“But how can we ever be enriched ... if we do not recognise the tragic prelude to the moment of triumph?” (Wole Soyinka,
Six Plays. London: Methuen, 1984. xviii)
Ogun Abibimañ (Rex Collings, 1976; Opon Ifa, 1976; Ravan, 1997) is a poetic tour de force; or, as the author would have it, a “revolutionary joie de vivre”: in his sense of a celebration of human responsibility and agency (Soyinka, Six Plays, xviii). Specifically, these 483 lines of loose blank verse, with occasional anger-induced line fractures, comprise an epic poem that celebrates President Samora Machel's decision to end a fruitless process of dialogue with the white minority regime in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and his declaration of war against that atrocity. The poet, as Ogun Abibimañ attests, without the benefit of
855 words
Citation: McLuckie, Craig. "Ogun Abibimañ". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 April 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12843, accessed 24 April 2024.]
