RETURN OF THE TOWN CRIER?: OKIGBO’S “PATH OF THUNDER”

This article enters the long running debate about the poet Christopher Okigbo’s published oeuvre and the place of “Path of Thunder” in the compilation called Labyrinths. The article does not set out to directly prove or disprove if Okigbo saw them as separate works. It is more concerned to consider arguments regarding the compatibility and incompatibility of his earlier and later work, and to suggest another pathway by which it is possible to read the later collection “Path of Thunder”. The essay uses Ruth Finnegan’s insights about the free-lance poet as a template for the assessment of Okigbo’s “performance” as a poet. Beginning with her insights the discussion goes on further to do a close reading of selected poems and their employment of traditional African tools, motifs and strategies. The essay contends that he is a much more dynamic poet than is widely believed. Much time is spent examining some of the strategies at work in his later poetry. All in all the essay wants to broa’den the debate so that less attention or blame is personally laid at Okigbo’s feet and more emphasis is placed on concerns to do with artistic freedom, motivation, audience and mask wearing.

Keywords: Christopher Okigbo, “Path of Thunder”, Labyrinths’ unity/disunity, private vs public poet, critical reception, reassessment of critical reception, the free lance poet, artistic freedom, mask wearing, Indigenous African poetic and rhetorical strategies, proverbs, repetition, parallelism, Ruth Finnegan.

“Path of Thunder” the Crisis of Inclusion/Exclusion. Critical Approaches

The elements which were so ever present at the beginning of Okigbo’s initiation are even more potent in the concluding movement “Path of Thunder.” One might compare the “rays, violet and short” and the storm imagery of “Heavensgate” with the pending apocalypse which haunts “Path of Thunder,” and consider them as comprising Okigbo’s total testament. The foreboding atmosphere which gave birth to the initiate’s awareness of his soul’s delinquency in “Heavensgate” (“the stars have departed”) threatens with equal portent in the poem “Thunder Can Break.” The voices of wisdom and prophesy which informed the listener in earlier segments such as Upandru’s with its sage instructions, or like that in “Limits” VIII which speaks the language of war and confrontation, continue to utter their voices in “Path of Thunder” and now conjointly as well: But already the hunters are talking about/pumpkins: If they share the meat let them/remember thunder.2

The symbols of the “drum,” the “labyrinth", of ominous “birds” and other supernatural forces maintain their significance, and achieve an even greater symbolic scope within the structure of the final book “Path of Thunder.” One is quite sure that he who presages an imminent death throughout the sequence of Elegies in “Path of Thunder” is the same person as he who the initiate represents within the earlier parts of Labyrinths. The music motifs also persist, they are given added ranges of interpretation, and in turn they sound new dimensions to the earlier strains. The “lament” in “Silences” becomes the “Elegy” in “Path of Thunder”, and the message of the “slit-drum” with its “condolences,” reinforces the symbolic potency of the “long-drum” in “Silences.” The level of sustained social commitment which inspires “Distances” (but which hitherto had not been noticed in the religious sequences “Heavensgate” and “Limits”) is continued right into “Path of Thunder” hardly relenting or allowing for a moment of respite, as the division within “Silences” allowed.

Ime Ikiddeh also sees similar associations between “Path of Thunder” and the other poems, and he summarises that:

For Udoeyop “Path of Thunder” represents: another personal testimony to a current public situation.4 And he considers that others were presented in “Limits” and “Silences.” In addition, most of the criticisms which have offered the view that “Path of Thunder” is related to the other segments often turn to “Silences” for the brunt of their examples, given the preponderance of associative references and features. The presentation of the Franciscan Nuns of “Silences” as symbols of a society at the brink of political and social inundation is not that far removed from the turmoil being adumbrated in “Path of Thunder”. The structural incorporation of “crier” and “chorus” into “Silences” can be seen to prepare the audiences for the type of interactive performance which “Path of Thunder” incites; and “Silences II’s” allusion to the death of Zaire’s first president Patrice Lumumba (as Nwoga reminds us) is a prelude to the growing concern with politics and public matters, which become predominant in “Path of Thunder”.

Within the poet’s supplication to the Earth Mother in “Elegy for Alto,” Ikiddeh sees Okigbo’s “Last Testament” in the “Earth unbind me” prayer and he theorises that:

Although one does not totally agree with the final conclusion offered, this quotation is quite significant since it is representative of the type of holistic cum comparative, ad homonym tinged criticism which abounds and which tends to suggest a radical embracing and abandonment of positions by the poet. This impression of the poet is also conveyed in sections of Chinweizu’s criticism of Okigbo, whom he is at great pains to categorise as “the early Okigbo” and “the later Okigbo.” For Chinweizu, the early Okigbo is seen within “the first foundering steps of “Heavensgate,” the later Okigbo is marked by his transformation in the final section “Path of Thunder.” Oyeniyi Okunoye seems to agree with this categorization.6

When Anozie argues against the inclusion of the “Path of Thunder” sequence in the Heinemann collection Labyrinths, he is representing yet another critical approach to Okigbo; one which is segmental in outlook. His is an argument, as he says, “from a purely literary standpoint,” this reading of Okigbo’s work is also shared by Okunoye; Anozie goes on to contest:

Anozie uses the “No in thunder” motif of “Silences” to conclude that Okigbo had not fully within himself resolved the question of whether art and politics should or should not be separated.

Finnegan, and Reading Okigbo as a Free-lance Poet

There is indeed good literary reason for Anozie’s mistrust. However one must be watchful of those perspectives which become overly obsessed with the dictates of textual form and thematic propinquity. Suffice it to say that “Path of Thunder” reveals a dynamic poetic attitude: it appears a radical sequence (in the political sense), much more forthright than the obscurantist verse in “Heavensgate,” “Limits,” and “Distances.” Certainly its reliance on folk forms and its being targeted to the folk consciousness are examples of the poet and his work’s dynamic quality: such an appraisal deliberately eschews many of the preconceived notions about the need for, and pre-eminence of thematic and stylistic unity, notions which often define the thrust of formal criticisms. Those criticisms can overlook the question of artistic freedom, fulfillment, and can also disregard the deeper significance of African/Igbo artistic background and context to the poetry. I would contend that these considerations can help to offer us other ways of understanding Okigbo’s poetry and the poet himself. The free-lance poet of West African culture is described by Finnegan as someone who “. . . moves from place to place according to where he can find a wealthy patron or audience prepared to reward him in return for his poems . . .”8 If one is prepared to begin to see the poet as a dynamic individual then perhaps one might read Okigbo and his poetry, especially “Path of Thunder,” differently. This is not an attempt to determine whether “Path of Thunder” should or should not be compiled along with the other segments, rather the essay wants to offer an alternative approach, not totally new, but different from that of the established critical voices mentioned above. To see Okigbo as the free-lance poet (as described by Finnegan)9 is to undermine the pre-eminence assigned to textual wholeness and order, which has guided many criticisms, and to begin to foreground his dynamic range of performance as an equally pertinent consideration. To see Okogbo as a free-lance poet is to accord him a much more fluid disposition. He cannot be simply labeled within a binary categorization of: “the early Okigbo” and/vs “the later Okigbo”, there is much more complexity to his work and his personality. Closer examination of his poetry reveals the extent of its fluidity, development and complexity.

In his interviews Okigbo was quite clear about what he wanted most from his writings up to "Distances". His greatest “reward” was to be read and understood by an audience, somewhere, which would also share his emotions.10 Without the benefit of the interview and direct statement about “Path of Thunder” due to the tragedy of Nigeria in 1966, one can only speculate about the “reward” which he sought when he wrote this his final sequence. He could very well have imagined his audience as comprising fellow Nigerians, Igbos. He would have them fight next to him. His fellow Nigerians were perceived as having the most to offer, hence his adoption of the indigenous voice. His employment of African and western references in his “Heavensgate,” “Limits” and so on similarly appealed to all those who struggled internally with a divided consciousness. Given the deeply contemplative and psychological nature of this complex, his poetry in the earlier sections reflected the tortured, contorted form of his repressed anxiety. This quality remained in his poetry throughout and into “Path of Thunder” in the same way it can be argued that the apocalyptic atmosphere of “Path of Thunder” reaches back to the earlier sections of “Heavensgate.” As in all social and human systems, conditions and situations change over time. When later events of the Biafran war impacted his nation, he was likewise affected. For the free-lance artist the practice of mask-wearing has less to do with total abandonment of an old self for a new self, and more to do with adapting one’s craft in response to perceived demands. His people needed him. Had he remained alive for longer and were he to feel again that his audience had changed, then Christopher Okigbo would take on another mask; and there would be no incongruity in this act, for such is the norm of the free-lance poet.

Reading “Path of Thunder”

“Path of Thunder” represents Okigbo’s response to the series of events in Nigeria from late 1965 until about the middle of 1966. With the exception of “Elegy of the Wind” each of the poems in the six-poem sequence can be dated. From “Come Thunder,” written one month before the military coup. “Hurrah for thunder” written a day after, through “Thunder Can Break,” “Elegy for Slit-Drum” and “Elegy for Alto” (all written some five months after the coup), one can trace the development of events and the poet’s personal and artistic responses to these developments.

In “Path of Thunder” Christopher Okigbo is no more committed to his craft than in any of the other sections from “Heavensgate” to “Distances.” What has changed here rather, is his perception of and response to a new audience. The court poet of the earlier segments gives way to “the people’s poet” in “Path of Thunder,” and Okigbo signals this movement at the conclusion of “Hurray For Thunder”:

At the outset of the above poem an “elephant” lies stricken; in a sense the poet is attempting to maintain some degree of mystery and indirectness - features which were associated with his earlier myth-tinged verse. But as well, and more importantly, he is employing an indigenous symbol (the elephant) a part of the traditional hunter’s list of prized game, as part of his poetry. “Hurrah for Thunder” is Okigbo’s “Hunting Song.” Such songs were often sung to celebrate the capturing of game considered to be particularly awesome and potent. Okigbo saw the appropriateness of employing the metaphor of hunting in reference to military activity because of his understanding of the relatedness between hunting poetry and military poetry: both are associated (as Finnegan notes) “with the ideas of danger, pride and glory.”12 These are sung usually in anticipation of confrontation; but they are sung vociferously on completion of a successful mission. In “Hurrah for Thunder” Christopher Okigbo mirrors the practice where “a hunter is expected to climb on to the body of an elephant and burst into song:”13

Okigbo’s chorus (of voices) becomes like the heroic hunter’s song of north east Africa:

Okigbo has also added the most essential component of the hunting song, that is, a portentous description of the prey. Babalola’s list of actual praise names given to these beasts are also echoed in Okigbo’s verse. Babalola’s list tells of “Elephant praise named He-who-used-his-hand-as-a-trumpet, Elephant called He-who-remains-mountainous-even-when-seated.”16 Consider Okigbo’s:

This serves to reemphasize the prowess of the hunter, as Finnegan notes18, but for Okigbo it is more so a useful metaphor for describing the ominous threat to a society’s rights. The beast’s threat to “the ground,” “the earth” and “the grass” (all sacred, and symbols of life and growth) effectively conveys this reality. Okigbo is now less concerned with the myth than he is with the metaphor; and the means for interpreting and going beyond its surface level relies on an awareness of the distinctly indigenous African input, which is that submerged half (and yet everything).

The elephant here is Sir Abubakar Tafowa Balewa the Federal Prime Minister who was killed on the night of the fifteenth of January 1966 by a group of young officers, in response to what they interpreted as his repressive rule. Okigbo has also alluded to other political and social figures and their function, through related devices. In “Elegy for Slit-Drum” the “General” is General Aguiyi-Ironsi who unceremoniously unseats the young officers of the January 15th coup. Symbolically, “an iron mask covers his face . . .”19 indicating his pernicious disposition, evil intent and perhaps as well, as Fraser intimates, a premonition that “the cruel face of human history” promises “retribution and mutual destruction.”20 He is eventually disposed of as well.

A similar prophetic caution haunts much of Okigbo’s so-called celebratory/militant verse in “Path of Thunder”. In “Hurrah for Thunder” Okigbo cautions the masses:

This air of uncertainty and pending doom lurks within every path, it informs the poet’s delivery, and reemphasizes “Path of Thunder’s” sense of timelessness, and its cyclical portrayal of tragedy, partial respite, and eternal tension. All this gives resonance to the universal statement which the town-crier can be seen to make in “Path of Thunder.” His becomes a warning to all mankind about the potential for evil within all human transactions whether they be political or spiritual. It offers little comfort, but provides much wisdom in the revelation that:

Okigbo’s supplanting of the myth with the metaphor is not so much a conscious attempt at stylistic transformation as this transformation is an accompanying feature to his most present poetic stance. The need to reach and communicate with a home audience foremost has given birth to the employing of a mode of expression which derives much influence from the form, structure, content, and effect of the proverb and its associated verbal forms. "Hurrah for Thunder” presents the most direct employing of the proverb in all of “Path of Thunder”:

But this direct borrowing is only a sample of the weight which the proverb carries within “Path of Thunder”. Proverbs are capable of many functions, and are equally diverse in terms of the form which they might take; but in the final analysis they represent “the soul of a people.”24 The folk-infused tone which Okigbo’s “Path of Thunder” achieves, that quality which perhaps is more often alluded to in criticism than concretely identified, owes much to the stylistics associated with proverbs within West African society: contrast, the hyperbole and equivocation are three of these features which become significant to our analysis here. But in addition, other more subtle attributes of the proverb will be seen to be employed by the town-crier for this his most immediate of occasions.

“Hurrah for Thunder’s” warning about retribution, about time’s cyclical nature, and its admonition towards a careful rejoicing, is aptly conveyed in the poem’s most ostentatious proverb (quoted above). It is aptly placed as a reminder after the description of euphoric jubilation (“Hurrah . . .”) which is about to inundate a nation just one day after a popular coup. Such a caution had already been lodged in the lines of the same poem:

The message is the same in both cases but what we have here is a rare occasion where Okigbo reinforces his message to the public, firstly through the medium of the allegory, then by use of the proverb. This device has the dual effect of giving a clue to the interpretation of Okigbo’s allegory, as well as relaying its message to a particular audience, those for whom the proverb is an esoteric means of communication.

Okigbo’s engagement with proverbs did not begin in “Path of Thunder.” As I have intimated before, he is a much more dynamic poet than he is sometimes credited. The proverb had first been remarked in “Initiations”: “Heavensgate,” with the half-demented Jadum the minstrel. His proverbs seemed less as instruction and wisdom and more as the irrational utterances of a nocturnal screamer. They were re-presented primarily (one feels) to give substance to a character whom the poet knew as a boy, more so than for any cathartic purposes. It is with Upandru that the proverb began to achieve the magnitude and the relevance which it would later take on in “Path of Thunder.” The proverbial sayings of “Limits VI” are foremost a biblical echo which further complicates, as opposed to explaining the mysteries of the ministrant’s relationship both to art, and to his society. Upandru’s catechism with its induced answers foreshadows the type of response which the poet wishes to achieve from the reader. Where Upandru’s playful indulgence had led to the central clue for decoding the labyrinth (“except by rooting . . .”) the poet now seeks to achieve a similar rapport between himself and his audience whom he hopes will inculcate his message.

What is most interesting however are the similarities in form shared by proverbs and Okigbo’s style as he attempts to take his message to the masses. In “Come Thunder,” “Remember . . . Remember” appears as a warning, a caution unto wisdom: which is what a proverb is all about. While a proverb is often succinct and lucid through some logical association or disassociation, Okigbo uses contrast to create its similar sobering effect within his verse. The jubilant “dancers” are contrasted with “the thunder among the clouds,” and again they appear counter-positioned against “the lightening beyond the earth.” Although written one month before the coup, this poem is like “Hurrah for Thunder” (a post-coup piece) in terms of its ambivalence towards the goings-on within society.

The copious references to animals within this section of the poetry also enhances its make-up of traditional elements. The assumption being made here of course is that within traditional society there is a closer association between the person and his/her natural world which is not that far removed from their habitat. This phenomenon has shaped the Igbo view about nature, the animals, and the relationship which man shares with them in a cosmos whose equilibrium relies on their mutual co-existence. Finnegan buttresses this perception through an explanation of how animals can be used within proverbs to expound/reveal some truth or matter to humankind:

This could be taken directly from the pages of a tale about animals or from an associated folk-tale source. Here is an example of the close relationship which Okigbo’s verse can have with his own indigenous tradition. The idea being communicated here is one of a “cut-throat” social order. The predominant image is one of perpetual and perennial confrontation, which is conveyed by the systematic process of engulfing and being engulfed: “the squirrel” then “the snake” then “the mongoose” and “the elephant . . .” This shows a sound knowledge about the animal world, and espouses the philosophy of survival of the fittest. In a deeper sense this is a representation of Okigbo’s society in crisis as he saw it on that bleak afternoon in May of 1966, some five months after the coup and General Ironsi’s usurpation of power from the young officers. Okigbo has reproduced to the Igbo masses a portrait of their “dog-eat-dog” world. Finally, a tinge of humour is attempted, as is characteristic of any good story teller whose final line can be as humourous as it is ironic -and poignant. After the portrayal of ongoing power struggles:

The poet’s employment of the allegorical mode partly explains his adoption of what Finnegan terms “a specialized and extreme form” of expression where, “The speaker wishes to convey something, but in such a way that later on he can deny that he actually stated what was implied . . .”28 In “Path of Thunder” the allegory and metaphor have the effect of creating wider implications of meaning. In “Elegy for Alto” the actors are, plainly: “the robbers,” “the Eagles,” and the political figures appear without even the title of definite article. They are, obscurely: “politicians.” No one (no regime) can say that Christopher Okigbo has pointed his finger at them. This is all part of Okigbo’s attempt, one thinks, at self-preservation, and an indication of his shrewd artistry, more than it is a signal that he is still uncertain about his commitment and about how far the artist should go without giving over to politics and polemics and so on. “Path of Thunder” can ultimately take on local and universal significance. Yes it is about the specific events in Nigeria; but it is also about the condition of the world.

What is also noteworthy about Okigbo’s method in “Path of Thunder” is his conscious use of repetition and versal parallelism. Both of these features are acknowledged to be distinguishing traits within traditional West African orature and versification. The following translation of an original Igbo prayer to a dead father provides an opportunity for critical comparison with a segment of Okigbo’s work in “Path of Thunder”:

Although the latter poem is in no way a prayer - and is thematically distinct, it is associated with the former in that both are recited on the occasion of death. Whereas the former strikes a chord of reverence the latter is fraught with both caution and irony. But they are more alike at the level of rendering, and more specifically in terms of structural form. “My Father” is the dominant motif in the Igbo prayer, not solely because it is to him that the prayer is being addressed, but because of his elevated status which is reasserted through the constant repetition of his title: “My Father,” “Thunder” also achieves this central focus on account of its chronic sounding in “Elegy for Slit-Drum.” It is therefore established as that thing to be considered most, hence its potency can never be overlooked, a potency which is reinforced by the paying and replaying of condolences to its victims. Repetition also takes on the form of versal repetition, where an entire line or a significant part thereof is repeated. In the Igbo prayer (above) the line “when you are reborn” is repeated in its entirety, and the clause “I have brought this dog to you” is echoed seven lines onward in “I am sacrificing this cock to you.” In Okigbo’s “Elegy for Slit-Drum” similar stylistic features appear. Direct repetition is given to “thunder that has struck the elephant” whereas its supporting clauses on each occasion are rendered with slight adjustments:

In addition to maintaining a stanzaic balance these devices have the distinctive effect of creating the tone and cadence of rhetorical verse, a form which according to Finnegan is often upheld to be a salient feature of traditional West African versification.

The associated stylistic feature of parallelism pervades the very poem, where it has the effect of conveying the intensity of the tongue/message/speech, of the slit-drum:

A measure of tension is communicated firstly through the lyrics of the verse. One tongue of the slit-drum is “full of fire” while the other is “full of stone,” suggesting both ardent voicings/protest, and hard/harsh censorship. Its parallel structure helps to emphasize the close relationship between the tongues . . . one tongue . . . one tongue . . . that are one in purpose and voice, the one depending on the other, the one supporting the other: but the juxtaposing of what must be their conflicting message is particularly bothering33, and tellingly symbolic of the competing and oftentimes conflicting demands of society (public concerns) and artistry (private concerns) on the poet.

Judging from the absence of criticism on the nature and function of rhythm in “Path of Thunder”, it would seem that rhythm is more overtly sounded and suggested within the titles of the poem (“Elegy for Slit-Drum”; “Elegy for Alto”), than within the actual verse. But careful scrutiny reveals otherwise, for Okigbo is as equally committed to experimenting with the poetic tool of rhythm, as some exponents of the oral tradition. The rhythm which permeates “Path of Thunder” has very much to do with some of the features explored earlier, such as repetition; but in addition it has to do with the poem’s structure on the page, and the associations (with music and rhythm) which the poet implies within the titles of his poems.

The rhythmic variations within “Path of Thunder” are influential determinants of the moods which interplay within this section. Like some traditional exponents who could sway the emotions of their audience through tampering with rhythm, the modern town-crier of “Path of Thunder” has produced verse that can be described as incantatory, intense, meditative, choral, monophonic and polyphonic.

“Come Thunder’s” incantatory quality derives partly from its repetition of identical phrases. These phrases are enhanced by a versal arrangement that allows for the poem’s performance by two or more voices. Within the first five lines there is an alternating rhythm which is intimated simply by the structured setting out of lines on the page: the longer line is followed by a shorter one. A more technical analysis reveals one heavily pulsed line giving way to a less heavily pulsed one. “Hurrah for Thunder’s” sense of rhythm is dictated by simple punctuation. The rhythmic pattern of the final eight lines (for example) is suggested by the use of the colon, semicolon, the comma, and the full stop, which represent different durations of pausation:

The first line of each two line stanza offers a break in rhythm: only the duration of a colon, semi-colon or comma, but (for the most part) it is not until the end of each stanza that the rhythm is actually seen to stop. The corresponding lines of each stanza are basically of identical length, metre and rhythm—except for the rhythmic variations within lines five and eight when the comma intervenes. Performance notation is therefore written in the page. Each line within the two line stanza depends on the other for full meaning, and for resolution. Significantly as well, any one of these verses can exist without the other.

“Elegy for Alto” and “Elegy for Slit-Drum” reemphasize the oral qualities within “Path of Thunder.” “Elegy for Slit-Drum” is perhaps the most rhythmically dynamic of all the poems in “Path of Thunder.” When Nketia makes the point that in Africa the music of a two or three tone instrument (like the slit-drum) may be effective “if it has a strong rhythmic influence”35, some conscious understanding of that phenomenon on Okigbo’s part appears evident, based on a reading of “Elegy for Slit-Drum.” Its haunting repetitive lines of “condolences” are given the notation of “diminuendo” by the centre of the poem where they fade, only to return with greater intensity and heavier accent, reaching a crescendo by the final two lines:

That polyrhythmic texture, which Chernoff37 highlights to be characteristic of all African vocal compositions which make use of different voices of chorus and soloist, is evident within “Elegy for Slit-Drum.” The chorus’ voices can be made to intone all those lines which offer “condolences,” whereas the soloist recites all the others. This can have the effect of creating a countermovement of tone and rhythm, when after the chorus’ single line . . . condolences . . . from our swollen lips laden with condolences there comes the soloist’s double:

But whereas the chorus’ line maintains its basic format and structure, the soloist engages in a series of improvisations: shifting to four line phrases, then to two lines again, and to six, and to eight, then back to two again . . . and always his rhythm is being contrasted against, counterpointed by the more rhythmically and metrically regimented cadence of each chorus:

Primarily “Path of Thunder” has revealed Christopher Okigbo’s dynamic quality, and his ability to manipulate his craft, in this case to suit the principal demands of addressing an indigenous audience. He has shown a keen perception for the workings of folk life, and of the folk mind, a knowledge which has thrown up a number of salient similarities of style between his work and that of the traditional folk poet/town-crier. For Joe UShie this is not a radical departure for poets like Okigbo, since he considers Okigbo’s contemporaries to have been responding to their social and personal realities.40 Arguably, there is no other African poet whose oeuvre has stirred such competing critiques. Maybe Alex Irvine touches the mark when commenting on the competing contentious critical positions he suggests that “for one biographical critic he is Jungian intellectual, for another a proletarian revolutionary; and on and on. This violent disagreement speaks to the importance of both Okigbo himself and the myth his death has made possible.”41 For me the poet’s death has helped to stir the mystique surrounding his work. But even more so it is his poetry that has stirred such debate. It is the dynamic quality that intrigues and repulses some readers and critics alike. It is the resolute craftsman, the free-lance spirit that fashions this poetry making it hard to finally pin down and label.

Notes and References

1 Sunday Anozie, Christopher Okigbo; Creative Rhetoric (London: Evans Brothers Limited, 1972) 178.

2 Christopher Okigbo, Labyrinths (London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1971) 67.

3 Ime Ikiddeh, “Iron, Thunder and Elephants: A Study of Okigbo’s ’Path of Thunder’,” Critical Perspectives on Christopher Okigbo, ed. Donatus Ibe Nwoga (Washington: Three Continents Press, 1984) 191.

4 N. J. Udoeyop, “Okigbo: A Branch of Giant Fennel,” Critical Perspectives 168.

5 Ikiddeh, “Iron, Thunder and Elephants” 1984.

6 Chinweizu, Towards the Decolonization of African Literature (Washington: Howard University Press, 1983) 196. Also see Oyeniyi Okunoye’s essay “Captives of Empire: Early Ibadan Poets and Poetry”. African Study Monograph, 19 (3): 161-170, November, 1998.

7 Anozie, Creative Rhetoric 173. Okunoye’s essay “Captives of Empire: Early Ibadan Poets and Poetry” expresses a similar opinion, especially on pages 167-170.

8 Ruth Finnegan, Oral Literature in Africa (Nairobi: Oxford University Press, 1970) 92.

9 Finnegan, Oral Literature 92.

10 Christopher Okigbo, Interview with Louis Nkosi in Critical Perspectives, ed. Nwoga, 239.

11 Okigbo, Labyrinths 67.

12 Finnegan, Oral Literature 221.

13 Finnegan, Oral Literature 222.

14 Okigbo, Labyrinths 67.

15 H. M. Chadwick, The Growth of Literature, 3 vols. (London: Cambridge, 1932-40) Vol 3:514.

16 S. A. Babalola, “The Characteristic Features of Outer Form of Yoruba Ijala Chants,” Odu 1.1-2 (1964-65):51.

17 Okigbo, Labyrinths 67.

18 Finnegan, Oral Literature 223.

19 Okigbo, Labyrinths 69.

20 Robert Fraser, West African Poetry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986) 135.

21 Okigbo, Labyrinths 67.

22 Okigbo, Labyrinths 72.

23 Okigbo, Labyrinths 67.

24 Okigbo, Labyrinths67.

25 Finnegan, OralLiterature 396.

26 Okigbo, Labyrinths 70.

27 Okigbo, Labyrinths 70.

28 Finnegan, Oral Literature 411.

29 Ulli Beier, Python; Ibo Poetry (Port Moresby: Papua Pocket Poets, 1967) 17.

30 Okigbo, Labyrinths 70.

31 Okigbo, Labyrinths 70.

32 Okigbo, Labyrinths 68.

33 As F. Bebey says, “the [slit] drum which announces happy events is not used to spread news of deaths,” see Bebey 96.

34 Okigbo, Labyrinths 67.

35 J. H. Nketia, The Music of Africa (London: Gallancz, 1975) 125.

36 Okigbo, Labyrinths 70.

37 John Chernoff, African Rhythm and African Sensibility (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979) 91-151.

38 Okigbo, Labyrinths 68.

39 Okigbo, Labyrinths 69.

Curwen Best. “Return of the Town Crier?: Okigbo’s “Path of Thunder”” West Africa Review: Issue 11, 2007.

Abstract

“Path of Thunder” the Crisis of Inclusion/Exclusion. Critical Approaches

Finnegan, and Reading Okigbo as a Free-lance Poet

Reading “Path of Thunder”

Notes and References