Abiku by Wole Soyinka
In vain your bangles cast
Charmed circles at my feet
I am Abiku, calling for the first
And repeated time.
Must I weep for goats and cowries
For palm oil and sprinkled ask?
Yams do not sprout amulets
To earth Abiku's limbs.
So when the snail is burnt in his shell,
Whet the heated fragment, brand me
Deeply on the breast - you must know him
When Abiku calls again.
I am the squirrel teeth, cracked
The riddle of the palm; remember
This, and dig me deeper still into
The god's swollen foot.
Once and the repeated time, ageless
Though I puke, and when you pour
Libations, each finger points me near
The way I came, where
The ground is wet with mourning
White dew suckles flesh-birds
Evening befriends the spider, trapping
Flies in wine-froth;
Night, and Abiku sucks the oil
From lamps. Mothers! I'll be the
Suppliant snake coiled on the doorstep
Yours the killing cry.
The ripest fruit was saddest
Where I crept, the warmth was cloying.
In silence of webs, Abiku moans, shaping
Mounds from the yolk.
Summary of Abiku by Wole Soyinka
Abiku by Wole Soyinka is a poem that centres principally on the repeated cycle of birth and death of a mysterious child.
In Yoruba culture, in which the word Abiku originated from, it is popularly and widely believed that Abiku is a spirit child who is born into a family but he would abruptly die at a tender age; then return to the same family and conceived by the same mother.
This cycle of rebirth and death will continue for several years, therefore leaving the mother in an excruciating and emotional pain of childlessness.
It is known as Abiku by Yoruba people, but the Igbo call it Ogbanje. The name for this mysterious child differs according to culture and society across Africa and beyond.
There are famously two poems on Abiku: Abiku by Wole Soyinka and Abiku by John Pepper Clark.
The difference between Wole Soyinka's Abiku and John Pepper Clark's Abiku is notably clear:
1. Wole Soyinka's Abiku speaks with boastfulness, arrogant, and optimism.
2. John Pepper Clark's Abiku, on the other hand, is quite different from Wole Soyinka's Abiku.
In Abiku by John Pepper Clark, it is the poet that speaks, beseeching Abiku to rethink his action of repeated birth and death, which has thrown the father's mother into tears, sorrow, and mockery of childlessness.
Analysis of Abiku by Wole Soyinka
The poem begins with the boastfulness of Abiku child who tells his mother of the ineffectiveness of the bangles tied around his feet to prevent him from dying young and returning to life through birth by the same mother.
The Abiku child calls the bangles a "charmed cycle at my feet." The bangles were strategically tied around the feet of Abiku.
Abiku is optimistic that he will escape any charm no matter how powerful the charm is.
He reveals his identity in line three by saying, "I am Abiku calling for the first time." The phrase "calling for the first time" indicates that his life hinges upon repeated cycle of birth and death.
This is confirmed also in the statement: "repeated time." Abiku throws a mocking question at those who are seriously thinking and making effort to restrain him from dying by using items such as "palm oil, sprinkle ask, cowries," and other offerings.
These things have entirely no effect or efficacy over him as long as "yam do not sprout amulet."
Yam have similar cycle of life with Abiku. Yams are buried to produce another yams. Thus, Abiku highlights the importance of this connection with him.
The normal traditional method of forcing or punishing Abiku child not to return to his mother to complete the repeated cycle is to simply put marks on the body and face.
These marks are put when Abiku child dies, and as the interment is ongoing, the corpse will be dragged on the ground as another way of punishment, then it will be buried.
But a lot of stubborn Abiku child still returns by birth, carrying all the marks that were put on them on their previous lives.
In the next line of the poem, Abiku child boasts arrogantly, saying, "I am the squirrel teeth cracked."
This statement expresses the cleverness and strength and escape of Abiku child despite different means to hold him down.
Abiku child urges the family in a mockery way to mark his body very well and "digs me deeper into the God-swollen feet."
The mockery expression of deeper and God-swollen feet signifies the death of Abiku child.
If perhaps they think that digging the earth more deeper before burying him will stop him from returning, then the family is extremely wrong because "once and repeated time, ageless" though he is, he will definitely die again.
Abiku ageless deaths often come with sickness, sometimes vomiting. The mother will spend money treating Abiku and also thinking it is just a fever or malaria which requires only drugs or herbal medicine.
When the sickness refuses to go, the family will be thrown into fear, thus leading them to spiritual consultation about the fate of Abiku child.
The African traditional priest will conduct ritual performance by pouring libation after libation.
In the end, the priest's "finger will point" at the child as an Abiku child: "the way I came, where the ground is wet with mourning."
The ground is associated with death, thereby the priest will reveal that the child will definitely die.
The statement will leave nothing but mourning to the family. The boastfulness of Abiku emerges again in the next line of the poem.
Abiku child says, "Mother! I'll be the/ supplant snake call on the doorstep/ yours the killing cry."
This poem line compares Abiku child to a snake. Snakes are mostly dangerous. The doorstep symbolizes Abiku's accessible portal between life and death.
It can go to the world of the living and it can also leave without hindrance. Abiku's death always bring nothing but pain, tears, sorrow, and agony to his mother.
The poem line, "the ripest fruit was saddest," gives an image of a ripe fruit. Factually, ripeest fruit often fall down from a tree when wind shakes the branches of the tree.
This connotes with Abiku child dying very young when its time on earth reaches. The last line of the poem, "mounds from yoke," portrays life and death.
"Yoke" is associated with life, while "mounds" deals with graves. Therefore, the repeated cycle of life and death of Abiku child continues endlessly.
Themes in Abiku by Wole Soyinka
The major theme in the most major and significant themes in Wole Soyinka Abiku is death and rebirth.
Abiku's cycle of birth and rebirth is endless. The next theme are motherhood and pain. The love of a mother is seen in the poem as she makes several attempts to ensure her child stays alive, but the pain eventually comes as the child dies mysteriously.
Literary devices in Abiku by Wole Soyinka
1. Personification: Wole Soyinka employs personification in the poem. Personification can be found in the lines such as, Evening befriend the spider. Human attribute is given to evening as if it is capable of conversing like human.
2. Metaphor: Wole Soyinka uses metaphor in the poem. Metaphor is chiefly achieved as the Abiku compares himself to some certain things by saying, "I am Abiku and I am the squirrel teeth."
3. Rhetorical question: Rhetorical question is notably seen by the question which the Abiku child poses at his mother and family members: "Must I weep for cows and cowries?"
4. Other literary devices used in the poem include alliteration, imagery, repetition, and symbolism.
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