![]() In John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, nature speaks in arts and humanity. He is indeed the conscience of his generation by virtually poeticizing critical national and international issues, especially in Mandela and Other Poems. He is a poet recluse who champions the public cause, a rebel who hides in the shade of innocuous innuendoes of simplicity and the decoy of metaphors to articulate the hard truth. He is also well-known for his philosophical essay, The Example of Shakespeare, and his vehement protest against racism in his autobiography and travelogue, America Their America. John Pepper Clark is a Nigerian foremost poet, playwright, essayist and epic writer. We are here to celebrate life and the accident of a benevolent history that has preserved a literary icon for close to two generations writing in poetry and drama genres of literature. It is an enriching combination of rich oral literature, native experiences and the cultural heritage naturally inherited by the poets with the acquired Western tradition gotten through Western education. It is also paramount to state that new metaphors were created to illuminate the various themes based on the poet’s divergence of cultures.įinally, African literature is universal for its artistry and descriptive power, and singular for the attention that it draws to its own locality for its imagery and ideology. It is expedient to state here that these poets use distinct imagery which set them out from their contemporaries in Europe. It is with these elements that its structural form is achieved. With a rich use of imagery, metaphors and irony, African poetry is an embodiment of creativity. Lines 10-24 clearly brings this to fore as they battle to survive the surging rain on their thatch roof house Even in his poem “Night rain”, Clark hints on the extent of poverty prevalent in the African society a direct reference to the sociological experience of Africans in the hinterland and villages. A lot of problems hover round man as he moves in time and space. Clark tries to capture the state of the down trodden in the society. He structures the language in such a way that it addresses socio-political issues. In his poem “Casualties”, J.P Clark informs us about the reality that /The casualties are not only those who are dead / (line 1) but every one in the society. ![]() J.P Clark’s poetry for example, strives for the place of man in the face of natural and uncontrollable phenomenon. The poet, through his effective use of language, does not only cry for Nigeria’s sorrowful history but warns the nation to avoid a repeat performance of the nightmare of the 1960s and 70s he suggests that Nigeria’s politics do not have to lead to self-destruction. Interestingly, this reveals an analogous link to the biblical Jeremiah who, after declaring society’s shortcomings, also announced hope for a better tomorrow. It should be noted that the ending of the poem projects the idea of hope and peace as an antidote to despair on the part of individuals and the nation. ![]() As observed by Egudu, cited in Elimimian (1989: vii), Clark-Bekederemok’s “intererest is in the problems of human beings everywhere”.Clark-Bekederemo’s text mediates an empathetic understanding of the poor and the battered, implying that all are affected: Clark-Bekederemo in general, and Casualtiesin particular, whatever their weaknesses, have opened the eyes of many to deeply shared feelings. In conclusion, it should be emphasized that the poems of J. With some of these people, he formed friendships that endured beyond the campus gates, as shown in his later poems. Some of his contemporaries in his student days included Christopher Okigbo, Emmanuel Ifejuana, Abiola Irele, and a number of other Nigerian writers of repute, who were also contributors to the journal. This venture was undertaken with the support of his teacher, Martin Banham, who provided both moral and financial support for starting the journal (Stevenson, 1979: 210 Elimimian, 1989: 1). He became the founding editor of the UCI poetry journal, The Horn, in which his early poems first appeared. He was the editor of the Students’ Union journal, The Beacon. Between 19, he received his primary and secondary education, after which he continued his studies at University College, Ibadan (UCI) in 1955.There, as a student, he started his writing career. ![]() Johnson Pepper Clark was born on Apat Kiagbodo, Warri Province, in the now defunct Western Region of Nigeria to Chief Clark Fuludu Bekederemo and Poro, his wife. Night Rain By John Pepper – Summary and Analysis THE POET AND PERSON
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