INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Poetry is by no means a recent import into Africa from Europe. It is an important and living part of African culture going back into the distant past. In nearly all African societies, there has been and still in many places a thriving oral tradition for poetry. Poetry and song are basic human activities and in traditional African societies. The people have used these forms of expressions, that is, song and poetry to accompany the activities of their daily life. To give utterance to their joy and sorrow to comment on life or simply to entertain

This falk Literature was not an ‘extra’ to the community’s life it was part of the community. Sometimes societies have their professional poets. They used their skills to serve society putting into literature from the values, beliefs and feelings of the society.

The poet was the man who gave expressions to accumulate wisdom of the community he lived in. His aim was to entertain as well as to instruct. In doing that, he made use of rich, vivid and imaginative language. These general comment about the significance of poetry is traditional African poetry.

Mathew Takwi is a Cameroonian writer and poet who fall under the 3rd generation writers. The writers of this generation are called socialist realist, revolutionary poets and the younger rascals because of their reaction towards the things they identify in their environment just like Ngugi Wa Thiong’o supports in his Homecoming when he posits that literature does not grow in a vacuum. It is shaped, inspired, directed and given impetus by the socio-cultural and economic factors in the environment in which it is written. They use simple language to communicate their subject matter and through the beauty and skillful manipulation of language they preach revolt in their themes and also propose meaningful solutions to the problems that they identified.

To add, they also identified themselves with the masses inspite of the fact that they castigate the masses for contributing to their plight. Some of the poets of this generation are:  Nol Alembong, Bate Besong, Ghalia Gangwa’a, Emmanuel Fru Doh, Mathew Takwi amongst others. Plato in his book THE REPUBLIC, Lampoons writers especially poets who are unable to appeal to the emotions of the readers and instill a feeling of rebellion. But these poets or writers appeal to the emotions of readers and instill a feeling of rebellion through the theme they present and via very simple and down to earth language. Plato’s view on writers who are unable to appeal to readers emotions and instill rebellion therefore leads us to the motivation of this work

Statement of Problem

The society in which the poet lives is characterized by socio economic and political decay. Morality has been overthrown by immorality and corruption making the land to be regarded as the biblical Sodom and Gomorrah of old. The poet is the eagle who sees with the eyes of the people and points these problems out. Precursory materials in this study show that the poet is concerned with these problems identified and he is concerned on how they can be solved.

Aims And Objectives Of The Study

The study seeks to analyse Mathew Takwi poetry using the collection of poems people Be  Not fooled as example to demonstrate poetry of the angry generation commonly known as revolutionary poetry.

1. The study contends that the poet is bent on spreading a revolution through his choice of words and expression of thoughts.
2. This study also seeks to analyse Mathew Takwi’s people Be Not fooled as an attack to upper class immorality, embezzlement and social ills.
3. The primary objective of this study is to analyse and show how simple and metaphorical language in the poetry of Takwi instills rebellion and also appeals to the emotions of the readers

Research Questions

The following research problems generated the following research questions

In his style of writing appealing to the conscience of the people and ignites the spirit of revolution in the people

1. Does the poet or writer attack or satirize the moral barrenness of the society
2. How does the environment of the poet influence his style of writing
3. How does he propose solutions to the problems he has identified in the society in which he lives

Check Out: Literature Project Topics with Materials