African Poetry

Collected Poems

Name: Collected Poems
Author: Chinua Achebe
ISBN: 9781400076581

by Chinua Achebe

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Overview

Featuring seven new, never-before-published poems in addition to Chinua Achebe's award-winning earlier work, Collected Poems makes available again after more than twenty-five years the poetry of Africa's foremost novelist. From an account of the tragedy of Biafra to an appeal to African consciousness, from a gentle mockery of tradition to a recollection of personal relationships, Achebe's poems are marked by a richness of language and blend simplicity and eloquence, fierceness and tenderness and a careful attention to the minute - a facial expression, a wrinkled hand, a sunbeam.

About the Author, Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. His first novel, Things Falls Apart, became a classic of international literature and required reading for students worldwide. He also authored four subsequent novels, two short-story collections, and numerous other books. He was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and, for over 15 years, was the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College. In 2007, Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement. He died in 2013.

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Editorials

From the Publisher

“A magical writer—one of the greatest of the twentieth century.” —Margaret Atwood

“The father of African literature in the English language and undoubtedly one of the most important writers of the second half of the 20th century.” —Caryl Phillips, The Observer

“Chinua Achebe is gloriously gifted with the magic of an ebullient, generous, great talent.” —Nadine Gordimer

Publishers Weekly

One of the world's most admired novelists, Achebe (Things Fall Apart; Anthills of the Savannah) has maintained a separate (and much less prolific) career as a poet: this slender volume shows American readers that work. Achebe was forced out of his native Nigeria in 1966, just before the grisly and devastating Biafran War of 1967-1970. Some of his most authoritative poems respond to those, and to later, public events. "A Mother in a Refugee Camp" shows its title character combing "the rust-colored hair left" on her son's "skull," "Like putting flowers on a tiny grave." Achebe's other poems include lyrics of hope and resolve, "tearful songs/ Of joy," and responses to ceremonial occasions: "Beware, Soul Brother" advises its listener to "protect this patrimony to which/ you must return when the song/ is finished." "Dereliction" (a good candidate for anthologies) denounces those who abandon local traditions. Some of his language is now dated, or sounds awkward, at least to American ears ("evil forests of Soviet technology"), but other, stronger work shows Achebe's narrative gifts, retelling New Testament stories ("Lazarus") or animating Nigerian legends and myths ("Lament of the Sacred Python"). These and scattered other poems are "Clear-signed with a clarity/ rarely encountered in dreams." (Aug.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.