24 Christopher Okigbo

Dr. Ritika Batabyal

Christopher Okigbo Introduction

In this module we will discuss the life and works of Christopher Okigbo. Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo who was born in 1932 in Ojoto which is ten miles southeast of Onitsha, situated on the eastern banks of the river Niger. Ojoto is a rural community and the river Idoto runs through it. The shrines of two major deities are situated at Ojoto – they are the shrines of Idoto and that of Ukpaka Oto. This perhaps explains the use of the Igbo pantheon and the striking presentation of the connection between the present state of man, nature and the gods, which characterize Okigbo’s poetry.

Early Life and Works

Okigbo’s father was a traveling teacher and headmaster working in the local Roman Catholic Mission. His father used to live in the mission stations which were located in various places across Igboland. In the early poems of Okigbo, we can see traces of this movement. Okigbo lost his mother at the age of six and after that he was looked after by one of his mother’s relatives named Eunice. Eunice was an adept storyteller and this had a lasting influence on Okigbo. Apart from this his father’s occupation also had an influence on Okigbo primarily during his growing up years. In the first place it becomes clear that Okigbo was the product of Christian missionary education and as the child of a missionary school headmaster, he lived in two homes – the home which was dependent on his father’s posting and the village home where he returned during school term. In both these homes there remained a basic difference between the children of the teachers and the other children. The children of the teachers lived and studied in the mission stations. They were also aware of the village activities like festivals, songs and dance in which they participated frequently. These children therefore had the experiences of both the traditional life and the colonizer’s way of living. Okigbo’s literary career stretches approximately over a period of ten years (1957-1967), encompassing both the last few years of colonialism in Nigeria and the post-independence period which was marked by the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970). Okigbo was killed in this civil war in September 1967 at the Nsukka sector in eastern Nigeria. In this module we have tried to discuss the early life of Okigbo.

General Themes and Issues of Okigbo’s Poems

Through Okigbo’s poems the readers can distinctly understand the development of the poet’s mind. The hallmark of his poetry lies in his ability to synthesize the inner spiritual realm with the social realm. His poems are thus able to present the complex forces shaping experience of society and culture at the time of contact between colonizer and colonized dominated, and then gave way to the painful process of a nation’s birth.

Recreation of the past

In his poems Okigbo explores the true relationship between the individual and his past. Okigbo strongly believed that the root cause of many of the problems which modern Africa faces is due to the loss of her connections with her past. Therefore, one of the purposes of his poetry is to re-establish this contact with the past. This connection with the past is necessary because he knows that his generation has been dominated by western culture and western education and so are severed from their past. The indigenous culture of the people has been suppressed by the domination of western value system. The deep meaning and power of rituals, therefore, occupy a significant place in his poems. Yoruba, Igbo and Ashanti praise songs and drum invocations resound in his poetry. Okigbo uses the heritage of the English literary tradition to bring the depth and power of tradition to the surface. Scholars point to the influence of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot in his poetry. Many of his poems employ correspondences between the world of the senses and the spiritual world and there is the constant use of symbols. His poems embody the mystery of life and death, the individual’s identity and his relation with both the living community and the spiritual world. In this module we have tried to give a brief overview of the different themes of Okigbo’s works.

Major Works

Okigbo published his early poems in the University of Ibadan Student publication, The Horn and then in the literary journals Black Orpheus and Transition. His collection of poems called Heavensgate was published in 1962. In 1971 another collection of poems was published called Labyrinths. In the introduction to Labyrinths he had remarked that although the poems were written and published separately yet there is a kind of coherence between them and as they are organically related. The readers of his poems will notice that they can be connected with a single thread. In almost all his poems there is the poet protagonist or the central figure who makes his journey through a series of inter-related though at times discrete experiences. This journey invariably has a quest motif and there is the recurrence of definite symbols and images which provide a mythic coherence to his poems. Due to this recurrence of images and symbols Okigbo’s poems often tend to become difficult and sometimes incomprehensible to his readers. Thus often his works are considered to be obscure. Most of his poems are aimed inward, seeking and restoring the unity of his being in the time of violent mental colonisation and its equally violent aftermath. Okigbo’s mythopoeic imagination made him transcend the given event by seeking a connection with the mythical past through symbols. This helps him to derive a poetic statement and not a mere comment or a description of that event. In this module we have tried to provide the important works of Okigbo.

Analysis of Poems

Okigbo’s “Song of the Forest” is considered to be his oldest extant poem. It was written in 1957 at Lagos. This poem has been considered to be a result of his studies in Latin and primarily his reading of Virgil. It is generally believed that the poem is an adaptation of the first verse of Virgil’s first eclogue, Tityrus. This poem gives him the opportunity to reflect from Lagos on his home village where he could view a life of ease in the open air. He thus says, “You loaf, child of the forest,/beneath a village umbrella,/plucking from tender string,a/ Song of the Forest”. Here, he shows the village environment and juxtaposes the life of the poet protagonist with that of the child in the village. In contrast to the village child the poet protagonist is a “runaway”. The poet also emphasizes the element of compulsion when he says that this child “must leave the borders of our/ land, fruitful fields,/must leave our homeland”.

This nostalgia for the village environment is a direct result of following his model, Virgil. But he uses this village setting and environment to reflect upon the feelings and position of the modern poet. He provides an instruction with this poem that it should be accompanied with an ubo, which is a local hand piano, indicating the poem’s connection to songs sung in the traditional way. Another of his poems “Moonglow” is a reworking of an Igbo children’s story. In the story, the dark image in the full moon is that of a person who went to work on a Sunday and hence was punished by being made to heave wood forever.

Okigbo’s first major publication was Heavensgate and it was considered to be an important development in the field of African poetry. Regarding the poems which comprise Heavensgate, Okigbo had himself said that they are like the ceremony of innocence and an offering to Idoto. He also remarked that the poetic personage is like Orpheus who is about to begin his journey. Both these remarks reflect the juxtaposition of the classical European tradition through the Orpheus myth and the indigenous worship of Idoto, the river goddess. This also shows the religious and mythical traditions that informed the poet’s imagination. Heavengate has four sections or ‘movements’ – “Passage”, “Initiations”, “Lustra” and “Newcomer”. These ‘movements’ have sections within each of them, thus the book presents a complex web of movements within movements. This complexity articulates the alienation of the poet from his indigenous culture and the process through which he seeks to comprehend his indigenous culture. In this module we tried to discuss the early poems of Okigbo.

“Idoto”

The first poem, “Idoto” presents the poet as a “prodigal” since he has been dominated by European values and the western culture. He has been separated from his indigenous culture and hence he needs to unite his newly acquired western values with that of his indigenous culture in order to create an all-encompassing sensibility for himself. The poem with its figure of the humble “prodigal” and the “watery presence” provides a context for the rest of the poems. “Mother Idoto”, the river goddess, is the muse whom the poet has invoked here and he confesses to her in an innocent manner the fact that he is a “prodigal”. He realizes that he requires support and hence leans barefoot on the oilbean which is the legendary tree of knowledge and waits patiently for the “watchword of heavensgate”.

Passage and other poems

“Passage” 1 begins on a Biblical note, with the “dark waters of the beginning”. The slim rays of light which the poet sees can be interpreted as the combination of indigenous and Christian faith and the symbol of both destruction and mercy. The poet says, “On far side a rainbow/arched like boa bent to kill/foreshadows the rain that is dreamed of”. The rainbow is the Christian symbol which promises that God will never again destroy the world by the flood. Again in the traditional Igbo worldview it is associated with the yawning of the boa which is here described as “bent to kill”. Thus the poem tries to present the confrontation and resolution of Christian and indigenous faiths.

In a nutshell, “Passage” II describes the poet’s boyhood at the “smithies” which can be the various institutions like the missionary schools where he received formal education and it can also be the traditional training through which children are inducted into their society and learn its myth and history. “Passage” III describes the ritual of church services. The poet here points out that the message of the Christian gospel is to impart joy, those among the colonized who embrace the Christian faith cause grief because in reality they are abandoning their indigenous culture and faith for the sake of the new culture. In “Passage” IV the readers hear the sound of the “boots”, the powerful premonition of European occupation in Africa (Moore, 1969: 167).

“Initiation” shows how the poet’s introduction to this new faith resulted in agony and sacrifice for him. The onslaught of the new faith compelled him to lose his old self. “Watermaid” presents a solitary child mourning his dead mother. This watermaid can also be another form taken by the goddess or the muse of the poet. In Heavensgate, the poet shows the need for a new journey of self- discovery for the “prodigal”, the child lost to his traditional world through the contact with another faith and culture. When such a child wants to return to his original home, his journey must begin with a cleansing. This cleansing entails the restoration of a unified personality. Heavensgate ends with the movement called “Transition”. The images and symbols used here have a link with his next collection of poems Limits published in 1962.

In Limits, Okigbo reunites with his indigenous culture as a step towards achieving his goal. “Bridge” introduces the poet who is standing above the noontide with the water flowing under him. This image reminds the readers of the cross. The poem tries to drive home the fact that the seeker has not completely submerged himself. Therefore, total illumination and knowledge are not possible. The poet seeker thus sits on the bridge and gazes at the heaven “where stars will fall from”. The bridge is a symbol joining the two states of his experience. The appearance of the watermaid and that of the stars are similar since both provide illumination to the poet. But it is difficult for the poet to grasp both of them since they evade his view. The final grasping of the watermaid occurs in “Distances” which reveals completion of a spiritual and artistic journey, in which illumination serves as a constant image.

Limits and other poems

In Limits the poet tries to resurrect the indigenous culture of his community. His poem “Fragments from the Deluge” describes how the indigenous culture was partly destroyed and partly suppressed by the European culture of the colonizers. The Christian missionaries and the

colonizers are presented as predatory eagles who “descended” like swooping eagles and destroyed the indigenous cultures and traditions of Africa. The sunbird had already foretold that the arrival of the Europeans will mean doom on African cultures. According to the poet the most painful and disheartening thing is the denial of the traditional value system and the indigenous way of life including the desertion of their gods by the people after the colonial occupation in Africa. Thus the poet says,

And the gods lie in state

Without the long drums.

And the gods lie unsung

And the gods lie

Veiled only in mould

Behind the shrine house

The poet emphasizes the fact that the gods are lying neglected but they will never die. This view of Okigbo reveals the idea of resurrection of his indigenous culture in the face of all odds. This reawakening of the culture is nothing new just as the growth of the branch of the giant fennel is not a new thing. After the resurrection of the gods of the indigenous culture the sunbird again returns to life: “the sunbird sings again”. The poet’s search is for both spiritual and moral illumination. He seeks identification with humanity in general and the pronoun through which the speaking voice represents itself thus changes from “I” in Limits I to “he” in Limits II and “We” in Limits III.

“Limits” opens with chatter of the weaver bird. “Distances” takes all the conflicting elements of the poet’s experiences and moves towards a resolution. Okigbo has finally identified himself with his indigenous culture and gods. He is able to end his quest and thus it is only a short step “through some dark labyrinth” which will take us to the “birthday of the earth”. This journey is thus from “laughter to dream”.

Lament of the Drums and other poems

Okigbo’s poem “Lament of the Drums” is inspired by the imprisonment of Awolowo and the tragic death of Awolowo’s eldest son. The poem begins with an invocation derived from the music of Ashanti drummers. In the Introduction Okigbo mentions that these drums are the spirits of the dead ancestors and their invocation is to the elements of which they are made. There is also a prayer that war should not intrude. Section II provides us with the message of the drums. Section III describes the death of Palinurus, who is betrayed and murdered. The comparison is with the betrayed Awolowo and his son who were killed in a car accident. The middle section of the poem is the only instance where the drums do not occur. Instead we find here the lament for Palinurus and the sea in to which he was cast. The poem creates a dramatic self exclusion, lending a distance to the poet as he comments on the political situation of his country. Section IV again comes back to the drums. The drums now lead to lament for the crops, the people, and the Great River which certainly refers to the river Niger.

His method in this poem was to create the drums and then allow the drums to say what they wished. The “Lament of the Masks” derives its imagery from the Yoruba oriki and is a praisesong for the Timi of Ede. The poem consists of many images of violence, lending credence to the speculation that the violence in post-independence Nigeria helped to ignite Okigbo’s imagination. The “Lament of the Silent Sisters” talks about the western Nigerian crisis in 1962. The poem signifies a departure from Okigbo’s quest for the self to the political condition of his country. The “Dance of the Painted Maidens” creates pure sound. Okigbo’s repetitions of phrases and his use of vowels and consonants give the poem a unique melody.

After she had set sail after she had set sail/ after the mother-of-the-earth had set sail/ after the earth- mother on her homeward journey…

Like most of his poem this one too creates a pattern which contrasts a situation of absence of the mother-earth with what one can achieve when she is present.

Thunder Can Break and other poems

“Thunder Can Break” describes the coup of 15 January 1966 in Nigeria. The unyielding attitude of the previous regime has led to the military coup. “Come Thunder” is considered to be neither an elegy nor a celebration. Rather the poem cautions the readers that the coup has not been the last of death-dealing because, as the poet says, “The death sentence lies in ambush along the corridors of power”. In “Elegy for Alto” Okigbo considers himself as the “horn” that will “paw the air howling goodbye”, he is also the sacrificial ram into whose heart the sword will be plunged. This poem thus seems a premonition of his death and is considered, in hindsight, to be an elegy for himself. We have tried to analyze in this module the different poems of Okigbo which would help us to understand his poetic oeuvre.

Conclusion

Most of Okigbo’s poems present a search that is revealed through the metaphor of a journey. The journey as a motif is very important as it reveals the spiritual, artistic and intellectual search of the poet. As already mentioned this personal search of the poet expands to include the search of the human being for his roots in the past, in nature and in myth and for integration with them. Thus this quest moves from the personal level to the public. The tumultuous political events in Nigeria from the end of 1965 to the beginning of 1966 helped Okigbo to write his most admired poem called “Path of Thunder: Poems Prophesying War”. It was published posthumously in 1968.

The poem illustrates Nigeria’s irrational and absurd postcolonial situation in Nigeria, forcing political and economic conditions which ultimately led to a military coup in 1966. This was followed by the massacre of the Igbos primarily and other eastern Nigerians in many parts of the country. This resulted in the exodus of many eastern Nigerians. The poem not only describes the terrible nature of these events but also cautions the readers of their consequences. The military has taken over power in Nigeria and Okigbo states that “..drums, wooden bells the iron chapter;/And the dividing airs are gathered home…”. Okigbo could understand the divisive politics of ethnicity and religious faith which were responsible for the present catastrophic socio political situation of Nigeria. He was also able to comprehend that this situation will spell disaster and doom in Nigeria. “Path of Thunder” is his last communication through poetry with both the world at large and with his own countrymen.

Okigbo’s Poetry and the ‘modern’ society

As readers of Okigbo’s poems we find that his poetry sought to reveal the divided sensibilities of the ‘new’ African elite. This no doubt is a modern issue that plagues the African elite even in contemporary times. According to the poet the divided sensibilities cannot unite until and unless the past culture and the present culture of the Africans are reconciled in a proper way. Thus his poems constantly try to move into the past and resurrect the indigenous culture of his people since this would only lead to the reconciliation between their past and their present. The role of the poet as assigned by the traditional African society is to celebrate the community life and its worldview. Through this celebration, the spiritual and the material being unite.

Okigbo as a product of the ‘modern’ society and of Christian education is aware of the fact that in the ‘modern’ world the spiritual and the material are not divided due to the advent of western value systems and the Christian missionary education. Okigbo therefore brings out his own insight regarding the convergence between the spiritual and the material. Thus we see that through the image of the sunbird, the poet tries to warn the people against the dangers of the influence of western values. In the process of assimilating the west, the sunbird is ostracised as we see in the poems of Heavensgate. This issue of the divergence between the past and present due to the colonial experience gives his poems a kind of universality that appeals to readers.

Okigbo was once asked in an interview about what he thought of himself as an African poet. He had replied that he is only a poet who only writes poems. It is for his readers to decide whether he is an African poet or an English poet. The implication is towards the universality of his poetry which appeal to the reader in the ‘modern’ society. Okigbo’s poems have the ability to raise various issues to ponder upon. Is poetry is to be treated as a ritual or as a religious and mystic activity? Is poetry to be considered as the personal expression or the expression of the community? But these poems articulate such questions through a lyricism that is effected by capturing the rhythms of specific musical instruments and through the intense personal vision of past and present, bringing myth to illuminate, represent and question history.