The Song of the Woman of My Land
by Oumar Farouk Sesay
Subject: Literature-in-English
Theme: POETRY
Topic: Introduction to The Song of the Woman of My Land by Oumar Farouk Sesay
Sub Topic:
Date: dd/mm/yyyy
Class: S.S 2
Average Age: 15 years and above
Duration: 35 Minutes
No of Learners: 40
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the lesson learners should be able to:1. Explain the Background of the Poet
Oumar Farouk Sesay was born in Port Loko, Sierra Leone on 19th July 1960. He studied political science philosophy at Fourah Bay college, University of Sierra Leone. He was resident play wright of Bai Burch Theatre in the 80’s and has written several plays. His first volume of poetry, “salute to the remain of a peasant”, was published in 2007 in America. President Ernest Bai Koroma appointed him the chairman National Truth Commission. His novel entitled, “Portrait on a rock”, would soon be published. He is married with two daughters.2. Explain the Background of the Poem
The poem, The Song of the Women of My Land is a dirge. A dirge is a poem sung to mourn the dead usually in funerals. Sesay composed this poem in honour of African women especially those in the rural areas who died toiling all day in an unending effort to sustain themselves and their families by working on large fields. However, this very obvious contributions made by the woman are often left unnoticed by their men counterpart and the society in general as they are gradually being forgotten with time.In the poem, it is said that the women, ‘with a song sponge off their anguish’ hence, they use the song which is also called ‘song of their lives’ as a coping mechanism in their travails. Aside that, the women also see the song as a means of whiling away time, ‘cheat the tyranny of time’ and as a mode of communication with the unseen/unborn ones, ‘and commune with the yet unborn’. The personae laments the gradual disappearance of the lyrics of the song which also can be taken to mean the ‘effort and contribution’ of the women to the overall development of the land.
3. Recite the poem
The Song of the Women of My Land
Like a sculptor chipping away at woods,
Time chisels away bits of their memory
It strips away lyrics of the song of the women of my land
Leaving only a fading tune echoing the song,
They sang in forlorn fields
About their lives; songs
Of how they ploughed the terrain of their landscape
For memories of lyrics lost in the vast void of time,
In those days when the song beheld their lives;
When servitude cuffed the ankle of their soul,
And dereliction decapitated the epic of their lives.
With a song, they sponged off their anguish,
To behold their collective pain,
To celebrate their gains
Give lyrics to their tune of their lives,
Cheat the tyranny of time
And commune with the yet unborn
To give meaning to an epoch lost in antiquity,
Yet time strips the lyrics and scars the tune,
Leaving a dying song
Dead!
Like the woman who died long ago,
Leaving the song to tell the story of their lives.
Today the tune roams the forlorn fields
Like their soul looking for lyrics
To tell the tale of the servitude
Of the women of my
Who ploughed their soil and soul
For a song to sing the story of their lives
The song of the women of my land
Left in the memory of the wind.
Now feeding the verses of poets, it echoes in
Wriggling in rhythms and melodies,
Hollering in distant tunes
In places far afield the forlorn field,
Where the song of their lives died.
The stuttering lips of my pen
And the screeching voice of my rib
Try to sing the song of the women of land
In verses far from the theatre of toil
Where they left a song that now roams the land
Stripped of lyrics like a scorned ghost.
The tune tuning the tenor of my verse
Is all that remains of the song of the women of my land
Who laboured and died leaving a dying song.
The dirge of their lives!
Oumar Farouk Sesay
Like a sculptor chipping away at woods,
Time chisels away bits of their memory
It strips away lyrics of the song of the women of my land
Leaving only a fading tune echoing the song,
They sang in forlorn fields
About their lives; songs
Of how they ploughed the terrain of their landscape
For memories of lyrics lost in the vast void of time,
In those days when the song beheld their lives;
When servitude cuffed the ankle of their soul,
And dereliction decapitated the epic of their lives.
With a song, they sponged off their anguish,
To behold their collective pain,
To celebrate their gains
Give lyrics to their tune of their lives,
Cheat the tyranny of time
And commune with the yet unborn
To give meaning to an epoch lost in antiquity,
Yet time strips the lyrics and scars the tune,
Leaving a dying song
Dead!
Like the woman who died long ago,
Leaving the song to tell the story of their lives.
Today the tune roams the forlorn fields
Like their soul looking for lyrics
To tell the tale of the servitude
Of the women of my
Who ploughed their soil and soul
For a song to sing the story of their lives
The song of the women of my land
Left in the memory of the wind.
Now feeding the verses of poets, it echoes in
Wriggling in rhythms and melodies,
Hollering in distant tunes
In places far afield the forlorn field,
Where the song of their lives died.
The stuttering lips of my pen
And the screeching voice of my rib
Try to sing the song of the women of land
In verses far from the theatre of toil
Where they left a song that now roams the land
Stripped of lyrics like a scorned ghost.
The tune tuning the tenor of my verse
Is all that remains of the song of the women of my land
Who laboured and died leaving a dying song.
The dirge of their lives!
Oumar Farouk Sesay
4. Explain the setting of the poem
The poem’s setting is most probably in Masingbi, Tokonlili district where the poet is from in Sierra Leone.In this rural area, the main occupation of the women is farming; and through their farming activities they support their families and contribute to the national wealth of the country.
The time setting of the poem is since time immemorial (distant past) which the poem describes as “vast void of time” (Line 8), “in those days” (Line 9), “an epoch lost in antiquity” (Line 18) etc.
Nevertheless, it can be said that there’s a link between the past and the present generally, as only little has changed in the unfortunate situation of these women.
5. Explain the Subject Matter of the Poem
The poem talks about the condition of African women especially the peasant women in the African society. The poetic persona speaks on how African women most likely during the slave trade were subjected to hard labour and oppression on large farmlands/plantation. He also in a clear tone of regret speaks on how the women consoled themselves in their miserable condition by singing. These songs they sang are songs that tells the story of their lives and unfortunately these songs are hardly remembered today; rather the tunes of these women’s song is the only available fragment or part left for the poetic persona to write to his readers about these women and their experiences.6. Analyse the poem stanza by stanza
STANZA ONE (Line 1-2): The poet uses the activities of a wood sculptor who chisels away pieces of wood while designing his work to compare how good efforts are forgotten with passage of time. This means that the worthy achievement are negatively affected by time. It compares the way a sculptor carves to how time takes away bits and pieces of “their memory”.STANZA TWO (Line 3-4): As time has done its work on them, all that’s left is “a fading tune echoing the song”. That song he mentions is a specific one. It connects to the past and to lives that were different than they are now. The poet says that time also affects women. When a “fading tune” is left of music, it is either the music is out of tune, out of fashion or is dying away. And so do the women fade away from beauty, from care and live with worries and pain on their day-to-day care of their entire family, or rather, the service of the entire nation where they exist. Here, the plight of women is thematically treated in the poem.
STANZA THREE (Line 5-11): As they sang in the “forlorn fields”, they recount their lives, “how they ploughed the terrain”, toiling and moiling and then petered out of the stage. At a time, the women becomes oblivious of their struggles and get lost in the vast void of time. It is evident in line 8 that given the influx of emotional worries and physical struggle of women to meet up with their family responsibilities, they tend to re-echo the lyrical power and tunes of those ancient songs that have been “lost in the vast void of time” to soothe their emotional crises. This implies that the woman use song to make themselves happy despite their challenges. In line 10-11, when servitude cuffed the…”, meaning that the woman suffered some deprivations, and abandoning their good time to ensure the good of others.
STANZA FOUR (Line 12-18): The woman of the land enliven their mind and sing away their pains and sorrows with their song (line 12-13). Furthermore, the women adjust their mind by not allowing their anguish to carry them away, rather they “celebrate their gains” (line 14) and give themselves to more melodious songs. This suggests that instead of the women to remain in sorrow, they resort to use song to cheat the tyranny of time” (line 16) that is painful situation. The poet says in line 17-18 with their new approach to challenging circumstances, the generation yet unborn will finally come and appreciate the great life sacrifices the women had made for common good of all.
STANZA FIVE (Line 19-21): The poet says time may dial a deadly blow to song by being out of vogue, the lesson imparted are not lost or dead because they reverberate to tell the story of those who have transited and pass stories of old to the new generation.
STANZA SIX (Line 22-23): In line 22, just like women who died ago and been forgotten, yet the wonderful good stories of their lives are immortal.
STANZA SEVEN (Line 24-31): The same way, song and music never die because the lessons and messages imparted are not lost as even “today...” as 24-25 says enlivens the sad situations, look “for lyrics”, shouting the immorality of lyrics, song music etc.
The song has not quite been abandoned, it is out there somewhere. It “roams the forlorn fields” just as their souls once did looking for lyrics. The song seeks out a new audience, one that has not heard the “tale of the servitude / of the women of my land”. This seems to be its only purpose now, to share what was past and to make sure that the stories are not lost to future generations.
The poet makes use of repetition throughout these lines. He uses the words “sing,” “song,” “lives” and “story” over and over. The land, the souls, and the power of the song, albeit now drifting somewhat aimlessly, are at the centre of his mind. By repeating the words in this way he’s able to create the feeling of a rhyme scheme, even when a single consistent pattern is not present.
STANZA EIGHT (Line 32-36): This stanza describe how the song is now a symbol of historical knowledge. It is able to feed the poets with information. It “echoes in” the melodies of other songs and lines of verse, just like this one the reader is interacting with now.
The phrase “forlorn fields” appears again in line thirty-six. It takes the reader to the place where “the song of their lives died”.
STANZA NINE (Line 37-45): The speaker turns to his own personal writing practice. He addresses the fact that he’s one of the poets who have taken inspiration from the “song of the women of my land”. He depicts his pen through personification as “stuttering” and his “rib” as “screeching” as he tries to sing these songs. It’s difficult to achieve as he’s now so far “from the theatre of toil” where the song was left behind.
The lyrics have been stripped away and the tune floats through the ether like “a scorned ghost”. The use of the word “scorned” here is interesting. It is connected to both the mood of the poem, which is at times clearly frustrated and exasperated, but to the tone as well. The poet comes at this particular piece of writing feeling passionate about the subject matter. This comes through in his word choice. As well as through the careful repetition of phrases and feelings that are intimately connected to the experiences of these women. But, his anger at the way history has begun to slip into the past, forgotten, is also present. A “scorned” ghost would be an angry one. It, like the song, would seek out a new person to torment or teach. line 10-11, "Is all that remains of the song of the women of my land" is incredibly alliterative with the phrase “tune tuning the tenor”. Here, he is speaking about the way the tune has influenced him personally. It came into his mind and heart, reminding him of those who have “laboured and died”. All they’ve left behind is, as he stated before, “a dying song”.
STANZA TEN (Line 46): In the final lines of ‘Song of the Women of my Land,’ He fears for the future and through this poem is hoping to stave off the possibility that the “dirge of their lives” is going to be forgotten. Now, a whole new generation of readers can hear the remnants of the women’s songs through his writing. They can know what he knows, and feel something of what the song brings into his heart.
7. Explain the structure of the Poem
‘Song of the Women of my Land’ by Oumar Farouk is a forty-six-line poem of 10 stanza, it does not follow a specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern. The lines are quite different lengths with the shorts containing one word and the longest: twelve. Despite there being no consistent patterns in the text, the poet does make use of rhyme selectively. For example, there are moments of half-rhyme scattered throughout the poem and a few corresponding full, or perfect rhymes. The latter is seen most clearly through the use of repetition. Words like “lives,” “song”, “songs” and “land” appear numerous times in the text, creating the feeling of a perfect rhyme scheme. Or, there are other examples such as “gains” and “pain” in lines thirteen and fourteen.Internal rhyme appear within the lines themselves, rather than at the end of lines. For example, “commune” and “tune” in lines seventeen and nineteen. As well as “long” and “song” in lines twenty-two and twenty-three.
Half-rhyme, also known as slant or partial rhyme, is seen through the repetition of assonance or consonance. This means that either a vowel or consonant sound is reused within one line or multiple lines of verse. For example, “sing” and “song” in line thirty-nine and “soil” and “soul” in line twenty-eight.
8. List and Explain the Poetic Techniques (POETIC DEVICES) use in the poem
1. Alliteration:The musicality of the poem is enhanced by the use of alliterative devices.
“… lyric lost” (line 8)
“dereliction decapitated” (line 11)
“vast void” (line 8)
“forlorn fields” (line 5)
2. Simile:
The opening line of the poem (line 1) is an example of simile, as poet compares the forgetfulness associated with the great deeds of women to a sculptor’s art of chiseling away bits of wood. Simile is also used in line 22 and 25 to illustrate the poet’s paints.
3. Repetition:
“Song” (line 3, 4, 9, 12, 20, 23)
“Forlorn Fields” (line 5 and 24)
“Lyrics” (line 3, 8, 15, 19, & 25).
4. Metaphor:
“Tyranny of time” (line 16) this means painful period of life.
“when servitude cuffed the ankle of their soul” (line 10). This means years of emotional bondage.
5.Diction:
The choice of words employed by the poet to pass the message of the poem is not quite easy to understand. The use of unfamiliar constructions are well observed.
6. Tone/Mood:
There is a general tone of lamentation as the poet considers the plight of woman in the land the mood of the poem is that of sorrow and regret.
6. List and Explain the theme of the poem
(a) The plight of women in the society: Women struggle daily to care of their children and the entire family. They endure pain and are cheerful as they do this. In line 1-4, the plight of the women is thematically treated.(b) Immortality of songs: In line 19-21, song or music never dies. Time may give a deadly blow to a song but the lesson imparted are not lost or dead. Lessons of songs are passed from one generation to another.
(c) Mortality of life: In line 22-23, the poet shows the immortality of life. The poet says that women live, struggle and die but song tell the story of their lives, teaching lessons which are passed from one generation to another.
(d) The Power of Time: Here, time negatively affects the memory and brings about forgetfulness as seen in Line 2-3 of the poem. And in Line 4 “it leaves a fading tune” and “a dying song” instead in Line 20. Obviously, these are negative things attributed to time.
On the advantageous part of time, the poem shows that the women are fortunately able to cheat time through singing.
(e) The Oppression of Women: The poem mostly talks on the way women were treated in the past especially as farm labourers, it also examines the condition of most peasant women in rural and urban African presently. These women are poorly paid for their labour after being made to work in fields or plantation owned by big individuals or companies. Some are forced to work as slaves of course without any pay.
Deraiing in their responsibilities might earn them death from their slave-masters, thus they sing in the course of duty to psychologically ease their burden, forget their sorrows and entertain themselves. Thus through this songs of theirs, they tell their stories and celebrate their achievements.
(f) Endurance: The persisting ability of these women in the face of suffering is clearly underestimated in the poem. In their hopeless and miserable condition, African women continue to endure, taking consolation through singing and celebrating their achievements.
Despite being faced with difficult/challenging tasks and risk of death, they still carry on like all is well and sing to “cheat the tyranny of time” Line 16.
(g) The importance of Song: Song is depicted in the poem as very important for several reasons:
• it’s used by the women to tell the stories of their lives.
• It serves as therapy to them because with their songs they were able to withstand and endure the torture and collective pain they suffered.
• It serves as a purpose of entertainment as the women used it as a means to celebrate their achievements. Thus time is considered a valuable element in the poem.
Rationale:
In ‘Song of the Women of my Land’ Farouk uses repetition, figurative language, and moving lines of verse in order to speak on themes of perseverance, oppression, and the power of music. Through a caring and reverential tone, that is at times also frustrated and discouraged, the poet creates a contemplative mood in the text. It is the perfect setting in which a reader can consider the context, language, and conceptual intent and grow just as exasperated, and then hopeful, as the poet himself.Prerequisite/ Previous knowledge:
Storyings, songs, history etc.Learning Resources:
Flash cards, an audio video youtube examples, Available useful objects.Students demonstration and dramatization of some of the imageries in the poem.
Reference Materials:
1. Exam focus on Literature in English by J.O.J Nwachukwu et’al.2. Standard literature in English vol.4 by Tony Duru
3. The Song of the women of my Land by Oumar Farouk sessay
4. Internet sources
Lesson Development:
STAGE |
TEACHER'S ACTIVITY |
LEARNER'S ACTIVITY |
LEARNING POINTS |
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| STEP 1: PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE full class session |
The teacher begins the day's lesson by asking questions based on previous knowledge. Write a summary of “The Grieved Land of Africa” by Augustino Neto |
The students respond to the questions based on previous knowledge.
In the first stanza the poet recollects one major episode in Africa’s history that has continued to make the lands grieve. It is the Iran’s Atlantic slave trade. That was when able-bodied men and women of
Africa were torn away from their families and communities and sent
across the seas to unknown lands. The poet be moans on the first
stanza, the tears and suffering that Africans went through in the
period of slavery |
Reversing previous lesson |
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| STEP 2: INTRODUCTION full class session Identification of prior ideas. |
Teacher asks students to state the meaning of the term, “setting” in Literature -in-English to arouse their interests and refresh their memories. | students defne setting as the actual place i.e. physical, social or geographical area where a story took place. | Introducing the topic for discussion to arouse their interests and refresh their memories. |
| STEP 3: DEVELOPMENT Group Work |
The teacher guides the learners to form four groups and asks them to choose their leaders and secretaries. | Learners choose their group leaders and secretaries. | Inculcating leadership skills, competitive spirit, cooperation, teamwork and a sense of responsibility among learners. |
| STEP 4: EXPLORATION Mode: entire class |
The teacher leads students to demonstrate the activities of women who labour under the sun as read in the poem and make them understand that the background of the poem shows that for centuries, women have been treated as inferior to men across the globe, Africa in particular. Women have been victims of oppression, exploitation and other inhuman and undignifying treatments. In the case of Africa, women are under double yoke of oppression by their men, as well as the colonial system. This is particularly applicable to the peasant women in the rural areas of the continent. | The Students listen attentively and deduce that African women toil daily in the sun in the felds and contribute to the sustenance of the families and their countries, but left “unsung”. Infact, only a few members of their communities even have good memories of these women after their death. So, when occasionally, a person remembers such women or one of them, it is not uncommon to see the person compose or perform a dirge in their memory. This is what the poet does in the poem. | The background Settings of the poem. |
| STEP 5: DISCUSSION Mode: Group |
The teacher guides students to read and discuss the setting of the poem and the background of the poet. | The Students discuss in their various groups that the poem is set in the countryside in northern Sierra Leone from where the poet hails. In this rural region, women’s primary occupation is farming. Through their farming activities, they support their families and contribute to the national wealth of their country. The poem is set in the distant past in time as suggested by such phrases as the vast void of time’, “in those days”, “an epoch lost in antiquity”, long ago and so on. | |
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| STEP 6: APPLICATION Mode: Entire class |
The Teacher guides students to identify the subject matter of the poem. | The students identify that the poem is a meditation on the plight of African woman, especially that of the peasant women in traditional African society. | Subject matter of the poem |
| STEP 7: EVALUATION Mode: Entire Class |
The teacher asks the students the following questions: List and explain four styles use by the poet in the poem. Other styles used by the poet in the poem are: imagery, paradox, metaphor, diction. |
The students expected answers 1. Alliteration: This refers to the repetition or recurring of same consonant letters closely placed together in the lines of a poem. Examples of alliteration in the poem includes: forlorn fields; lyrics lost; tune tuning the tenor of my verse; a song to sing the story of their lives; tyranny of time; soil and soul. All these also contributes to the quality of the poem’s rhythm. 2. Personification: This refers to giving of human attributes/qualities to inanimate objects. E.g Line 37 “stuttering lips of my pen” and Line 38 “screeching voice of my rib” shows personification. Other indications of personification are as follows: “Time”, in line 1-2. Time is likened to a sculptor who uses chisels to construct his artwork. Also “servitude” in line 10 is given the attribute of a policeman who uses cuffs to prevent a criminal from running away. With the idea of cuffing the ankles of the women’s souls, it shows the extent the exploiters of these women are ready to go. Simile: This is the indirect comparison between two things using “as or like”. Examples are: Lines 1-2 “like a sculptor chipping away at bits of wood, Time chisels away bits of their memory.” The comparison here illustrates how time slowly and steadily takes away the human memory about the women of my land. Also in lines 22-23, the simile here is used to compare the “death of the women’s song” to that of “the woman who died long ago.” Other examples of simile are in lines 24-25, and lines 41-42. Repetition: A few words and phrases are repeated in the poem which includes: forlorn fields, song, ploughed, lyrics, time, etc. “Forlorn fields” emphasizes hopeless in the condition of these rural women. “Plough” emphasizes the physical exhaustion and torture these women experience. Thus, each of the examples of repetition adds to the quality of rhythm of the poem. |
Asking the learners questions to assess the achievement of the set objectives. |
| ASSIGNMENT | The teacher gives learners take home. 1. How does the poet employ the use of imaginary to paint the picture of "The Song of the women of my Land" in the form 2. Identify the tone of the poem |
The learners copy the assignment | Better understanding of the Poem. |
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| CONCLUSION | The teachers wrap up from the learners' contribution. The poem begins with the poet utilizing similes and metaphors to speak on the way that time is able to chip away at memory and experiences. It has done its job on the “memory” of the women of his land, Sierra Leone, and now it is stripping away the “lyrics of the song” they used to sing. In the past, their individual experiences came together to form a unifying, uplifting tune that helped them fight back emotionally and mentally against the oppression and slavery they were enduring. Time has taken its toll though, and the song is slowly being lost to the ages, just as these women were. Now, all that’s left is a tune that, through personification, is able to wander the “forlorn fields”. It searches out someone who might hear and appreciate it. Luckily, it appears that some do. It is there as inspiration for poets to write new songs based on their sound, just as Farouk wrote this one. |
The students listen to the teacher and copy down notes. | Consolidating and harmonizing scientific concepts. |