Analyzing Poems from Messages Left Behind - Assignment Example

? Analyzing Poems from Messages Left Behind 24/10 Analyzing Poems from Messages Left Behind Songs Our People Sing The poem “Songs Our People Sing” is about the black community as Lupenga Mphande, the poet described their happiness for work. The African American people were treated as slaves and they find joy and enjoyment in their work by working peacefully and gleefully. They live together as a community and work together and help each other in their work. It is the nature of human to love each other and African community is based on this premise. They love each other and spend their lives in farms with each other working in tranquility. The poet has praised the agility of their people which they found in working with each other and take pleasure in the gruesome work. 2. Stalking the gazelle In the poem, “Stalking the gazelle”, the poet focuses on the essence of life as he described how he killed a baby cow, a heifer. The heifer reminded him of the human race and civilization. How we love each other, so does the animals love each other. They also have a purpose of living and family. After killing the cow, he saw the blistering, sympathizing eyes of the cow. It made the hunter realized that he shouldn’t have hunted the cow down and it was a mistake. Just like that, all humans are made up of races and casts and they have their right to live peacefully and freely. 3. Walking Around the Woods The poem “Walking around the Woods” talks about the tranquility of the woods. Man is mesmerized by the calmness of nature. Nature has always helped the humankind to feel calm and relax. If anyone wants to relax and get out of the tensions of the world, he goes out into the woods or park or get close to nature. Nature always brings happiness and gay to human race. This poem also talks about the genuine essence of life which a person can experience while he is close to nature. Nature brings out a new life, a new reason for existence for the people. 4. The Seashell necklace In the seashell necklace, Mphande refers to himself as he is enjoying his life with his counterpart. Male and female are the two sides of the coin without any of them the life is incomplete. This true essence of human life is essential for every human being. Man is incomplete without a woman and so is a woman incomplete without a man. Both complement each other and this is the human love one can live without. To be with nature, to be with parents is one thing but to be with someone who is of the opposite sex and can be your life partner. Human love is a profound emotion that without which life is drained of its true spirit. The Seashell Necklace talks about this emotion of human race. 5. Flames on the Lake In the poem “Flames of The Lake”, the poet is discussing how the peaceful scenery beauty of the valley where blacks used to live was destroyed by the invaders. The area where children used to play in peace, unafraid of any outside danger or jeopardy, an area which never expected any harm from anywhere was invaded by strangers. These strangers not only took the Africans away from their homes, but made them slaves. The agony and pain suffered by the black people is exemplified in this poem by the poet. Everyone was dreadful with fear, the fear of being taken away, the fear of becoming homeless. All the children and adults were taken away by these strangers to some foreign land. The peace of this tranquil land was destroyed and devastated by these raiders. By elaborating the life of village being shattered by the intruders, the poet here is bringing the attention of the audience towards the attitude these white people have towards African Americans. The atrocities and hatred these African Americans faced surpassed all the expectations of human survival. The true essence of human life is freedom and this is what the African Americans were deprived of, which Mphande mentioned in his poems. “Flames of the Lake” is a direct elaboration of the conditions of African Americans, how they were abducted from their mother land and made hostage and brought to America to serve the whites as their slaves and for decades, they were treated worse than animals. It is human nature to give and receive love and African Americans were deprived of this blessing for a long time. 6. Prayer to Chiuta Chiuta is the most powerful of all Gods in the African mythology. He is all powerful and he is the God of Gods. This poem, “The Prayer to Chiuta” is man’s inclination towards his nature and mother Earth. The poet in this poem prays to the god that it should rain in the region so that there is water for everyone (Giddens, 2006). The droughts should end as soon as possible and the people of the town pray to the god Chiuta to have mercy on them so that they can live happily. People need water desperately to drink, for their children, and to harvest their crops. They need water for irrigation to grow food for themselves and for all their daily life activities. Thus, they are pleading to their god Chiuta to have pity on them. It is the human love for their god that they are praying to their god for their survival. As a community they are praying together which shows the human love for each other and for their people (Parrinder, 1968). 7. Friends Lost in Youth C. S. Lewis once said, “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival” (Lewis, 1960). In the poem, “Friends Lost in Youth”, the poet is discussing how friends are important to the survival of a human being. Friends give life to someone or can snatch away the life of someone as well. They are like giving soul to a body adorned in gloominess. The virtue of friendship is what the essence of life is for most human beings. They live because of the human love and gratitude they receive from their friends. Friends are an integral part of each person’s life. In the poem, the poet also talks about his friends whom he lost in their youth and he moans over them because they were his life! Secondly, the poet talks about how his friends love life and nature and how they would have wanted him to enjoy his remaining life as they would have want him to because life is a gift bestowed upon us by God. Nature with all its fragrances and embellishments is out there for us to ponder upon it and enjoy it. We should live the life whatever we have to its best. All the poems analyzed above are basically based on the true essence of life. How we perceive our lives and how we should live it. Life is a blessing which is understood by people who are either slaved, or poisoned, or their lives have been taken away from them. Living life in the full spirit and free is a bestowment which should be celebrated well. The poems also talked about the rights of African Americans and how they have survived over time with the compassion and brotherhood among themselves. It is this human love that have held them together and enabled them to fight all odds (Mphande, 1998). Bibliography Mphande, L. (1998). Crackle at midnight: Poems. Ibadan, Nigeria: Heinemann Educational Books. Parrinder, E. G. (1968). African mythology. London: Hamlyn. Giddens, S., & Giddens, O. (2006). African mythology. New York: Rosen Pub. Group. Lewis, C. S. (1960). The four loves. New York: Harcourt, Brace. Read More