African Poetry and Socio-Historical Experience: An Appraisal of Odia Ofeimun’s The Poet Lied By Dr Joyce Onoromhenre Agofure Department of English and Literary Studies Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria Email:onorojoyce@gmail.com Abstract This paper explores the diverse socio-historical circumstances that have exerted a powerful influence over the African people which poetry represents. The study highlights the unsympathetic outcome of Africa’s post-independence dilemma using Odia Ofeimun’s collection of poems The Poet Lied (1980) from the theoretical lens of New Historicism which critiques the dominance of the privileged class over the deprived and marginalised people. The poet, Ofeimun recreates the unbearable happenings in Nigeria and Africa in relation to history, politics, and economic vistas of modern-day. He illuminates the many contradictions which define Nigeria’s trajectory as a nation during civilian maladministration, military brutality, the rising rate of economic disparity between the rich and the poor, disillusionment, disorder, corruption, underdevelopment, environmental pillage, and violence which have heightened socio-historical and political travails that pervade Nigeria and the African space. Taken together, it is not startling that Ofeimun takes a swipe at the poet in his patriotic endeavour to revolutionize the position of the poet in the transformation of the society. Key Words: Socio-Historical, Disillusionment, Violence, Poverty, and New Historicism Introduction Literature as a human activity does not nurture in vacuum rather, it is given impetus by socio- political and economic forces in a particular society. Literature is a workable means of propagating history, culture, and politics making it possible to know about the events that have taken place. It explicates what socio-political and historical arrangement does to the value governing human relationship. Femi Osofisan asserts that: Literature and History are potent weapons in the hands of artists. Such tools help the artists to project to the society certain mentality of decency, enlightenment and ethical conduct and all other virtues and values which translate into refinement and insight without which no society can claim to have a touch of civilization. Such values are also needed in order for the society to experience cultural liberty (8). For Kolawole Ogungbesan, “the writer’s duty is to explore in-depth the human condition. African writer cannot perform this task unless he has a proper sense of history” (2). African literature and its literary writers have been dynamic in replicating in their works the ugly situations on the continent. With emphasis on Odia Ofeimun’s The Poet Lied (1980), the poet underscores public themes which advance socio-historic and political issues which have persistently defined Nigeria and African at large. Consequently, Romanus Egudu, upholds that “African poetry is ultimately concerned with the African people, in the African society with their life in its various ramifications – cultural, social, economic, intellectual and political concerns. Ofeimun’s The Poet Lied restates the glaring realities of Nigeria’s socio-historical, political, and economic anguish perpetrated by a small number of political elites while the collective grieve from exploitation, deprivation, corruption, and infrastructural deterioration. The collection of poems expounds the fact that literature reflects the society and the poets’ experiences reproduce such facts. In view of this, opposing pressures have risen to challenge corrupt leaders through their imaginative oeuvres. Odia Ofeimun demonstrates an obsession to bring to fore the debate of an absurd society on the brink of disillusionment where exploitation of human and material resources for selfish gain reverberates. In view of this, the theme of leadership and the question it has generated in the post-independence alongside post-oil boom Nigeria has been a significant decimal in his selected poetry. On this basis, after the Nigerian independence in 1960, given the abundant resources available, Nigerian people envisaged that the nation would transform in no time into a modern “bliss” able to rival its erstwhile colonial leaders. The hopes however, proved tragically illusive. In no time, Nigerian rulers proved to be very inept and corrupt. Political office holders stigmatize the image of the government and its credibility so much that they had to be forcefully confronted. Sadly, funds that should have gone into the provision of basic social amenities and development were frittered away in wars and frivolous adventures through which the leaders grew sumptuously. The result is the creation of a sharply divided populace with one small fraction of it living in extravagant affluence harvested from the wealth stolen from the nation’s coffers and converted into secret private accounts abroad. While the other fraction comprising the majority of the populations are compelled to live below the poverty line of misery. Far from setting the needed good examples, Nigerian leaders take the lead in activities that are not to the interest of the nation. Odia Ofeimun is a celebrated radical intellectual and a native of Iruekpen in Edo state, Nigeria. He was born 16th March 1950. He became known in the corpus of Nigerian writing with the publication of the collection The Poet Lied (1980). His major contributions are The Poet Lied (1980), A Handle for the Flutist and other Poems (1986) and Under African Skies (1990). He occupies an important space in the struggle to sustain a viable literary culture in Nigeria. As a growing child, Ofeimun knew poverty. At a point, he was a reporter, a factory labourer, a clerk, an editorial board member of the Guardian newspaper and a petrol attendant at different times of his life. These have made him write vividly, on economic and social realities happening around him. According to Ebeagu, the like of Ofeimun “a good number of Nigerian avant-garde writers hold unapologetic socialist views of literature, though such views may have different shades. To this group the greatest art one can find must be very good propaganda too, and literature is not only part of the superstructure of society but should also be committedly used to effect the fundamental changes necessary for the transformation of the society …” (Ngumoha 61). The poet Odia Ofeimun, just like Tanure Ojaide, and Niyi Osundare belong to the second-generation poets’ whose works respond to circumstances distinct to the historical period of the 1980s and the 1990s and on “the present state of the society, in unmasking the class forces at play within it, revealing the material sources of exploitation and injustices, demonstrating how the masses could liberate themselves …” (Ushie 4). His work insistently bemoans the issue of failed leadership in Africa (and in Nigeria) where greed, ineptitude, mismanagement of public funds, the ever-rising economic disparity between the rich and the poor have become the norm. Along these lines, selected poems from The Poet Lied will be analysed using New Historicism as a method of interpreting literary text. New Historicism as a Theoretical Framework New Historicism is a theory proposed by Stephen Greenblatt in the twentieth-century. It explores a written work as a nexus through which diverse social, historical, and political currents circulate. For Bressler Charles “an intricate connection exists between an aesthetic object, a text or any work of art and society …. All texts must be analysed in their cultural context and not in isolation” (188). In other words, one must know the societal concerns of the author, the historical times evidenced in the work, and other cultural elements exhibited in the text before one can devise a valid interpretation. Giddens Anthony avers that a text must be interpreted in its social, historical, cultural, and political contexts to grasp the meanings of a text as they might have been understood by those who produced it … this involves investigating the conditions of their knowledge ability (529-30). For Sussanne Wiedenmann: “new historicism reveals power relations that are reflected but hidden in a text. She opines that all texts are considered as products of certain historical conditions therefore imbued with cultural, political, and social elements” (3). The aim of new historicism is to scrutinize how literature contributes to, replicates or challenges other cultural discourses of the same period. Advocates of new historicism believe that themes and characterization developed in any text are those which are common in that given society in each period. Some of the proponents of new historicism are Stephen Greenblatt, Michael Foucalt, Clifford Geetz, Jonathan Goldberg, Jean Howard, and Catherine Gallagher illuminates the following vital principles of New historicism: Literary and other cultural texts are connected in complex ways to the period in which they were created. Mundane activities and the conditions of daily life can tell us much about the belief systems of a time. Text can have multiple meaning. Reading of texts provide insight into the complexity of human thought and experience. (www.literariness.org). Bearing these in mind, Odia Ofemun’s selected poems from a New Historicist perspective describes the interplay of complicated prevailing social, historical, cultural conditions and ideas affecting Nigeria’s nationhood. New Historicism juxtaposes text and history as equal entities within which literary interpretation can operate. It is concerned with analysing the complex routes by which culture, society, and political life crisscross and interconnect. This is palpable in The Poet Lied as the poet gives vivid account of contemporary realities of the tragedy that have become the lots of Nigeria’s subjugated citizens. The Poet Lied principally moulds social historical and political awareness through a conscious ideological commitment for social change. By engaging New Historicism, the study opens up a new dimension for readers to go beyond the verbal construct of The Poet Lied, to the socio-historical and cultural perceptions that encompass Nigeria and Africa. The Poet Lied is divided into five sections namely: “The New Brooms”, “Where Bullets have spoken”, “Resolve”, “The Neophytes”, and “Mother love and Song”. However, relevant poems that fit the discourse in the collection of study will be scrutinised. A rummage into Nigeria’s situation is a prelude to a meaningful projection into the future. The Poet Lied probes into factual sickening political events, debilitating social disorder after independence and the emergent capitalist spirit that breeds human sophistication and their depressing effects. The poet takes the mind of readers back to Nigeria’s creative past and present. So much about mismanagement, mis-governance and repression have been delineated in Nigeria and the hint is that the wheel of governance is continually charged by ill-skilled hands. This paralysis that engulfs the nation is Ofeimun’s antagonism. Hence, in the first poem titled “How can I sing”, Ofeimun sees his land as a gloomy landscape in which he cannot be blind to the desires of his people. He submits: I cannot blind myself To putrefying carcass in the market place Pulling giant vultures From the sky… (1) The above lines are programmed attack on the authorities - those who indulge in dubious and nefarious acts to propagate their exploitative and cruel acts which often despoil the dispossessed people and the landscape. He laments further: “and how can I sing / When they stuff cobwebs in my mouth” (1). The poet gives concrete experiences of injustices and bitterness at the insensitivity of Nigerian rulers to snuff out life from the ordinary people. The level of leadership has degenerated to a situation where these rulers even “spit the rheum of their blank sense of direction…”. Ofeimun, is conscious of the different kinds of individuals that populate a dysfunctional society as such he declares: “Yet I cannot blunt my feeders / To cheapen my ingrained sorrow / I cannot refuse to drink from /The gourd you hold to my lips” (1). The lines demonstrate the extent to which Ofeimun’s distinctive voice echoes the vistas of his time during the vice-stricken grip of the ruling elites. This lends credence to the analytical perception of New Historicism, as the poet foregrounds how hegemonic forces manipulate the existing status quo. Furthermore, from the ideas of New Historicism, the poems titled “The New Brooms”, and “A footnote” recount the political, social, and religious memories of yester years. The days of the nation’s budding democracy which was later short lived as a result of the calibre of discredited politicians invested with positions of trust. He laments: In our model democracy The magic promises of yesterday Lie cold like mounds of dead cattle Along caravans that lead nowhere… (2) Ofeimun opines in the above lines that African democratic dispensations have been marred by political ineffectiveness, which brought for the African populace nothing but dilemma. He decries in the poem political promises made to the masses which “lie cold like moulds of dead cattle”. The poet recalls the many processed lies, falsehood, fraud, lust, and magic promises of a better tomorrow that the citizens have been hypnotised and mesmerized with. The wonderful promises of a new dawn of economic sanity, political sobriety, and social stability which have ebbed. In “The New Brooms” Ofeimun depicts the decadent situation during the different political sphere. For instance, after sacking the elected civilian administration for mismanagement, corruption and a legion of other orchestrated misdemeanours, the succeeding men in “corrective swagger-sticks” displace the former on the same failings. He bemoans the social decline: The streets were clogged with garbage The rank smell of swollen gutters Claimed the peace of our lives… With mole hills of unwanted odds and bits (3). In the above stanza, the poet’s narrative voice alternates between the personal and the objective with each lines enumerating the filth and decay that persistently stare the average Nigerian in the face. “The New Broom” reconstructs the post-independence events of a nation violently ruled by corrupt military, civilians, elites, and their cohorts who misuse power to enrich themselves as they use “bayonets to define the horizons”. They all become recycled old brooms. For these military and civilian rulers, theirs is to cling to power and deny the people freedom. Even the natural environment is not left out of devastation as the poet declares: If you want to know why The street grunt now Under rank garbage Under the weight of decay of Night soil… (3). Similarly, in the poem “This Cold Earth”, the poet focuses on the dilemma the common people undergo. The material condition of the masses is so bad thus making the earth uninhabitable. The idea of “cold” in the poem presupposes harsh conditions. The poet forewarns the people of the “cold mud floor” which symbolizes death instead the “warm breath” that portends life should be desired. In the poets’ presentation, the military or civilian rulers cannot provide this warmth as an alternative they sap the masses dry using their “concocting litanic smiles”. Also, in the poem “A Civil Servant”, the different predicament of the Nigerian civil servants is illustrated as one who sits “on dung heap of boredom” …, “basking in the cold sunshine of banal precedents”. The civil servant who epitomizes the Nigerian worker is abandoned in neglect and despair. A gloomy picture of repression of the Nigerian worker fills the poem. In another ironic situation which prompts the poet’s satirical prod is in the poem titled “The Messiahs”. The poet condemns Nigerian rulers who he ironically refers to as "Messiahs”. Posing as the people’s leaders, they have failed to address pressing needs like high cost of food, and dilapidated roads as a substitute they feed “the hungry with 21-gun salutes” this ironically implies oppression and starvation. Ofeimun prosecutes his crusade against social injustice through sarcastic criticism of the exploitative African leaders by exposing their vices where freedom is denied, “to butt gun us into greater tomorrows”. In the section “where bullets have spoken”, the poem “Exodus 67” intonates the sheer sense of irresponsibility of the military leadership. Their leadership is portrayed as “Iroko… spitting fire”. This episode turned the nation into a nightmare where according to the poet “chapters that rend our talking drums” (11). Ofeimun documents the various stages of holocaust suffered during the civil war that created agony for the people. Like the Biblical allusion of the Israelites to the promised land, “Exodus 67” captures the historical exodus of Nigerians to the land of their birth and regions in search of safety on the eve of the civil strife. This movement contrary to that of the Israelites mocked the Nigerian claim “in brotherhood we stand” due to the wanton destruction lavished on the people. Ofeimun discerns: chapters that tongue will fall, ram down the craigs of memory to achieve what nameless edifice only the hereafter can attest to…(11) The above stanza captures the traumatic experience of how so many Nigerians had an untimely exodus to their graves. Ofeimun explains: …behold these senseless abattoirs and this seed about to be earthed what unhealthy hate convulses us all! (11). From the above, the poet conveys images of carnage that have enveloped the nation. He depicts the mass exodus to destruction, the seed which symbolizes the child- the future of the nation that must be protected from danger of death and annihilation. The less privileged are left in a state of inhuman repression ruled by a succession of dictators. From New historicism stance, Ofeimun affixes his work to challenge and resist every successive leadership that promotes suppression. Similarly, the poem “Never ask me why” captures the physical and psychological incarceration of humanity. He examines the inhibition of the masses through civil strife by leaders in power. The poet does not forget to beam his critical searchlight on the bourgeois of our time who have aided immensely in the ruination of the society. This vista becomes really crucial because the same class of leaders in their nefarious activities during the civil animosity of the second republic are still recycling themselves in the corridors of power. The collection of poems The Poet Lied shows the people the way forward as it points to the enslaved masses the source of their pauperization. This can be observed in the poem “where the bullets have spoken”. The poet’s choice of title signifies his responsibility to social disquiets as he writes: The roughneck of reaction would not let us laugh After our new-found entrance into the days of hope The roughnecks in mufti would not let us bathe In the dreams that are recreating us… (16) Odia Ofeimun’s craft is orchestrated towards the exposition of the flummoxed promises of the masses. These promises which are mere pipe dreams are never achieved because of the overall plan of the military and civilian elites symbolized as “rough necks in mufti” in the above poem. This truth has fired the inspiration of poets like Ofeimun to target criticism at character types and rulers who go contrary to his vision of human existence in Nigeria. In the poem “The Neophytes”, Ofeimun like patriots all over the world, strives to depict in the poem, the imbalance of contemporary Nigeria. The mark of which is the discordant revelation of life in its dreary form. He declares: “we all serve, we bleed / Not more than they…” (36). The tone of the poem exudes sympathy for the perplexity of the famished under privileged. In a vibrant expressive spirit Ofeimun questions the reality of Nigeria and her perennial inhuman situation. To buttress this fact, Funsho (35) opines as earlier stated in the literature review of this work that Ofeimun’s poetry “is characterized by a dominance of different shades of anger… aimed at one odium or the other within the society”. In other words, Ofeimun’s The Poet Lied has reservations about the issue of national policies driven by continuous elite relationships rather than by public needs. Ofeimun is not only obsessed with the post-independence contradictions, but he is also angry with the docile state of the Nigerian masses who have accepted their predicament. According to the poet instead of facing the realities imposed on them by a section of the populace, they imprison themselves into “banal precedents” as captured in the poem “A Civil Servant”: This dull day You bear the unproductive patience Of a dismantled industrial spider… (5) According to Onookome Okome “in high political times, the stuff of post-colonial poetry finds a new kind of immediacy, a home grown political tyranny. The new enemy is no longer simply white imperialist, rather native military and political elites have emerged as the visible enemy” (ajol.info). Ofeimun’s compulsion over the tragedy that Nigeria has become since the 1960’s civil strife registers the rumblings of the past and present. Like many of his counterparts he suffers the fate that all poets must carry in similar socio-political contexts- tortured by deeds which belittle and denigrates humanity. Ofeimun’s poetry in all its ramifications is all of the above stated extract. It is an inner quest by the poet to conquer the turbulence of his world, in his own country Nigeria. Describing the works of Nigerian poets like Ofeimun, Onookome observes perceptively that their work voices “the crucible of the new morbid face of Post-colonial conditions in Nigeria’s narrative” (ajol.info). As a method of reading, New Historicism as shows Odia Ofeimun’s vision in the poem “This Cold Earth” reveals the degradation, power struggles within the social system, and how it affects the people by reducing them to penury. The poet illustrates the insensitivity of Nigerian leaders as they have “fashioned hawk-beak of assault” against “chicken root of value”. The poet exposes the predatory nature of rich oppressors against the underprivileged few. This gloomy situation is not beyond redemption as the last stanza of the poem indicates: …hoping that you will take back those beads smarting to your eyelids unconsoling nature of this cold earth by celebrating our dreams with unstinted love, a climbing zest (4). The optimism in the above stanza illustrates that change will come at a time it will be beneficial to those who crave for it. Ofeimun’s penchant for transformation is portrayed in his attempt to articulate the views of an oppressed proletariat for change. The poet uses his art to catalogue the trail of misconduct perpetrated by the politicians against the commoners who bask in perpetual penury. In the same manner, in the poem “let them choose paths”, the poet rouses the people about the realities on ground as he informs them “We, we must grow new eyes/ to see the asphalt in the chaste forest” (10). In a nation where greed stinks among political and military bosses, nothing works because the concern is neither for development nor construction but for destruction. Contemporary Nigerian leaders are too “spiritless to stand the course of sweat down the smalls of their back” as such are not bothered with the state of the nation due to their capitalist tendencies. Ofeimun’s insight for revolutionary reconstruction does not project the use of religion rather he generates a sense of awakening among the people to crave for change as they unite in heart and mind to confront the harsh realities of their situations. Furthermore, in the poem “Flood and fire”, Ofeimun uses “flood” and “fire” as metaphors of annihilation and death to convey the plight of the disillusioned majority and successive government gross indifference to the anguish of the common people. The horrified image of the situation is depicted thus: In the new day When the whole land grunts swollen With new births And snails have changed house… We who stood on the side of the lagoon Have no landmarks by which to know The other side… (25). In spite of these challenges, the poet’s social vision embodies a world view towards human advancement. He maintains a strong opposition and defiance against all forms of injustice and portends a positive resolve for the masses thus: we will sing and dance, because the garbage in the streets the false houses of prayer the gaudy sins of barons who licked their fat fingers at the market place will be swept away (35). Ofeimun’s sense of humour in the lines above are channels through which he relays the contradictions of the Nigerian society. He interrogates the validity of the system of distribution of wealth which presupposes inequality. He rejects the socio- political and economic composition where a few feed fat and others are left to famish. The poet hopes for a future where all strife plotters will account for their misdeeds. Then life will be worth living again as “our lives will come again to be written against happy prophecies”. Additionally, the poem “I feel the need to scream” just like other poems by Ofeimun is filled with bitterness about the putrefying decadence in Nigeria caused by civilian and military elites. The poet refuses to allow this confound his hope for a better future: “Scream I want to scream/ My refusal to let the acid infamy /Of these days trample under / My faith in the coming footfalls of dawn” (28). In optimism for a bright future, Ofeimun in the poem “we must go with the lantern” admonishes the working masses to appreciate their problems and reverse the situation as they are the architects of their own liberation. He informs the people that they possess the revolutionary power for social reconstruction to occur. For this reason, the poet enjoins: “We must go with the lanterns/ Ahead of the owls/ Sowing dreams to spurn…Our struggle/ For a better day” (31). The closing lines of the poem “Resolve” situates the need to redefine the structure of the society in favour of the working masses. The past and present class structures have been a clog in the wheel of progress in the Nigerian society. Hence, he states: “We need no mourners in our stride / No remorse, no tears only this: Resolve /That the locust shall never again /visit our farmsteads” (35). By enriching the lines with direct and explicit African parable such as “that the locust shall never again /visit our farmsteads” to drive home his point for the people to resist every form of repression. The Ofeimun envisions a time on the part of the masses, whose sole resolve to face their oppressors will put the society on an egalitarian platform. The image of “the locust” depicts the destructiveness of Nigerian political rulers who have plundered the nation. For Aiyejina the poet Ofeimun projects a situation whereby the class structures (of exploitation) will be dismantled completely and never to visit our “Farm steads” or nation (36). Ofeimun’s use of a collective voice re-sounds the lost faith of the past and present as he projects a vision of a unified future. Conclusion This study underlines African socio-historical and political happening with emphasis on the Nigerian experience, using Odia Ofeimun’s The Poet Lied. It is obvious that African poetry cannot be separated from the complexity and texture of the occurrences that furnish the writers’ poetic sensibilities in a political landscape of elite hegemony. Like other African poets, Ofeimun’s The Poet Lied uniquely portrays the exigencies of the time - post-colonial discourse, economic disparities between the rich and the poor, corruption, exploitation, alienation, and self-indulgence which has become the norm in Africa. This paper elucidates The Poet Lied from the theoretical ideas of New Historicism as it shows signals of the period it was produced with allusions to the Nigerian civil war, oil boom, other myriad socio-political problems and how these ills have repressed the region till date. It is evident that Ofeimun is on the side of the pauperized - the mandatory to which a poet/writer aligns. 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