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THE
LAZY MAN
By Kingsley omokhudu Ajayi
Nigeria
THE LAZY MAN
THE LAZY MAN
When the cock crows
The lazy man smacks his lips and
says;
So it is daybreak again, is it?
And before he turns over heavily,
Before he even stretches himself,
Before he even yawns -
The farmer has reached the farm,
The water carriers arrive at the
river,
The spinners are spinning their
cotton,
The weaver works on his cloth,
And the fire blazes in the
blacksmith’s hut.
The lazy man knows where the soup
is sweet
He goes from house to house.
If there is no sacrifice today,
His breastbone will stick out.
But when he sees the free yam,
He starts to unbutton his shirt,
He moves closer to the celebrant.
Yet his troubles are not few
When his wives reach puberty,
Rich men will help him to marry
them.
INTRODUCTION
This is a
poem from Yoruba culture in Nigeria that criticises the behaviour of some
members of the society that seem to sleep too much than work. Finally they end
up becoming poor and can hardly afford a living as a result they end up being
burden to others as they keep begging from others’ houses. Additionally, the
poet shows that in this society the betrothal for marriage is done at a young age
and children wait until puberty to officialise the marriage. In the traditional set up those days, one was betrothed to
his future wives at young age and they could only get married when both a man
and a woman mature. So the lazy man could not afford dowry payment and either
had to be helped or let go the women to be married by men of/with
honour/wealth.
THEMATIC ANALYSIS
LAZINESS/IRRESPONSIBILITY
The lazy man
in this poem is surely very lazy. While other wake up early in the morning to
engage in different economic activities like farming, spinning cotton, weaving
and iron working he sleeps till daylight. His laziness becomes more evident
when he gets angry at the time of the day when he notices that it is daybreak
since he doesn’t want to wake up. He complains “so it is daylight again,
is it?” When he notices that it is daybreak he does not wake up but
rather he turns over heavily, stretches himself, yawns and then goes on with
sleeping. Laziness is one of the major causes of poverty to most people.
RESPONSIBILITY
The poem
shows that other people in the same society are very hardworking. They wake up
early and get engaged in different economic and domestic activities such as;
farming, spinning cotton, weaving cloths, iron working and fetching water. This
is a sprit that has to be encouraged in our society as it makes people get rid
of poverty. He says:
The farmer has reached the farm,
The watercarriers arrive at the
river,
The spinners are spinning their
cotton,
The weaver works on his cloth,
And the fire blazes in the
blacksmith’s hut.
TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE (BETROTHAL)
In
the traditional set up those days in some African societies, one was betrothed
to his future wives at young age and they could only get married when both the
man and the woman mature. So the lazy man could not afford paying the bride
price and either had to be helped by men with wealth or let go the women to be
married by others. As the persona says;
Yet his troubles are not few
When his wives reach puberty,
Rich men will help him to marry them.
The
'wives' here is used to mean 'betrothed to'. By the time they mature (in an
African set up puberty is regarded as a sign of maturity) and readiness for
marriage. But since the man is lazy, he will not have the required dowry
payment for his betrothed wives so, he will request the rich to assist him or
he may give up and leave his wives to get married to other rich men.
POVERTY
POVERTY
The poet
shows that one of the major causes of poverty in the society is laziness. This
man is so poor because while other hardworking people rise up early in the
morning and start engaging in different social economic activities he spends
the whole morning in bed. When he finally wakes up he starts calling from house
to house looking for free yam. As a result the poet suggests that he won’t be
able to marry the girls he has betrothed but rich people will marry them for
him.
When his wives reach puberty,
Rich men will help him to marry them.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
Ø What
is the poem about?
The poem is about a lazy man who doesn’t like to work.
He wakes up late and begins going house to house begging for soup or looks for
a house with sacrifice where he can get free yam. Because of his laziness he
won’t be able to marry the wives betrothed to him, as a result rich men will
marry them for him.
Ø
What the type of the poem is this?
It is a freeverse/modern poem of the Lyric type as it
expresses the strong feelings of sadness by the poet towards lazy people in the
society who end up becoming troublesome and burdens to others.
Ø
What is the tone and mood of the poem?
The tone is unhappy and sad because the persona is not
pleased with the behaviour of the lazy man who doesn’t want to work but keeps
on going to other people’s houses looking for free food.
Ø
Who is the persona? How do you know?
The persona might be a neighbour. This is revealed
from stanza one where he seems to know the lazy man’s behaviour from his
bedroom.
Ø
What is the tone and mood of the poem?
The tone is disappointed and unhappy about the
behaviour of the lazy man. This creates a sad mood towards the man who dislikes
working but keeps on begging food from house to house.
Ø
Comment on the structure of the poem.
The poem is made up of 5 stanzas of unequal number of
verses.
Stanza one has 11 verses
Stanza two has 2 verses
Stanza three has 2 verses
Stanza four has 3verses
Stanza five has 3 verses
Ø
Comment on the language use
The language used is simple and easy to understand and
get the intention of the poet. The poet has made good choice of vocabulary that
carries the message across. Words like farmer, water carrier, spinner, weaver
and blacksmith represent hardworking people while lazy man suggest the lazy man
who dislikes working.
The poet has also made use of poetic licence to achieve
a particular poetic effect. The fact that the lazy man does not care about his
grammar shows that he is not serious about life itself or that he comes from a
low class that speaks non -standard English and uses the general tag question is
it? In a place where isn’t it? was supposed to be
used. So it is daybreak again, is it?
Ø
The figures of speech
ü
Consonance
The lazy man smacks
his lips and says
ü
Alliteration
When the cock crows
ü
Anaphora
And before he turns over
heavily,
Before he even stretches
himself,
Before he even yawns
ü
Parallelism
The farmer has reached
the farm,
The water carriers
arrive at the river,
The spinners are
spinning their cotton,
The weaver works on his
cloth,
And the fire blazes in
the blacksmith
MESSAGES
Ø
We
should be hard working to alleviate poverty in our families and the society at
large
Ø
Laziness
is a bad behaviour that should be discouraged.
Ø
Some
traditional customs like early childhood betrothal are outdated. They should be
discouraged.
RELEVANCE
Ø
There
are lazy people everywhere. These believe that someone somewhere has a duty to
help them and they have made themselves permanent beggars.
Ø
Hardworking
people can also be found in our societies. These ones know that they are the
authors of their own destiny. So they work up early and begin chasing their
dreams.
Ø
There
are some societies that are still practising early childhood betrothal. The
Maasai of Northern Tanzania are reported to practise the same.
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