Abstract

This study set out to establish a dialectical relationship between a poet and social criticism using Mathew Takwi’s Breaking the Barracks and Messing manners as a source of reference. This is in order to establish an aesthetic and critical analysis of the creative tone adopted by writers in general and poets in particular.

The revolutionary ideological position of Anglophone poets, conform to the Marxists and formalist point of view that art, among many other things, should be directed against unsound socio-political, economic and cultural structures, enacted to favour a particular group of citizens and pit against others.

By implication, the usefulness of creativity is seen in the effectiveness of its outcome, that is its impact on the lives of those people handled in the works. Takwi’s approach as seen in Breaking the Barracks and Messing Manners exact as a good example of committed writing. He acts as a visionary of the living truth.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Poetry is a subgenre of literature, it is taken from a Greek word “Poieo” which means “I create” or “I make”. It is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities. A poem is something made or created by the poet. Language is the material out of which he or she creates his or her work of art.

The term (poetry) as defined in Fry’s Defence in poetry is “the development and diversification of literary forms” (926). Poetry has been distinguished from prose in that it came to be used for metrical composition in any mood and it is being set in verse. The term has therefore resumed an evaluative significance, and is often used for any literary work of a distinctive imagination or elaborate kind, or indeed (by extending) the lyrical mood in any other art form.

Contemporary Cameroon poetry and Anglophone Cameroon poetry in particular can be examined in three main phases, the first, second and third generations. The first generation poets’ span from slavery to the 1960s and their poetry existed on fragments. They paid attention to colonialism, while using of oral tales and songs of slavery as a means of transliteration.   The second generational poets spans from 1960s to 1970s. They were referred to as the obscurantist and they borrowed from the western style of writing for the most part. They paid much attention to the beauty of their language.

They drew inspiration from Greek mythology. The second generational poets are further classified into the first, second, and third tendencies. The second tendency of second generation consisted of poets who were traditionalist realist. These poets borrowed language, symbols and images from oral tradition they did so in other to ease understanding to the common man.

The third tendency of the second generation consist of critical realist poets these poets combined both western and African language and style of writing. The third tendency of the second generation of poets are known to have diagnosed the problems of Anglophone Cameroonians but failed to give or propose solutions an example of poet here is Sankie Maiemo.

The third generational poets are known as the socialist realist they began writing from 1980s to present. They differ from the other poets in their way of using language. They are also called revolutionary poets due to their way of using a pen to handle the plights of the masses. They diagnose the problems of the people and propose solutions.

Poets under this domain are said to be committed beyond aesthetics considering the fact that they choose to be the voice of the voiceless. Examples of third generational poets include Mathew Takwi, Bate Besong, Ghalia Gwangwaa, Nol Alembong, and Emmanuel Fru Doh. Chinua Achebe reinforces that third generational writers are committed when he argues in Morning Yet on Creation Day” that “it is impossible to write anything without some kind of commitment, some kind of protest … in fact, I should say our writers, whether aware or not, they are committed” (24).

By this, Achebe simply means that every literary piece that handles public issues that are directed toward the welfare of the masses, being political especially is committed literature. It is in this line that poets like Mathew Takwi emerged to say enough is enough. In an article by Bate Besong titled “Literature in the Seasons of the Diaspora: Notes to the Anglophone Cameroon Writer”, he contents that:

True the power of the writer is not always strong enough

            to change political and social situation of his time but his art

can become a fighting literature, he can write works which are

artistically profound and politically correct; he can

write works which show how this world is and could be. (18).

As such, a writer should not be a soldier to effect change; he can use his pen to write those very profound and correct issues affecting the society. Mathew Takwi therefore stands out as a prominent poet of English expression in Cameroon who has chosen to fight on behalf of the masses. His themes and style are profound. So the aim of this is to investigate the extent to which  Mathew Takwi is a social critic and a poet.

Statement of problem

This study argues that Anglophone Cameroonian literature is committed beyond esthetics, it is functional, its aim is to change the society. Bate Besong in “Literature in the seasons of the Diaspora: Notes to the Anglophone Cameroonian writer”

“… A writer without a sense of history is like a                

                                                       sparrow without wings for the writer must be the                 

                                                     visionary for the living truths in fact, a writer

                                                       without  “a sense of history is like an Aesopian

                                                      lion devoid of clows and teeth. (15)

Mattew Takwi as a visionary writer,  writing with a sense of History, writes with a sense of constructing society and provoking change. He points out societal issues and tries to redress the situation by proposing possible measures. He is politically engaged but still, his writing is esthetically profound.

Research Questions

In view of the research problem stated above the following research questions are imperative.

1. How does Mathew Takwi use language to make his work aesthetically profound?
2. How does he use content to make his work politically correct?

Check out: English Language Project Topics with Materials