Kofi Awoonor's Poetry: a Voice of African Identity and Resistance

Kofi Awoonor, a Ghanaian poet, has cemented himself as a legend in contemporary Ghanaian and African poetry through his great and incredible contribution. He spoke drastically on various topics and issues on numerous platforms. He strongly believed in the idea 'Nobody should be ashamed of the place he comes from'. He felt that one has to have a connection to one's own way of life and culture and a strong sense of place. 

In his well-known poem 'Weaver Bird' from his first collection 'Rediscovery', the imagery is clear indication of the entry of the White man on to the African land and how stealthily, he had made the African land his own.

The weaver bird built in our house

And laid its eggs on our only tree.

Note the use of special images like, 'weaver bird', 'house', 'eggs', 'tree' and 'nest' in the above lines. The weaver bird is the reference to the White man. Awoonor had employed the 'weaver bird' simply to indicate how subtly, the bird stoops down and builds its 'nest' in the most complex manner, almost impregnable. In the identical manner, the White man too had flew down from the overseas land and settled on the African land. The 'house' image used right here is the reference to the land of Africa. 'Tree' imagery refers to the sturdy lifestyle and culture of Africa. The 'nest' is the image of White man's colony. Most interesting part is the building of the nest and laying of 'eggs'. Here, Awoonor intentionally had used the plural form of egg. The 'eggs' refer to the extension of the White colonies, the White man's administration, his regulation and order, strength and religion.

We did not want to send it away.

We watched the building of the nest

And supervised the egg-laying.

The ironical situation is that none of the natives had shooed the weaver bird, away. Instead they welcomed, watched and supervised over the egg laying. This is a direct reference to the factor that none of them had foreseen the repercussions of the entry of the White man and his constructing of colonies and spreading his administration and religion and crushing of their indigenous culture and culture.

And the weaver returned in the guise of the owner.

Preaching salvation to us that owned the house.

The weaver bird, who had rented the tree for some time had now donned the guise of the proprietor and appeared down upon the native faith and culture. He started out preaching salvation to the natives and made them consider that salvation and redemption by myself can shop them from their sin.

And our new horizon limits at its nest.

The natives who were dominated in every sphere of their of lives had nowhere to flip and their horizon ended at the White man's culture.

We look for new homes every day.

For new altars we strive to rebuild

The old shrines defiled by the weaver's excrement.

The non secular imagery that Awoonor used in this poem are 'salvation', 'altars' and 'shrines'. These traces depict how the White man had come searching for shelter, had now grew to become the tables and claimed ownership of the African land. He preached Christianity and denounced the native religion. He didn't end himself here, but went on calling the native rituals as empty and meaningless. The historical temples, altars and shrines of the natives have been defiled , plundered and destroyed by the White man. The poet claims that his old and historic way of life has been tainted with the aid of the Weaver bird's 'excrement'. The image of 'excrement' may additionally sound coarse but it only reflects the poet's repugnance closer to the White man as the harm caused by means of him is irreparable. The as soon as mighty and lush inexperienced tree of culture and tradition now is standing bare and dry shorn off the native consciousness. Awoonor used the imagery of the weaver bird, who very subtly, adroitly and skilfully weaves the nest that is his colony. We come across tree photo in the poem, 'Weaver Bird'. The tree signifies ancient way of life just like the way the poet Awoonor had referred it to be.

In 'Rediscovery' we come throughout these lines:

My god of songs was ill

And I was taking him to be cured

When I went the fetish priest was away

So, I waited outside the hut

My god of songs was groaning, crying

Then the bells rang and my name was called thrice.

The poet feels anguished over the near death of his historical tradition, which is reiterated in the above lines. The historical gods are crying as they have been forgotten and neglected. Finally, the poet wishes to take up the accountability on himself to revive the loss of life culture. He takes the god of songs who is ill, to be cured to the fetish priest.

Take him to your father's god he said in my tongue

So I took him to my father's god

But before they opened the hut

My god burst into songs, new strong songs

That I am still singing with him.

As advised, when he took his god of songs to his father's god, the god revived himself and burst into songs. The ancestors and the ancestral gods are very widespread in the African tradition. The ultimate two lines mark the return of the poet to his roots, all these days he was once also influenced with the aid of the western tradition and traditions. His mourning, lamentations his pain over the loss of African identification and attention is well documented in his poems. He truly understood that, to mark a re-entry into his culture, he desires to recognize his roots, reclaim the information of his tradition and hint the experience closer to it via way of his songs.

Overall, Awoonor's poetry is filled with the topics like the war between the native African and western cultures, his severe lamentations over the loss of historical tradition due to the effects of western culture, his yearning to reach out to his roots, understand the connection between himself and his indigenous culture. His poems are like elegies mourning over the have an impact on of colonialism on native African culture and consciousness. He frequently makes use of imagery to pull out the themes in his poems. There is the imagery drawn from nature like birds, sea, stars, moon and so forth. He makes use of straight forward, sharp and nearly specific imagery to match the mood, tone and tenor of the poem.