A POEM ON DISASTER AND DEATH: COVID-19 BY DEOLA ADELAKUN

Briefs of the Poem

The poem portrays the themes of disaster and death. It draws us back to the recent disaster that engulfs the globe. The occurrences affect human and non-human resources. The poet is concerned about the disaster that results in death.

Hundred thousand innocents perished and people draws more tears from sobbing eyes. Many people die during the disaster and global economy is paralysed. Many are shivering and wet because the disaster new to approximately 95% of the people.

The poet explicates coronivirus as a monster that taught the world a lesson. Olympic suffered. Friends are moaning loudly. Homes are scampering for refuge.

Tourism and Pilgrimages are forbidden. It is as the world wants to end. A lot of prophecies about the end time. Even certain people are saying that the disaster occurs as a result of 4G technology.

It koronises us with whips. The poet symbolises the virus as a man like thousands and the teacher of the disobedient. Millions are inflicted in a couple of months.

The dragon lizard that shuts down global economy. Nobody can go out again. The poet sees the COVID-19 as a music profession as the different tunes of Koro are occupied the mouth of everybody.

Coughing, handshaking, hugging, keeping social distance, watching and sanitising hands, isolating and quarantining yourself, using your face mask, staying at home were Koro lyric and rhythm. The cry of COVID-19 and coronavirus here and there.

The poet begs and encourages all miracle ministers to perform their miracles at the isolation centres. Their powers are now useful there to heal as many as Koro patients. Also, they are needed to send away the leprosy from our land.

Practice Questions

Explicate the themes recognised in the poem
Explain the preventive measures against KORO in the poem.
Discuss the negative effects of KORO in the poem.
Comment on the poetic use of language in the poem.
Comment on the use of synecdoche in the poem.
Why does the world fear KORO?
Who are invited to find solution to the disaster by the poet?

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Knowledge Needed for the Analysis of Poems

Poetry as a piece of literary work, whether spoken or written, expresses and communicates thoughts, ideas, experiences, feelings and emotions beautifully by means of imagery, rhythm and sound. It is is usually written in verse with lyrical effects.

In order to achieve effect, a poet, chooses words that conveys meanings through their sounds and that also create images in the readers’ mind. Poetry has music, rhythm and rhyme.

That is words in a poem are arranged in lines, usually with a repeated rhythm, and sometimes with a rhyme in the end. The ideas in a poem are arranged into lines and stanzas.

To analyse a poem, a reader needs to understand how the poet uses words and sounds devices to create images and to bring out his meaning. Thus, the following elements which give poetry its uniqueness in language and meaning will be treated.

The following are major forms of poetry: narrative poetry, satirical poetry, dramatic poetry and lyrical poetry.

Features of poetry

Poetry is written in verse, in the form of stanzas and lines.
Poetry is metrical in arrangement.
It is usually lyrical.
It makes use of figurative language.
It expresses thought, ideas and experiences sometimes in a concise form.

Types of poetry

Ballad: the word ‘ballad’ is out of current use. The poem derives from village festival and is not often written but handed down orally from generation to generation, e.g. Ekun iyawo, Ijala Ode, etc.
Epic: This poem narrates heroes and their deed , e, g Milton’s Paradise Lost, Soyinka’s idanre
Elegy/Dirge: The poem of lamentation and a song of mourning and a sorrowful event such as the death of a bosom friend, Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Lyric: A poem to be sung to the lyre. It is sung during burial of the dead or during the marriage ceremonies, e.g. J. P. Clarks Streamside Exchange
Ode: An ode is a written or spoken poem addressing somebody or something to mark a special occasion.
Pastoral poem: this poem celebrates the lives of country and people.
Narrative poem: This is a long poem that tells a story, e.g Samuel Coleridge’s The rhyme of the Ancient Mariner.
Panegyrics/Eulogy: It is a praise poem dedicated to the glorification (praising) of the attributes or qualities of a person, an animal, a place or event and object.

Tools to consider in analyzing poems

Stanzas/Rhymes: This is the division in the formal pattern of person. It could be two, three or more lines. Rhyme is the exact correspondence in sound or word-ending, usually at the end of the each poem. The arrangements of the stanzas should be considered. Learn how they are arranged below.

A two-line stanza is known as a couplet
A three-line stanza is known as triplet
A four-line stanza is known as quatrain
A five-line stanza is known as quintet
A six-line stanza is known as a sestet
A seven-line stanza is known as a septet
An eight-line stanza is known as an octave

Rhythm: This is a metrical movement determined between sounds and events.
Tone/mood: These are feelings or state of mind of the poet. It is the frame of mind in which the poet was when composing his work.
Atmosphere: This is the prevalent mood, feelings and thought of actions of people in a poem.
Enjambment: This is also known as (run-on-line). It occurs when the ideas in a line of verse move from one line to join that follows it.
Imagery: It is the use of words to form mental pictures. A poet could use words to draw a picture of situations whose ordinary words cannot convey effectively.
Metre: This is the arrangement of the stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem to give a particular rhythmic effect.
The content of the poem: The content is the main body of the poem and you should understand the message and subject matter.
The structure of the poem: the structure of the poem is to be considered, such as stanzas, verses and lines.
Language and style of the poem: The style, figures of speech and theme are to be considered. The style is the way the language is structured. It is the manner the poem is done. The theme is the central idea and the dominating pointing of the poem. The figures of the speech are simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, irony, euphemism, etc.