The Awakening Age Summary
Ben Okri's Poem, The Awakening Age Summary for Class 12 English, Poem Section Chapter 4 Complete Analysis, with author description, message from the poem, and Stanza-wise summary, and atlast PDF Summary in Nepal.
About the author's
A winner of Man Booker prize for his novel The Famished Road in 1991, the Nigerian poet, fiction writer, and essayist Ben Okri (1959-) spent his early childhood in London. Informed by folk tales and dream logic, Okri’s writing also treats his family’s experience of the Nigerian civil war. In an interview for The National, Okri stated, “I grew up in a tradition where there are simply more dimensions to reality: legends and myths and ancestors and spirits and death. You can’t use Jane Austen to speak about African reality. Which brings the question: what is reality? Everyone’s reality is different. For different perceptions of reality we need a different language.”
Ben Okri OBE FRSL (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian-British poet and novelist. Okri is considered one of the foremost African authors in the post-modern and post-colonial traditions, and has been compared favourably to authors such as Salman Rushdie and Gabriel García Márquez. [Wikipedia]
About the poem
The awakening age means the age with a new vision, style and education of African people in this poem. Ben is hopeful that they will have the chance to get good jobs, freedom, knowledge, creativity so he makes a call for unity among people to discover talents, efficiency and the possibility for mutual prosperity. This is how the life of the people will be happy and prosperous despite their poverty.
Messege of the Poem 'The Awakening Age'
A prolific poet and story teller, Okri, like in his other works, portrays the hardships of the African people in “The Awakening Age”. In addition, he makes a call for unity, peace and solidarity among human beings from different parts of the world.
Summary
Summary in English
'The Awakening Age' written by the prolific poet and story writer, Ben Okri Portrays the hardships faced by the Africans and at the same time appeals for unity, peace, solidarity, mutual coexistence and harmony among the citizens of the world. The poet wishes to awaken the people of the world from the age of sufferings, poverty and darkness to the age of enlightenment where all the discriminations end and a new light of love and harmony illuminates all the souls of the world.
The poem has seven stanzas and each stanza contains two lines which rhyme with each other . The poet is hopeful that although the world is in grip of prejudice, discrimination, poverty, inequality and innumerable sufferings but this grip will soon loosen as the people of the world will get awakened and enters in a new era of peace, harmony and brotherhood. He hopes to see a peaceful world where equality and love reigns.
The poet optimistically portrays the travellers of the world who are able to see and understand the inequalities, the discrimination, the poverty and the sufferings of the people .They are the awakened souls who believe in love, peace and universal brotherhood. They wish to remove the pall of inequalities and sufferings from the lives of the people and awaken them into the world of equality, happiness, emancipation, love, peace and prosperity.
The poet's belief in immense power of hope can be seen where he compares it to a mountain rope which will make the ascent possible. The ascent from a world of discrimination and sufferings to a world of peace, serenity and tranquility. The poet is highly hopeful that the travellers of the world. The illuminated souls who have a vision of new peaceful and happy times could lead in a new age of enlightenment through their purity, perseverance, creativity and wisdom. They would motivate all of the civilization's inhabitants to work together to create a world built on love and respect. The poet is hopeful that the united efforts of all the human beings will dawn a new age of enlightenment wherein the new world is reigned by love , peace , cooperation, mutual coexistence and universal brotherhood. [Quora]
Stanza Wise Summary
The poem ‘The Awakening Age’ is written by Ben Okri. This poem portrays the hardships of the African people. In addition, he makes a call for unity, peace and solidarity among human beings from different parts of the world who have been fragmented due to the devasting civil war. The poem is a hopeful vision of understanding and co-operation among the people around the world. It is a poem of harmony also.
In this poem, the poet wishes the well-being of African people after the outbreak of civil war. He also advocates about the time to enter a new world of awakening world. The African inhabitants may have the vision of a new world. Nigerian people have faced miserable condition with a long path of hunger, poverty, unemployment and other aspects. He also hopes that they may experience the bright and glorious awakening age. The awakening age refers to the time when African people have a recognition, realization, or coming into awareness of their condition, and the beginning of their new world. The awakening age means the age with new vision, style and education of African people.
The Awakening Age Poem:
O ye who travel the meridian line,
May the vision of a new world within you shine.May eyes that have lived with poverty's rage,
See through to the glory of the awakening age.For we are all richly linked in hope,
Woven in history, like a mountain rope.Together we can ascend to a new height,
Guided by our heart's clearest light.When perceptions are changed there's much to gain,
A flowering of truth instead of pain.There's more to a people than their poverty;
There's their work, wisdom, and creativity.Along the line may our lives rhyme,
To make a loving harvest of space and time.
First stanza
O ye who travel the meridian line,
May the vision of a new world within you shine.
In the first stanza, the poet Ben Okri wishes for all Nigerians who have suffered greatly throughout the civil war to be hopeful about their lives in a new world of the rising age. The awakening period will bring the Nigerian people much joy and hope.
He hopes for the inhabitants of the meridian line, who have been separated into the South and the North as a result of the horrific civil war. These folks have walked a long road of hunger, poverty, unemployment, and other aspects of their existence while surviving in fragments, but they have a shining vision.
Second stanza
May eyes that have lived with poverty's rage,
See through to the glory of the awakening age.
These people may have the opportunity to observe wonderful conditions as a result of the glory of the awakening era (the period of African people's recognition, realization, or awakening to their plight, and the beginning of their new world).
The awakening age is the age of enlightenment, when people live in peace, prosperity, emancipation, joy, unity, and harmony.
Third stanza
For we are all richly linked in hope,
Woven in history, like a mountain rope.
He discusses hope and how it relates to the Nigerian people. All Nigerians, he claims, are intricately connected by their hopes. He compares their dreams to a mountain rope that is so powerful it can bring all Nigerians together in a world of peace. Like a mountain rope, these hopes can bind them together.
Fourth stanza
Together we can ascend to a new height,
Guided by our heart's clearest light.
He speaks about the Nigerian people's unity. He believes that Nigerians' unification may bring them to the peak of perfection and prosperity. He believes that through joining together, may achieve new heights and succeed in their lives.
To attain this level, they must be guided by the brightest light of their hearts (positivity). They must eliminate the concepts of rage, hatred, and discrimination. They can achieve their goals by working together.
Fifth stanza
When perceptions are changed there's much to gain,
A flowering of truth instead of pain.
He discusses the importance of changing perceptions (truth) for Nigerians. At first, avoid getting a narrow perception.It is the perfect way to gain much. Being broad in their perception permits them to experience a flowering of truth rather than suffering.
Life will move on the way of truth without any trouble. So, the way of perception must be changed.
Sixth stanza
There's more to a people than their poverty;
There's their work, wisdom, and creativity.
He discusses the promising conditions in Nigerians' lives. This condition will allow people to live comfortably beyond the poverty.
Nigerians will benefit more in this situation. This is the right combination of vision of the future world, realization, hope, positivity, changed viewpoint, and so on.
Seventh stanza
Along the line may our lives rhyme,
To make a loving harvest of space and time.
He speaks about the pleasant lives of all Nigerians in various parts of the country, both south and north. People's life will be filled with joy, peace, and harmony.
The end result will be so loving in both space and time. Their life in the new world will be full of rhymes and pleasure.
Nepali Summary of 'The Awakening Age'
The Awakening Age Nepali Summary PDF
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