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 endure the hardship with there resources. The wealthy have their wealth to buffet them from the economic hardship.
However, the crippled and the tired heaped out of the way means that the poor and the less privileged have no means to shelter them from this hardship. They feel the full brunt of the impact and are crushed out of the way.
The cause of this anomaly have not been identified, but all eyes and fingers are directed towards the leader. What is known is that the leader which could mean a king or a political leader has:
… cracked his whip
In the realm of laughter and light,
And mopped his brow with a silken cloth
The leader has, instead of provide a solution, intensified his merriment and leisure. The political leaders in Ghana, and other African newly independent states, have encourage other government to be lackadaisical towards prescribing a solution by infecting them with their contagious merriment. President, and his official, neglects their primary purpose of being in power, and merry with vigor to the extent that they “mopped his brow with a silken cloth”.
This cause of being blessed with such leaders in Africa is not known to anybody. Also, the reason behind the hardship that people go through is not known. Kwesi Brew mentions this thus:
It is only the gods who know
Why the bones were broken
It is only the gods that know why the structures are broken. Why the structures are dismantled beyond correction. Bones being broken symbolize a structure that is faulty beyond repair.
However, because of this failed democratic government, the president was overthrown. A sandal was placed on the head of the president. A sandal being placed on the head of the leader is a sign of dethronement, or impeachment in the tradition of Ghana. The last stanza describes his dethronement:
And the master of the house
Now Master of Rags
Stays behind on the rocks
To rummage in the rubbish heap
For cast-away morsels of power!
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 endure the hardship with there resources. The wealthy have their wealth to buffet them from the economic hardship.
However, the crippled and the tired heaped out of the way means that the poor and the less privileged have no means to shelter them from this hardship. They feel the full brunt of the impact and are crushed out of the way.
The cause of this anomaly have not been identified, but all eyes and fingers are directed towards the leader. What is known is that the leader which could mean a king or a political leader has:
… cracked his whip
In the realm of laughter and light,
And mopped his brow with a silken cloth
The leader has, instead of provide a solution, intensified his merriment and leisure. The political leaders in Ghana, and other African newly independent states, have encourage other government to be lackadaisical towards prescribing a solution by infecting them with their contagious merriment. President, and his official, neglects their primary purpose of being in power, and merry with vigor to the extent that they “mopped his brow with a silken cloth”.
This cause of being blessed with such leaders in Africa is not known to anybody. Also, the reason behind the hardship that people go through is not known. Kwesi Brew mentions this thus:
It is only the gods who know
Why the bones were broken
It is only the gods that know why the structures are broken. Why the structures are dismantled beyond correction. Bones being broken symbolize a structure that is faulty beyond repair.
However, because of this failed democratic government, the president was overthrown. A sandal was placed on the head of the president. A sandal being placed on the head of the leader is a sign of dethronement, or impeachment in the tradition of Ghana. The last stanza describes his dethronement:
And the master of the house
Now Master of Rags
Stays behind on the rocks
To rummage in the rubbish heap
For cast-away morsels of power!
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