Kampala — Book: Nyote on Prose and Poetry and The Shadow of Death

Author: David Innocent Nyote

Where do we begin? Where do we end? Who are we talking to, and how? These are the disturbing questions that any critic/teacher tackles. Disturbing questions indeed. Nyote seems to fail question by question.

His book, meant to be a study guide for literature students of poetry, traverses many levels. In noting that it is an A' level text, he makes it clear where he should begin and end. He should deal with only the concepts examinable at the level.

But he begins from a much higher level. Why give details of the kinds of metric feet? After using the dictionary to define literature, he runs through more than forty literary forms, without giving much definition to what they are.

But some of them could in other contexts be referred to as stylistic characteristics. In dealing with students at this stage, the teacher of literature should have taken much care in avoiding such ambiguities.

Some ambiguities may be unavoidable but not hard to explain. This is where Nyote fails to draw the line.

From the early poets to medieval poets, through Shakespearean poetry and into East African poetry, Nyote covers much ground. His forte is his extensive and intensive reading.

He explains his points by referring to a number of poems. Many of these are already known to the literati, which gives Nyote an authenticity to comment on literature as a subject.

Nyote does not operate like a surgeon. He haphazardly piles one item onto another in an illogical sequence. For instance, he moves from "autobiography" to "ballad" and seems to remember the "biography" later on.

Picking on items from the intellectual pit and throwing them to students is no way to progress. But therein, within a seemingly disorganised work, lies a symbolic organisation.

From the literay forms, the author moves to a climax; poetry and how it should be studied. Each object of poetry is exemplified by a poem.

The subject matter, theme, setting, mood, tone and attitude are well explained.

The Shadow of Death is a part for which you need to carry meaning to because it is useless getting any meaning out of it. The book is perhaps more important to teachers of literature than their A' Level students. Students may need the guidance of their teachers, if only to help them draw boundaries. For those who love poetry, it is one book worth picking.