Summary themes and analysis of THE SONG OF THE WOMEN OF MY LAND by Farouk Ourmar
THE SONG OF THE WOMEN OF MY LAND
By Oumar Farouk Sesay
Like a sculptor chipping away at bits of wood,
Time chisels away bits of their memory
It strips away lyrics of the song of the women of my land
Leaving only a fading tune echoing the song,
they sang in the forlorn fields
about their lives; songs
of how they ploughed the terrain of their landscape
for memories of lyrics lost in the vast void of time,
in those days when a song beheld their lives;
when servitude cuffed the ankles of their soul,
and dereliction decapitated the epic of their lives.
With a song, they sponged off their anguish,
to behold their collective pain,
to celebrate their gains
give lyrics to the tune of their lives,
cheat the tyranny of time
and commune with the yet unborn
to give meaning to an epoch lost in antiquity,
Yet time strips the lyrics and scars the tune
leaving a dying song.
Dead!
Like the woman who died long ago
Leaving the song to tell the Story of their lives.
Today the tune roams the forlorn fields
Like their souls looking for lyrics.
To tell the tale of the servitude
of the women of my land
Who ploughed their soil and soul
For a song to sing the story of their lives
The song of the women of my land
left in the memory of my wind.
Now feeding the verses of poets, it echoes in
Wriggling in rhythms and melodies,
Hollering in distant tunes
In places far afield the forlorn fields,
where the song of their lives died.
The stuttering lips of my pen
And the screeching voice of my rib
try to sing the song of the women of my land
In verses far from the theatre of toil
where they left a song that now roams the land
stripped of lyrics like a scorned ghost.
The tune tuning the tenor of my verse
is all that remains of the song of the women of my land
Who laboured and died leaving a dying song.
The dirge of their lives!
BACKGROUND OF THE POET
Umar Farouk Sesay published his first volume of poems, Salute to the Remains of a Peasant in 2007 in America. His work has also been published in many anthologies of Sierra Leonean poets, including Lice in the Lion's Mane, Songs That Pour the Heart and Kalashnikov in the Sun. He was resident playwright of Bai Bureh Theatre in the '80s. In 2009, he was Cadbury Visiting Fellow at the Centre for West African Studies in the University of Birmingham. Currently, he is working in the private sector and was recently appointed by President Ernest Bai Koroma as chairman of Sierra Leone's new Board of the National Youth Commission. His first novel Portrait on a Rock will soon be published
SETTING OF THE POEM
The setting of the poem is seemingly the countryside in Northern Sierra Leone (Masingibi in the Tokoniili district) where the poet hails from. In this rural area, women's primary occupation Is farming; wherethey support their families and also contribute to the national wealth. The time setting of the poem is in the primitive past as some phrases in the poem like “in those days”; “an epoch lost in antiquity”; “long ago” attest to this. However, because human culture hardly changes, there is still a connection between that past and the present. Women are still relegated and often made to play second fiddle in the contemporary world. That is gender discrimination.
BACKGROUND OF THE POEM
For centuries, women have been treated inferior to men across the world. They have been victims of oppression, exploitation and other inhuman and degrading treatments. In the case of Africa, women have come under the double yokes of oppression by their men, as well as the colonial system the continent had come under at some point in its history. Despite this unhealthy reality, African women have continued to endure their condition, singing away their sorrow and hoping for a new dawn of joy. This is particularly applicable to the peasant women in the rural areas of the continent, where women toil daily in the sun, in the fields, and contribute to the sustenance of their families and their countries, but left unappreciated. Some African women who went to wars; fought colonization and who also fought for the rights of women are worthy of recognition as inspirations for contemporary African women. In general, women oppression, gender discrimination and inequality, and women enslavement were glaring across the continent during the colonial era. Hence, the poem, “The Song of The Women of My Land” laments this fate.
SUMMARY OF THE POEM
Stanzas 1 and 2 - The poet compares how time wears away the memory of the substance of the song of the women being referred to in the poem. He says this is akin to how a sculptor chips off bits of wood in order to reshape it in his artistry. In other words, time has obliterated (erased) the content of the songs of the women of his land; leaving only a fading tune, full of sadness.
Stanza 3 - This stanza talks about the miserable plight of the women. “They sang in the forlorn fields/ about their lives ...”The words “forlorn’ and “dereliction” mean they are lonely and forsaken. This makes them reflect and sing about their lives. “Fields”; “... they ploughed the terrain of their landscape” all point to the tillage of the ground (agriculture) the women are being subjected to, in order to cater for their families and the entire Nation. This shows their denial of education and other juicy employment opportunities. Their slavery is depicted in “when servitude cuffed the ankles of their soul”.
Stanzas 4 and 5 - Here, the poet elucidates the importance and significance of songs. Song is essential in representing the African heritage and culture. Right from the ancient time to the present day, the Sierra Leonean women suffer unwarranted marginalization which deprives them of their fundamental human rights. They therefore use the entertainment power of music (traditional songs) to cushion the severity of their grief and misery, The women understand the power of unity, as used in “to behold their collective pain/ to celebrate their gains”; an injury to one is an injury to all. They are all in it together, whether in sorrow or joy. They employ lyrics to enhance their self-identity; and wished this continued to future generation (‘and commune with the yet unborn”). But, in spite of the fact that the women try to resist the oppression of time, it succeeds in stripping the songs of their contents, leaving only distorted tunes and “a dying song”. The song eventually dies and he compares the death to those of women who died long ago and left the song to tell their stories.
Stanza 6 - This stanza tells us that the tunes of the song roam the deserted and abandoned plantations, just as the souls of the dead women searched for lyrics to tell the stories of their oppressed and sorrowful lives. Women slaves suffer appalling conditions and cruelties as they labour in the plantations from morning to night, “ploughed their soil and soul”. The slavery in Sierra Leone has opened the floodgate of misery, suffering and humiliation.
Stanza 7 - The song turns out to be left in the uncertain memory of the poetic persona who, like other poets, uses the lives of these women as inspiration or subject matter of their verses. With thisuncertainty in their memory, the result is that they come up with verses filled with twisting rhythms and melodies crying out from the abandoned plantations ‘where the song of their lives died.'
Stanza 8 - Here, the poetic persona comments on his efforts in capturing the lives of the women in his own verse. He opines that the lips of his pen stammer while his own rib screeches (yells) in his quest to sing the song of the woman of his land This means, he finds it difficult trying to capture the story of the women in his poem since the event happened at a place and time far away from the present. Also, the song's contents and lyrics have been stripped, so all that is left is what the poem offers, Many parts of the women's story of hard labour and oppression are unaccounted for in the poem.
stanza 9 - The poet therefore concludes that the song of their lives is indeed, a threnody (dirge). A dirge is a song that mourns the dead. It is also called an elegy.
THEMES
The oppression and enslavement of women - The poem has its setting in a traditional African society that disparages (belittles) women. They are often oppressed and meant to play second fiddle. In some African families or settings, the girl-child is often denied the right to education and other fundamental human rights. This is gender discrimination of the highest order. The poem details the women’s predicament in the past, especially as farm workers. It addresses the condition of most peasant women in rural, and sometimes, urban Africa in the contemporary period. These women are made to work in the fields and plantations owned by big shots or companies in exchange for meagre wages; or even work gratis, as slaves. In a bid to relieve themselves of this grief, they resort to singing — “With a song, they sponged off their anguish”. With the deaths of some of the women from this torment, marginalization and hard labour, the poem is a threnody (dirge), and depicts tragedy.
Perseverance and endurance - The poem brings out the enduring and patient nature of the women. In their miserable and hopeless plight, these African women continue to endure, and took solace in-~ their singing. While they till the ground, they also plough their soul ‘for a song to sing the story of their lives.’ They believe that 'every cloud has a silver lining’, so in the phase of suffering and even death, they sing to ‘cheat the tyranny of time’. This also explores the power of time. With time, all wounds heal, and things could change for good.
The power and importance of song - Although the poem deals with physical torture and psychological agony of African women, it also touches the importance of African songs. In Africa, music plays a Pivotal role in people's interaction, celebration and how they relate past events. The women resort to singing in spite of agony and pains, and this entertainment from songs helps to relieve them of their agony. Amidst this pain, they are able ‘to celebrate their gains. These women also use song as a very useful art and biological medium in the stories of their lives.
FIGURES OF SPEECH AND POETIC DEVICES
Language - The diction used by the poet is not too difficult for an average reader to decipher. Mood/Tone - The mood of the poet is that of sorrow, as the poem shows the horrible treatment and marginalization of Sierra Leonean women, and African women in general. The tone is that of disgust andanger.
Simile - The use of simile is predominant in the poem, and the poem even starts with a simile — “Like a sculptor chipping away at bits of wood/ Time chisels away bits of their memory” (Lines 1 and 2 in stanza 1). This comparison illustrates how slowly, but steadily time preys onthe memory of the women of the land)’As a sculptor stylishly chips off bits and piece of wood in order to create an object he desires, so also time gradually obliterates (erases) human memory. In 'Like the woman who died long ago/ Leaving the song to tell the story of their lives' the poet persona compares the death of the women's song to that of the woman who died long ago. Other examples of simile are: “... the tune roams the forlorn fields/ Like their souls looking for lyrics”; “... a song that now roams the land/ stripped of lyrics like a scorned ghost”.
Metaphor - The poet uses metaphorical ideas throughout the poem to convey his message of women oppression in Sierra Leone on the microcosm, and Africa on the macrocosm In “when servitude cuffed the ankles of their soul”, it is metaphorically used to refer to how the women of the land were mentally and psychologically chained. The WOMEN Used a song to “sponge off their anguish” is a metaphor which the use of describe the coping strategy of the peasant women. tyranny of time’, ' dying song’, and ‘dirge' are all used metaphorically in the poem. The way time is being referred to, underscores the inability of the women, or any other person, to have control over time.
Personification - The use of personification is predominant in the poem. Time, song, tune and penare all given human attributes, 'Time chisels away bits of their memory' (Time is seen as a human carpenter); 'a song beheld their lives' (song is given human quality of seeing); ‘leaving a dying song' (song is said to be dying like a human being); ‘The stuttering lips of my pen' (Here, the pen has human quality of stammering, an impediment in speech). In 'cheat the tyranny of time' (time is said to be a tyrant, as if it were a human being, a cruel ruler).
Paradox - There is the use of paradox in the last line of the poem, 'The dirge of their lives!'Dirge is a song that mourns the dead; but it is used to be a song of their lives! This contradiction is paradoxical.
Antithesis - to behold their collective pain, / to celebrate their gains. The word “pain” contrasts with “gains
Hyperbole - cheat the tyranny of time/ and commune with the yet unborn. The expressions are overstatements, for the purpose of emphasis.
Onomatopoeia - This is the word which imitates the natural sound of a thing - ‘fading tune echoing the song’; ‘Hollering in distant tunes’; '... the screeching voice of my rib'
Repetition - Words like “time”, “song”, “lyrics”, “ploughed”, “women of my land”, “memory” and “forlorn fields” are all being repeated for the purpose of emphasis
Anaphora - This is the repetition of words at the beginning of two or more consecutive lines of poetry. Examples, “to” in stanza 4, lines 2 and3
Alliteration - This is a poetic device that involves the repetition of an initial consonant sound “they sang in the forlorn fields” (“F” alliterates) vast void of time” (“v” alliterates) “,,.tune tuning the tenor of my verse” (“t” alliterates) “,..soil and soul” (“s” alliterates) “...lyric lost” (“I’ alliterates) ... tyranny of time” (“t” alliterates) a song to sing the story of their lives” (“s” alliterates) “ __.dereliction decapitated...” (“d” alliterates)
Imagery/Symbolism - The poem is full of imageries and symbolisms: There are visual and auditory (audio) images> Visual images are captured in the sculptor trying to create a physical object, of women ploughing the fields, of abandoned and deserted fields, etc. The auditory images are captured in fading tune, of women singing, hollering, echoing, stuttering lips, screeching voice, etc.
Pun - There is play on words in the example below:“In places far afield the forlorn fields
Enjambment - It is when an idea in a line of poetry flows into the next line or lines before a complete thought is achieved, this also known as run-on-line: they sang in the forlorn fields about their lives; songs of how they ploughed the terrain of their landscape for memories of lyrics lost in the vast void of time, In the stanza above, line 1 flows into line 2, line 2 into line 3, and line 3 into line 4.
Blank Verse} Free Verse - The poem is written without any regular patterns, rhymes or meters
Structure - The poem is written in nine stanzas of unequal lines; the ninth stanza has only one line
Satire - The poem ridicules the oppression of women, in Sierra Leone in particular, and on the African continent in general.
