Two poems The Piano and The Drums by Gabriel Okara To The Negro-American Soldiers By Leopold Sedar Sengho

1) The Piano and The Drums by Gabriel Okara

About Gabriel Okara

Gabriel Okara was an important Nigerian poet and writer. He was born in 1921 and lived until 2019.Okara is best known for his early poetry collection called The Fisherman's Invocation, published in 1964. This book explored themes of African identity, tradition, and the impacts of colonialism. One of his most famous and often-studied poems from that collection is called "Piano and Drums." This poem uses vivid natural imagery and symbolism to contrast traditional African culture (represented by drums) with Western/colonial culture (represented by a piano). It expresses the identity struggles faced by Africans having to navigate between these two different worlds. The poem's narrator describes his childhood connection to the rhythms of African village life and drumming. But then he becomes seduced by the complex ways of the "wailing piano" which speaks of "faraway lands." He gets lost in the complexities and confusions of adopting this foreign culture over his indigenous roots. Through this poetic allegory, Okara gave voice to the dilemma and inner discord experienced by Africans after colonization as their heritage clashed with rapid social changes and European influences. His poems mourn the erosion of traditional African ways of life.

In addition to poetry, Okara wrote novels and short stories as well. His 1966 novel The Voice explored similar themes about the identity crises faced by Africans having to straddle the line between modernity and ancestral village traditions.

Okara's writing style was known for blending Standard English with Nigerian Pidgin English and indigenous imagery. This reflected his mission to celebrate and preserve African oral traditions and cultures through literature. He had a major influence on the trajectory of African poetry and literature in the postcolonial era. About The Poem Piano and The Drums The poem shows the difference between old life and the modern world. Though the main theme is about the clash of cultures, the poet is really disgusted by how the elite people after independence chose to blindly adopt Western cultural values instead of their own traditional values. This led to problems in African society. These African elites were not fully prepared to properly understand and manage the complex Western culture. So the Africans after colonialism struggled to handle the differences when faced with two very different competing cultures. CONTENT ANALYSIS

The poem, “Piano and Drums", is about the cultural dichotomy of African and Western cultures in post colonial Africa. It reveals the dilemma faced by individuals who are confronted with the circumstances that would warrant them drop their culture for Western one, in the name of globalization. The first stanza highlights the poet speaker's attachment with his cultural heritage before the intrusion of a foreign culture. It shows the simplicity the traditional culture is known for. In the opening of the poem, ‘When at the break of day at a riverside’, the inspiring serenity of traditional culture is suggested, even with the imagery introduced by the drum in the lines

'I hear the jungle drums telegraphing/the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw.' The poet-speaker reveals the connections Africans have with nature. The last three lines of the first stanza showcase the occupation of Africans to be majorly hunting. The rhythm produced from the drums reminds the poet-speaker of his early days as a youth who enjoys watching wild animals or probably engaging in hunting. The second stanza continues with his attachment to traditional culture. Then suddenly he sees himself in a reminiscing state 'in my mother's laps a sucking; / at once I’m walking Simple’. He presents a lifestyle that is divulged of complexity and/or rancour. The poetspeaker creates in the readers mind the extensive simplicity of cultural norms that characterises the African society with paths with no innovations, rugged, fashioned with the naked/warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts/in green leaves and wildflowers pulsing'. This simplicity is seen in the relationship that exists among the people as they live in communality without unhealthy rivalry and selfishness. In the third stanza, the poet-speaker announces the presence of a seductive culture represented by the 'Piano'. 'Then I hear a wailing piano' suggests that the poet-speaker could not withstand the tempting nature of the piano, even when on his mother's lap. That is, several innocent Africans like him were lured by a foreign culture that showed great complexities. In great ignorance, the poet-speaker and others like him are seductively enticed by the Western culture to adapt what it represents at the expense of their traditional culture and norms. He speaks of 'solo speaking of complex ways in/tear-furrowed concerto: /of faraway lands'. Under this, so many Africans were deceived by the notion of a foreign land with a new horizon (technological development). He sees himself to be persuaded by the 'coaxing diminuendo, counterpoint, /crescendo'. He realises that he was 'lost in the labyrinth/of its complexities, it ends in the middle/of a phrase at a dagger point’. This avers that the songs produced by the piano, though seductive enough to draw the poet- speaker and others, were received by people who lack the technicalities to understand the complex meaning of the rhythm. Hence, they become more confused as seen in 'And I lost in the morning mist/of age at a riverside keep/wandering in the mystic rhythm/of jungle drums and the concerto'. He displays great dilemma between the traditional and Western cultures of what choice to make. The poem discusses the traditional village lifestyle of the Africans and the complex society of Westerners which was introduced as a result of colonial presence in the continent. The poem seems to answer the question of why has the traditional society lost its heritage and identity to a foreign culture. THEME The theme of cultural obliteration The theme of inferiority The theme of dilemma and confusion The theme of the need for cultural reorientation The theme of neo-colonialism THEMATIC DISCUSSIONS 1.The Theme of Cultural Obliteration: The poem talks about the concomitant effect that the coming of the Europeans has on the continent and the culture of the people. A people that have been known to possess a culture propelled on the wheels of simplicity and great affinity to nature, see the fabric of their culture truncated by a foreign culture known for its complexities. The poet represents the African culture with the 'Drums' and the Western with the 'Piano'. He creates a vivid picture of the lifestyle of Africans before the coming of the whites and their colonial regime through the powerful imagery deployed in the poem,'... at once I'm/in my mother's laps a suckling;/ at once I'm walking simple/paths with no innovation'. From the above lines, Africans lived in a society where innovations such as tarred roads and street lights. In their communal societies, the people were 'rugged, fashioned with the naked/ warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts/in green leaves and wildflowers pulsing’. TheAfricans were comfortable with their simple life where they were able to co-exist without rancour and unhealthy rivalry,which technology and science have promoted in the world. But in the third stanza where '... I hear a wailing piano’ ,the poet-speaker reveals the presence of European culture that has come to efface the African culture and way of life. The culture was forcefully passed on to the people who became confused as shown in 'it ends in the middle of a phrase at a dagger point'. Hence, he says, 'and I lost in the morning mist/of age at a riverside .. So these Africans see their culture truncated and replaced with a foreign one which has been the reason for the imbalance experienced since the post colonial era. 2.Theme of Inferiority: The poet-speaker reveals his inability to resist the imposition of a foreign culture on him and other Africans like him. After hearing 'a wailing piano', he became distracted and was attracted to tune from the piano even though 'at once I'm in my mother's laps a sucking'. He could not say no to the 'solo speaking of complex ways in/tear-furrowed concerto: of faraway lands'. His show of inferiority is affirmed in the line when he confesses that he was 'lost in the labyrinth/of its complexities, it ends in the middle/of a phrase at a dagger point'. He is in a dilemma of what culture to uphold as expressed in 'wandering in the mystic rhythm of jungle drums and the concerto'. This shows the poet-speaker's preference for the Western culture because of the technological impact on the world system at the expense of his traditional culture, which has 'paths with no innovations'. 3.The Theme of Dilemma and Confusion The main crux of the poem exposes the altercation between the African culture and the European culture over which is supreme than the other. And this has placed the poet, speaker and other Africans, especially of the post-colonial era, to be in dilemma and confusion over what cultural inclination should be accepted and adopted into the fabric of their societies. The poet-speaker recounts the splendid nature of the traditional culture when he says 'When at the break of day at a riverside/I hear the jungle drums telegraphing/the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw/like bleeding flesh, speaking of primal youth and the beginning'. But the reverse became the case when he said, Then I hear a wailing piano/ solo speaking of complex ways in tear-furrowed concerto: /of faraway lands'. His helplessness and confusion heightened when he cries out that he was 'lost in the labyrinth/of its complexities, it ends in the middle/And I got lost in the morning mist'. The internet, computer, exotic cars and modernity that technology provides have caused great confusion in the minds of Africans. 4. The Theme of The Need for Cultural Reorientation The poem is a clarion call for all apostles of the African heritage, who have been overwhelmed by the intrusion of Western culture into the fabric of the African society, and has been the reason for non conformity of the action of the people of the post-colonial era to the ethos of African traditional cultural values, due to the distraction stirred by the presence of 'a wailing piano' with 'solo speaking of complex ways in/tear-furrowed concerto’. The resultant effect of the tune of Western complexities and contamination of traditional civilization and norms has made the poet speaker to raise an alarm of his dilemma as reflected in 'And I lost in the morning mist/of age at a riverside keep'. In order not to have the upcoming generations of the African society to toll the steps of the poet-speaker, the poem suggests a reorientation to sensitize and save them from the mirage of 'faraway lands/and new horizons with/coaxing diminuendo,Counter point/crescendo'. He alerts the readers of the dangers in the uncritical adoption of foreign ways. The Theme of Neo-colonialism: Gabriel Okara uses his poem,'Piano and Drums' to resent the cowardly acceptance of some quarters of the African society that wholeheartedly welcome the imposition of Western ways as represented by the 'Piano'. He states that African even after colonialism seem to be attracted by the seductive 'labyrinth' and 'its complexities' of the piano with little or no understanding of its effects. Hence,they are placed in a confused state the even 'in my mother's lap a suckling',they were still able to hear 'a wailing piano' of faraway lands'.The people have lost their united front bound by the rhythm of the 'Drums' in the face of tempting tunes of the 'piano'. So they are noted to be wandering in confusion of choice to make. They helplessly see themselves being subject to the same ambience of superiority created by the colonial presence Evaluation POETIC DEVICES Antithesis: The poem is basically a contrast that exists in the worldview of the poet speaker whose attitude shows great confusion towards his decision on what culture to adopt as represented by the musical instruments: piano and drums. The disagreement that surrounds these instruments is seen in the first two stanzas for the drum and the third stanza for the piano. The poet-speaker in 'I hear the jungle drums telegraphing ... speaking of primal youth and the beginning' reveals how the traditional culture displays a life of simplicity without innovations where hunting of wild animals like 'panther' and 'leopard' was the occupation of the people. On the other hand, the piano speaks complex ways as its sole responsibility. Unlike the drums that produce 'mystic rhythm',the piano produces a 'wailing ... solo speaking of complex ways in tear furrowed concerto'. The ideas are simplicity against complexity; the traditional culture against the Western culture. 2. Symbolism: From the title of the poem, ’ Piano and Drums’ , we can understand that the poet speaker has decided on both musical instruments as symbols aid understanding of the message of the poem. The description 'jungle drums' reveals that this instrument is made from the skin of wild animals you find in Africa, while the 'wailing piano' which speaks complexities 'of faraway lands and new horizons' shows that it is an instrument of modern technology. In another sense, the drums represent simple, incorrupt, uncontaminated and primitive African ways of life while the piano represents the imported culture of the Western world. The poet speaker, on his part, represents the helpless and confused post-colonial Africans who are products of two conflicting cultural values. 3Enjambment: In several points of the poem, we realize that a few punctuation marks are used. This shows the connections that the lines of the poem possess. In highlighting the effects of the drums on the animals and the people in a traditional African society, the poet-speaker presents the first stanza without a pause at the end of each line as the ideas run into the succeeding lines. The introduction of the Western culture represented by the piano is done with the aid of enjambment in the first three lines of the third stanza. Furthermore, the helplessness of the innocent African who was faced with a culture with complex ways is not also in the last three lines of the third stanza. 4Personification: Okara employs personification to show the relevance of the musical instruments: piano and drums. In the poem, the drum is seen to be doing the job of a human being by 'telegraphing the mystic rhythm' and 'speaking of primal youth and the beginning'. For the piano, it started by 'wailing' then 'solo speaking of complex ways'. Both instruments (Drums and Piano) have been employed to express the cultural values and norms of the traditional African society and Western society respectively. 5 Imagery: The poet employs this device to help readers retain in their mind's eye a clear picture of what they are exposed to in the poem. Majorly, in the first stanza to 2) To The Negro-American Soldiers By Leopold About Leopold Sedar Sengho

Léopold Sédar Senghor was an important poet, cultural theorist, and politician from Senegal. He was born in 1906 and lived until 2001. As a young man, Senghor studied in France and became one of the founders of the Negritude movement in francophone literature. Negritude celebrated black African culture, traditions, and values. Senghor's poetry expressed pride in his African identity. Some of Senghor's most famous poems are "Prayer to Masks", "Black Woman", and "To the Negro-American Soldiers." His poems used vivid natural imagery and drew inspiration from Africa's oral storytelling traditions. He wrote about themes like the resilience of the human spirit and the struggle against colonial oppression. In addition to his literary work, Senghor had a pioneering political career. After Senegal gained independence from France in 1960, Senghor became the first president of the new nation. He served as president until 1980. As a political leader, Senghor promoted democracy, economic development, and maintaining ties between French-speaking African countries. He advocated for African socialism as an alternative to capitalism and communism. Senghor also advanced philosophies known as Negritude and panafricanism. Panafricanism called for solidarity between people of African descent worldwide and celebrated the shared historical roots, struggles, and cultural identity of African people. Through his influential writing, political leadership, and ideological vision, Léopold Sédar Senghor had a major impact as one of modern Africa's most prominent thinkers and nation-builders. He left a lasting legacy celebrating black African heritage and advocating for African unity. CONTENT ANALYSIS Senghor's powerful poem "To The Negro-American Soldiers" is addressed directly to the African American troops who fought for the United States in World War II. The poet, who went on to become Senegal's first president after independence, wrote this rallying cry in 1942 while the war raged. He opens by referring to the soldiers as "Brothers," establishing a sense of kinship and shared identity despite the distance between them. Senghor connects with them through their common African ancestral roots and heritage. The poem acknowledges the glaring contradiction that these soldiers risk their lives defending the ideals of the "Free World" when they themselves do not enjoy full freedoms and rights in their own homeland. As black Americans in the 1940s, they faced legalized racism, discrimination, and the denial of basic liberties. So their struggle is "double" - against the Axis enemies abroad but also against racial injustice at home. However, Senghor encourages them that their brave sacrifice during this violent conflict will ultimately lead to racial progress and liberation. He portrays their wartime service as planting "blood-stained seeds" that will eventually bear fruit, with a "free sun" rising over black people in both Africa and America. Vivid natural imagery depicts their spilled blood as "red seeds" mingling with the "black humus" of their African ancestral soil. These necessary sacrifices will nourish the future flowering of black dignity and freedom, represented by the blazing "African flame." Senghor reminds the soldiers that this powerful inner flame - their connection to the ancient pride, strength and spirit of their African roots - burns within them. Even if colonialism tried to smother it, that integral life force could never be extinguished, passed down inexorably through ancestry. He urges them to keep fanning and stoking this flame through their brave deeds in battle. Every act of courageous perseverance against injustice helps "rekindle" their ancestral African spirit's brilliance. In stirring lines, Senghor declares this flame will eventually "enlighten the most distant continents" and even "redden" the sun itself with its radiance. Their righteous struggle has a transcendent, universal importance. More metaphysical, spiritual imagery casts the soldiers' experience as a kind of baptism by blood and fire. Their sacrificial bloodshed is portrayed as a purifying ritual that will help cleanse and wash away their subjugation. Through this arduous trial, they are being "tempered" - shaping their indomitable character and collective African identity. Out of their suffering, Senghor sees a "Negro rebirth" emerging - a reinvigorated sense of cultural pride rising like the sun from the night of oppression, in tune with the natural cycles of the cosmos. He assures them their sacred cause of freedom is destined to ultimately prevail over injustice. With vivid, cosmic symbolism, he describes their blood "dyeing the universe with purple." This equates their ordeal to an epochal, spiritual awakening that will transform and elevate human consciousness on a global scale. Senghor imbues their role with enormous historic and moral significance. In the final stanza, he urges the soldiers to remain steadfast on their difficult path ahead despite adversity. Though it may be paved with "trampled cadavers," Senghor wants them to keep their "eyes fixed" firmly on the liberating vision of ultimate victory, propelled by the "sacred fire" of their righteous African spirit that can never be broken. The closing line reaffirms their eternal, unbreakable connection to their ancestral origins, hailing them powerfully as "the Sons of the Blood, of the Sons of the ancient Blood!" THEMES Racial Injustice/Oppression African Pride/Identity Liberation Struggle Resilience of the Human Spirit Racial Injustice/Oppression This theme is at the heart of the poem's powerful message. Senghor highlights the glaring contradiction that the African American soldiers are risking their lives to defend the "Free World" when they themselves are denied basic freedoms and human rights in their own country due to racist discrimination and oppression. He laments how they face a "double struggle" - against the Axis enemies abroad but also against the systemic racial injustice and subjugation at home through legalized segregation, disenfranchisement and denial of civil liberties. The poem gives voice to their plight as second-class citizens brutalized by the hypocrisies of racial prejudice despite their patriotism. Senghor seeks to rally them against these dehumanizing injustices. African Pride/Identity To inspire and empower the soldiers in their struggle, Senghor taps into the unifying spiritual force of pan-African cultural identity and ancestral heritage. He reminds them of the inner "African flame" that burns within - that powerful connection to the ancient roots, pride and perseverance of their African ancestors that has been passed down through bloodlines over generations. Even though colonialism tried to extinguish this flame, Senghor insists it can never be snuffed out. He wants them to draw strength, courage and a sense of noble collectivism from re-embracing these African ethnic and cultural ties that transcend borders and bind them together. This shared identity becomes a rallying point of resistance. Liberation Struggle Senghor portrays the sacrifice and perseverance of the Negro-American soldiers during the war as part of a larger, historic struggle for the liberation of black people worldwide from the shackles of colonial oppression, racism and disenfranchisement. He casts their role as foot soldiers in an epochal freedom movement happening on a global scale to finally overthrow subjugation and achieve justice, human dignity and self-determination for Africans in the homeland and the diaspora. Their deeds will help sow the "blood-stained seeds" that eventually blossom into the "free sun rising" ushering in a new era of black renaissance. So Senghor elevates their wartime efforts to an almost spiritual, revolutionary calling with ramifications far beyond that specific conflict. Resilience of the Human Spirit Despite the dehumanizing injustices and adversities faced by the soldiers, the poem expresses an abiding faith that the uplifting, indomitable power of the human spirit - embodied by their proud African identity - can never be extinguished and will ultimately prevail over oppression. Senghor describes their essence undergoing a spiritual "rebirth" that will arise like the sun from the "night" of subjugation, an awakening in harmony with the natural cycles of renewal and regeneration in the cosmos. He wants them to keep that empowering inner "fire" burning through perseverance and remain resolute that their sacred cause will be victorious in the end through the strength of moral conviction. The poem expresses hope in the transcendent ability of the human spirit to overcome injustice. In exploring these major interrelated themes, Senghor's poem operates as a rousing call for the soldiers to resist racial oppression by fiercely claiming their African cultural heritage as a uplifting wellspring of spiritual fortitude. He depicts their struggle as pivotal on both a personal level in defending their human dignity, but also as having historic global implications in finally shattering the shackles of colonial subjugation through the persevering power of the resilient human spirit. POETIC DEVICES Imagery The poem is richly imbued with vivid imagery, especially drawing upon natural and elemental motifs. Senghor paints symbolic pictures through phrases like "blood-stained seeds", "black humus" of the ancestral soil, the "African flame" burning, and their shed blood "dyeing the universe with purple." This earthy, visceral imagery helps convey themes of ancestry, rebirth, and sacrifice in organic, primal terms. On a cosmic scale, he depicts the soldiers' struggle playing out against the backdrop of celestial imagery - "a free sun rising", their flame destined to "enlighten the most distant continents" and even cause the sun itself to "redden" with its brilliant force. This expansive, astronomical imagery elevates their role to epoch-defining proportions. Symbolism Symbolic representation is one of the core poetic devices Senghor employs to imbue the verses with deeper layers of metaphorical meaning. Potent symbols like drums, fire, sun, rebirth, and baptism/purification carry profound connotations about the perseverance of the African spirit, the cycles of renewal, and the soldiers' sacrificial offering helping spark a renaissance of liberation. The haunting refrain of "Sons of the Blood, of the Sons of the ancient Blood!" transforms their ancestry into a symbolic rallying cry - a reminder of the powerful, unbreakable intergenerational linkage to their pan-African roots and identity that must be defended. Apostrophe By directly apostrophizing and addressing the "Negro-American Soldiers" as "Brothers" in the opening line, Senghor creates an intimate tone of kinship and shared identity with his subjects despite the geographic separation. This underscores the unifying pan-African themes in the poem. Personification Abstract concepts like the "Free World", the "African flame", their spilled "blood" and the shining "sun" are all personified and imbued with active, almost mythic agency. This poetic device allows the intangible forces they symbolize to take on dramatic personified roles. Metaphor The poem employs an extended metaphor portraying the soldiers' suffering and struggle as a transformative rite of passage akin to a "baptism" or "rebirth." Their lives and sacrifices take on the metaphorical significance of a spiritual awakening and epochal shift in human consciousness. Rhetoric Senghor imports powerful rhetorical devices like the ringing anaphoric repetition of "Sons of the Blood, of the Sons of the ancient Blood!" and the undulating cadences of lines like "rekindle the blood-stained seeds to the ancestral/sacrifice, bear witness to the fire,/beacon to beacon rekindled." Such rhythmic, ceremonial rhetoric imbued with religious and ancestral overtones elevates the solemnity and significance of their plight. So in masterful hands, techniques like imagery, symbolism, apostrophe, personification, metaphor and poetic rhetoric are seamlessly interwoven to create a multi-layered symbolic tapestry that operates on both literal and figurative levels. The poem has a visceral, grounded quality conveyed through natural motifs, but also soars to transcendent rhetorical and imaginative heights to lionise the historical importance of the African-American soldiers' fight for racial justice and human dignity. Senghor's poem operates on both literal and metaphorical planes. On one level, it encourages and honours the African American soldiers for their wartime service and sacrifice in the face of racial discrimination at home. But it also uses soaring symbolic language to cast their struggle as part of a larger, historic pan-African liberation movement to finally throw off the shackles of oppression through the sustaining power of cultural identity and ancestral spiritual fortitude. The poem blends vivid natural imagery with cosmic metaphors to invest their fight with deep, redemptive significance. Words - 4433 Image - 5