Analysis Of Heart's Eye View by Niyi Osundare

In the poem titled "Heart's Eye View" by Niyi Osundare, the persona or poem speaker went through an imaginative travel like a soul in deep meditational realm_ all in the name of something longed for or something missed heartily (which could be a home or a feminine or a family) but the last two lines of the poem really suggested a loved one or a lover: "Every wingstep brings me/ Closer to your wondrous arms"

In Osundare's imagination, he was travelling in an aircraft which made him refer to as "wingstep" in line 9 and his use of wingstep implied a metaphor; meaning, a progressive movement like footsteps. His travel was from Europe to Africa; over the deserts and over the seas. The poem speaker's destination was an unspecified city or nation by the sea which he symbolized as an angel in line 7-8 "And on to the angel/ Waiting by the sea". Since the poet is a Nigerian with resident in Lagos, so "the angel/ Waiting by the sea" might mean Lagos Island.

Besides the rare concept of tabling an homesickness, other things loved about the poem are simplicity, line flexibility, no rigid rhyming, etc. The poem has a moderate sibilance, clear imageries, tiny chopped stanzas, and a traveller point of view any reader can find appealing.

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Samuel C. Enunwa aka samueldpoetry
(the Leo with wings flying)