The Beasts of Battle: Wolf, Eagle, and Raven

In Germanic Poetry
Dear Viking Answer Lady:
Introduction
Germanic literature used special conventions to depict a standard scene such as the death and
destruction of a battlefield. Once of these conventions was the use of the Beasts of Battletheme
1
,
mentioning ravens, eagles and wolves in order to suggest the impending carnage of the battle
2
.
These animals were well-known to the Germanic peoples as scavengers of the battle-field, and
were associated in pagan times with the God of Battle and Lord of the Slain, inn or Wotan
3
.
The Beasts of Battle theme was used in Germanic poetry not only to describe a battle scene to
the audience, but also to add to or modify the meaning and emphasis of the work.

Beasts of Battle.
From the Ramsunaberget Runestone, Sweden.
Since Magoun first identifed the Beasts of Battle theme in Anglo-Saxon poetry, there have been
two main critical approaches to its use in Old English. Magoun and others have tended to dismiss
the Beasts of Battle as a descriptive element which contributes little or nothing to the meaning of
the work as a whole, while a different critical approach has been to view the theme as an integral
component of meaning.
Magoun's initial identification of the Beasts of Battle formula seemed to link the device
inextricably with a solid dismissal of the theme. In the same paragraph, Magoun both defines it
as "the mention of the wolf, eagle and/or raven as beasts attendant on a scene of carnage," and
stated that the purpose of the Beasts of Battle was "to embellish a battle-scene or a reference to
warfare. It is an ornamental rather than an essential theme"
4
. Magoun's primary interest was not
in the Beasts of Battle as a thematic unit, but rather in the formulas which make up the theme. A
similar view is found in Laborde's analysis of the style of the Old English poem, The Battle of
Maldon. Laborde defined the Beasts of Battle as a "conventional notion"
5
, and regarded the
theme as a negative feature that must be "redeemed" by other stylistic elements
6
, although he did
acknowledge that the Beasts of Battle had a wide currency in Old English poetry, and indeed
survived the Norman Conquest to appear in later English literature
7
. The persistence of this
attitude has been so marked that later writers have felt a need to comment upon it:
[The theme of the Beasts of Battle] . . . occurs so often that it is usually regarded as something
inherited, traditional, a sort of literary pyrotechnic, which can be guaranteed to give some elan
and spectacle to a set battle-piece.
8

The weight of opinion has even caused some critics to pay lip-service to the notion of the Beasts
of Battle theme as being merely decorative, even when the author later goes on to provide an
analysis of the meaning of the theme. For instance, Raw states that the theme of the Beasts of
Battle is an example of the poet "making natural phenomena serve a decorative end," and says
that "these passages are decorative additions to the paraphenalia of battle"
9
; but she them
immediately reverses herself and discusses the various ways Old English poets use the theme
within their works.
10

Other scholars have taken a different view of the Beasts of Battle theme, examining it as a
stylistic device which has a direct bearing upon the meaning of the poem. Elements of imagery
such as the Beasts of Battle have various aesthetic qualities and implications which "contribute
to the literary meaning of the imagery."
11
One approach is analyzing the uses of the Beasts of
Battle has been to examine how the theme is related to the pagan religion of the early Germanic
peoples, hypothesizing that the Beasts of Battle are meant to summon associations of the omen-
laden and sinister cult of the war-god, inn.
12
Others have discussed the literary uses of the
theme, which may be used to foreshadow later events, parallel a similar narrative elsewhere in
the poem, or evoke a specific emotional response.
13

In addition, each of the individual Beasts carried distinct associations with it, which the poet
could utilize to further his purpose. By alluding to the symbolic animals which had well-known
characteristics and attributes, the poet summoned these associations for his audience in the new
context of his work
14
: "Different spheres of reality and imagination are projected upon and
illuminate one another."
15



The Raven

Raven. Scabbard Mount
from Broa, Gotland.
(Click on image to see line
drawing of design)
Raven from King Anlaf
Coin.
(Click on image to see line
drawing of design)
Raven. Bronze corner ornament
from the Cammin Casket. (Now
destroyed).
The associations connected with the raven were numerous. In many cultures, the raven was well-
known as a carrion bird and a bird of prey,
16
and the Germanic symbolism connected to the raven
was related to this natural aspect of the bird. Ravens were a symbol of sacrifice, for they were
known for "receiving and rejoicing over sacrificial victims."
17
The raven was associated with
inn's familiars, Huginn and Muninn (Thought and Memory), and thus was "a source of
wisdom and prophetic knowledge,
18
most particularly where such knowledge concerned omens
of war. The raven could be an "unlucky bird" or a "bird of evil omen" for those doomed to die in
battle,
19
while at the same time several Viking leaders were known to bear the sign of the raven
upon their banners as a token of victory.
20
In Old English, the raven was known as wlceasega,
"chooser of the slain,"
21
and the equivalent term in Old Norse, valkyrja, was used to denote
inn's handmaidens who selected the warriors fated to die, the Valkyries.
22


Raven. Bronze
Brooch
from Lousgaard,
Raven. Ivory Carving
from the Cammin Casket
(now destroyed).
inn Preceeded by an Eagle
and Followed by a Raven.
Bornholm,
Denmark.
(Click on image to
see line drawing of
design)


The Eagle
Like the raven, the eagle was known as a carrion bird in Germanic
literature. A Scandinavian name for the eagle was hrsvelgr,
"corpse-gulper,"
23
while the Old English epithet gufugel denoted
a "bird of war."
24
Eagles were associated with heroes, and
screamed at the birth of prominent warriors who would later feed
them upon the bodies of their slain foes.
25
The eagle was also the
symbol of sovereignty,
26
and was particularly associated with the
Germanic god of kings and heroes, inn. This notion was
"probably influenced by Roman models and the eagle which
symbolized the emperor."
27


Migration Age Warriors
Wearing Eagle-Crested
Helms. Helmet Plates from
Vendel Grave 14.
Eagle. Weathervane from
Heggen, Modum, Norway.
(Click on image to see line
drawing of design)


The Wolf

Eagle. Gilt-Bronze
Harness-Mount, Gotland.

Wolf. Bronze Belt Mount.


Wolf. From Weathervane,
Heggen, Modum, Norway.
(Click on image to see line
drawing of design)
The last and perhaps most fearsome of the Beasts of Battle was the
wolf, also a carrion-eater. The wolf familiars of inn were
named Freki and Geri, Ravener and Greed.
28
The Scandinavians
called wolves hrgifr, "corpse-trolls," and gave the wolf "a cebtral
position in Old Norse mythology and poetry, always with negative
connotations."
29
The wolf was the very embodiment of slaughter
and murder, for "whoever lost in the fight, the wolf was always the
winner."
30

In pagan belief, the end of the world was to be a vargold, a "wolf-
age," a time of "a world dominated by all kinds of evil forces,"
31

when "brothers will battle to the bloody end, and sister's son their
sib betray . . . ere the world crumbles."
32
In the end, the sun and
moon would be devoured by supernatural wolves, and Tyr, God of
Law and War, with inn, chief of all the gods, would likewise be
consumed by the geratest and most fearsome wolves, Garmr and
his sire Fenrir.
33

It is from this background that such descriptions as ulfhugu,
"with a wolf's mind, cruel," and ylfskyr, "wolfish, dangerous" were
derived.
34
The image of the wolf was also considered fitting to
describe a dangerous man,
35
and thus was associated with
outlaws and berserkers (see the Viking Answer Lady article on
Berserkergang). The felafcne deor ("very treacherous beast") of
the Old English poem Maxims I was a companion to outlaws,
36

and the Norse law codes describe felons as vargar, "wolves," and
their sons as vargsdropi, "wolf's-get."
37
As Crossley-Holland
states, "no other monster so embodied destruction."
38


Wolf. Gilt Bronze Corner Ornament from
the Cammin Casket. (Now destroyed).


Wolf. Ivory Panel from the Cammin Casket.
(Now destroyed).
(Click on image to see line drawing of design)


The Beasts of Battle in The Battle of Maldon
The way in which the Beasts of Battle theme affects meaning in a poem is best demonstrated by
analyzing its use in a specific work. One Old English poem which utilizes the theme is The
Battle of Maldon, which concerns the historic defense by English forces under command of the
nobleman Byrhtno, against an attack by Viking raiders. Although the English are ultimately
defeated, Maldon celebrates the heroism and determination of the defenders, who die to avenge
their fallenlord. While The Battle of MaldonMaldon to clerical accounts and to the evidence of
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; discussions of the implications of the arrogance, heroism, or
foolishness of the English leader Byrhtno; or the language and style of the poem.
39
Little
consideration has been given to the Beasts of Battle theme as it appears in Maldon, other than to
disparage the theme as a "conventional notion"
40
or to link it to an older, epic tradition.
41

The Beasts of Battle make their appearance in line 106-107 of the poem:
42

r wear hream ahafen,
earn ses georn;
hremmas wundon,
ws on eoran cyrm.
(There was raised a great noise,
the eagle was eager for corpses,
the ravens wheeled,
there was clamor on earth.)
43

Despite Irving's statement that "such a description of battle might have come from almost any
Old English poem,"
44
it is evident that the Beasts of Battle theme in Maldon is somewhat
unusual, for the poet has made mention of only two of the traditional Beasts, the eagle and the
raven. This is interesting, for as Davidson points out, "the raven, together with the wolf, is
mentioned in practically all the descriptions of a battle in Old English poetry . . . "
45
The
question of why the wolf does not appear in "the greatest of the heroic poems . . . and one of the
best battle poems in the English language,"
46
and how this particular construction on the part of
the poet in turn influences the meaning of the poem is worthy of consideration.

Ravens from a 12th Century Tapestry.
The mention of the Beasts of Battle in lines 106-107 serves to amplify the meaning of the
previous lines, 103-b-105:
a ws feohte neh,
tir t getohte.
t r fge men
Ws seo tid cumen
feallan sceoldon.

glory in battle.
when those men who were fated
(Then the fight was near,
The time was come
should fall.)
The eagle, associated with heroes and kings, demonstrates the form which "glory in battle" will
take. The English will not be victorious, but will earn ever-lasting glory and fame for their
courage and adherence to the heroic code. The raven, the bird of omen, was likewise present to
herald the fall of the fated Englishmen. As Laborde explains, "variation, whether or subject-
matter, expression or terms was one of the most important features of Old English poetic
style."
47
The example of this given in his essay concerns the repetition of passages in Maldon
which describe the cowardly conduct of the sons of Offa, but his comments are applicable to the
repetition in lines 103b-107 as well:
The latter passage is no mere repetition, but a comment on the facts related by the former. The
narrative does not therefore go into details, but gives a condensed general view of the incident,
with additional comment on its fatal character."
48

Thus the Maldon poet with succinct economy of words has not only provided visual detail to
enhance his description of the battle, but also amplifed upon the ultimate theme of the poem, the
heroism and death of the English warriors.
Prior to the onset of battle, the poet gives an interesting description of the Vikings in line 96,
49

calling them wlwulfas, "slaughter-wolves," thus identifying them with the most terrifying of the
Beasts of Battle, the wolf. As Britton has noted, the Vikings in Maldon are meant to be "an
unnamed threat, the more terrifying because the less human, the less defined . . . . the Vikings are
consciously animalized: they are not human, but 'wolves of slaughter',"
50
and he further
connects them with the ulfheinn, the "wolf-coats" or berserkers of the Scandinavian sagas.
51

By explicitly identifying the Viking attackers with the most fearsome of the Beasts of Battle, the
wolf, the Maldon poet has further amplified the the meaning of the poem. By naming the Vikings
as wlwulfas, "slaughter-wolves," the poet has foreshadowed the ultimate outcome of the Battle
of Maldon, for like the corpse-scavenging Beasts of Battle the Vikings will be the last ones alive
upon the field. And it is clear that the Vikings truly are scavengers, as we see in lines 159-161:
Eode a gesyrwed
he wolde s beornes
reaf and hringas
secg to am eorle;
beagas gefecgan,
and gerenod swurd.
(An armed man came
he would seize
take spoils and rings
to the earl;
this man's bracelets,
and ornamented sword.)
A similar connection is made in the Old English poem Exodus, in which the Beasts of Battle
theme is embedded in the narrative describing the pursuit of the Israelites by the Egyptian army.
Here the Beasts of Battle
. . . form a parallel to the savage pursuers and intimate what the attitude of the Egyptians will be
if they succeed in overcoming the Israelites; the similarity is enhanced by the use of the phrase
hare heorowulfas (l. 181) for the Egyptian troops, which, though conventional, is oclored by the
earlier reference to the actual wolves . . .
52

the description of the Egyptians in Exodus as hare heorowulfas, "hoary sword-wolves" is quite
similar to the description of the Vikings in Maldon as "slaughter-wolves." As in Maldon, the
beasts of Battle serve not only to describe the scene of battle, but also to amplify the character of
the Egyptians and foreshadows their impending fate when the walls of the sea close over them in
the wake of the Tribes of Israel.

Bronze Raven Brooch, Ringerike.
The theme of the Beasts of Battle does serve to add a descriptive element to the poetry in which
it is found, evoking a whole series of images which paint the scene upon the mind's eye of the
audience. The Beasts act as much more than a simple ornament however, for their appearance
brings with them a host of associations that widen the frame of reference from the confines of the
poem to the rich worlds of myth and legend. Through the use of these associations, and careful
placement of the motif within his poem, the Old English scop shaped his poem deliberately,
using these formulaic themes to add meaning, foreshadow events, and to introduce his audience
to a richer world than would otherwise be possible with the simple words of his poem alone.
Formulas such as the Beasts of Battle theme can show a warrior to be as noble as the eagle
soaring overhead, as doomed as the raven-picked corpse, or as victorious as the wolves which
run upon the field of battle as the only creatures which death cannot claim.


Footnotes
1
Francis P. Magoun, Jr. "The Theme of the Beasts of Battle." Neuphilologische Mittelungen 56
(1955): p. 83.
2
Lee M. Hollander, trans. The Poetic Edda. Austin: University of Texas Press. 1962. p. 49.
3
Gale R. Owen. Rites and Religions of the Anglo-Saxons. New York: Barnes and Noble. 1981.
p. 15.
4
Magoun, p. 83.
5
E.D. Laborde. "The Style of The Battle of Maldon." MLR 19 (October 1924): p. 412.
6
Ibid. p. 417.
7
Ibid. p. 412.
8
J.S. Ryan. "Othin in England." Folklore 74 (Autumn 1963): p. 468.
9
Barbara C. Raw. The Art and Background of Old English Poetry. London: Edward Arnold.
1978. p. 55.
10
Ibid. pp. 55-6, 74, 118, 119.
11
Peter Hallberg. "Elements of Imagery in the Edda." Edda: A Collection of Essays. eds. Robert
J. Glendinning and Haraldur Bessason. N.p.L University of Manitoba Press. 1983. p. 83.
12
Ryan, pp. 468-71; Hilda R. Ellis-Davidson. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe.
Harmondsworth: Penguin. 1964. p. 65; Kevin Crossley-Holland. The Norse Myths. New York:
Pantheon. 1980. p. 193.
13
Raw. pp. 55-56.
14
Hallberg, pp. 48-49.
Reading with an Eagle
-
Eye: The
Theory and Practice of African New
Criticism
Bamgbose,
Gabriel Sunday
Department of English,
College of Humanities
Tai Solarin University of Education
P.M.B 2118, Ijagun, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State
, Nigeria
The assertions that
th
e
appraisal of African literature lack
s theoretical r
igour are not valid. The
reading of literature cannot be theory
-
free. Every discourse written or spoken about literature is
grounded in theory(ies). Steve Ogunpitan claims that all forms of literary criticism, all kinds of
reading of literature are informed by theory, whether or not the reader is conscious of it
(1999:101). The application of theories, X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia observe, enables
the
reader to analyse imaginative literature more percep
tively
(2007:1507). If the reading of
literature cannot be divorced from theoretical rigour, then the appraisal of African literature
cannot be an exception.
The reading of African literature has been enriched by the application of method
s
drawn from
cont
emporary literary theories. The appraisal of African literature, borrowing
the
words of Bill
Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin (1989:155), inter
sec
t in several ways with
contemporary
literary theories such as postmodernism, Marxism, feminism, p
sychoanalysis,
ecocriticism and so on. Even though African literature is

utilitarian (Tanure Ojaide, 1995:4),
scholars and critics of African literature have attempted to apply intrinsic or text
-ba
se theories
such as formalism, New
-Cr
iticism, structurali
sm and post
-
structuralism to the study of African
literature for proper elucidation.
P
rominent is the effort of
the African critic, Sunday Anozie
,
to
apply the structuralist poetics to African literature
. Amaechi
Akwany
a (2000:68) posits that
there are no
theories which apply exclusively
to African literature.
This implies that the study
of African lite
rature is placed on the pedest
al of contemporary critical traditions. The
appropriation of contemporary literary theories offer perspectives which
illum
inate some
critical issues
addressed by African literary texts, although African literary discourse itself is
constituted in texts prior to and independent of these t
heories (Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin,
155). Contemporary t
heories of literature are v
iable for the discussion of African literature but
they need constantly to be interrogated and rethought (Akwanya, 68).
This paper makes a case for the practicability of African New Criticism, which is a so
rt of
hybrid
of
the textual and the contextual
as
opposed to the Anglo
-
American New Criticism
, which is
extremely textual
;
it is a formalistic explication of text with focus on the intrinsic
; however
it
strives to
resist the temptation of ignoring the extrinsic
since both are modes of signification of
me
aning.
Attemp
ts would
be ma
de to examine how New Critical
theory is
interrogated and
rethought in African context. For the purpose of this study,
two
p
oems
(see the appendix)
selected from
Remi Rajis
Gather my Blood Rivers of Songs
(2009)
would be eng
aged for c
ritical
analysis
in order to justify the relevance of New Criticism in the explication of the multiple
layers of meaning in African poetic discourse
irrespective of the fact that
the
majority of African
poet
s have always been considered
free
-
vers
ers
.
The New Criticism is an
Anglo-
American literary tradition that emerges
in the early twentieth
century. It is, accordi
ng to Gregory Castle (2007:122
), an Anglo
-
American form of formalism.
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1
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The New Critics, just like the Russian formalists pay close and
careful attention to the language,
form and structure of the literary texts while regarding individual texts as the principal object of
critical investigation (Ogunpitan, 127). New Criticism is a reaction to the traditional approaches
to the study of lit
erature, which subject a work of art to extrinsic details su
ch as history,
biography, socio
-
economic condition
s,
etc. The New Critics simply ignore the life outside the
text. At fir
st, it is associated with the F
ugitives
, an informal
group that engage
s i
n the
discussion of literature. This group published
The Fugitive,
a literary magazine, in Nashville
from 1922 to 1925
(Wilfred Guerin, Ea
r
le Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne Reesman
& John
Willingham, 1992:71). The New Critics, in the words of Kennedy and Gioia (1508), regard
literature as a unique form of human knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms.
This brin
gs the statement of Rene Wellek
and Austin Warren to mind:
Th
e natural and sensible startin
g-
poi
nt
for workin
g
literary
scholarship is
the interpretation and analysis of the works of
literature themselves. After
all, only the works themselves
justify all our interest in the life of an author, in his social
environment and the whole process of literature (1977:139).
This i
mplies that literature mainta
ins an autonomous and autolectic (Guerin, Labor, Morgan,
Reesman
&
Willingham
,
77) existence; it is not a biographical, social, economic or historical
document (Kennedy &
Gioia,1508). Hence,
the
New Critics give credence
to the textual detail
s a
work o
f art. New Criticism has
a thoroughly symbiotic relationship
with
literary
modernism,
finding its premises borne out
in such works [of modernists] and using this as its model text for
analysis. To put over simply, perhaps
: this new critical movement was modernist criti
ci
sm

(Raman Selde
n, Peter Wi
ddowson &
Peter Brooker, 2005:17
). New criticism is simply refer
r
ed
to as modernist
criticism because its direction and development is influenced by the great
modernist critic and artist, T.S.
E
liot
,
who carries the sensibilities of the British nineteenth
century
poet and critic, Matthew Arnold, and other proponents such as I.
A.
Richards, William
Empson,
F.
R. Leavis, W.
K. Wimsat
t, John Crowe Ransom, Clean
th
Brooks, Monroe Beardsley,
etc.
In the words of Selden, Widdowson and Brooker, New Criticism establish[es] basic tene
ts for
close reading of poetry (17). Jeremy Hawthorn (2001:135) and Guerin, Labor, Morgan,
Reesman and
Willingham
(72) also acknowledge
t
he New Critics

fascination with poetry,
e
specially lyrical forms
because of their special stylistic features and form
. They adopt the
method of close reading, that is paying attention to a small section of poetry and analyzing this
in exhaustive detail (Hawthorn, 135) in order to enhance our understanding of the complexity
and subtlety of great works
.
Criticism, to the New Critics, should emulate the precision of
science... [and] articulate the special charac
ter of literary language (Richards, 1926, cited in
Selden, Widdowson &
Brooker, 17). Hen
ce, New Criticism encourages:
attentive close reading of texts and, in its intellectual and historical
abstraction, a kind of democratization of literary study in the
classroom, in which nearly everyone was placed on an equal
footing in the face of a blin
d text (Selden,
Widdowson &
Brooker, 18).
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By paying cl
ose attention to the text, New
Criticism traces the relationship in the parts of the
text. It examines how
the text achieves its order and harmony, how it contains and resolves
irony, paradox,
tension, ambivalence and ambiguity; and it is concerned essentially with
articulating... the
formal quintessence (Selden, Widdowson
&
Brooker, 19
) of the text itself.
The New Critics also pay attention to the external form
,
that is the stanzaic and
metrical pattern
of a work of art because the unity and meaning of the work are embedded in these formal and
rhetorical features (Guerin
,
Labor, Morgan, Reesman
&
Willingham, 74; Castle, 122).
The
New
Critics also engage in the treatment of aestheticism b
y focusing on the effects of connotation
and poetic imagery in order to show the contribution of each element to poetic form to a
unified structure (Jonathan Culler, 1997:122). This rev
eals the idea of organic form,
which is
important in New Criticis
m. Ransom (1938:347 cited in Guerin
,
Labor, Morgan, Reesman
&
Willingham, 76) also projects the idea of local t
exture and logical structure.
The logical
structure refers to

the argument or the concept within the work; local texture comprises the
parti
cular details and devices of the work (for example, specific metaphors
,
and images
and
symbols
)
(Guerin
,
Labor, Morgan, Reesman
&
Willingham
, 76. Emphasis is added).
However, approaching a literary work in such a dualistic perspective has the danger of leading to
what Brooks (1947) calls heresy of paraphrase, which is the reduction of logical structure to
precise or summary (Guerin
,
Labor, Morgan, Reesman
&
Willingham, 76). This is because a
work of art is an
organic thing
and like a
well
-
wrought urn
(
a phrase adapted from John Keats
Ode to a Grecian
U
rn

) contains within itself a unity of rhetorical effects...is entirely self
-
contained and irreducible to any meaning not located in the poems structure (Castle, 124). The
principle of unity implies tha
t the connotations, meanings and attitudes in a work should be
balanced and harmonized in order to create a total effect (Castle 124; Guerin et al., 76).
Elements in the text reflect opposition and conflict. The integral unity of a work of art
, which is
ac
hieved through the resolution of opposites, often in paradox and irony
,
is what is termed
tension in New Criticism (Robert
D
i Yanni, 2000: 381; Guerin, Labor, Morgan, Reesman &
Willingham
, 82). Besides the New Critics expose two fundamental errors in co
ntemporary
theory: the
intentional fallacy
and the a
ffective fallacy

(Castle, 127). Since criticism must
maintain the objectivity of science,
Wim
satt and Beardsley warn against intentional fallacy, in
which the meaning of the work is reduced to intention
of the author and affective fallacy, which
is committed by judging a work based on the emotional effect or impression it
has on the reader.
The notion of intentional fallacy coincide with the post
-
structuralist
s
notion of the death of the
author
(Selde
n, Widdowson &
Brooker, 21;
Guerin
,
Labor, Morgan, Reesman
&
Willingham,
78-79).
Moreover, the
New Critics hold the notion that the greatest literary works are
universal,
there wholeness and aesthetic harmony transcending the specific particularities th
ey
describe (Di Yanni, 381). Donald Hall puts it thus:
A key belief underlying New Critical analysis (one that
remains a powerful, and often unquestioned, assumption of
many readers and critics today) is that literature expresses
universal meanings beyond its own time period and
cultural context. The New Critics asserted that the sole task
of the critic is to explore precisely how, through language
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An International Journal in English
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and form, those meanings are expressed and powerfully
impressed upon readers (2001:14).
This notion, with i
ts Arn
oldi
an and Eliotian undertone, influences
Leavis is his moral formalistic
approach to criticism. He incorporates wha
t Selden, Widdowson and Brooker
call

moral
fervor
(25)
in his New Critical approach since his close address to the text is only eve
r to
establish the vitality of its felt life, its closeness to experience, to prove its moral force, and to
demonstrate (by close scrutiny) its excellence (24
-
25). His emphasis on cultural values directs
his discrimination between the great work and
the dross like mass or popular literature.
This practice is influenced by his belief that the great works s
hould be taught in institution of
learning
as part of the process of cultural filtering, refining and revitalizing which such courses
undertake on behalf of the nations cultural health (Selden, Widdowson & Brooker, 25).
This Leavisite approach to New Criticism has appeared relevant to the context of African
literature because of its moral utility
,
which distinguishes it from the more abstr
act or aesthetic
formalism of the New Critics, so too does [its] emphatically sociological and historical sense.
Literature is a weapon in the battle of cultural politics (Selden,
Widdowson & Brooker, 25). The
ethico
-
sociological cultural politics of Le
avisite criticism is embrace by the critics of African
l
iterature. African literature, Chinua Achebe avers, is an applied art as distinct from pure
(1989:45). In the Leavisite spirit, Olakunle George (2007:450) proclaims that literary texts
encode, or can be made so to do, the reality of cultures or peoples.
George announces: I bring
up the old story of Leavisite criticism and new
-
critical objectivity because the criticism of
African literature... owes much to both (451). In a bid to interrogate and
rethink the New
Critical emphasis on aestheticism, George posits that this aestheticism is then appropriated, not
simply as a means to the refinement and acculturation of the reader, but rather as a strategic tool
for socio
-
cultural and political cause
(
George, 452). African New Critics also hold the notion
like Leavis, that great African
art captures the spirit of African milieu and therefore
disseminate African cultural value. This implies that African New Criticism has been able to
manage the inheren
t contradicti
on in New C
riticism by blending tradition with aestheticism.
C
ommenting on L
eavi
site criticism
in the study of African literature
, Abiola
Irele declares that
even though it is
:
really not
sociological
in any methodological or technical
se
nse, [it] implies a strong awareness of the social
implications of literature...[Leavisite criticism] is based on a
strongly articulated social theory

of an elite in touch
through the best literature with a vital current of feeling and
of values, and having responsibility for maintaining, in the
practice of criticism, health of the society... it is a position
which has the eminent merit of making u
s take literature
seriously enough to commit ones total intelligence to
making explicit what in it takes the for
ms of nuance and
symbol, in other words, of applying its insights to the actual
business of living (1981:23).
Ireles view suggests that New Criticism in African context permits the intellectual explication
intrinsic details of literary text
-
paradox, ambiguity, irony, metaphor, image and symbols
-
and
also the humanistic or utilitarian tendencies inherent in great African art.
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Chidi
Maduka (1988), in the same vein, tries to reconcile the assumptions of New Criticism with
the political impetus of African
literary criticism. M
aduka
reject
s
three assumptions he associates
with the New Criticism; (i) the idea of self
-
containment in the literary text, (ii) the tendency to
turn literature into a discipline of extreme specialization for competent readers and (iii) the
claim of uniqueness
in true works of art. But he
maintains that the New C
ritical rubric can
help in sharpening the critics sensitivity to the mechani
cs of language (and structure).
Consequently, he concludes, if modified to recognize t
he importance of seeing forms as an
instrument of revealing meaning, it [New Criticism] can contribute to the current search for the
essence of African aesthetics (198
-199 qtd in George, 453).
Madukas contribution shows that African New Criticism appropr
iate
s
the critic
al
tool of textual
explication of New Criticism but rejects its notion of autonomous status of art. This informs the
unusual marriage between form and meaning in African aesthetic code. In his quest to confirm
the application of New Critici
sm to African literature, George (453) remarks that African New
Critics simply did for African Literature what Leavis sought to do for English
Literature...[they] bring their Leavisite/New
-
critical inheritance down to earth by concretely
(that is, in their
use of it) deconst
ructing its self
-
reification.
Therefore, Af
rican New Critics
,
he
concludes:
took key new
-
critical categories (e.g. value as an intrinsic
quality that gives great art its greatness, and value as an
ethnical/cultural category that art encodes, and that the
critics objective labor recovers and disseminates), with
some unease at its high
-
cultural learnings, but with a basic
adoption of its substantive premises.
At this juncture, let us shift our critical focus to the practical analysis of
the selected poems
in
Remi Rajis
Gather My Blood Rivers of Song
using the tool of African New Criticism.
In the
prologue poem, ti
tled I am the million selves
...
(17;
see the appendix)
,
metaphor runs through
from the beginning to the end. The poet persona
metaphorically
refers to him/herself as the
million selves. The first personal pronoun I,
which serves as the tenor of the metaphor is
compared with suc
h vehicles as the cactus tree, the meaning of your survival,
the rough
swee
t tongue of the city
scoundrel,
the desires of the hungry fly and the owner of sores, the
piecemeal of deaths,
and the competence and hypocrisy of gui
le.
The
se vehicles are imagic
manifestations of the million selves of the poet persona.
The poem opens: I am the million selves speaking silently to the strange winds
/ my country of
urgent memoirs,... The person
a
reveals his/her preoccupation in this couplet to recount th
e
memory of the strange winds,
that is the harsh realities of his or her country. There is a ton
e of
urgency in the personas quest to reveal the memoirs. This informs the use of e
llipsis at the end
of the first stanza; it suggests that the persona has skipped so many other issues in order to pay
close attention to the urgent issues in his/her coun
try. This reveals that the voice of the persona is
a committed one.
It is
observed that
the personas million selves are
represented all through the poem with the
image of cosmic elements such as cactus tree, hurr
icane, snake, the drowning man, the
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swel
tering air, the rapid rain, the sizzling sun, etc. T
his implies that the persona is a
metaphor of the spirit
or essence
of his/her country.
The use of the deixis of person I,
which means many things in the poem contribute to its
ambiguity.
I whic
h is the
sudden breath of the hurricane, that
connotes violence, is also
the
meaning of your survival.
This is paradoxical. It is also paradoxical that the drowning man
us
es the Snake as a redemptive
rope.
The tension here is that life in the cou
ntry of the
persona
(Nigeria)
is a mixture of violence and survival, pain and joy. It is ironic that
I am the
desires of the hungry fly and the owner of sores
/ civil cannibals both, they will e
at each other
before a quarrel.
The use of contrast or oxymo
ron -
civil cannibals
-
is signi
ficant. The
contradiction in the
se
lines is a reflection of the dialectical nature of the personas country. Of
course, the hungry fly and the owner of sores will always engage in struggle.
Here is a
reflection of the class struggle between the upper class and the lower class
in postcolonial
Nigeria
.
In a nutshell, the poem is a sweeping satire that leaves an institution untouched
-
the religious,
political, social institutions. Perhaps, this inform
s
the poets repeti
tion of the sibilant /s/ in order
to ac
hieve violent syllables and S
orrows symphony.
All these institutions contribute to the
bruise and bloo
d from this stone of a country.
The sharp metaphor of the tension is also
significant. The country, which th
e person
a
love
s to death,
is compare to a stone. This connotes
the harsh realities the stunt the growth
and development of the personas country. The external
form of the poem is characterized by series of repetitions. Notable is the
repetition of the word
death,
which reinforces the bruise and the blood from this stone of a country. The use of
couplet all through the stanzas, except for line 3 that appears in triplet, also reflect the
oppositional nature of that stone country,
where violence
is a dail
y meal.
Not a word (see the appendix),
another poem in the collection, continues the violent structure
of the prologue poem. The poem opens:
perhaps we are all prisoners of the times,
triumphant fools without redemption.
jamming the way to hell;
talk
to me
not about
the peace
The poet here
uses the deixis of person we,
which gives the prisoners experience a sense of
generality
/
universality
. The poems structure is tight because of the dense
use of metaphor. The
tenor we
is compared with the v
ehic
le prisoners of the times.
If prisoners connote
suf
ferers and the times connote
history,
then the metaphor connotes that we have all
suffered a lot from historic
al circumstances. But the
use of perhaps as the first word in
the first
line give
s the metaphor a sense of uncertainty

maybe it is not all of us, who have suff
ered
from historical conditions;
perhaps
some have not really suffered. Perhaps those are the people,
who inhabit the upper stratum because the poet
persona
informs us that t
h
ere is the hands of
inequity, /
and inequality in his country. This informs the persona
s loss of faith in peace
because it will soon expire
.

Of
cause
,
peace is very fragile; it cannot exist
, where the hands of
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iniquity, / and inequality operate.
It implies that the stratified nature of the society into the upper
class, who are spared from suffering, and the lower cla
ss, who are the sufferers, will
always lead
to class struggle. It should be noted that
the
abstract noun peace is likened to a prod
uct that can
expire. What this connotes is that peace is determined by the material condition of the society.
The image of the sufferers is further processed in line
s 2 and 3;
they are triumphant fools
without red
emption /
jamming the way to hell.
Hell

is a place of eternal suffering and it is the
end of the journey of those who are not redeemed. This religious imagery bears a journey motif,
which corroborates the historical sense of the poem. The masses are triumphant fool
s
. T
his
metaphor is burdene
d with contradictions or oxymoron. It is a paradox that fool
s are triumphant.
This
is
ambiguous. The tension of the po
em surfaces in the last stanza:

These again are starving
days, /
death returned to our familiar places, but not a word
.
These lines con
note that even
though the masses are starving to de
a
th, they could not raise their tongues against oppression.
The last line of the couple
t
, which is imbued with the image of Death that is returning to our
familiar places as if from a journey, brings W
ole Soyinka
s
popular maxim to mind: The man
died in him that is silent in the face of tyranny.
As expressed in the poem, that masses are silent
sufferers and their silence in the face of oppression brings them death.
The poet
persona
reveals the level of the masses suffering thus: I hear the cry too, of men and
women
/
through the years, and of children lost
/ or drowned in their own bleats... The masses
are cast into the metaphor of a goat that only bleats in the face of oppression. They only rumble
wit
hout revolting; that is
why we could only hear the
ir
bleats
. In fact, they are
drowned in their
own bleats... This statement is hyperbolic though it
is
signi
ficant. The use of ellip
si
s
at the end
of that line implies that the masses have left what they sho
uld do in the fog of injustice undone
revolt -
but their complaints only continue
. This accounts for the reason they are seen, in their
contradictor
y nature, as triumphant fools.
It is ironic when the person
a
says in the second stanza (which appears
in quatrain
) that:
But not a word shall fall from my lips.
Scarred as the roads, gutted by the harmattan winds
And when bruised by the memory of tears
Bile takes over the sense of salt, and dust.
The person
a
means exactly th
e opposite of what s
/
he has sai
d. Of course, the persona
is irritated
and embittered
by the masses

inaction. The memor
y of the suffering of the masses has always
been an ache in the person
a
s heart; s/
he
is
always bruised b
ut s/
he maintains that s/
he will not
speak against oppression
after
s/
he has already rendered the rhetorics that could push the masses
into revolution against the baldhead buffaloes

(the bourgeoisie),
who game with their
humanity. The shift in perspective from we to I is significant.
At first, t
he persona main
tain
s
an affective distance and speaks as a commentator about the experiences of his/her people in
the whims of injustice. The persona states:
dont tell me
about your circus
of baldhead buffaloes...
dont preach to me about
unity in the fog of injustice
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It implies that the persona refuses to be dece
ived, though the triumphant
fools
are,
by the
ideology put up by the baldhead buffaloes to make the masses think their state of being is
normal
and natural
. The use of the word preach suggests
a form of
brainwashing; this
ideological mechanism
oppresses the oppressed the more and empower
s
the oppressor the more.
The refutation is intensified by
the repetition of
the
word dont.
However, in the last stanza the
shift in pers
pective to our re
-
identifies
the persona with his/her class
--
the masses.
This
paper has been able to examine the nomenclature of N
ew Criticism in the context of African
literature.
The Afrocentric New Critical explication of the textual details of the poem reveals the
stifling state
of the Nigerian postcolony, which informs the Marxist/revolutionary aesthetics of
the poem.
Remi Raji is a Nigerian poet, who teaches Literature at the University of Ibadan,
Nigeria. His experience in his society bears on the direction of his art; his art
is engaged for
socio
-
political causes in order to maintain the health of his society. It is crystal clear that the
practice of African New Criticism deviates from that of the Anglo
-
American New Criticism.
African New Criticism, like the Anglo
-
American New
Criticism, applies the textual strategies of
close reading for the purpose of exhuming the sense in the texts intrinsic details, but it deviates
from the Anglo
-
American New Criticism in the sense that it does not totally ignore the context
that informs
the creation of the text. The
reason is that African literature does not subscribe to the
notion of Art
-
for
-
Art
-
Sake, which is dominant in Western literature. African literature is founded
on the ethos of Art
-
for
-
Society
-
Sake; hence there is a strong bond
between African text and
context. The nature of African literature no doubt influences the nature of its theorizing and
criticism.
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ited
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Editor-In-Chief: Vishwanath Bite
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