Biography of christopher okigbo the newcomer

This is the first book of poetry I have read since retiring. Okigbo was a Nigerian poet who died fighting in Biafra. He is to African anglophone poetry what Senegalese Léopold Sédar Senghor is to francophone African poetry. Both are major postcolonial voices. The book collects poetry published between 1962-68. 

In the introduction, Okigbo positions his poetry within the western literary tradition, clearly thinking of the audience that would read this book so as to tap into their knowledge base and through it introduce new work and a new literary voice from a former colony. Senghor positioned his poetry in the same way for the francophone world.

I’m going to say something really obvious. Reading a book of poetry is not the same experience as reading a novel. I know this, but my predilection when I open a book–probably any book, at this point–is to read for narrative. As much as I would have liked to read through Labyrinths–as if Okigbo was developing a consistent story line–poetry requires the reader to interact with the language differently and be cognizant of other logics (allusion, metaphor, symbol, metonymy, synecdoche) rather than latch on to the headlong flight of narrative. There is much returning, rereading, and slow reflection to allow those other logics besides narrative to manifest themselves. I am not the best reader of poetry, because I prefer the straightforward logic of narrative and don’t always have the patience, or the imagination(?), for the more circuitous path of poetry.

There is an arc to the book or at least an end point toward which it moves: the Nigerian Civil War(1967-70), also known as the Biafra War, a postcolonial secessionist war initiated by the Igbo people in southeast Nigeria. Okigbo fought and lost his life in the war, and the Igbo people lost their bid for an independent nation. In the last section of Labyrinths, “Path of Thunder,” Okigbo writes extensively of the sign

Dr. Ritika Batabyal

THE POETRY OF CHRISTOPHER OKIGBO: NEW PERSPECTIVES AND CURRENT TRENDS Dr. Gabriel Oche Ukah & Dr. Emmanuel A. Iwuoha Both are Lecturers in the Department of English language and Literature, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, owerri-Nigeria. ABSTRACT Christopher Okigbo was a promising poet as at the time his life was cut short during the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War that began in the year 1967. Towards the end of his life, his poetry began tilting towards the themes of homecoming, return to one’s roots and a style now known to be literary symbiosis—a mixture of the traditional literature and the written medium. This is done by sourcing one’s literary material from Africa’s rich cultural residue. In this study, we are concerned about the relevance of Okigbo’s poetry to contemporary Nigeria, and by extension, Africa. We discussed his poems which feature the themes highlighted such as homecoming to one’s roots and focus on other afro-centric issues. From our analysis, it is clear that his poems remain relevant today as much as they were years back. We also realize that the issues of homecoming and the return to one’s roots he highlighted in his poems are current issues that Africans still have to continue to focus on. The tide of westernization has been growing on abated and an equal dose of a renewed campaign to return to one’s root has to follow. Literary symbiosis remains relevant because the traditional literature enriches the written one while the written medium helps to preserve the traditional literature which exists orally. INTRODUCTION Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo was a Nigerian poet, teacher, and librarian, who died fighting for the independence of Biafra from Nigeria. He is today widely believed to be one of the most outstanding postcolonial African poets and one of the major modernist writers of the 20th century. With what Okigbo was able to achieve in the short time he spent ali