The Awakening Age by Ben Okri (Symbols, Themes, Imagery, Summary, Analysis and Interpretation)- NEB Grade 12- English

 

About Poet

A winner of Man Booker prize for his novel The Famished Road, the Nigerian poet, fiction writer, and essayist Ben Okri (1949-) spent his early childhood in London. Informed by folk tales and dream logic, Okri’s writing also treats his family’s experience of the Nigerian civil war. In an interview for The National, Okri stated, “I grew up in a tradition where there are simply more dimensions to reality: legends and myths and ancestors and spirits and death. You can't use Jane Austen to speak about African reality. Which brings the question: what is reality? Everyone's reality is different. For different perceptions of reality we need a different language.” 

A prolific poet and storyteller, Okri, like in his other works, portrays the hardships of the African people in “The Awakening Age”. In addition, he makes a call for unity, peace and solidarity among human beings from different parts of the world.

The Poem

O ye who travel the meridian line,

May the vision of a new world within you shine.

May eyes that have lived with poverty's rage,

See through to the glory of the awakening age.

For we are all richly linked in hope,

Woven in history, like a mountain rope.

Together we can ascend to a new height,

Guided by our heart's clearest light.

When perceptions are changed there's much to gain,

A flowering of truth instead of pain.

There's more to a people than their poverty;

There's their work, wisdom, and creativity.

Along the line may our lives rhyme,

To make a loving harvest of space and time.