Stephen (Structure): The structure of this poem consists of 4 stanzas with at least 4-7 words per line. The last three lines of each stanza, excluding the last stanza, each say the same thing:
“What business of mine is it
So long they don’t take the yam
From my savouring mouth?”
This verse is also slightly more outwards in the poem than the rest of the stanzas, this makes the shape of the poem zig zagged. However because the last stanza doesn’t follow this pattern it creates more awareness of it. In terms of punctuation, the start of each sentence starts with a capital letter regardless of whether it’s the start of the sentence or not. There are also examples of Enjambment, because the ends of the lines within the stanzas don’t end with commas or full stops, but instead it continues down to the next line, until finally ending with a full stop on the phrase before the repetition.
Stephen (Pace / Mood): The pace of this poem is somewhat slow and unhappy. The first three stanza’s seem to be as if it someone reporting some bad news, however the repetition at the end of these three stanzas sounds more apathetic and more personal, as if saying who cares as long as it doesn’t happen to me. The final stanza has a slower pace, as if it is more real, and as if its happening now and there’s nobody to help him. The stanza’s before the repeated chorus also can sound a bit aggressive, especially with emphasis on words like ‘stuffed’ ‘beat’ and ‘booted’. This helps add to the brute of the ‘authorities’ and how they mishandle the different characters. The third stanza, where it says ‘No query, no warning, no probe’ sounds as if it should be read quickly and then the last sentence afterwards slower for more impact.
Stephen (Imagery): Some of the language used in this poem creates imagery. The adjectives used help us imagine an accurate picture of what is going on. As I mentioned before, the words such as “stuffed” and “belly” helps us to imagine merciless authorities capturing their victims. The use of “stuffed down the belly of a waiting jeep” also creates an image of an animal like jeep, hungry and waiting to engulf people, in a barbaric manner. It makes the jeep sound like a predator, hungry and waiting for food. The repeated chorus creates the impression of a comfortable man who enjoys his food, and his food is the main thing that keeps him going. The use of the word savouring, makes us think this. The second stanza says ‘booted the whole house awake’ this creates an impression of loud and powerful people interfering with the comfortable house. This could act as a metaphor, because the house being asleep could lead us to assume that the person inside is asleep or in a comfortable manner, and the fact that the authorities are awaking it, lets us know they are causing some disruption. The use of ‘lengthy absence’ also creates the impression that the victim is dead.
Stephen (Final Verse / Personal Response): The final verse tells us how the dreaded thing that he thought would never affect him has finally come. It shows him that his apathetic attitude has been to his disadvantage .The repeated phrase about food is absent here and this makes the reader have more aware of it. The reader would probably predict the repetition here but when they see its not there they take more notice of the particular stanza. It creates a twist in the poem, making it more serious and more real. In this verse the lawn is described as bewildered, this is because he is uncomfortably puzzled at the sight of the jeep and knows his time is up. Also, the part in the poem it says his hungry hand froze, shows us that something serious has interfered with his life. The food that is meant to be going into his savouring mouth is delayed and leads the readers to believe that the authorities are finally going to affect him and take the yam from his savouring mouth. The repeated verse can’t be repeated here because the yam has been taken from his savouring mouth. Overall this last verse helps echo the metaphorical point that the suffering of other people in Nigeria cannot be ignored, and just because it hasn’t happened to you doesn’t mean it won’t.
