“The Sea Eats the Land at Home” is a powerful poem by Kofi Awoonor, a Ghanaian poet. It explores the impact of colonization on Ghana and the struggle to preserve cultural identity in the face of external forces. The poem beautifully captures the tension between tradition and change, and the loss that comes with the erosion of one’s homeland. It’s a thought-provoking piece that delves into the complexities of postcolonial experiences.
The poem is moving and engaging to the readers worldwide because of the use of literary refrain and irony. The refrain, “The sea eats the land at home,” serves as a powerful protest against colonization, highlighting the destructive impact of external forces on indigenous cultures. The irony lies in the metaphorical cannibalistic attitude of the Europeans, consuming the land and eroding the native traditions. It’s a poignant critique from a postcolonial lens, shedding light on the complexities and injustices of the colonial experience.
He skillfully portrays the struggle and loss experienced by the people of Ghana, creating an emotional connection that resonates with readers. The poem emotionally resonates with the audience and attaches the suffering people faced due to the advent of colonisation. The sea is a metaphor for the colonisers who destroyed the land of the natives “destroying the cement walls” and “the cooking pots and ladles”. The poet also uses the auditory senses in the poem to give the emotional cry of the “mourning shouts of the women” that moves the poem from an emotional scale.
The poem’s themes of identity, heritage, and the impact of colonization are conveyed in a way that touches the heart and leaves a lasting impression. The destruction of the sea being the coloniser destroyed the physical “home” and “it has taken away her belongings” institute the loss of identity, heritage and the native culture. The poet also mentions the women with her children and the gods abandoning her and the ancestors reflecting the helplessness and alienation of the natives under the attacks of colonialism. The poet specifically gives more space to the suffering of women to either heighten a sense of emotional distress or to express the pain women suffer in general when the external invasion happens. For instance, Adena lost her the trinkets which was her dowry and her joy had been consumed by the sea or the colonisers during their raids.
In addition to this, the poem is explicit and direct with the use of metaphor. The sea is a metaphor for colonisers. The poem mediates on the impact of colonisation and the destructive forces of colonialism. However, the poem also parallels the narrative of the sea which is personified to a human characteristic of destroyer. The sea is a destroyer in the poem destroying the home of the people as well as the land consuming the physical houses leaving women and children felling homelessness.
Moreover, the use of adjectives in the poem also adds weight to the centrality of discourse in the poem. The sea is described as a cannibal that “eats the land”. The sea is also described as an “angry sea” , “cruel sea” that also multiplies the narratives into a different layer of meanings. For instance, in the context of the poem it is obvious to note that it is describing the sea as being a destructive forces of nature being unkind towards the man. From a postcolonial lens, the adjective use to describe the sea is to dismantle the cannibal narrative of the natives as well as to destroy the western narrative of natives being savage, barbaric and uncivilised.
2 Replies to “Critical Analysis of Kofi Awoonor The Sea Eats the Land at Home”