THE TWO WAY THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF THEPOST-COLONIAL POETRYBinary
oppositionThe postcolonial literature played a significant role in
the movement of freedom for post colonies. The literature has
depiction of the two way expressions. When you study it with the
perspective from binary opposition you will come to know that it is
a complete combination of, pain and pleasure, hatred and love, loss
and gain, defeat and victory, black and white possession and
dispossession, superiority and inferiority, existence and
non-existence.The post-colonial literature is based on the reality
and it represents two phases of human life the present and the
future. It is a true depiction of human life its miseries and the
struggle to achieve freedom from those miseries. In fact this
literature is responsible for the end of the struggle of
postcolonial people in order to bring a bright future for them. The
post-colonial writings including the poetry, the fiction and the
drama are rich in inner the expressions of the writers being a part
of those colonies. It has two way expressions including, tyranny,
tragedy, frustration, and despair on the one side while on the
other side it contain in it a ray of hope, a massage for bright
future, a warmth and love associated with homeland."despairs and
hopes, the enthusiasm and empathy, the thrill of joy and the stab
of pain..." but also a nation's history as it moved from " freedom
to slavery, from slavery to revolution, from revolution to
independence and from independence to tasks of reconstruction which
further involve situations of failure and disillusion". (Iyengar,
15)
The oscillation between two cultures or hybridization The dual
identity and the dual culture: the English or the AfricanThe
literature is based on the representation of the true cultures of
post-colonial people on the one hand but on the other hand the
comparison between two cultures can be seen. The poets themselves
and the characters portrayed in the fiction and the drama are true
representation of the post-colonial lives as it is evident from the
lines given below:I who am poisoned with blood of both,Where shall
I turn, divided to the vein?
The above lines are taken from the far cry from Africa by Derek
Walcott. The poet is looking confused he can't make any distinction
between the two bloods. He wants to say that neither he is able to
go into his past nor he can accept the cruel present as he has the
blood of the two cultures in side of him. He is unable to even
recognize himself standing in the middle of two things. The same
idea of hybrid identities has been established by Walcott in his
play A dream on the monkey mountain.Whereas another poet described
it as;Here we standInfants overblownPoised between two
civilizationsFinding the balance irksome. (Quoted in Povey, 39)
The two civilizations mean the Africans the uncivilized people
according to the colonizers and the civilization of the colonizers
themselves; the African and the English civilization.
The sense of nothingness or existentialist and nihilistic
believesExistence or nonexistence: Something or nothingIn the poem
The Schooner Flight (1979), Shabine, a Walcott persona, gives an
often quoted definition of the identity of a person from a small
country in the Caribbean:I have Dutch, nigger, and English in
me,and either I am nobody, or I am a nationThe poet seems in search
of identity. Although he has command over three mediums of
communication but still he thinks the he does not know he has a
nation inside him or he is nothing. The sense of nothingness is
creating an extreme sense of frustration hidden inside him because
of non-recognition of his identity.
The class struggle in the light of Marxist viewThe civilized or
the uncivilized: the superior or the inferior Not only the struggle
for the freedom can be seen but also the class discrimination or
the class distinctions can be seen through the poetry of
post-colonial writer. The suppression of the colonial people and
underestimation can be observed through the poem given below. I,
too, sing AmericaI am the darker brother.They send me to eat in the
kitchenWhen company comes,But I laugh,And eat well,And grow
strong.Tomorrow,I'll be at the tableWhen company comes.No body'll
dareSay to me,"Eat in the kitchen,"Then.Besides,They'll see how
beautiful I amAnd be ashamed--(Langston Hughes)The poor and the
treatment towards the colonial people by the colonizers has been
portrayed but the poet is still hopeful in the last stanza that one
day this difference shall be disappeared and they will be ashamed
over their attitude towards colonial people.
The possession and the dispossessionThe past and the present:
the domination and the subordinationThe unforgettable colonial past
comes angrily alive in a poem by Kenya's poet Joseph Kareyaku
thus,It is not as you suppose, your lands,your cars, your money, or
your citiesI covet...It is what gores me most,that in my own house
and in my very own homeyou should eye me and all that's minewith
that practiced, long-drawn, insulting sneer. (quoted in Iyengar,
30) The elements of anger and agony can be observed through the
voice of poet. The lines written above are the evident that the
property and luxuries being enjoyed by the white people in reality
belong to the colonial people. Those properties were in the
ownership of black people but now the white are showing pride over
the possession of those properties.
But a ray of hope that changed their fateThe hopelessness and
the hopefulness Still I RiseYou may write me down in historyWith
your bitter, twisted lies,You may tread me in the very dirtBut
still, like dust, I'll rise.(Maya Angelou)
These beautiful lines are written by Maya Angelou a little and
insignificant word Dust seems challenging to the white people. It
means that a little and insignificant thing can be proved as
significant one and can be raised up to the sky.Love after LoveThe
time will comewhen, with elationyou will greet yourself arrivingat
your own door, in your own mirrorand each will smile at the other's
welcome, ( Derek Walcott)The love for homeland Africa is present in
every sentence. The hopelessness can be seen that the struggle
shall never be in vain. The day will come when they will get
freedom. The hope is an ultimate reason to live when there is
disappointment.
