(Here’s an Audiovisual Lecture on Analyzing African Poetry – A Government Driver on His Retirement: https://youtu.be/-oHZhmpEmOY)
1. WHAT IS THE POEM ABOUT?
Onu Kingsley Chibuike’s poem ‘’A Government Driver On His Retirement’’ gives an overview of a retired driver’s happy and excessive celebration of his retirement which eventually ends in his tragic death in a car accident. The poem paints a picture of one of the major causes of accidents on our highways: driving under the influence of alcohol!
2. READING AND ANALYZING THE POEM
STANZA 1
Many years on wheels
In faithful service to his fatherland
Today retires he home
And a celebration he holds
Stanza 1 gives a picture of the persona’s current state. Having served faithfully as a government driver (“many years on wheels”), this is his last day on the job before he retires. The achievement calls for celebration. The poet uses the third-person narrative technique. This is evident in lines 3 and 4 where the narrator refers to the retiring driver in the third person personal pronoun “he”: “Today retires he home/And a celebration he holds”.
Some poetic devices are evident in this stanza. In line 1, the use of synedoche is evident: “Many years on wheels.” The word “wheels” (part of a car) is used to refer to the car itself. Synedoche is a figure of speech which uses a part to represent the whole. Parts of the human body are commonly used to refer to the human being, as in “All hands must be on deck.” Hands are used to refer to persons. The use of archaism is evident in lines 3 and 4: “Today retires he home/And a celebration he holds”. In literature, archaism is the use of conscious imitation of archaic styles or features in language or art. Here, the poet uses expressions similar to Middle English as can be seen in the King James Version of the Holy Bible.
STANZA 2
Many years has he pummeled his boozy throat
In obedience to duty rules and regulations
Today, he’ll go home a Freeman
Eligible for his country’s services.
Stanza 2 gives a picture of how the persona views his years on duty as a government driver: the job deprived him of the freedom to drink. It was a period when he had to be on duty and he had to obey the rules and regulations. But now that it’s time to retire, “he’ll go home a Freeman”. You can notice that something is certainly wrong with the man’s notion of “freedom”. Freedom to drink alcohol – is that a true notion of freedom? Freedom to disobey rules and regulations? Freedom to violate traffic laws? Obviously, we can say that the abuse of freedom or the wrong perception of freedom is one of the themes of the poem. Genuine freedom is rooted in discipline which is a life of obedience to rules and regulations. False freedom, which is what the retiring driver subscribes to, is freedom to violate rules and regulations.
STANZA 3
“Come, friends, rejoice with me
I shall booze and zoom myself home
Away from duty rules
Come celebrate my freedom” “Early to duty tomorrow holds not,
Thirty-five years of faithful services
I’ll booze to sleep away my sufferings
Today I’ve long waited for”
Stanza 3 gives us a picture of his excitement, mood and the content of his celebration. Surprisingly, he defines his manner of celebrating: “I shall booze and zoom myself home.” Consuming alcohol is usually most people’s way of celebrating an achievement. What is shocking is his decision to drive himself home in his drunken state as part of the celebration. Again, we find that it’s all part of his new-found “freedom.” So, the theme of false freedom or abuse of freedom is predominant in the poem.
Let’s examine some poetic devices used in the poem so far. Repetition is noticeable in words like “friends”, “come rejoice with me”, “celebrate”, and “freedom”. The use of assonance and onomatopoeia are evident in line 2 (stanza 3): “I shall booze and zoom myself home.” Assonance is the use of similar internal vowel sounds in words, as in “booze” and “zoom.” Onomatopoeia is the use of a word that describes a sound or mimics the sound of the object or action it refers to, as in “zoom”.
STANZA 4
More joy to send him home.
A brand new car in his name
An appreciative symbol
For undented thirty-five years of service to
Fatherland
Stanza 4 reveals the multiplier of his joy (the “more joy to send him home’ in line 1): “A brand new car in his name.” The brand new car mentioned in line 2 is obviously a parting gift or award for excellent service given to him by the government on his retirement.
In terms of poetic devices, we can see the use of irony in lines 1 and 2: “More joy to send him home/A brand new car in his name.” What is described as “more joy to send him home”, which is “a brand new car” turns out to be the very cause of his tragic death.
STANZA 5
“Come, friends and rejoice more,
Joy till no more joy to joy
Today frees and makes me a king
My patience rewarded”.
This stanza brings us to the persona’s renewed invitation to friends to “come… and rejoice more”. The overdoing of the celebration is evident in line 2: “Joy till no more joy to joy.” This gives a picture of gluttony – the tendency to eat overdose, drink overdose, etc. Again, the justification for this recklessness is the notion of freedom – “Today frees and makes me a king” (line 3).
More poetic devices are noticeable in this stanza. The use of repetition, alliteration and assonance is evident in line 2 (stanza 5): “Joy till no more joy to joy.” The word ‘joy” is used three times in the line: this is repetition. Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant sound in closely connected words: this is evident in “joy…joy…joy”. Assonance occurs in the use of the same vowel sound in joy…joy…joy. We can also find the use of personification in line 3 (Stanza 5): “Today frees and makes me a king”. This is clear in the sense that to free and to make one a king are obviously human characteristics that have been attributed to “Today”, a non-human concept.
STANZA 6
And so, he boozed and boozed
Celebrating the celebration of his retirement
From faithful service to Fatherland
He battled with his bottle booze
On his way home on wheels,
Booze boozed his vision and clear judgment
He boomed his brand new car
And it sent him home
Home to rest in peace.
The last stanza gives us a picture of how he ended in a car accident on his way home. After drinking himself to stupor, he insists on driving himself home: “I’ll booze and zoom myself home” (Stanza 3). How drunkenness affected his sense of judgment and led to the car accident is highlighted in line 6 of this last stanza: “Booze boozed his vision and clear judgment.” This underscores the theme of alcoholism as major cause of road accidents.
Now, the use poetic devices. In line 1 of this stanza, the use of repetition and assonance are noticeable: “And so, he boozed and boozed.” These two devices are also evident in line 6 of the stanza: ” Booze boozed his vision and clear judgment.” Line 4 shows another example of alliteration: “He battled with his bottle booze.” Irony is noticeable in lines 7 and 8 of this stanza: “He boomed his brand new car/And it sent him home.” Irony is the use of words whose meaning is opposite to the writer or speaker’s intention. It is clear that the brand new car did not send the retiring driver home; instead, it killed him in the accident that occurred. The last line of the poem makes use of euphemism, which is the deliberate use of mild or polite words to describe or refer to something unpleasant or bad. The expression “Home to rest in peace” is used to refer to the man’s tragic death.
For a more detailed audio-visual analysis of the poem, watch the following video lecture: https://youtu.be/-oHZhmpEmOY
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About the Author
Benjamin Abugu is a university graduate with a flair for content writing. He is an English teacher with over twelve years experience, a published author of many books (both paperback and eBook editions), a blogger and Youtuber.
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