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Acholonu and Nwapa would appear to want to reach a compromise, but Ogundipe-Leslie would want a confrontation.
Artistically, Nigeria’s female poets still need to be adventurous. How- ever, the female poets should be commended for as Katherine Frank observes, “there are surely vast silences to be broken, silences of African women who have ceased to write or who have never written at all because they have felt there was no audience to hear their words (1984, 47). Nevertheless, the fact that these faltering early steps are being taken indicates that this is the planting season of female poets in Nigerian poetry. In the harvest, we fervently hope to pluck the robust yam tubers and the fledgling seed- lings.
The study of contemporary Nigerian poetry may never be complete without the assimilation of these feminine poetic impulses.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
Discuss the thematic concern of Nigerian female poets, citing as many examples as possible from different poets.
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This is illustrated in a vivid description of woman as one “who adorns the fields … woman who is the fruit of man” (260).
The virtues of the African woman are celebrated in Negritude poetry, a movement that attempts to recapture Africa’s glorious past. Leopold Sedar Senghor-one of its principal ideologues is caught in the feeling of nostalgia for a distant homeland. To ward off the sense of aloofness, Senghor in the poem For Khalam celebrates the African ancestry and landscape with emphasis on the African woman.
“When shall I see again my country, the pure horizon of your face?”
“When shall I sit down once more at the dark table of your breast”? (270).
According to D’Almeida (1994), the image is one in which Africa is compared to a nurturing mother and the African mother is given the proportion of the whole continent.
Unfortunately, this notion is far removed from the reality of women’s daily existence and the negritude author’s seemingly positive portrayal of the African women operated against the latter’s interest (D’Almeida, 1994: 91 Stratton 1994: 40).
Despite the exaltation accorded the African woman, African poets have vigorously condemned practices like prostitution, infanticide; poor mothering that neutralize the virtues of motherhood. In The Roses are Withering, Richard Ntiru frowns at the vice of prostitution which has eaten deep into the social fabric of his society. The society is morally debased and women take centre stage in perpetrating the vice: “At the centre of every woman is a core of a prostitute’. The poet also lashes out at the men who use ‘cheques as a passport to sex’ (148). This vice is also echoed by Jared Angira in the poem “Phlora”. The poet presents Phlora who becomes a fortune seeker by indulging in a series of love affairs that end in a fiasco. After wasting her youthfulness, it dawns on her that she cannot realize her materialistic dreams. Tibenderama on his part is concerned with poor parenting in The Bastard. The poet recounts the suffering and horrendous experiences of orphans due to the absence of motherly love and affection and irresponsible fathers who shun their responsibilities. The absence of parental love leads to a lamentable situation where the woman takes to the streets. The
“unlucky creation” (bastards) “never will he know motherly love or feel soft hands”.
They either end up as dumped foetuses in latrines and ditches or abandoned children for the lucky ones who go through a smooth reproduction. The poet cries out at his crime-ridden society “O crime! O murder of small flesh that might have grown to greatness and wisdom” (150). The economic resources the women are purportedly after does not change their livelihood as “their own meal is a cassava stick with salt” (151).
The poem, To the childless by Kittobe, is a treatise to barren and unfertile women. They are described as “cold nests” in which “the migrant bird lays no eggs” and as “fruits that ripen, rot” (155). Such cases represent women as a negation to the virtues of womanhood.
SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE
1. Discuss the portrayal of women in the poems of African male writers 2. Provide a detail discussion on the role of women in written African poetry 4.0 CONCLUSION
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The insignificant presence of the feminist perspective in the canonisation and criticism of written African poetry contrasts with the experience in the criticism of the other literary genres. It reflects the marginalisation of the female voices in anthologies of African poetry. Stella and Frank Chipasula in the Introduction to African Women’s Poetry stress the fact that its “exclusive focus on women’s poetry is a necessary first step towards reversing the objectification of women and rendering visible the invisible poets themselves” (Chipasula 1995: xvii). However, there are still some female voices within the written African poetry.
5.0 SUMMARY
In this unit you have learned the followings:
• Gender issues in written African poetry
• Women voices in written African Poetry
• The poems of the following Nigerian Female writers:
o Catherine Acholonu o Flora Nwapa
o Molara Ogundipe-Leslie
• The male writers’ imaging of women in African poetry 6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT
Read and answer the questions below:
1) Highlight gender issues in written African poetry 2) Discuss the women voices in written African Poetry
3) Examine the poetry of the following Nigerian Female writers:
i. Catherine Acholonu ii. Flora Nwapa
iii. Molara Ogundipe-Leslie
4) Discuss the male writers’ imaging of women in African poetry 7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READINGS
Aidoo, A. (2007). To be an African women writer – an overview and a detail. In T.
Olaniyan & A. Quayson (Eds). African literature: an anthology of criticism and theory (pp. 513-519). Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Akujobi (2004) As Akujobi Observes. Fullerton: California State University
Amadiume, I. (1999). Bitter. In T. Ojaide & T. Sallah (Eds). The new African poetry:
an anthology (pp. 177). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers Inc.
Amore, K., Bamgbose, G. & Lawani, A. (2011). Gender Politics: Reflection of Inter-genpolitism in Buchi Emecheta’s Second-Class Citizen. i-Hurage: International Journal for Human Right and Gender Education 2 (2), 204-215.
Catherine Acholonu (1985) The Spring’s Last Drops. Nigeria: Totan Publishers
Charles C. Fonchingong, C. C. (2006). “Unbending Gender Narratives in African Literature” Journal of International Women’s Studies Vol. 8 #1 November 2006 Clark-Bekederemo, J. (2006). Song. In K. Senanu & T. Vincent (Eds). A selection of
African poetry (pp 198-199). Harlow: Longman Group Ltd.
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Edewor, K. (2001). Cultural attitude to women’s education and economic empowerment: a comparative study of men and women in Ijebu-Igbo. In D.
Akintunde (Ed.). African culture and the quest for women’s rights (pp. 35-49).
Ibadan: Sefer Books Ltd.
Maduakor, O. (1989). Female voices in poetry: Catherine Acholonu and Omolara Ogundipe-Leslie as poets. In H. Otokunefor & O. Nwodo (Eds). Nigerian female writers: a critical perspective (pp.75-91). Ikeja: Malthouse Press Ltd.
Ohaeto, E. (1988). “The Poetry of Three Nigerian Female Writers” Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 22, No. 3, Special Issue: Current Research on African Women (1988), pp. 662-668 http://www.jstor.org/stable/485962
Onarinde, F. (2013). “The Nature of Modern African Poetry” Being the title of a paper presented at Kistrech Theatre International Kisii, Kenya Kistrech Poetry Festival.
Sotunsa, M. (2008). Feminism and gender discourse: the African experience. Sagamu:
Asaba Publications.
Steady, F. (2002). An investigative framework for gender research in Africa in the new millennium. CODESRIA.
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MODULE 3 SELECTED AFRICAN POETRY: THE EARLIER POETS