Sierra Leonean poetry started in the late 19th century with poems revealed in English and the lingua franca, Krio in The Sierra Leone Weekly News, amongst the first newspapers to be set up in the colony in 1860. The most famed of all the Sierra Leonean newspapers (which have been of substantial high quality) in the late 19th and 20th centuries, it was established in September 1884, by Rev. J.C May aided by Dr. E. W. Blyden and edited by J. C. May’s brother, Cornelius, who later became mayor of Freetown in the 1920s.
Poems ended up in some cases written by settlers, generally Europeans, who had migrated into the place. The to start with Krio poems appeared in the challenge of The Sierra Leone Weekly News of Saturday April 21st 1881. Many others appeared in the challenge of June 23rd 1888 and July 1907. Even though most poems have been composed by non-Sierra Leoneans, they served as sources of inspiration to the educated Sierra Leoneas who therefore grew to become anxious to establish that they have been as knowledgeable poets as their European counterparts. Poems have been penned usually in regular designs of ft, traces and rhyme strategies as was the vogue then. As a result there was an upsurge in the publication of poems in the newspapers.This practice continued for pretty a extensive time, according to Leo Spitzer’s The Creoles of Sierra Leone which is made up of a entire assortment of this kind of poems.
Then arrived Gladys Casely-Hayford and Thomas Decker who have been creating poems in Krio. Gladys Casely-Hayford’s 1st assortment of posted poems was titled in Krio Consider um so (1948). In 1948 three Krio poems were released by Thomas Decker. These ended up ‘Plasas’,’Yesterday, Tiday en Tumara’, ‘Slip Gud’.
But these early publication of poems in Krio in The Sierra Leone Weekly News experienced a restrictive and constrictive impact on the even-handed advancement of Sierra Leonean poetry. For it served to confine Sierra Leonean poetry to the Western Place. Sections of the state were being thus still left preoccupying them selves with oral poetry as there was no written literature offered there then.
There has generally been direct connection concerning the enhancement of written literature and training. Instruction in Sierra Leone was predominantly concentrated in that early colonial interval in the Western Area.. It was only later on that some universities acquired developed in the provinces. But inspite of this, education was not as widely and easily been given by the provincials for quite a few unsuccessful to send out their youngsters to college early. It was in only in1906 that the initially secondary faculty was proven in the provinces.
The head start the Western Region had in instruction and the lukewarm perspective of the people in the other parts to instruction led to most of the identified poets coming primarily from the Western Region. This also resulted in the poets getting manly Krio who mainly unsuccessful to penetrate and exploit the wealthy cultural traditions and customs of the country of which they have been mostly ignorant. As a end result their works were characterised by the absence of standard myths, legends and lore contrary to the scenario of other West African writers then writing in particular the Nigerians, Christopher Okigbo, Wole Soyinka and J.P Clark who built substantially use of such oral lore. Christopher Okigbo for his component generally utilized the myth of the watermaid in his poems while equally Wole Soyinka and J.P.Clark utilised in frequent the fantasy of Abiku amongst other people.
The poetry of the revolutionary Sierra Leonean poets was infused as an alternative of standard and cultural components with Christian religious doctrines and ideas and moral platitudes. Minimal of even the emergent Krio lifestyle were purveyed through them. But they also wrote about burning social concerns of the moments.
But in a poem like ‘Joseph’s Betrothal’ Gladys Casely -Hayford transposes the Krio standard ‘put-stop’ ceremony to the Jewish predicament of Joseph and Mary, the earthly parents of Jesus. In ‘Nativity’ the baby Jesus is wrapped in ‘blue lappah’ and laid in’home tanned doorway pores and skin hide’, alternatively of a swaddling band and a manger. Later poets manufactured use of some cultural materials. Lemuel Johnson in ‘Prodigal’s Canticle’ functions ‘Awujoh’ and ‘KuOmojade’ two Krio traditional ceremonies.
The subsequent unfold of training accompanied by missionary things to do in pretty much all components of the nation promoted the spread of literature which led to breaking of the prior monopoly the Western Place had on the production of poetry. As a final result there has been a significant enhance in the volume of poetry penned in the place over the previous 4 a long time. The impetus to this was supplied to it by endeavours at Fourah Bay School, Njala University College or university, Milton Margai Academics Faculty in advertising and marketing and web hosting literary gatherings this sort of as imaginative producing, poetry studying amongst other people. These initiatives had been complemented by people of the writers association, the Fourah Bay College or university Bookshop and several campus bulletins and magazines.
The bulk of Sierra Leonean poetry could as a result be explained to have been created in the 20th century. But the poetry of this period bore a marked departure from the before sorts of poetry being produced, particularly in their design and to a limited extent their subject matter matter. The pioneer poets experienced trapped to the traditional forms of poetry employing normal line lengths and rhyme strategies. Their simplistic poetry ordinarily expressed insipid sentiments and strong spiritual Christian doctrines, with most of the poets by themselves becoming avid churchmen strongly motivated by the 19th century English poets and by the Bible, the common prayer and hymn guides. A single of them, Crispin George was a long-standing chorister. That they lived in a turbulent period of a great deal political clamor for nationalism and self-perseverance and other destabilizing social as well as political actions is not as well evident in their poetry except for the delicate use of Christian doctrines to hide their aspirations for social justice. This is incredibly genuine for the poetry of Crispin George and Jacob Stanley Davies and to a lesser extent Gladys Casely-Hayford.
The present day poets, contemporaries of Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Christopher Okigbo, who while at college abroad, primarily in Britain, were being uncovered to modern English poets this sort of as Gerard Manley Hopkins, T.S Eliot, Ezra Pound and D.H. Lawrence started out breaking from the preceding poetic tradition by the modern affect borne on their style. They also commenced infusing some African customs and custom in their poetry as they felt estranged and reduce off from their roots. They consequently dumped aged techniques of writing in frequent strains and rhymes for totally free verse, distortion of reasonable syntax, obscurity and personal symbolism and imagery. They critically examined the hitherto conveniently accepted British and American values and specifications. They questioned racism and other social ills as they ended up uncovered in their overseas domicile to racial discrimination and its debasing outcomes.
Abioseh Nicol’s poetry for occasion spans the pioneer and young modern day poets exhibiting some African consciousness and not blindly accepting overseas values longs for eventual return residence in Sweet Sierra Leone.
Most of Gaston Bart-William’s poetry is involved with racism and racial discrimination. Jacob Stanley Davies while a pioneer poet expressing Christian doctrines in his poetry has some poems like ‘Libretone’ which appear to communicate to timeless problems. Crispin George in ‘Help Deferred’ breaks absolutely free from the constricting result of rhyme scheme.
Substantially enhancement has taken put since to improve the profile of Sierra Leone poetry while the publishing alternatives in print are not as welcoming as then. But these types of modifying profile will make exciting examine.