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Summary of The Awakening Age
Ben Okri is the author of the poem “The Awakening Age.” The struggles of the African people are illustrated in this poem. Additionally, he issues an appeal for harmony, peace, and solidarity among the fractured people of the world from many nations as a result of the devastating civil conflict. Okri, a renowned storyteller and poet, depicts the struggles of the African people in “The Awakening Age,” as he does in all of his works. Additionally, he issues an appeal for harmony, peace, and solidarity among people living in various regions of the world.
The Awakening Age paints a positive picture of international understanding and collaboration. It is also a song on harmony. In this poem, the author expresses concern for the safety of Africans following the onset of the civil war. He also promotes the idea of stepping into a newly awakened world. There’s a chance that Africans can see a different world. The people of Nigeria have endured terrible conditions over a long period of time, including famine, poverty, unemployment, and other factors. He also wishes for them to live through the wonderful and brilliant waking period.
The term “awakening age” describes the period of time when Africans begin to recognize, realize, or become conscious of their situation and the start of their new world. The waking period is the era of the African people’s new perspective, style, and education. All Nigerians are being urged by the poet to advance the country’s development. Additionally, he claims that an unidentified power has forced his people into disunity and poverty. He creates a bridge of hope that ties them all together like a floral garland.
Africans who are poor and in need of assistance continue to rise. In order to achieve greater reform, they are eager to alter their view in the new environment with honesty. He also believes that kids will have the opportunity to enjoy freedom, education, creativity, and decent careers. Additionally, they have the desire to recognize their abilities and put them to good use for both themselves and others. Their life will be joyful and prosperous in this way, despite their poverty.
Exercise
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
Who are the people ‘who travel the meridian line’?
➜ The people ‘who travel the meridian line’ are Nigerians who have been separated into two groups as a result of the horrific civil war: the south and the north. During their existence in fragments, these people have experienced hunger, poverty, unemployment, and other facets of their life.
What does the poet mean by ‘a new world’?
➜ The poet implies a beautiful world full of hope, wealth, unity, truth, knowledge, and creativity when he says “a new world.” Following the emergence of civil peace in Nigeria, people have experienced the world of a unified Nigeria.
How are people connected to each other?
➜ People are connected together to each other by a sense of optimism derived from history. They have a lot of faith in their dreams and they may ascend to a new height of prosperity and unity with optimism and knowledge because of this strong hope.
What can we gain after our perceptions are changed?
➜ After our perceptions are changed, we can gain a variety of benefits. We may get honesty away from troubles and suffering by changing our perceptions. We may acquire harmony, integrity, wealth, work, wisdom, and creativity by changing our perceptions.
How are we benefited by new people?
➜ We are benefited by new people in a variety of ways since our solidarity with them drives us to a flourishing nation. They assist us in reaching a higher level of happiness in our hearts, and sincerity in our views, work, knowledge, and creativity.
Describe the rhyme scheme of this sonnet.
➜ There are seven separate couplets (stanzas of two lines) in the poem, totalling fourteen lines. This sonnet’s rhyme scheme is simple and sonorous, providing a rhythmic tone, and each stanza has a rhyming couplet. The rhyme scheme is AA BB CC DD EE FF GG.
Reference to the Context
What does the poet mean by ‘the awakening age’?
➜ The awakening age refers to the period when Africans recognize, realize, or become conscious of their situation, as well as the creation of their new world. This is the age of enlightenment when there is peace, prosperity, liberty, happiness, unity, and harmony among people, and it arrives shortly after Nigeria’s brutal civil war.
Why, in your view, have these people ‘lived with poverty’s rage’?
➜ In my view, these people have ‘lived with poverty’s rage’ because Africans were exploited by Europeans throughout the colonial period for the sake of exploiting natural resources. African countries, on the other hand, were involved in a lengthy civil war. As a result of a few strong people gaining control of authority, there was an imbalance in the distribution of national wealth. Ordinary people have no idea there was more to life than poverty. They were more preoccupied with internal problems such as religion, culture, political philosophy, ethnicity, and so on, neglecting the sufferings of ordinary Nigerians.
Why does the poet appeal for solidarity among the people?
➜ The poet appeals for solidarity among the people for their dream of a better world to come true. He wishes for all of Nigeria’s unfortunate citizens to achieve new heights of prosperity, hope, unity, truth, wisdom, and creativity. He thinks that people’s solidarity can only help them overcome their obstacles, challenges, and sufferings.
Does the poet present migration in a positive light? Why? Why not?
➜ Yes, the poet presents migration in a positive light as it increases the working-age population. Migration helps shift in their condition from one level to another via awakening. The poet wishes for them to be unified, prosperous, honest, smart, and creative in a new age of awakening, free of the conception of suffering. Migrants bring skills with them and contribute to the development of human capital in recipient countries. They also encourage the advancement of innovative technology.
Nepal is also known for its economic as well as educational migrants. Have you noticed any change in the perceptions and behaviours of these migrants when they return home from abroad?
➜ Nepal is also known for its economic as well as educational migrants. Yes, I have noticed some sorts of changes in the perceptions and behaviours of these migrants when they return home from abroad. Lots of Nepalese youths travel overseas to pursue their education and find work. When they return home, we’ve witnessed a shift in their attitudes and behaviours. There are several advantages of returning to the home country. Working overseas allows people to raise their income, learn new skills, and save and invest. When they return home, they carry with them both financial and human capital gained overseas. Return migrants can only gain rewards if they are successful in earning skills, knowledge, and savings and if their home nation supports policies that encourage them to invest and apply their abilities.
Relate the rhyme scheme of this sonnet to the kind of life idealized by the poet.
➜ The rhyme scheme is AA BB CC DD EE FF and GG, and it is the poetry of optimism. Every couplet in each of the seven stanzas is beautiful in both rhyme and meaning. The poet can show the idealized existence of Nigerians in a new world of the awakening age with the assistance of the poem’s rhyme pattern. All of these rhyming phrases after couplets are linked to the lives of Nigerians and their ideal way of life, including wisdom, realization, hope, prosperity, truth, opportunity, and joy. His excellent rhyme scheme accurately expressed his expectations and good wishes for the ideal existence of Nigerians in the new world of the awakening age.
Reference Beyond The Text
The Impacts of Migration on Nepali Society
Migration is the term used to describe the transfer of people from one place to another. Migration can take place both inside and across nations. The many types of migration include seasonal, temporary, and permanent migration. There are several reasons why migration happens. These can be in the realms of the economic, social, political, or environmental. Push and pull variables both affect migration. Both the location where migrants depart and the place where they settle is impacted by migration. These impacts might have both advantageous and detrimental effects.
Immigration and emigration are the two types of migration. With a long history (more than 200 years), emigration from Nepal is becoming more common. Due to a lack of thorough research and, on the other hand, a lack of government interest in this area, there are no effective emigration policies. Migration has raised the GDP contribution of remittances, reduced poverty, and progressively improved the education and health sectors, but development is sluggish and the trade imbalance has grown significantly. Therefore, there is a pressing need for international migration management that puts national interests first (including emigration and immigration).
