The poem Abiku written by Wole Soyinka is about a spirit child who takes birth to die. The child is believed to have supernatural power who boasts for the same.
About the poet Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka was born on 13 July 1934. He is a Nigerian
writer, poet, and playwright. He was awarded the 1986 Noble Prize in
literature, where he was recognized as a man with a wide cultural perspective
and with poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence. Soyinka who
received his education at home and abroad (i.e in English literature at the
University of Leeds) was a professor of creative writing at the English
Department of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
He presents himself as a consistent and outspoken critic of
many Nigerian military dictators in specific and of worldwide political
tyrannies in general. A great deal of his writing has been concerned with the
opposite boots and the irrelevance of the color of the foot that wears it. He
wrote several plays and poems on the themes: of political tyrannies, gender
discrimination, and color discrimination.
About the poem Abiku
The poem 'Abiku
is a mythical - cum' mysterious poem in
narrative mode. Abiku is a Yoruba mythology which is a compound
word for Abi (born) and Ku (die). The myth is that those
spirits are hungry as no one offers sacrifices to them. In anger, they come to
the physical world to eat and provide their spiritual family happiness. So they
hunt the baby who is not even born or the pregnant woman. That baby's who are
haunted by spirits they are known as Abikus.
They die in moments like marriage ceremonies and feasts before puberty. Once
the mother gives birth again and the child has the same physical features as
the previous one. The mother puts a mark on the chest, back, or face of a child
The word Abiku
comes from, the Yoruba language which is spoken in West Africa. Abikus live in
the forest with their family members. It is a name given to a spirit child that
is believed to die early and reincarnate to be borne by the same woman, only to
die and return. It is a Yoruba word that can be translated as "Predestined
to death". It refers to the spirit of children who die before reaching
puberty: a child who dies before twelve years of age is called an Abiku.
It is the belief that the spirit does not ever plan to 'stay
put in life' so it is 'indifferent to the plight of its mother and her grief'.
The spirits themselves are believed to live in trees. In this poem, we have
Abiku impudently and mischievously boasting of his power to overcome all
attempts to hold him. It presents the elusiveness of the Abiku instead of
sympathizing with the mothers. There is an interplay between individual
predicament vis-Ã -vis social responsibilities.
Summary of the poem Abiku
In this poem, Abiku
is the speaker. The listeners are his human parents. He is speaking to them in
a boastful tone (attitude ). Abiku
mocks (tease or laugh at scornfully) the object used to confine (keep or
restrict someone or something within certain limits)him to the earth. The
bangles and charmed circles cannot stop him from dying. He declares proudly 'I
am Abiku calling for the first and
repeated time'. He tells that they are wasting their time by trying to make him
stay. This poem shows futility (pointlessness or uselessness) and man is a vain
person.