Author brief introduction Soyinka, Nigerian playwright and poet, 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature winner. 1934 July 13 was born in Abekuta, western Nigeria. Parents are Yoruba. 18 years old, first studied literature at ibadan University, and entered Leeds University in the United States from 1954, specializing in English. After graduation, he was employed by the Royal Palace College as a script examiner. From 65438 to 0960, Nigeria returned to China to work as an actor and director after its independence. 1967 was arrested after returning from the United States to the motherland where civil war was breaking out, and 1969 was released. 1973 Received an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of Leeds. From 65438 to 0976, he was a professor of comparative literature at Ife University. At the same time, he was hired as a visiting professor by Cambridge University, Sheffield University and Yale University. 1986, he became the first African writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. In the decision to award him Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy Literature Award praised him for "influencing contemporary drama with his broad cultural vision and poetic association" and "mastering a large number of words and expressions and applying them to witty dialogues, satirical and grotesque descriptions, elegant poems and energetic essays." Soyinka writes in English, and his works are rich. Besides being famous for his plays, he has also made great achievements in novels, poems and literary criticism. His major works include the novel Translation, Abnormal Seasons, The Lion and the Gem, The Road, Madman and Expert, Dance in the Forest, Death and the Groom of the King, Requiem for Futurists and the poem Prisoner. Among them, the poem Prisoner can be said to be the poet's real life experience. The style of this poem is cold and gloomy, and the poet is good at tolerance. He boldly introduced the style of European and American modernist poetry, showing the poet's unique artistic skills.
synopsis
prisoner
Gray, facing the shallow grass, was lifted, wet moss, such a thin wisp of stagnant smoke, avoiding the sword and bending to the earth, breeding gray moments, days and years, because the gray wisdom hall does not need us to build a year to give a fever, so there is no need to bring tears and dust from now on. However, is this sad irony a moment of persecution?
In the desert wilderness, at that time, the lonely cactus eater was his love-even in the middle of rocks and canyons, between jumping and trembling at night, even like ceramic fragments left behind and falling sandstorms-hints had appeared.
In the center of the vortex of this storm, an elegy was written, but it didn't come from this. Because the distant partner was suddenly turned into a stranger, it was very sad when the wind weakened and the center collapsed. And that piece of broken pottery is lying on the ground, unhappy and silent-another hint.
But that's not the reason. All he knows is sudden possession. The conquest of time binds the helpless him to every dark object.
Soyinka returned to Nigeria from the United States because of the war, and was arrested by the military and political authorities and imprisoned for two years. Prison life deprived the poet of his freedom, and a strong sense of loss plunged him into despair. Therefore, in this poem, he uses rich metaphors, associations and moving images to vent his feelings. To express this kind of pain and despair, which became the theme of his deliberate description.
The poet is ingenious, carefully sketching the whole poem, and the subject and object set each other off. Through the multi-angle description of prison life, the scene and atmosphere of prisoners' prison life are set off. The style of the whole poem is heavily smeared with a layer of cool tone by the poet-dignified, cold and gloomy, which just reflects the prisoner's psychology.
At the beginning of this poem, it is described that "dampness" and "stagnation" constitute a long prison life, while "the moment of breeding gray" highlights the characteristics of prison life.
What followed was not the poet's active description of the subject's psychology, but putting down the pen to set off the subject's mentality through the description of the scenery. The poet described the persistent, tenacious and unyielding image of desert cactus, and tried his best to express his experience of struggling in the face of dangerous environment, which set off the poet's mentality at that time and his anxiety and concern about the fate of life.
Finally, through the images of "collapse" and "sadness", the poet reflects that the prisoners who died from this are "bound" to the "gloomy object"-the end of the prison.
In this poem, the poet skillfully uses the artistic techniques of modern poetry and rich and free associations to show the imprisoned life in many directions. The author does not directly describe prison life and prisoners, but through groups of stagnant, bizarre and eerie image group, such as "dust", "desert", "wilderness" and "canyon".
Looking at the whole poem, it is not difficult to see the poet's superb poetic skills and deep, subtle and cold overall style.