The Star ­ Thursday
Date: 14.05.2015
Page 24
Article size: 121 cm2
ColumnCM: 26.88
AVE: 47324.44
Demystifying poetry: The art of reading verse
St Peters Mumias Boys
High School recently
organised a PEN Day­
cum­celebration of
poetry. The Principal of
the school Godfrey Owori, who
invited me and Prof Chris Wan­
jala, is a scientist by training, but
his attitude to and understanding
the vital role literature plays in
society struck me.
As an examinable subject, a
student's mastery of language
impacts their performance in
other subjects. Well, those who
read this column may have heard
us saying one or two things
about creative writing.
At St Peters, rather than de­
mystifying writing as a craft, the
students asked us to demystify
poetry with the aim of making
it accessible. Put simply, why is
poetry difficult to understand?
Does the problem rest with
students, or their teachers? To
respond to this question effec­
tively, we may want to go back
and ask, what is poetry?
The definition of poetry as
a form of writing that uses a
heightened language poses the
first real problem to reading, un­
derstanding and appreciation of
a poem. Poets, we are told, use
fewer words to say many things.
Such engrained notion presup­
poses that every poem must
have a meaning different from
what is seemingly obvious.
To return to our question, it
may be that we need to reori­
ent the teaching of poetry. More
often than not, every poetry
lesson is dedicated to the study
of meaning and structure, so
much so that students are made
to cram technical terms for
... there are poems
that do not need to
be subjected to a
search for a non­
existent 'deeper
meaning'
exam purposes. But, when I was
in school our literature teacher
used to tell us that the best way
to read a poem is to read it for
enjoyment. Thus, at St Peters
Mumias, I began by reading some
of the best poems by the legen­
dary 19th century Swahili poet
Muyaka bin Haji. I read Kongowea
Ja Mvumo (Mombasa is Like a
Roaring Surf], with its jutted and
unforgettable refrain ­"The dead
are dead and gone. There is no
feigning death."
And the poem, Mwina wa
Chiza (This is an Abyss of Deep
Gloom]: "This is an abyss of deep
gloom, even those who are well
informed comprehend it not."
These poems are a pleasure to
read. They are enjoyable. They
are memorable. Yet they are
war poems about resistance to
begin to love the genre, and start
to notice the structure of a poem.
To read a poem, briefly dia­
logue within yourself about the
title of the poem; does the title
give any suggestion to what you
are about to encounter? Read
colonisation of the Swahili tribes
the poem aloud. What impres­
sion do you get from that first
reading? Read the poem again.
Does the poet use allusion?
by outsiders.
Malawian literary scholar Prof
David Rubadiri says in Growing
Up with Poetry that teachers
should "create opportunities for
their students to enjoy poetry
words; what do you hear; what
do you see? Is the poet alluding
to phenomena, event, place. Is
the language plain or figura­
tive? Poets use comparison and
for its own sake, while at other
contrast. Whereas there are
times concentrating on explor­
ing the language and structure
of poems." When students are
exposed to different poems
they will start to read them for
personal amusement and hence,
poems that call for seeing what
Ipsos Kenya ­ Acorn House,97 James Gichuru Road ­ Lavington ­ Nairobi ­ Kenya
Listen to the sounds; look at the
lies in the subterranean, below
the surface, there are poems that
do not need to be subjected to a
search for a non­existent "deeper
meaning."