “Piano And Drums” by Gabriel Okara. The use of imageries assisted in shedding more light on both the background of the poet and his civilized present with the use of imageries like “jungle drums telegraphing” in line 2, “the leopard snarling” in line 7, “warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts” in line 15, “tear-furrowed concerto” in line 19, “mystic rhythm” in line 28.
There are some imageries in the poem that typified the title of the poem “Piano And Drums” in terms of the fact that they created musical effects as the jungle drums telegraphing mystic rhythm while wailing piano solo speaking of complex ways.
(2) SYMBOLISM:
There is the theme of clash of cultures (the European and the African) where the European culture depicts the poet’s present state of civilization while the African culture depicts the poet’s past rural background. Gabriel Okara symbolized his simple African cultural background with drums and his complex civilized European lifestyle with piano; maybe to reveal that he didn’t learn to live through his background the same way one doesn’t really learn how to beat drums. He learned to be civilized which was as complex as learning to play piano.
(3) PERSONIFICATION:
Personification is one of the poetic devices commonly found in poems because poets even unconsciously create it in their poems. embodiment or exemplification. Personification is a figure of speech in which an inanimate object or an abstraction is given human qualities.
Few personifications are “wailing piano” in line which the poet claimed was speaking of “complex ways” (17-18) and the “jungle drums” which the poet revealed was “speaking of primal youth and the beginning” (line 4-5)
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- Introduction To This Blog
