The relationship between praise poetry and poetry in Zulu and Xhosa

Abstract

This study deals with traditional, oral praise poetry and modern, written poetry in Zulu and Xhosa. Previous contradictory and confusing research findings are reassessed. The theoretical nature of poetry and conditions for its composition are examined. The development of praise poetry as an oral genre and previous hypotheses concerning this development are reviewed. The widespread incidence of praise poetry in Africa and the extensive exposure of children to ukubonga (praising) is traced. Tentative hypotheses are posed concerning the developmental sequence of ukubonga from the coining of a praise name, to the fashioning of unpolished praise images until finally, a fully-fledged praise poem is composed. The structural development of Zulu and Xhosa _....... - ---·- .. ··----- c lan praises and the origins of modern Nguni poetry are shown. The profound impact on modern poetry by missionaries and Christianity, the "/ pervasive traditional izibongo (praise poetry) as well as the European // and Western poetic~nfluence is set out. l1iscellaneous general theories on the structure of Nguni poetry and the £ requent incidence of repetition are commented on. The nature, extent a nd efficacy of various types of imagery such as simile, p ersonification, metaphor and symbolism in Nguni poetry is studie d. The seemingly facile and obvious difference between traditional and modern ~ guni poetry; that is, between oral and written poetry, is shown to be somewhat blurred due to the reduction of much oral poetry to writing. :rhe study highlights the urgent need for further research because the III oral art is i ncreaJ i ngly falling into disuse due to the inroads of Westernization anY urbanization. The composition of poetry on themes drawn from a new, technologically advanced society and the experimentation with Western literary techniques such as rhyme schemes, is shown. The recent poetic genius of Vilakazi, a modern poet, as well as the originality of traditional poetry conclusion reached is that the best modern is a s s essed and the general poetry £ Nguni is that which is a symbiosis of traditional and modern, representing a continuum from the traditional genre of izibongo.