Cyclic Determinism in Soyinka's Idanre

8/8/2019 Cyclic Determinism in Soyinka's Idanre

1/14

eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing

services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic

research platform to scholars worldwide.

Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies

UCLA

Peer Reviewed

Title:

Cyclic Determinism in Soyink's "Idanre"

Journal Issue:

Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies, 8(1)

Author:

Maduakor, Hezzy

Publication Date:

1977

Permalink:

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gs1k857

Local Identifier:

international_asc_ufahamu_17400

Abstract:

No abstract

Copyright Information:

All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. Contact the author or original publisher for anynecessary permissions. eScholarship is not the copyright owner for deposited works. Learn moreat http://www.escholarship.org/help_copyright.html#reuse

https://escholarship.org/http://www.escholarship.org/help_copyright.html#reusehttps://escholarship.org/uc/item/9gs1k857https://escholarship.org/uc/search?creator=Maduakor%2C%20Hezzyhttps://escholarship.org/uc/international_asc_ufahamu?volume=8;issue=1https://escholarship.org/uc/uclahttps://escholarship.org/uc/international_asc_ufahamuhttps://escholarship.org/uc/international_asc_ufahamuhttps://escholarship.org/https://escholarship.org/https://escholarship.org/https://escholarship.org/


2/14

175

CYQJC lfJEfft NIS IN

SJYINKA'S I ~ R

by

Hezzy Maduakor

In the poem Around

Us,

Dawning , Soyi.nka

writes:

Wings

are tipped in sulphers

Scouring

grey recesses

o f

the void

To a

linear flare

o f

daJ.ma. l

Linear in the l a s t l in i s

irrlrediately

cg;>licable

to the

arber

l in of landing

l ights in

an aerodrale;

but

t i s also

t rans

ferable

to

the

s t ra ight track of the winged

machi..nery

rushing to errbrace the

flares fran

the

a ir . In this regard,

the image suggests the s t ra ight

road

of technology, while

cir cular

net:ap lors which occur

in the stanza tha t irrlrediately

fo

l lcMs

signi fy the winding path of

nature.

Science

i s

repre

sented

in

the poem by

j e t plane; and

nature

by

man.

Aboot

the htmlan passengers in the

plane Soyi.nka

writes:

Red

haloes

t

hr

ough the

port

s w

re

athe us

Passive

martyrs bound

to

a wi l l of

rotors.2

H

alo

would have been

consi.dered

an

image of

glory, but

the

epithet

:red invests

t with undertones o f fa ta l i ty . The

t r

cw:.P.c oonnotation

i s reinforced with the imaqe,

wreath .

Soyinka's poetry

i s not so nuc:h

oonoemed

with

t:edlrx>lo

gy

as

i t

i s

with

what he

cal ls

the

e temal

cycle

of

kannas

tha

t

has bea::rre the

evi l

history of man. 3 For

th is

:reason,

w

hile l inear images are

rare

in his f i r s t bc:x of

verse ,

Idanre

and O

the

r oems

cyclic

netaphors abound. Halo

and wreath

ant i c ipate

the

increasing

inp:>rtance of circular

images in

th is

volure

.

When these images are enc::boled

with

sare

degree of

not ive erergy, they cxnfi nn Soyi.nka's

reyth

of the turning world;

in

other -respects, they ertP tasize his

cx:nvi.cticn tha t htmlan

l i f

e and history

are

destined to folJ.a.T pat tems of repet i t ive

cycles

. Very often, the pattern. i s a t ragic one. Tragic

fa

te

1

writes

Soyinka in

The

Fourth

Stage

1

i s

the repet i t ive

cycle

of the taboo in nature. 4 The in'plications of cyclic

ima

ges

i n

his poetry are

interrela ted,

for the

turning

world

whi

r l s

everything

about in

the oourse

of

i t s

rotat icn.

Cyclical :recurrence

haS been the subject o f philosophical

i.J'quiry s ince

Heracli tus, but SOyinka

has

not

writ ten

extensive

ly

about t as

has another

poet,

Yeats who

also

believes in


3/14

176

eternal :repetition. St i l l , the idea i s

central

to his

poetry.

In the poem "Luo Plains

which

i.rmediately follCMS "Arourxl Us ,

Dawning,"

the

Kenya

of the

era of Mau-Mau

terrorism i s

a nation

which

has milked a cycle of/Red sunset spears. 5 In the sarre

poem, the cosrros i s in a s ta te of

rroticn

:

egrets hone a sky- Lane for

WorZd t u r on pennants.6

In

another

poem

The

Hunchback of

Dugbe,

an i t inerant

lunatic

looks on with caJm

dignity

as the world around him spins on

under the pressures of existentia l routine : "the

world/Spins

on

his

spine, in

s t i l l

i l lus ion

. n

Soyinka has

intimations

,

in the poem To My Firs t White Hairs,

of the

threat

to

his CMn

personal existence

of

the

inperat i

ves

of the

cycl ic logic .

Although the wheel

has ro t cx:: rre

fu l l

ci rcle in

his

own

case,

yet

a

rrere turn

in the

:revolution

has

brought

him to the "lx>ary

phase:

the

white

hairs on his head

are

llilhat:PY reminders of

the

passage of

time:

I view them wired wisps, vibrant coiLed

bene

at

h a magnifying gZass miZk-thread presages

l

t he hoary phase. Weave then weave o quickLy weave

your

s

ham vene

ration.

Knit

me

webs

o f

winter sagehood

nightcap and t he fungoid sequins

o f

a crown. 8

Circle i s

recal led

in t is passage by such images as wire,"

wisp, coil , thread, "web," and "crown;"

and

"weave" gives

th n a rotat ional

sta tus.

In the

poem "By Lit t le

loving , "

human

universe

i s

visualized as a ruptured

wheel/Of

blood . " Man, a

rider of the

inpaired wheel,

i s

lodged in i t s perilous "s t i l l centre.

The rupture of the wheel and

the

descent to the s t i l l

centre

of the void carpel on Soyinka a

penetrat ing

insight in to

the

nature of h1 1ITall destiny:

And t his

the accident

o f fLesh I haiZed

Man s et ernaL Zesson.lO

There

are inplications in

the

poem

that the wheel ruptured

under the inpact of t ragic

wirrls.

The protagonist

of

the poem

has

watched

thw rted winds

beat

cycles on the wheel. The

s t i l l centre i s not the errl of man, ho.vever. He dies in

order to be :reborn; for the alternating cycles of l i f e nd

death are fixed patterns in the scl ere

of

things: I /Fe l l

to

dying, phcenix of

each pyre forestal led . "12

All the cycl ic

trends that have been

building in

the


4/14

177

poem.

Soyinka

places the

t i t l e poem a t

the end

of

the

l:x:lck

sin

re

t i s

for him

the

culmination of the therres and ideas

that

have

assured prani.nenoe

in

"Other

Poems". Indeed,

t has

not

always

been

noticed

tha t

"Idanre"

i s

the

major

poem,

and

that "Other

Poems"

stand in an anc:i.llacy

re la t ionship

to

i t .

"Idanre

i s the ult imate destination

in

a trematic journey in

which

the

Other Poems are

transit icna.l

milest:c:n s

. The links

between

Idanre

and

Other Poems are

c:bvious. Certain

key-phrases

recur in both parts of the

bcldc.

In

"Death in

the

Dc:Ml a

nother

prays:

child

ay

you

never

IA1alk

Z hen

the road

ZJaits famished. 13

n

"Idaru:e"

Soyinka

wri.

es :

Fa:ted

Uvea ride

on the

' iiel

o death

IA1hen

The

road IA ai ts

famished.

Certain

key not:ifs

also

recur

in

both parts of the volute. The

message delivered

in N:riku

tha t "'lbe Ripest

f ru i t was

scd:lest"

i s

recal led by

the

stat.enent

in

"Idanre"

that

"growth

i s

greener

where/Rich blood

bas sp i l t .

nlS Sectiooal t i t l e s in "Other

Poems

awear

to have been deliberately derived

t ran the

mytlx:>l.ogi.cal

attributes

of

Ogtm

,

the major dlaracter relebrated

in "Idanre."

'lhe

{XlE mS

of

the

secticn ent i t l ed

"Of the ~ recal l 0gun

1

s

role as the

god of

the

road. 'lb:lse of Ia l e Figure" have an

affin i ty

with him as

a lone deity. l6 The

th i rd

secticn ent i t l ed

Of

Birth and Death

anticipates the fourth,

f i f th and

sixth

secticns . Bir th and

death

suggest the curious interfusion in

Ogun of

"the

cales o f l i f e and death."

Birth

and creat ivi ty

be-

long

to

the oooe of l i f e , and death and destructioo to the oooe

of death

. Bir th

i s

direc t ly linked to the poems of

the

fourth

sect i

cn,

"For wanen which i s essent ia l ly devoted to

grcwth and

to the devel.c.pnent

o f

l i fe .

Fran

the cxmes of death in the thi rd

sect icn arz:o..rs shoot direc t ly to

the

{XlE mS of grey

seasons in

sect icn five.

'I. Da intimaticns of death

in th is secticn cu.hninate

in the harvest o f death

in

the {XlE mS of "October

1

66

in secticn

six .

Fran

the

theme o f violence

and destruction

in

th is

secticn

t i s but

an

easy t ransi i cn to the

oosmic

bat t le

in section

one

of

"Idanre

,"

to

the

apocalyptic

visions

of

war

delir iuns

in

sec

t ion two,

and to

the bat t le

scene

in section

five.

Since Idanre

i s

selected and edited by SOyinka himself,

the exclusioo

o f certain

poems en which

his early reputatioo

was

founded

becntes signif icant .

Teleph::lne COnversation"

doos not neet the standards tha t would shape his f i r s t l:x:dc of

verse in to a thematically i.nt.egrated wrole. ' he ani.ssicn of

the poem

a:qui.an

i s regret table

sinre

t ;oiOuld have

t a l l ied


5/14

178

with ei ther t re poems of sect ion three,

Of

Bir th

and Death,

or those

of

Grey

Seasons

in

section

f ive.

f

ro t i f s

are recurring,

and

trends

criss-crossing

one

another

in

d a ~ e ,

t re

errergenre of t r e cycl ic cxmoept

in t r e

major poem i s not surprising .

Cyclic

repet i t ion i s indeed t re

basic netaphysical cxmrept

on

which t re poem i s structured. The

design i s enhanred in th i s case by t r e

role

of Ogtm as

a

god wb >

JTUJSt re-enact

annually

a redenptive

pilgrimage

t earth

. Ogun's

repetit ive destiny

i s

syrrix:>lized

in t r e image of t re 1-tbius

Str ip,

defined by Soyinka as

A mathe-rragical

r ing,

in f in i te in

self-recreation in to

in:lependent

but

l inked rings. nl7 t i s

Ogun' s errble:m according to

Soyinka,

and it

signif ies

t re doan

of

repeti t ion.

Tha image i s suggested to Soyinka by t r e loq;>s

which

a

tai l-devouring snake

nust make

before i t s

rrouth

can

reach t re t a i l

.

Soyinka

had

ear l ie r used circ le

and

snake

to

syrrix:>lize

t re doan of repeti t ion in

his poem Abiku ,

In vain your bangles cast

harmed cil cles at my feet

I am b i k u calling fos_ the fil st

And the Npeated time.

8

Abiku

i s

the child wlx>

dies

and

returns again and again to

plague the rother .

19

Tha repet i t ive nature of t r e

plague

i s

suggested

with

t r e ooils

of

a snake. I 11

be t re/Suppliant

snake

ooiled

en

the

doorstep/Yours t r e ki l l ing

cry,

2(f boasts

Abiku;

but

here

the

cyclic notion

has

not

the

diagramnatic

advantage irrposed

on

it

in

Idanre by

the

visual inpact of

the

t-nbius loq;>. Tha cacpulsory ef for t of a snake t make both

ends of

i t s

l:x:xiy

erri:>rare

each other wil l reshape it in to ooils

of

oonrentric

rings.

Tha

proxi..mity

so

achieved between

rrouth

and t a i l

becares

a syrrbolic e:xpression

o f

t r e irony

of

the cyclic

paradox,

for

it shc:Ms clear ly that

in

the

snake's beginning

(l ife) l ies i t s end (death) . Extending th is ooticn, Cl'le nay

a i

tha t

in man's beginning

l ies

his end.

This

idea

i s the basis

of the camonest epigrarnratic truisms

in

Idanl e .

Rust i s

ripeness, says Soyinka

in the

poem Season. This prqx>siticn

i s

illuminated

i f one i.Iragines

rust

and ripeness

as

s t ra te-

gic

points on

the


6/14

179

His

path

one loop

of t i m ~

one iron

coil.21

n

the

poem i t se l f ,

''wheel

i s one

of the images tha t

su

ggest

cycl ic

repet i t ion.

Fated

l ives ,

writes

Soyinka,

ride

on

the

wheel of

death when,/I'he

road

waits,

famished.

The

wheel

i s

relevant

here to Ogun in

his

role as the gcxi

who

s

upervises

over m:x: ern

neans

of

(land)

t ravel ; but the image

i s

reminiscent of

the

ruptured wheel/Of blood

in

the

peen

By

Li

t t l e D:>ving ,

where

it

i s

Soyinka ' s euphemism for a turning

world

. Tre f i r s t wheel

image

indicates

that

Ogun can

manipu

-

la

te the cycl ic wheel

in

i t s re la t ion to human destiny but he

is

himself helpless before the machinery of cycl ic repet i t ion.

In the sect ion o f

Idanre

ent i t led And After , Soyinka

en

urrerates

the

agencies

of th i s

machi.necy.

They

include

the

f

i r s t Boulder ,

the

errant

wheel/Of the death chariot ,

and the creat ion snake whose t a i l

i s

spawned in the IOOUth

The

tail-devouring

snake

i s

not

an

active

agent; it

i s

included

in Soyinka

' s

l i s t

only as a raninder

of

the dcx:m

of repet i t ion.

I t invokes of

course

the ~ u s synt>ol.

This synt>ol, Soyinka

enphasizes,

has

a relevance tha t

i s

applicable to human and

divine

relat ionships.

Tre MJbius ring,

i s

to Soyinka the

f

reest cxmoeivable syrrbol of human divine . • . re la t ion

ships

.

n

Idanre ,

human

and

divine

relationships

are dist in-

guished, ei ther

separately

or col lect ively, by

one ccrcm:m

oonstant ; conf l ic t . COnflict can recreate i t s e l f in to circ les

of

inter- l inking

plagues

both in the

spheres of divine re la t ion

ship

s and in those of man. t rotates in each orbi t with a

cyc

l i c consistency . 'Ihus, Soyinka can

say

of

Idanre

tha t

the

bloody

events

narrated

therein antic ipated

the

blood-bath

in

Nigeria during

the

civi l

war

:

In d e t i l

in

the hwnan context o f y s o c i e t y ~

Idanre

has

made

abundant sense .

The

town

o f

Idanre

i ts l f

was

the f irst to out i t s

b r i d g e ~

i ts only link with the rest

o f the region during

the

uprising

o f

October ' 65 . ) And

since

t h e n ~

the bloody origin o f Ogun ' s pilgrimage has

b e e n in

true

cyoZic

manner most bloodi·ly

re-enacted. 22

n

A Shuttle in

the

Crypt published f ive

years

l a te r

Soyinka

recal

l s

the

c iv i l

war

as

a

phase

in

the

eternal

cycle

of

kanna

:

Yet

blood

must

f l o w ~

a

living flood

Bravely

g u r d e d

boldly spil t

A potency

to

rejuvenate

Mothers-of-all

e r t h the

river s

Endless

cycle

with the sap

Of t r e e s ~ wine o f l m ~

oil


7/14

180

Of ker11€Zs, ~ a n : p

Light in

rock b e a r i ~ ~ g s

Let

even

as

treasures are

An

offering to

red pdtJes

Beating

to

the

:arger

Life 23

Yet oontl ic t

can

traverse

both

s p ~ s of existence

with.. i;rpunity .

In

such an

inter-oosmic

t raff ic the path of

oonfli

ct. i s

cyclical.

This point

Seel lS

to be the main cx:>nclu

sion

of those

passages

in section

b-. 0

of

"Idanre

devott...>d

to

wtat

Soyinka cal l s

Apocalyptic

visions of

childhood

and other

deliriuns' ' . '1he apocalyptic passages reveal

i l: the cpening

l ines a panorama

of

cx:>smic

enge¥]ement:

Vast

gr OWS the

counterpane

i nights

since

innocence

Oj

apocalyptic sJ:ies.

when thunderous shieLds cLashed

A

cross the heights.

when

buUs

Leapt

cloud

hwnps

mu i

Thunders opened

chasTT's

end

to

end

o fire:

The sky

a sLate of

scoured Lettering

-· _, . d

.,

. d . k

24

Of

w·

en-z-ng z.·oun s e c ~ . o - z - p s e z n smo e.

Hroaclly speaking, the apocalyptic visions etch a

graph

of oon-·

G:.ct

stretching fran the

cx:>SD Os

to ear th The idea tha t

sc::·w..Y.a i.st:es to put across i s that

there

had been a

C O S i ~ cod l i c t (or ....

oar

bet Neen the

gods)

before

man

began to

E mCJac;e in r:l.lr.1n. 1 confl ic t.

For

instance, in the essay

"The

Fourth ~ t a g e

Scyinka

writes

:

Yor-uba tragic drama i s

the

re-enactment

of

the

c o s ~ c

con

[Lict.25

Perhaps

j

t

~

not

be too fM- fetched

even

to stggest

that

Soyinka

believes that IT .an learnt the ar t of

war

fran the

gods themselves

. I f th is i s so, t bea:mes cbvi.ous tha t the

phrase "Apocal

yptic

visions of

childhooC

arrl

other deliriums

i s fraught

with

subtle i.nplications. The oosr.i.c cx::nflict

with

which Idanre

c.pens

i s a

prilr.aeval

h


8/14

181

(Soyinka himself

enoourages th is cmparative perspective} ,26

i t

i s the

war of

the

Ol:ynpian

gods and

in Biblical

mythology t

recalls the war in 'Ahlch Lucifer featured as archvillain,

and

Archangel Michael

as

hero

.

c ning

nearer

to

hane

to

the

beliefs

of the

Yonlbc-. on VJhict.

Idanre i s

fourrled,

the primal

war re

sulted

in

the fragmentation of the godhec.d essence of Orisa-nla

the f i r s t deity} by a jealous slave-god.,

Atunda.

Fran

the

ancient

origin

of

confl ict

one wonders whether

Soyinka has dishanrony in

cosmic

as well

as hunan

areas of

existence

in m:irrl when

he says in section

two of

Idanrc that

'lbrough

of

d.ark:ress ro:1e the stone/Of 'Ailirli.ng incan

des

cence

.

t

appears

that

the

patl1

of

the \vhirling

incan

descent

stone

of confl ict

i s

an imaginary whorl whose

broadest

base

i s

sunk in the cosros fran where confl ict began.

As

the

spirals

of

the inverted wmrl

na.rrcM

down t.c:Mards

earth, towards

mankind, the fever

of

the frenzied delirium begun

in

the

cosnos

i s

calk]ht

by

man. Hunan confl ict , in i t s

various rami.ficaticns,

i s

the re-enactment of the war of

the

gods. 'llie hunan side of

the cosmic

bat t les

i s heavily a:rphasized t.c:Mards the closing

s

tanzas

of

the apocalyptic passages:

Whorls

of

intemperate

steel

triangles

of

cabal

In rabid spheres iron bellows

at

volcanic tunnels

Easters in convulsions urged by energies

Of light millenniums crusades

~ i r s and

revolution

Damnations

and

savage

salvationa

. 28

The

climactic

evocation

in

th is passage

of

the vortex

of

destructive

energies in

nature recalls the

whirling notion of

the

gyres

in Yeats

' s p::em

The

Second caning . And in· a

t rue

Yeats

ian

log-.i.c

, a

second

caning

i s

expected

a t

th is

part icular

point in

the p::em, for The world was

dlcked in

wet enbrace/Of

serpent spawn, waiting Ajantala ' s rebel

birth

.29 Ajantala i s

Idanre 's Ix:>ugh beast . ~ sees him as a

~ t e r

child,

wrest

l ing padlydeDns of myth .

30

n

the

Notes he

i s described

as

Archetype

o f

rebel child iconoclast anarchic

anti-clan anti-matriarch vitif.e essence in

oppo

sition to

womb domination.

Aj

antala

' s double in

Idanre i s the traitor-god, Atunda who

introduced the

diversity

principle

in

the Yoruba pantheon.

About Atunda SOyinka says

in

The Fourth Stage :

Myth infoms us that a

jealous slave

rolled a

stone

down the back of the f irst

and only

deity

and

shattered him in a thousand and sixty-four

fragments. rom this f irst act o f

revolution


9/14

182

was born the Yoruba pantheon.32

n Section I I I of

Idanre enti t led Pilgramage ,

the

lone

deity

i s

presented

as

an

unblemished

kemel

ent:hrcned

en

Idanre

' s colurms; and the

iconoclast

At\.mda

i s called

a Boulder.

The

upper

case B

of

Boulder

suggests

the

supremacy of

the

rebel slave over an

erstwhile master-god;

for th is reasa1

kernel i s

printed with

a laver case k

in

the stanza of

Pilgrimage in which the

fragrrentation

of the godhead essence

i s narrated:

Union they

had

known until

the

Boulder

Rolling

down

the

i l l

o f

the

Beginning

Shred

the kernel

to a million lights

A traitor

1

s heart rejoiaed the

gods ' own

slave

Dirt aovered from the deed.

Since that

f i r s t

Boulder had rol led cbom the h i l l of the egin-

ning, t

can no

longer go

Up the

hi l l

in

t:ine ' s

tn1Wi.nd ; in

human

terms, nen's l ives are fated thenceforth to be spi l t

again/On

recurrent

lx>ulders

. 34 Divine confl ict

rrust of

neces

s i ty

have

i t s

human

counterpart

.

The

recurrence

of

th is

t ragic

destiny i s theoretically prqx:>sed

in the

passages en apocalyptic

visions,

and

practically proven in the bat t le section of the

poem.

The

whorls of interrperate steel

are re-enacted in the

fatal swing of Ogun's sword in th is

section.

Fran a

dangerously

le thal angle t

wheeled

i t se l f in to a

ull

circle:

A lethal ara

Completes

full

airale

Unsheathed

The other half

Of

fire

Incinerates

All subterfuge

Enthrones

The fatal variant. 35

The

carnage

unleashed

by

Ogun on

his

a,.m nen i s a fa ta l

variant

of t ragic cycle inaugurated by Atunda.

Only

after

his

des

tructive

fury

had

lul led

did

he recognise the pattern of the

spinning rock

in

his a,.m action:

e reaognised

the

pattern o f

the

spinning roak

And Passion slowly yielded to remorse.36

For Soyinka,

cyclic

recurrance i s

a

pre-ordained,

pre

willed

order

of things. The chronicle

1

he

writes,

abides

in


10/14

183

clay texts/Mi fossi l textures". 37

lb

those

who

m y

be skept i

cal about the t ruth of i t s logic

he says through

0gun

Let

n

w i t

the circuZation

Of tiT71 l e

a c r o b a t ~

who pztay

For d i s s o ~ u t i o n 3 8

' be inevi tabi l i ty of the cycle inpl ies

that

Ogun i s no nore

respoosi.ble for his actioo

than

i s Atl.lrda. Atl.lrda

m y

have ac t-

ed fran

pique

of revolutiooary

zeal

but he i s l ike Ogun an

instrurent of fa te

a

victim

of

the docrn of repet i t ioo .

The

i

n

exorable

cycle ran

i t s

oourse

using

Atunda and

Ogun

as i t s

agency.

What i s roore inportant i s the reactioo

of

the sinner to

his sin, and o f

icxnoclast

to the wreckage

he

leaves

behind

. In

this regard,

Og\m i s an

icxnoclast of a

different order fran

Atunda

.

Atunda acted fran

cunning,

Ogun acted fran

error

for

whi

ch

he reoogn:ised the need

for

expiaticn. Atunda rejoiced

f ter his cri.rre, but Ogun, perceiving the "grim particular"

of

the assert ive

ac t of

Atunda in his CMn actioo, was ovezwhelned

wi th

:resrorse. Ogun

1

s sense of

resrorse i s iOOi.cative

of

the rooral

distance between slave

and

master in the divine

hierarchy. Ogun

i s

stung

in to

rerorse

by

a

deed

of

error

that

had

degraded

him

to the rank

of a

slave:

e who had sought

heights

i n a c c e s s i b ~ to safeguard

The

vital

f n t ~ h e a r d ~ not

voices whom

the

hour

Of death had made a ~ ~ o n e nor f u t i ~ e

~ i g h t

But the

assertive

act

o f t u n d a ~

and he was shamed

n recognition o f

the

grim particuz.ar.39

To

regain

his

respectable

sta tus

in

the divine

order

he

had

to

seek

"the season s absolution,

on

the rocks of genesis" .

40

Jt:Mever Ogun s seasonal absolution oorrespalds with the

rhythm of the seasons; t i s indeed indistinguishable fran the

seasons

themselves.

When

Soyinka says

of

Ogun

that

"Annually

he re-enacts

his deed of

sharre,

n41

he

rreans

that

annually the

seasonal cycles run

their

oourse. ' be berevolent side

of

0gun

1

s

personality

(creativity) oorrespcnds with

the

benevolent phase

of the seasonal

cycle--rain,

harvest , l i fe ; the vicious

side

with

the unpleasant

aspect of the s e a s o n s ~ - d r o o g h t scarcity,

death

. The massacre

of

the rren

of

I re m y have been a mytholo

gical rea l i ty

but t

serves SOyinka

as

a rret.apOOr

for the

cruelty o f

the

seasons

and i s also oorrelative to

the harsh

real i

t i es

of l i fe .

Ogun

1

s association with the seasons establishes a

kinship

between him

and such

vegetation dei t ies as Adarls, Osiris ,

Att i

s

arrl

Tarmuz. Their

disappearance fran earth

inpl ies

death and


11/14

184

drought;

thei r

reaJ;Pearance means

l i f e

and

harvest.

Ogwl' s rocd

i s a r-t:bius

orbi t ,

tha t i s , a l l nature i s caught in r-t:bius

noose;

for

the

al ternat ing

cycles

of

the

seasons

are

eternal .

Earth 's

rings

wil l

always

be

brcken

by

drought

o r

warfare,

but th

shattered

r ings wil l

always be

healed by the res torat ive

pathies of rain and harvest .

Ogun' s

t ragic noose

hangs albatross-l ike

on

the neck of

every individual. For creative

ar t i s t

especially, t i s a

t ight

noose for he i s fated to experience a

spi r i tual equivalent

of

Ogwl's

pilgrimage before he

can create.

This i s so because

Ogun

i s himself pri.Irogenit o r

of ar t i s t

as

the

creative

human . 42 Every creative act ,

writes SOyinka,

breeds and

destroys

fear ,

~ n t i n s within

i t s e l f

both salvat ion and

the

damnation. He has

in mind,

one suspects, the idea

that

every creative ef for t i s fraught with i t s

CMn ordeal

and

recan-

pense. The

ordeal

i s the agony of cx:rrp::>sition; the

recatpenSe

the

post-natal ela t ion

that

acxx:npanies the bi r th of an art work.

On

his return fran the

pilgrimage

to

the Idanre h i l l s

which was

both

sacramental and

aesthet ic

SOyinka became beneficiary

of

a divine bcx:Jn whidl he t ranslated in to a creative ar t

I

returned

home wet from overLaden

bougha

.

brittle

as

the herald lightning to a s t o n n . 4 ~

In l i te rary

tems,

the overladen bough i s an

image

of creative

inspirat ion,

for SOyinka

affirms

that By nightfa l l that same

day,

Idanre was

cx:npleted.

n 5

In

the

Preface to

Idanre SOyinka discloses that he

~ i e n e d

a creative unease with the f i r s t draf t c opy

of

Idanre. He described the unease as a sediment of disquiet

which

l inked

me to l ingering . 46 To exorcise the dem:>n of

unease he had to perfonn the

poe t s

r i t e on

the hi l l s

of Idanre:

I

abanooned my work

-

t was

middle

of night

- and walked.

The walk i s

recorded

in

the f i r s t stanza

of

Recession :

I walked upon a

deserted

night

before

The gathering

of

Harvest., companion o a god's

Pre

-banquet .

The hills o

Idanre beckoned

me

s

who

would

yield h e r

~ e c r e t s .

locked

n sepulchral granite.

The ordeal

here

i s

the

r i t e whidl the poet

nust

perfonn before

the creative secrets hidden

in

the sepulchral grahl. es of iroagi

nation could be unlodced for him. The pattern of r i tua l and

reccrcpense wil l continue, for

every

creative act

has

i t s

CMn

damnation and

salvation.

As

an a r t i s t , Soyinka

might

have

said

with

Ogun:


12/14

185

Memozy o faUen

l e a v e s ~

beyond

Thread o foaaiZ on the s l a t e ~ yet I must

Thia

w y again 49

For the creat ive a r t i s t onoe

rrore,

Ogun's

t ragic noose

holds

no i l lus ion of a "kink". ' be r i tua l pilgrimage

i s

ines-

capable. All things, Yeats says, IlU lSt

nm/On

tha t unfashion-

ab

le

gyre". 50

The consolation i s

tha t t.OOse

who

make them IlU lSt

learn to

be

gay;

and

t h i s

i s for the

maker

or the

ar t i s t

the

only available

"kink" in

the "eternal

cycle

of kannas".

oo

tnotes

l

Soyinka, Wole.

(1967) ,

p. l2 .

2. I b i d ~ p. l2 .

3.

I b i d ~ p . 88.

Idanre and

Other P o e m s ~

Methuen,

Ialdon

Hereafter c i ted as

Idanre

4.

Soyinka,

WOle.

"' be

Fourth

Stage",

in

The

Morality o

I t ~

ed. D W

Jefferson,

lbutledge and Kegan Paul , alden

(1969),

p . l3 l .

5.

Idanre

p. l3 .

6.

I b i d ~

p . n .

7.

I b i d . ~

p. l9 .

8.

I b i d ~

p.JO.

9.

I b i d

p .4 l .

10.

I b i d

p.4l .

l l .

I b i d . ~

p.4l .

12 .

I b i d . ~

p.4l .

13.

I b i d . ~

p. l l . .

14.

I b i d

p.64.

15.

I b i d

p.65,

16. gun

i s addressed as "0 la1e

being"

in The Fourth

Stage" ,

p. l20;

in

"Idanre"

he i s

r ~ t l y

referred to as

a

lone

deity.

See

I d a n l e ~

W ·

70

and

81.


13/14

186

17. Idanre . p.87.

18. Ibid .

p.28.

19. Ibid

.

p.28.

20. P· .3.

. p. 30.

21. Ibid . p.68.

22.

Ibid

.

p.58.

23.

Soyinka,

Wole.

A

Shuttle

in

the

r y p t

~ H i l l

and

Wang

,

New

York , (1972) , p . l l

24.

I d a n r e

p . 66 .

25. The

Fourth Stage , p.l26.

26 . e

frequently inpl ies in his

writings tha t cxmron grounds

for

cx:ttparison

exis t between

Yoruba

rnyt: OOlogy and tha t of

the

Greeks

.

Ogun,

for

instance,

i s an

errtx:xli.nent

of

the

Dionysian, Apollonian and Prcnethean virtues, ~ Fourth

Stage,

p .

l20

. In the

otes

t Idanre ,

Soyinka

invd


14/14

187

39.

Ibid., p.81.

40. Ibid.

p.69.

41. Ibid

. 1

p.87.

42. Soyinka, Wole. And After

the

Narcissist?

African

Forum

Vol. 1 No.4 (Spring, 1966), p.S9 .

43. Ibid. p.60.

44.

Idan.re.

p. 57.

45. Ibid

.

W ·

57-58.

46. Ibid., p. 57.

47.

Ibid., p.57.

48. Ibid. p. 81.

49. Ib id.

p.69.

50.

Yeats,

W B . Collected

Poems

Maani.llan, New York (1974),

p .291.

Hezzy Maduakor. a graduate

o f the University o f

Ibadan.

and of

Leeds

taught

EngLish

Literature

at the Univer-

sity

o f

Ottawa where he recentLy

received

his

Ph.D

in

EngLish

Literature.

11 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

• •

•

SUBSCRIBE •

• •

•

African prd:>lems are understood

•

•

•

•

RE D

bet ter through

•

•

•

•

ND

•

•

UFAHAMU

•

•

•

•

CONTRIBUTE

•

•

•

111111111111111111111

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Cyclic Determinism in Soyinka's Idanre

Documents

Transcript of Cyclic Determinism in Soyinka's Idanre