LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review

Literature Review

PART I

The Spring's Last Drops

Catherine Acholonu's poems in The Spring's Last Drops deserve attention because she draws her subject matter from the realities of life and con- temporary events. The poems are also modulated by the sensitivity of a female mind that reacts to personal experience and incidents through a con- sideration of their wider implications. The poems are interestingly divided into three sections bearing the titles "Cultural Loss," "Anger of the Gods," and "A Celebration of Silence." In the section "Cultural Loss," Acholonu explores tradition through the use of numerous personae. However, the persona that dominates most of her poems is seen as a creator - one who has been sent to the world to mend some of the divine and mundane deficiencies in human nature. The poems in "Anger of the Gods" are used also to explore tradition. But in these poems, Acholonu indicates that tradition should not be discarded recklessly.

She used a persona whose after-birth is not buried where it can be recognized but rather is discarded in a pit latrine to illustrate the manner in which worthwhile customs are crazily abandoned. In effect, she explores oral tradition as a viable model for the examination of current social, political, and economic issues disconcerting Nigeria.

The poems in the section "A Celebration of Silence" are mostly symbolic. The longest poem, "The Message," which is about seven pages is placed in this section. The persona in the poem is seen as a seed that will germinate into a useful human being. This poem codifies (apparently) the poetic view of Acholonu.

The implication is that the persona, perhaps like the writer, has just commenced the onerous task of acting as conscience, which is one of the unenviable tasks of a poet. The poems in The Spring's Last ...