Poetry is on Veiled Ridicule.

When people want to criticize others, they present it as concern. Some African oral poetry is not any different. The persona uses his or her 'concern' to ridicule some behavior such as laziness, betrayal, moral decadence and corruption. In the following poem, the theme of immorality is presented as follows:

THEY ARE ASKING FOR HER ALL OVER

They are asking for her all over

Have you seen our girl?

Has anybody come across Ciagitune?

The parents, the village mates and the clan elders

They are searching for her

Has anyone seen our daughter?

She is lost.

Some are saying that she went

Through the path to Mombasa

She was measured a dress at Chogoria

And others at Kagoco

A girl has been taken away.

The daughters of Mbeere land

You have no behaviour

Have you heard someone 

Selling herself

Being picked with saliva like a flea!

A big person yet not mature in deeds

Good-for-nothing girl!

In the first stanza, the speaker seems really concerned because a girl, Ciagitune, is missing. There entire community is said to be searching for her. In the second stanza, the reader learns that the whereabouts of the girl are actually known: "...she went through the path to Mombasa". The activities the girl engages in on her way there like fitting dresses at Chogoria and Kagoco portray her as a person out to impress. The last line in the second is stanza is quite explicit. It changes from: "She is lost." in the first stanza to : " A girl has been taken away." In the last stanza, the persona unleashes her scathing ridicule. She exposes the girl as a foolish, cheap and immoral person who has gone to engage in prostitution: "Selling herself". The poem also serves to admonish the other girls in the community by making the girl's behaviour as all inclusive. The persona says: "The daughters of Mbeere land/ You have no behaviour".

Use of direct translation gives the poem the local flavour. Expressions like "You have no behaviour" to mean 'you are ill-mannered' and "She was measured a dress" to mean 'she fitted a dress' show how people speak in that place. The persona also uses local figurative language like "Being picked with saliva like a flea", to mean being gullible, are used to create authenticity.

In conclusion, African poetry is at times used as a platform to ridicule immoral behaviour and caution young people against it.

Poetry is for Rewriting Political History

At times poetry is written to correct history. For example when the Europeans first came to Africa, the African people were cautious rather than greedy and foolish people we of the later generations think of them. Forget the narrative that they were a naive group of people who sold their birthright for a plateful of lentils. No. They were a proud and dignified people with a comprehensive political system. This is captured in the following excerpt from 'Stanley Meets Mutesa', a historical poem by David Rubadiri.

...

The village looks on behind banana groves,

Children peer behind reed fences

Such was the welcome

No singing women to chant a welcome

Or drums to greet the white ambassador:

Only a few silent nods from aged faces

And one rumbling drum roll

To summon Mutesa's court to parley

For the country was not sure.

The gate of reeds is flung open

There is silence

But a moment's silence -

A silence of assessment.

The tall black king steps forward,

He towers above the thin bearded white man

Then grabbing his lean white hand

Manages to whisper

Mtu mweupe Karibu

White man you are welcome

The gate of polished reed closes behind them

And the west is let in.

David Rubadiri

J. Kariara and E. Kitonga. An Introduction to East African Poetry. O.U.P.,1977.

The poem is about the first meeting between H.M. Stanley, the European explorer, and the Baganda of Uganda, represented by their King Kabaka Mutesa. The Baganda people are clearly apprehensive about the intrusion by the European, hence the 'silence'. But this is not to be mistaken for fear, no wonder the poet explains it as "A silence of assessment". In any case, the symbol of the tall black king towering over the thin bearded white man and grabbing his lean white hand shows that he (the King) could summon his physical power over the European if he so willed. 

The King is also presented as knowledgeable and well travelled. At the time, he can speak Kiswahili, "Mtu Mweupe Karibu", which is not native to Uganda but is the language that unites East Africa. This kingdom is also portrayed as democratic. When the white man arrives, Mutesa's court is summoned for a meeting. This means that he does not make decisions on his own. Rather, he is portrayed as a leader. The poet says that he "...steps forward." The shows that he is just a representative of his people. Sometimes, precolonial Africa is presented as a place where political leaders lorded over their people and therefore the mistakes made were purely because they were dictatorial.

In fact, it is the white man who is portrayed as hypocritical and ungrateful. When he is welcomed in good faith he instead decides to colonize Africa. This is clear from the last line where the poet says: "And the west is let in."