Gabriel Okara was a novelist and poet from Nigeria. He is considered to be the first modernist poet of Anglophone Africa. Okara is best known for his novelThe Voice, published in 1964. He also won awards for his poetry, such as that included in The Fisherman’s Invocation.
‘Once Upon a Time,’ written by the Nigerian poet Gabriel Okara, is a satirical poem on the modern way of greeting someone. The lack of compassion, simplicity, and brotherhood is portrayed in this poem.
This is a highly important Gabriel Okra poem that successfully demonstrates the poet's skill with language. It has a fairy tale-like beginning that eventually transforms into a discussion of youth and its loss. The poem should be regarded as one of Okara's best poems and one of the greatest African poems ever written. This piece is highly relatable and easy to read, ensuring that it's relatively simple to understand.
‘Pianos and Drums’ by Gabriel Okara juxtaposes primal rhythms with modern complexities, exploring cultural identity and longing for authenticity.
'Pianos and Drums' offers a compelling representation of Gabriel Okara's poetic style and thematic concerns. Okara explores themes of cultural clashes, identity, and nostalgia, which are recurrent in his works. The poem showcases his ability to evoke emotion and provoke thought, making it a quintessential example of Okara's poetry.
Okara’s ‘Spirit of the Wind’ examines the struggle between instinctual freedom and societal constraints through the metaphor of migrating storks.
'Spirit of the Wind' encapsulates Gabriel Okara's thematic concerns with freedom, identity, and societal constraints. Through the juxtaposition of natural elements and existential questioning, the poem embodies Okara's broader body of work, making it a fitting representation of his poetic oeuvre.
‘You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed’ by Gabriel Okara is a meaningful poem about colonial mockery, celebrating African pride, resilience, and connection to nature.
Gabriel Okara was a Nigerian poet who wrote about African traditions and the clash with colonial attitudes. His poem ‘You Laughed and Laughed and Laughed’ is one of his best-known works. It’s simple yet powerful, showing the pride and strength of African identity while responding to mockery. The way he uses straightforward language makes it relatable and easy to understand, which is why it stands out.
‘New Year’s Eve Midnight’ by Gabriel Okara reflects on passage of time, hopes, and dreams amidst fading memories, and dawn of new beginnings.
'New Year’s Eve Midnight' encapsulates themes recurrent in Gabriel Okara's works: time's passage, introspection, and human emotion. His free verse style, rich imagery, and introspective tone are hallmarks seen in many of his poems. However, Okara's broader repertoire also includes themes of identity, culture, and colonialism, which may not be fully captured in this particular poem.
‘The Call of the River Nun’ by Gabriel Okara is a reflective poem about the poet’s deep connection to a river from his childhood, exploring feelings of longing, life’s journey, and the impact of modernization.
Gabriel Okara is a Nigerian poet and novelist known for his deep connection to African culture and tradition. He grew up in the village of Bomoundi, near the River Nun, which inspired much of his work. Okara's writing often reflects his experiences with colonialism and modernization in Nigeria.
I hear your call!
I hear it far away;
I hear it break the circle of these crouching hills.
‘The Dreamer’ by Gabriel Okara reflects a nation’s fight against corruption and hardship, showing the strength, unity, and hope of its people for a brighter future.
Gabriel Okara, a celebrated Nigerian poet, often wrote about the struggles and hopes of his people. In ‘The Dreamer,’ he reflects on Nigeria’s hardships, like corruption and inequality, while focusing on the resilience of the people. Although Okara’s ‘Piano and Drums’ is more famous, this poem stands out for its raw depiction of societal challenges and its message of hope for change, making it an impactful piece of his work.
He was seeking good in our collective good
As he stood aside, not apart, watching
Helpless stream of mankind passing slowly by;
Cheerless mankind with dying hopes of flickering flames
Gabriel Okara’s ‘The End’ looks at how the past feeds into the future, using the end of a celebration to show the mix of holding onto traditions while moving forward.
This poem reflects his ability to blend cultural storytelling with reflections on life and change. While it might not be as famous as 'Once Upon a Time,' it’s still an important piece that captures his unique voice and his focus on how traditions and modernity can coexist.
‘The Invocation’ by Gabriel Okara is a poem in the “The Fisherman’s Invocation” series of poems, and it continues to look at themes of time and identity.
Gabriel Okara's "The Fisherman's Invocation" series of poems deals with some of the issues that were most important to him - themes of African culture, and how the people's history and heritage resonates with them in the modern day, plus what he saw as the importance of holding onto these values. The style that the poem is written in lends itself to the message of the poem, as well as highlighting Okara's use of language.
‘Salt of the Earth’ is a poem that looks at the loves of women working in India, praising them for their spirit and resilience.
There are some elements of this poem that are typical of Gabriel Okara's poetry but, at the same time, there are other elements that are very different. The free verse style of writing is something which he used throughout his writing career, and the use of enjambment is also a sign of his writing. Okara also wrote about the life of rural workers before, and how hard their lives are. However, Okara's poetry was almost always set in Africa, where he lived, and this poem is set in India, which is quite unusual for him.
The fourth poem of ‘The Fisherman’s Invocation’ discusses how people can be brought together through their traditions.
Gabriel Okara's poems often discuss ideas of African culture, and in this poem, he uses the ideas of dancing and singing - as well as drinking the local palm wine - as a way to demonstrate this culture. The poem is also written in Okara's usual free-verse style, and he uses this style of writing effectively in this poem to give the reader the feeling of the building music.
‘Mass Transit Buses’ by Gabriel Okara is a short poem that uses the example of a mass transit system to show how promises by politicians are rarely kept and how corruption derails plans.
This is quite a good example of Okara's poetry. It is written in the free verse style which he wrote most of his poetry in and it also deals with issues which Okara often discussed in his poems. Okara often wrote about corruption and the failure of government and this poem is a good example of that.
‘Metaphor of a War’ by Gabriel Okara is a poem which uses the experiences of an individual – a small child – in war as a metaphor for the effect on the populace as a whole.
This is a fairly good example of Okara's poetry. It uses his free verse style of writing as a way to highlight the chaotic scenes of warfare while also allowing him to highlight certain images. The poet often wrote about the warfare he witnessed in his country and this is a good example of those poems.
There she sat In the dust of a field, Head drooping like limp leaves, And lifts a little stone
‘The Child Front’ continues to look at concepts of cultural and spiritual heritage, expanding on the ideas of the previous poems in the series.
'The Child Front' is a fairly good example of one aspect of Gabriel Okara's poetry. The poem deals with ideas of spirituality and heritage, looking to a shared cultural past. This poem is a part of Okara's commentary on African heritage, and how it relates to the the modern world. The free-style form of writing is also typical of Okara's style.
‘Bent Double With Weight’ by Gabriel Okara is a poem which looks at the struggles of the post colonial period in Nigeria and compares them to the struggles which the people now face.
This poem utilises the free verse style which Gabriel Okara is well known for and also discusses issues that he often wrote about - mainly political corruption in Africa and the way in which it affects the people. The poem has the informal feel that is typical of much of Okara's poetry.
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