HOMEWARD ***************** Bassey Ikpi

19.  Bassey Ikpi                                                                                                               Homeward

Write an essay on the following

1.       Analyze “Homeward” as a lament on a diminished culture.

2.       The cultural divide and is complex emotional nuances are transacted effectively  by Ikpi through the genre of Spoken word poetry – Discuss

Bassey Ikpi’s poem “Homeward” is a Spoken word poem speaks about the pain of the narrator who is torn between the divided culture and nationalities. Ikpi was in Nigeria to  her Nigerian parents of black background. But in her childhood days she was taken to America just like an uprooted plant. The poem is about her divided nationalities of Nigeria and American dichotomy. Iron bird is the aero-plane that represents the modern life of the USA. The grandmother has not seen an aero-plane and she thinks it is an iron bird, because it flies like a bird.

 Although she was born in Nigeria, she was brought up in American soil imbibing the culture and civilization of the USA. But she wants to be  a Naija girl. Nigeria is her mother land and she wants to grow old and die in the  soil of Nigeria. But the American culture and language cannot be rejected by her. At the same time, she wants to eat Nigerian food items like chin-chin, fuufuu, gari and banana fried in palm oil.

 She prefers the frankness of Nigerian villagers to the hypocrisy of the modern American people. In Nigeria there is more love among family members and relatives than what is found in Western culture.  Western culture is  mechanical whereas Nigerian culture is more frank, sincere and warmth. They respect elders and old parents with love and mercy. In short the poem “Homeward” is a lament for diminished culture.        Kjt/-20-03-2020