Typical Ib A1 Hl English Exam Question
With specific reference to two or three works you have read compare the effects of an identified or unidentified narrative voice.
The use of both identified and unidentified narrative voices has been an essential feature in most of the poetry I have studied, as it determines the manner in which the content of the poem is presented. Poets will often use an identified persona to express views which they themselves might disagree with in a negative light, such as in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. Unidentified personas are often used by poets as well; perhaps to give a more universal application to their poems. Conversely identified personas may understandably be used for the opposite effect of giving the poem a personal and intimate appeal. Although this does not necessarily mean that the poem does not have universal applications.
This method of narration is used in the epic poem Song of Lawino by Okot p’Bitek. The persona Lawino is a prominent female member of the African Acoli tribe. p’Bitek uses her character as a spokeswoman and advocate of traditional African customs. Lawino’s character dislikes her husband’s behaviour as well as the other African’s who abandon their roots in order to conform to the ways of colonialists. By choosing this tribal African woman as his persona p’Bitek manages to criticize colonialism and defend African traditions in a much more basic, pragmatic and personal manner. This choice also allows p’Bitek to illustrate the basic everyday problems of the post colonialist situation in Africa, instead of giving a more generalised critique of the whole situation which would probably not be as striking. In the first section of the epic poem (My Husband’s Tongue is Bitter) we are quickly introduced to the characters of Lawino and her husband Ocol, who she immediately addresses and beseeches to show respect towards the Acoli society from which his tribal roots stem. She does this because Ocol has developed an arrogant, self-important and
The use of both identified and unidentified narrative voices has been an essential feature in most of the poetry I have studied, as it determines the manner in which the content of the poem is presented. Poets will often use an identified persona to express views which they themselves might disagree with in a negative light, such as in My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. Unidentified personas are often used by poets as well; perhaps to give a more universal application to their poems. Conversely identified personas may understandably be used for the opposite effect of giving the poem a personal and intimate appeal. Although this does not necessarily mean that the poem does not have universal applications.
This method of narration is used in the epic poem Song of Lawino by Okot p’Bitek. The persona Lawino is a prominent female member of the African Acoli tribe. p’Bitek uses her character as a spokeswoman and advocate of traditional African customs. Lawino’s character dislikes her husband’s behaviour as well as the other African’s who abandon their roots in order to conform to the ways of colonialists. By choosing this tribal African woman as his persona p’Bitek manages to criticize colonialism and defend African traditions in a much more basic, pragmatic and personal manner. This choice also allows p’Bitek to illustrate the basic everyday problems of the post colonialist situation in Africa, instead of giving a more generalised critique of the whole situation which would probably not be as striking. In the first section of the epic poem (My Husband’s Tongue is Bitter) we are quickly introduced to the characters of Lawino and her husband Ocol, who she immediately addresses and beseeches to show respect towards the Acoli society from which his tribal roots stem. She does this because Ocol has developed an arrogant, self-important and