POEM: DEVELOPMENT
POET: Kundi Faraja
A man of the people
Enters his office
To sit on the throne
Of pearly and state
His stick of power
Across the table
He looks into the files
To see the demands
Of the millions of people
Who for years since Uhuru
Have just managed to survive
They ring out one message
Man of the people
You have always been telling us
What we need
Healthy centers
More schools,
Clean water.
Better transport facilities
Better living conditions
Do you plead incapable
To bring about development?
I declare running
Better than walking
For a young and poor country
I plead fighting underdevelopment
Tougher than fighting
A winded Buffalo
With a pocketknife
I plead underdevelopment
Stronger than the blues of the sea
When the hurricane is at its height
I plead fighting underdevelopment
Tougher than combating colonialism
I see that it is more difficult
To maintain peace
Than to stop a coup d ‘etat
I plead to cry
Of the nation
More painful than the yell
Of a woman
As her husband dies of sickness
It’s more painful than the scenery
Of a woman
Dying in agony
In the soils of the greater python
Found in the African forest
How is development
To be brought
When the people to whom
We have entrusted power
Are corrupt?
I plead the stomachs of the privilege few
Greater than the Rift valley
They cannot be satisfied
With a normal share
I plead the thirst
Of the minority
Greater than of the Sahara
No rains can quench it
I reckon the minority
More sensitive to egoism
Than to national development
Nothing that is not theirs is of any interest
Their response to egoism
Is faster than camera film to light
But as slow as tropism.
To nation building
The majority plead
Exploited
Cheated
Disregarded
But brother
How is development
GENERAL QUESTIONS ABOUT A POEM
1. What is the poem about?
Ans: The poem is about development in countries.
This whole poem is about development as you read it from the beginning to the end.
2. What are the mood/ tone of the person? Why?
Ans: A person is not happy. He/she is sad and disappointed.
This is evident through the way a person complains about behavior of some leaders who are corrupt,
selfish and irresponsible such leaders lead the country into underdevelopment.
3. What does the poem egoism mean in this poem as used in Stanza?
Ans: Egoism means selfishness. It is the act of putting one’s interest of the country.
According to the poem, egoistic leaders do not care about the interest of the nation instead they only care about themselves.
4. Trace the verses which reveal possible themes and tell what themes they carry
a) ”When the people to whom
We have entrusted power
Are corrupt”
The verses carry a theme of CORRUPTION
b) ”I reckon the minority
More sensitive to egoism”
The verses portray the theme of SELFISHNESS
c) ”The majority pleads
Exploited
Cheated
Disgraced”
The above verses depict themes of EXPLOITATION and BETRAYAL
NB: The two words
ANALYSIS OF A POEM
I) CONTENT
a) Themes found in this poem
1: SELFISHNESS
This is an act or behavior of putting one’s interest ethics interest,
it can also be explained as a behavior in which each one does not wait to share what he/she has with others.
To this poem a poet depicts selfishness as one of the obstacles for development in a society.
The leaders are more sensitive to selfishness than developing a nation; this is evident in the following verses;-
“I reckon the minority
Are sensitive to egoism
Than to national development”
It is clear that when leaders are selfish, development is unlikely to take place.
2: CORRUPTION
This is an immoral act in which one is favored after giving bribes.
Corruption can be in form of sex,a material. In this poem, a person argues that it is not easy to develop a society if it is corrupt.
Example: In the following verses a person reveals that
” How is development
To be brought brother
When the people to whom
We have entrusted power
Are corrupt?”
Therefore a poem maintains that corruption hinders development.
3. CLASSES IN THE SOCIETY
In this poem, the person reveals two major classes in the society.
This person claims
“…………plead the stomach
Of the privilege few
Greater than the rift valley
They cannot be satisfied
With a normal share”
According to the person. This is the class of those people who have an impression that they are better than other.
The person also argues that the minority are more sensitive to egoism than to natural development in the following verses.
“I reckon the minority
More sensitive to egoism
Than to national development
Nothing that is not theirs
Is of any interest”
The second revealed by the persona is that of the majority who are exploited, cheated and disregarded to the last stanza, the persona argues that
“The majority plead
Exploited
Cheated,
Disregarded
But brother
How is development to come?”
From these verses it is obvious that the persona of this poem lives in a society which is divided in two classes, the upper one ruling the lower.
4. EXPLOITATION
This refers to the use of man power or materials of others selfishly. In this case, one person or a group of people benefits while others lose and suffer.
In this poem the minority leaders/ rules are selfish and exploit the minority
Example in the following verses
” The majority plead
Exploited
Cheated
Disregarded
But brother
How is development to come?”
The person who belongs to the lower class complains that with the exploitation which in their society development is not likely to take place
5. POOR SOCIAL SERVICE
The persona discusses the social service in the society. Since independence, according to the persona, people have been demanding better living standard and improvement of social service. But after independence all their incapable of bringing development
Example: In the second stanza of the poem
He looks into the files
To see the demands
Of the millions of people
Who for years since Uhuru
Have just manage to survive
They ring out one message
Man of the people
You have always been telling us
What we need….
Health centers
More schools
More schools
Clean water
Better transport facilities
Better living conditions
From the above stanza development seems to be tough. Lacks of social service are indicators of underdevelopment. According to the persona, all these problems are caused by leaders who are not capable.
Example: “Do you plead incapable
To bring about development?”
MESSAGE/ LESSONS
A message/ lesson we get in this poem is that it is not easy to get development in a nation whenever there is egoism/ selfishness, corruption, exploitation, poor leadership and lack of unity. So we should fight against these evils in our respective society.
PHILOSOPHY OF THE POET
From the poem, It seems that a poet believes that poor leadership is a key hindrance to development. Poor leadership leads to other evils in the society.
ii) FORM
a) Type of a poem
– It is an open/ modern poem. The poem varies in the length of the verses/stanza, there is no clear pattern to explain the form of the poem.
b) The plot (structure) of the poem
-The poem has 12 stanzas with varying number of verses in each stanza.
c) Language/ diction
The language used in the poem is simple, ordinary, clear and straight forward, these is repetition of words for emphasis. For e.g. “I plead…….”
Words are carefully chosen to support the themes, for e.g. “Egoism”
Reflecting selfishness “minority” and “majority” reflective classes.
Code mixing (barbarism)-A poem uses a Swahili word “Uhuru” to refer to independence, in this case a word “Uhuru” is regarded by the poet to the very casual and well understood to the audience than in English word Independence.
Hyperbole e.g. “The stomachs of the privileged few greater than the rift valley”, “……the thirsty of the minority greater than that of the Sahara”
Personification
For e.g. in the forth stanza a country is given qualities of running and walking.
“I declare running
Better than walking
For a young and poor country,
– Tone/mood/voice
The altitude of the persona is ironic, sympathetic, satirical energy or serious.
This is reaction to existing exploitation, selfishness and corruption. The persona hales the leaders who have these characters.
– Rhythm pattern
The poem does not have a regular rhythm pattern.
– Relevance of the poem
The poem is relevant to all developing countries like Tanzania and other developing countries in Africa and third world countries.
For example the persona
Claims:-
1.How is development
2. To be brought brother
3. When the people to whom
4. We have entrusted power
5. Are corrupt?
It is quite true that a country like Tanzania is faced by evils like corruption exploitation and poor social services due to poor leadership.