POETIC TECHNIQUES

        POETIC TECHNIQUES

01.   Language

a.       Diction

Diction is a choice of individual words and expressions. That is, appropriateness, valid, relevant and deliberate.

i)                     Denotative: - This is the choice of words that maintain their dictionary meaning.

ii)                   Connotative: - This is the choice of words that have derived/extended or hidden meaning.

PIANO AND DRUMS

            When at break of day at riverside.

            I hear jungle drums telegraphing

            the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw

            like bleeding flash, speaking of

            primal youth and the beginning,

            I see the panther ready to pounce

            the leopard snarling about the leap.

            and the hunters crouch with spears poised.

            Any my blood ripples, turns torrent,

            topples the years and at once I’m

            in my mother’s lap a suckling;

            at once I’m walking simple

            path with no innovations,

            rugged, fashioned with the naked

            warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts

            in green leaves and wild flowers pulsing.

            Then I hear a wailing piano

            Solo speaking of complex ways

            in tear – furrowed concerto;

            of far – away lands.

            and new horizons with

            coaxing diminuendo, counterpoint,

            crescendo. But lost in the labyrinth

            of its complexities, it ends in the middle

            of a phrase at daggerpoint.

            And I lost in the morning mist

            of an age at a riverside keep

            wandering in the mystic rhythm

            of jungle drums and the concerto.

Signifier

Signified

Break of day at a river side (early morning) Jungle drums telegraphing.                   Raw like bleeding flesh Primal (first, fundamental) Walking a simple path with no innovation.           Wailing piano     Solo speaking (performed by one person)           Concerto – music for an orchestra   New horizons          Diminuendo (a gradual decreases in loudness)     (counterpoint ( a melody added as accompaniment to given melody and providing decoration or contrast to it)         Crescendo ( aloud climax)           Labyrinth (amaze; the music is difficult to follow)   Daggerpoint Lost in the morning mist wandering in the mystic rhythm

Culture – (Rivers are winding and water is life) culture has no end and it’s the peoples life. Drum – way of communication        - culture        - common fareton (unifever)        - African heritage Telegraphing – sending massage          Fresh, uncontaminated, pollute free         Something very important to us.Simple ways of life without any needs that call for creativity                          Western culture          Capitalistic tendencies          Western ways       Western (ways/would new to Africans)     Complexity of the Western ways and culture.                                 Complexities in Western culture lead to intimate confusion.                Dangerous point in thought or decision to make      Failed to decide which culture is okay to make

NB: Signifier is the meaning of the word or phrase in the poem and signified is the implied meaning.

TASK 4

A TAXI DRIVER ON HIS DEATH

When with prophetic eye, I peer into the future.

I see that I shall parish upon this road.

Driving men that I do not know.

This metallic monster that now I dictate

This docile elaborate horse

That in silence seens to simmer and stain

Shall surely revolt some tempting day.

Thus, I shall die; not that I care

For any man’s journey,

Nor for proprietors gain,

Not for these do I attempt the forbidden limit

For this defy the traffic man and the cold cell

Risking everything for the little little move.

They shall say, I know, ho pick up my bones,

“poor chap, another victim to the ruthless marchine – “

Concealing my blood under the metal.

-          Timothy Wangusa.                                                                              

Analyse the poem in terms of subject matter and diction