AUTHORSHIP:
Teresa Ijeoma Kenneth-Oti is a lectures at the Department Of General Studies, Abia State Polytechnic,Aba.
POVERTY
I know you when you come
Swaging in a feminine gait
As far as the east is from the west
I hear the sound of your feet in zest
Your movement evokes a feeling within
As if the forces of nature are at war with mankind
There you strike in guise to shake
Your victims falls with time to wake
I know your conversation
The rattling of your tongue
Talking things too wonderful for the mouth
Look at what you have turned our parks
You are the reason for all the shouts
Fight for food falling out for friends
Manners and dignity they both are odd
When will you pack and go out of our ends.
I know what to do you
I refuse to accept you
In all your splendour and flamboyance
I'm not going to give you a chance
Your apples are filled with worms
Your ice cream is filled with pins and pains
Stay put at your place with all your forms
With God on my side I will have some gains.
GENERAL COMMENTS/SUBJECT MATTER:
Poverty(the state of being poor or indigent) in Africa particular nay developing nations of the world in general, is not only an ideological concept but also an obvious reality. The smothering scourge of this hydra-headed monster called poverty is ingrained in every quarter of our living. Having no means to ward off poverty,all that characterizes it is always felt by the have-nots when it steers its ugly head. The poem,"POVERTY"-by Teresa Ijeoma K.O- is a satire cum eye-opener on the biting activities of poverty and the various guises it operates in society.
SETTING: The poem has both physical and time settings. Its physical setting includes Nigeria in particular and Africa in general where a large chunk of the population is beset by abject poverty while its time setting is post independent Africa that's, between 1957 till date.
STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS:
Stanza one(lines 1 to 8),opens with what seems a familiar recognition between the speaker and poverty. The poetess-persona in her first person singular opines that she knows and can recognize the footsteps of poverty in normal circumstance. She puts it thus:
"I know you when you come
Swaging in a feminine gait
As far as the east is from the west"...
She goes further to state clearly all the activities that characterize the arrival of poverty such as the eruptive sound of its feet that instills overwhelming fears in its victims, and as it comes. Very so often, it (poverty)comes in the guise of a good friend who offers his host a friendly handshake and only ends up striking a defeating and collapsible blow on them. Thus:
"I hear the sound of your feet in zest
Your movement evokes a feeling within
As if the forces of nature are at war with mankind
There you strike in guise to shake
Your victims falls with time to wake".
In stanza two(lines 9 and 16), the poetess-persona states unequivocally yet ironically that she's familiar with the "conversation" of poverty whenever it rattles its tongue only to peremptorily spell out things or make the "mouth" contemplate things far too impossible to come true considering its state of lack or want. Also, she(the poetess-persona) imperatively calls on poverty to note the attendant consequences of its comings. Out of poverty and joblessness, most youths have flooded our motor parks where the struggle or fight over passengers goods for paltry sum of naira notes just to keep body and soul together. And in their bit to claim a passenger luggage, they shout and make tautish noise thereby constituting nuisance at the park. She puts it simply:
"Look at what you have turned our parks
You are the reason for all the shouts
Fight for food falling out for friends
Manners and dignity they both are odd"...
And because the speaker is tired of poverty and its timeless presence, she wishes to know when it (poverty)will be a thing of the past by leaving its victims for good.
Stanza three(lines 17 and 24), the poetess-persona resolves within herself to shake off poverty even though there are some people who may still condone its parlous pranks. According to poetess-persona, let it(poverty) come in deceptive allures whatsoever she still will not welcome or give it a chance adding that the gifts of poverty, no matter attractive it appears from the beginning, are always the source of unforeseen troubles like the Pandora's box. Thus:
"I know what to do you
I refuse to accept you
In all your splendour and flamboyance
I'm not going to give you a chance
Your apples are filled with worms
Your ice cream is filled with pins and pains"...
As imperative as ever, she(the speaker) has asked poverty to steer clear from her and remain in its place with all its guises. She believes that with God on her side she will certainly amass good amount of wealth. She puts it simply:
"Stay put at your place with all your forms
With God on my side I will have some gains".
THEME(S):
1. The theme of poverty and the various guises it usually comes, runs through all the strata of the poverty.
2. Being poor or living in abject poverty is only a choice which is a subject to either acceptance or rejection.
STRUCTURE:
The poem is built on three stanzas of twenty four lines in all. Each stanza is made up of eight lines that are rhythmically connected. While some lines are couplets, there are also some that are alternatively rhymed. For examples: in stanza one, lines 3 and 4;7 and 8,are couplets:''West/zest" and "shake/wake". Conversely, in stanza two, lines 14 and 16: "friends/ends", alternates. While in stanza three, lines 17,18,19 and 20, are couplet rhymes. E.g "you/you" and "flamboyance/chance". Lines 21,22,23, and 24, alternate. E.g "worms/pains" and "forms/gains". All of these contributed to the musicality of the poem.
DEVICES OF LANGUAGE/FIGURES OF SPEECH:
Several devices of language or figures of speech went into the making of the poem. These include:
1. PERSONIFICATION: Poverty in the poem is treated as though it were a living thing or perhaps a dangerous monster needs to be avoided. Examples are:
"Swaging in a feminine gait" line 2
"I hear the sound of your feet in zest" line 4
"Your movement evokes a feeling within" line 5
"There you strike in guise to shake" line 7
"Your victims falls with time to wake" line 8; and all through stanzas two and three.
2. SIMILE: The use of simile include:
"As if the forces of nature..." line 6
3. REPETITION: In lines 1,,9, and 17,the clause"I know" is repeated.
4. APOSTROPHE: in the poem "poverty" is addressed as though it's something visible. E.g "Look at what you have turned our parks" line 12.
5. ALLITERATION: In "Fight for food falling out for friends" .."f", alliterates;..."filled with pins and pains", "p", alliterates; "...going to give you a chance", "g", alliterates.
6. RHETORICAL QUESTION: E.g "When will you pack and go out of our ends?"Line 16
7. IRONY: The poetess-persona is only being ironically when she says: "I refuse to accept you/In all your splendour and flamboyance".
8. IMAGERY: The poetess-persona creates a mental picture of poverty portraying it as a monster or some kind of devouring giant that causes eruption to the earth and maims its victims whenever it is in sight. E.g "I hear the sound of your feet in zest
Your movement evokes a feeling within
As if the forces of nature are at war with mankind/There you strike in guise to shake
Your victims falls with time to wake". Etc
DICTION:
The language of the poem is simple and straightforward and may not pose any difficulty to an average reader. For example, words like "feminine" line two(Having the qualities stereotypically associated with women), "gait" line two(Manner of walking or stepping); "zest" line four (Enthusiasm; keen enjoyment); "splendour" line 19 (Magnificent appearance, display or grandeur), "flamboyance" line 19 (The condition of being flamboyant or a bold,showy appearance) and all constitute the vocabularies of an average reader.
MOOD/TONE:
The overall mood of the poem is that of unfriendliness and denial while the tone is critical and sarcastic.
