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A SANDAL ON THE HEAD (Analysis) This poem has the lyrical characteristics of African orality. It is not written in the regular English poet’s literal form of writing. Kwesi Brew employed the use of proverbs and African adage to paint the poem with beautiful and colourful imagery. The features are metaphors embedded with African proverbs. Examples of these imagery are evident in: The broken cannot be made whole! The strong had sheltered in their strength The swift had sought life in their speed, The crippled and the tired heaped out of the way These statements are more than witty statements. Moreover, what this excerpt also mean is that things are seemingly not going the proper way. Perhaps the economy or political structure is defunct. The broken cannot be made whole will mean that things have been destroyed beyond reparation. That things have totally fallen apart. As a result of this hardship, only the strong, favoured, fortunate and opportune are able to endur

VANITY (Analysis) Vanity is Birago Diop’s way of expressing the frustrations of Africans after colonization. During, and after, colonization, eurocentrism was rampant. Eurocentrism  is the act of accepting and digesting the European culture hook sink and liner while neglecting one’s (local) culture and tradition. The contact with the French and British made many Africans neglect their tradition and culture in order to dress, speak and appear like the Europeans. Colonialism further contributed to this issue because the European education, government and mode of education became what was required in the administration. These are the issues that if the poet persona should start to narrate, who will hear them without first laughing at them? If we tell, gently gently All that we shall one day have                          to tell Who then will hear our voices                          without Laughter… Whoever hears the Africans complain about their plights would

A Critical Analysis of “IT ALL STARTED WITH THE CONVERSION” by Phakamile Yali-Manisi. This poem is about the style in which Africans were colonized by the Europeans. It is about the subtle ways in that imperialism was injected into the systems of Africans, and how Africans were subtly ideologically conditioned through religion.  It is stating the root cause of the present dilemma that Africa encounter in the present day. That the problems of Africa today began with the conversion. The conversion from the African belief into Christianity. Hence Manisi provides detailed information on the description of the European clergy. With the use of vivid imagery and metaphor, the clergy’s “costume” and their hidden functions were described in the poem. It is in this vein that Achebe stated that: The white man is very clever, he came quietly With his religion. We were amused at his foolishness And allowed him to stay. Now he has won our Brothers. Our clan can no longer act like one. H

Breaking Kolanut Breaking Kolanut is a poem about paying obeisance to a personality that is revered. This can be rephrased in another way to mean that it is a poem of greeting. It would be strange to one is not Igbo (or African) to decipher why breaking Kolanut is solely about greeting. This supposed strange phenomenon can be explained thus: breaking kolanut is a traditional act of greeting and welcoming someone in the Igbo community. Being the title of the poem, it aptly alludes to the Igbo traditional classic mode of greetings and hospitality, of which a piece of kolanut is halved by the host before it is handed over to the guest to take a bite. This mild ceremony means that the visitor is acknowledged and welcomed. Also, between men Gods, kolanuts are broken too. Men break Kolanuts before conversing with their Gods in their different shrines. What this poem entails is the act of greeting (or breaking kolanut) recorded orthographically. In this poem, the poet persona is ack