the mystic drum
University of Massachusetts Boston
ScholarWorks at UMass Boston
Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series
Africana Studies
1-1-2011
‘The Mystic Drum’: Critical Commentary on
Gabriel Okara’s Love Lyrics
Chukwuma Azuonye
University of Massachusetts Boston, chukwuma.azuonye@umb.edu
Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/africana_faculty_pubs
Part of the African Languages and Societies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons
Recommended Citation
Azuonye, Chukwuma, "‘The Mystic Drum’: Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okara’s Love Lyrics" (2011). Africana Studies Faculty
Publication Series. Paper 12. http://scholarworks.umb.edu/africana_faculty_pubs/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Africana Studies at ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. It has been accepted for inclusion in
Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. For more information, please contact library.uasc@umb.edu. ‘The Mystic Drum’:
Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okara’s Love Lyrics:
By
Chukwuma Azuonye, PhD
Professor of African & African Diaspora Literatures
University of Massachusetts Boston
Introduction
In the course of reading a chapter entitled “Empty and Marvelous” in Alan Watts fascinating book, The
Way of Zen (1957), a serendipitous key was provided, by the following statement from the teachings of
Chinese Zen master,1 Ch’ing Yuän Wei-hsin (1067-1120), to the structure and meaning of the experience dramatized in Gabriel Okara’s most famous love poem, “The Mystic Drum”: 2
Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw the mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it’s just now that I see mountains
ScholarWorks at UMass Boston
Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series
Africana Studies
1-1-2011
‘The Mystic Drum’: Critical Commentary on
Gabriel Okara’s Love Lyrics
Chukwuma Azuonye
University of Massachusetts Boston, chukwuma.azuonye@umb.edu
Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.umb.edu/africana_faculty_pubs
Part of the African Languages and Societies Commons, Comparative Literature Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons
Recommended Citation
Azuonye, Chukwuma, "‘The Mystic Drum’: Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okara’s Love Lyrics" (2011). Africana Studies Faculty
Publication Series. Paper 12. http://scholarworks.umb.edu/africana_faculty_pubs/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Africana Studies at ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. It has been accepted for inclusion in
Africana Studies Faculty Publication Series by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at UMass Boston. For more information, please contact library.uasc@umb.edu. ‘The Mystic Drum’:
Critical Commentary on Gabriel Okara’s Love Lyrics:
By
Chukwuma Azuonye, PhD
Professor of African & African Diaspora Literatures
University of Massachusetts Boston
Introduction
In the course of reading a chapter entitled “Empty and Marvelous” in Alan Watts fascinating book, The
Way of Zen (1957), a serendipitous key was provided, by the following statement from the teachings of
Chinese Zen master,1 Ch’ing Yuän Wei-hsin (1067-1120), to the structure and meaning of the experience dramatized in Gabriel Okara’s most famous love poem, “The Mystic Drum”: 2
Before I had studied Zen for thirty years, I saw mountains as mountains and waters as waters. When I arrived at a more intimate knowledge, I came to the point where I saw the mountains are not mountains, and waters are not waters. But now that I have got its very substance I am at rest. For it’s just now that I see mountains
References: Achebe, Chinua. 2004. Collected Poems. . London: Heinemann; New York: Anchor Books, Asein, Samuel Azuonye, Chukwuma, ed. 2011 (Forthcoming 2012). Gabriel Okara: Collected Poems. Trenton, NJ: African World Press/Red Sea Press. Azuonye, Chukwuma. 1972. Nsukka Harvest: Poetry from Nsukka, 1966-1972. Nsukka: Odunke Publications _____. "Christopher Okigbo and the Psychological Theories of Carl Gustav Jung" Journal of African and Comparative Literature 1.1 (1981): 30-51; Available online at: Available at: _____. 1991. "Reminiscences of the Odunke Community of Artists, 1966-1990." African Lit. Association Bulletin (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada), 17 (1), Winter: 20-26 _____. 2011b. Interview with Gabriel Okara (August, 2011).” Boston, Massachusetts: Africana Studies Department, University of Massachusetts. Burness, Don. 1985. "Conversation with Gabriel Okara,” in Wanasema: Conversations with African Writers, ed Chinweizu, Onwuchekwa Jemie, and Ihechukwu Madubuike. 1980. Towards the Decolonization of African Literature Egudu, R. N. 1979a. “A Study of Five of Gabriel Okara’s Poems.” Okike 13. Elimimian, Isaac Irabor. 1995. 1995. “Language and Meaning in Gabriel Okara’s Poetry.” CLAJ, 38, 276-89. Enyinnaya, Innocent C.K. 1995. “Nostalgia in Gabriel Okara’s Poetry.” ZJES, 1, 3, 45-50. Gingell, S.A. 1984. "His River 's Complex Course: Reflections on Past, Present and Future in the Poetry of Gabriel Okara." WLWE, 23, 284-97. Graves, Robert. 1959. The White Goddess. London: Faber and Faber. Green, Eldred Ibibiem. 2007. Gabriel Okara: The Man and His Art. Port Harcourt, Nigeria: Onyoma Research Publications Jones, Susan. 2009. “ ‘At the still point’: T. S. Eliot, Dance, and Modernism.” Dance Research Journal, Volume 41, Number 2, Winter, pp Knipp, Thomas R. 2001. “Gabriel Okara; The Poet as a Lonely African. Matatu—Journal for African Culture and Society, 23-24, 141-160 Rprt In: Marketplace: No Condition is Permanent Struggle for Democracy. Ehling, Holger & Claus-Peter Holste-Von Mutius (Ed.) Amsterdam/New York, NY, 2001, XIII, 374 pp. Lindfors, Bernth. 1973. "Interview with Gabriel Okara,” WLWE, Vol. 12, No. 2 (November), pp. 132-41; reprinted in Dem-Say: Interviews with Eight Nigerian Writers, ed African and Afro-American Studies and Research Center, 1974, pp. 42-43). Maduakor, Hezzy. 1980. “Peter Thomas and the Development of Modern Nigerian Poetry.” Research in African Literatures, Vol Maduakor, Obi. 1987. “Gabriel Okara: Poet of the Mystic Inside,” World Literature Today, Vol. 61, No. 1 (Winter,), pp Maduakor, Obi. 1982. “On the Poetry of War: Yeats and J. P. Clark,” Comparative Approaches to Modern African Literature, ed, Sam Asein Mboh, Patrice Lumumba Ticha. 1986. "Structural Unity and Variation in Gabriel Okara 's The Fisherman 's Invocation." Master 's thesis, University of Yaoundé. Moore, Gerald and Ulli Beier, eds. 1963. Modern Poetry from Africa. London: Penguin Books Moore, Gerald and Ulli Beier, eds Penguin Books (third and fourth eds. of Moore and Beier, 1963). Njoroge, Paul N. 1973."Gabriel Okara: The Feeler of the Pulse of Africa 's Soul." Busara, 5, 1, 48-56. Nwoga, Donatus Ibe, ed. 1967. West African Verse: An Anthology Chosen and Annotated by Donatus Ibe Nwoga Nwoga, Donatus Ibe. 1972. “Okigbo’s Limits: An Approach to Meaning.” Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 7, 1: 92-101 Nyong, Felix. 1993. “An Encounter with Gabriel Okara.” The Guardian, 15 August, p. B10. Obiechina, Emmanuel. 1992. Language and Theme.. Howard University Press. Okara, Gabriel. 1978. The Fisherman’s Invocation. Collection of Poetry. London: Heinemann; New York: Africana Publishing Corporation; and Ethiope Publishing Corporation, Benin City. Okara, Gabriel. 2004. The Dreamer, His Vision. Poetry. University Press Port Harcourt Okara, Gabriel Okeke-Ezigbo, Emeka. 1984. “The Strangling Hold of Zurrjir.” Ariel, Vol. 15, No. 4. Okeke-Ezigbo, Emeka. 1989. “J. M. Synge and Gabriel Okara: The Heideggerian Search for a Quintessential Language.” Comparative Literature Studies, Vol Okigbo, Christopher. 1971. Labyrinths. London: Heinemann.. Okonkwo, N. Chidi. 1985. "Three Modern African Poets: Birago Diop, David Diop and Gabriel Okara." Okike Educational Supplement, 4, 61-68. Okpewho, Isidore, ed. 1985. The Heritage of African Poetry: An Anthology of Oral and Written Poetry. Owomoyela, Oyekan. 2008. The Columbia Guide to West African Literature in English Since 1945. New York: Columbia University Press. Pandey, Anita. 2004. "Woman Palava No Be Small, Woman Wahala No Be Small ": Linguistic Gendering and Patriarchal Ideology in West African Fiction,” Africa Today, Volume 50, Number 3, Spring 2004, pp. Parekh, Pushpa Naidu. 1998. "Gabriel Okara.” In : Postcolonial African Writers A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook, eds Ramazani, Jahan. 2006. “Modernist Bricolage, Postcolonial Hybridity," Modernism/ Modernity (The Johns Hopkins University Press), Vol Ravenscroft, Arthur. 1989. " Language and Imagery in the Poetry of Okara, Soyinka, and Okigbo.” Journal of