1. I was really happy overall with how my presentation went. There were however a few things that I could have done better though. To start, I felt like I really grasped a good understanding of what each poem in Okara's selection of poems was about. Even though I had not planned out every detail of presentation out clearly, a lot of what I had to was instinctual. The poems were very easy to talk about in this period of time, I covered all the main points I needed to cover with the exception of one thing. I forgot to mention any detail of Okara's personal life which I felt would have been extremely useful. The cons of not talking about the poets life are mainly that the class doesn't get a good understanding of the poets background, but more importantly it might be easier for them to see how his personal life had an effect on his poetry. Regardless, I really enjoyed this project because it was a low-stress assignment but more importantly it was actually cool to see how poets from each country differed and remained the same as well. One thing I did notice for some presentations was that some people found it difficult to maintain the full required time and as a result would drag on, speak slowly or start rambling on about non-important stuff. This wasn't a serious problem, however it was one that I did notice for a few presentations. Some people did put a lot of enthusiasm into their presentations and recitations of their poems, at least I really enjoyed reciting the poem. In terms of what I liked about my poetry, I really liked how easy it was to talk about and analyze. Here is an example:
Moon in the Bucket
Look!
Look out therein the bucket
the rusty bucket
with water unclean
Look!
A luminous plate is floating -the Moon dancing to the gentle night wind
Look! all you who shout across the wall
with a million hates. Look at the dancing moon
It is peace unsoiled by the murk
and dirt of this bucket war.
Right off the bat the first thing that the reader notices is the constant repetition of words in this case (look, moon and bucket) this is a stylistic element of the poem that is noticeable right off the bat. The language is extremely simple perhaps because Okara didn't want anyone to read this poem and not understand it. Words such as "dirt" and "rusty" make the reader thing of living in impoverished conditions in a poor settlement. And finally there is the imagery that Okara conjures, it is one of separation and anger. Phrases such as "shout across the wall" imply a sense of a separation between two groups of people. There is a lot more to be said even about a small poem of his like this.
2. Throughout African Lit. I have felt that taking a much more specific approach to either novels or poetry in general is the best way to analyze a poem as opposed to taking a broad view, it is important to know the background of who you are studying, but it is also important to not let that skew your analysis of that authors' writing. One assumption I did make from reading this collection of poetry that he wrote was how pessimistic he was. Okara leaves these disturbing and negative images in the head of the writers. He uses phrases such as "abandoned roots", "grief stricken mourners", "deathless earth", "earth dying" (229) in his poem The Snowflakes Sail Gently Down which I find amusing because it greatly contrasts with the soft sounding title he has. Another observation I made was that he had some sort of link to religion because he makes a reference to either god or gods in his poem. Though me mightn't have been very religious he still makes a mention of god in all his poems with the exception of his last one, Moon in the Bucket. Through his poetry and managed to come to two conclusions about him, first off there was undoubtedly a source of pessimism in his life as none of his poems offer any hope or overall positive message. Secondly, religion was of some importance to him because he makes a mention of god(s) in almost all of his poetry, perhaps he sought comfort in it which helped him deal with his pessimistic life?
3. I felt that my poet was very similar to Laksh's poet in a stylistic sense. Like Okara, Laksh's poet Dipoko uses words that convey a great sense of anguish and pessimism such as "agony", "black hood", "despairing" (37). I saw the greatest similarity his poet and mine but I noticed that a lot of these African poets despite all being from different countries still tended to use dark imagery that didn't give the reader a strong sense of hope. That being said, Okara is generally a unique poet. He doesn't have any strong political motivation that other poets and he wasn't directly exposed to the Apartheid movement. He is undoubtedly an interesting and unique poet who can't be compared side by side to another country and/or person.
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