The African World-view in Soyinkas Death and the Kings...

The African world-view in Soyinkas Death and the Kings Horsemannbsp;nbsp;nbsp; In his play, Death and the Kings Horseman, Wole Soyinka uses certain literary forms and devices to intermix Yoruba culture and a predominantly European dramatic form to create a play easily understood by the audience, but that allows the introduction of a foreign influence. These devices include the use of a songlike quality in dialogue and the telling of stories, the use of personification and metaphor to give an exotic quality to the play, and the use of certain elements to provide the reader with a sense of the mystic traditions that are Africa. These Yoruban elements are best explained by the character Jane with You talk! Your people with your†¦show more content†¦Elesin: (Executes a brief, half-taunting dance . . . as he chants the story of the Not-I bird, his voice changing dexterously to mimic his characters . . . ) Death came calling. Who does not know his rasp of reeds? nbsp; A twilight whisper in the leaves before The great araba falls? Did you hear it? Not I! Swears the farmer. He snaps His fingers round his head, abandons A hard-worn harvest and begins A rapid dialogue with his legs. (1158) Soyinka uses personification and metaphor to lend an exotic, poetic quality to the play. In this excerpt from page 1159, Elesin personifies envy, symbolizing its attacking quality, uses houseposts as a metaphor to symbolize the building of trust, and termites as a metaphor to symbolize the way in which time eats at all things. Elesin also uses the twilight hour, or the coming of the end of the day, to symbolize the approaching of the end of his life, and bats and rodents as symbols of things that might tarnish the honor given him because of his duty to his king and the trust built with his king. Line 213 begins: Elesin: The world was mine. Our joint hands Raised houseposts of trust that withstood The siege of envy and the termites of time. But the twilight hour brings bats and rodents-- Should I yield them cause to foul the rafters? (1159) Soyinka uses mystic elements to provide the reader with a sense of the Africa of tradition. The religious traditions of Africa are rifeShow MoreRelatedA Dance of the Forest4738 Words   |  19 Pagesof Existence: Myths and Rituals in Wole Soyinka’s Theatre Rosa Figueiredo, Polytecnic of Guarda, Portugal Abstract: The citation for Soyinka’s 1986 Nobel prize for literature reads: â€Å"Who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones, fashions the drama of existence†. The â€Å"wide cultural perspective† mentioned refers to the fact that Soyinka’s writings, especially the dramas for which he is best known, are at once deeply rooted in traditional African expressive and performance forms likeRead More Conrads Heart of Darkness and the Dehumanization of Africans2989 Words   |  12 PagesHeart of Darkness and the Dehumanization of Africans      Ã‚  Ã‚   The Western world, generally speaking, is not kind to Africa and its native inhabitants. We acknowledge Africas existence, but we do not want to see or understand anything about it beyond the obvious: overt things that are open to criticism like Apartheid (a European invention). The occasional praiseworthy entity is given momentary applause, but felicitations are short-lived and quickly forgotten. These statements refer just to politics