‘A People's Firewood Cooks for Them’: The Contextual Prosody of Igbo Mask Poetry and Mbem Poetics

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The common view that most poetry is in verse but not all verse is poetry is largely factual, especially when minor and basic constructs are considered, such as visual and concrete markers (graphology, page layout, grammar, etc). The Igbo mbem mmọnwụ (ancestral mask chants) is laden with the basic features that constitute traditional Igbo poetry. It encapsulates the Igbo essence of tradition, ontology, and belief system in rhythmical verse and in a contextually cryptic nature that appeals to universality and excites the imagination, as all good poetry does. Proof of such essence in poetry is the focus of this article, such that despite and beyond the maxim of ‘a people's firewood’ contextualization, a universalist comprehension, rooting, and relevance, as a direct result of a general and acceptable test of what really constitutes poetry, is the ultimate goal. The construct of ‘a people's firewood’ is about a considerable degree of sustenance and adaptations of a people over time in most aspects of life for their continued existence and, in this context, it is encapsulated in a proverb, as will be seen later. The quest for proof is akin to Matthew Arnold's rejection of historical and personal estimates in favour of the real by the application of the touchstone theory in his guide for the sublime and ‘high seriousness’ in quality poetry (‘The Study of Poetry’). There is truth in James Reeves’ conviction that the primary purpose of poetry is magical. For him, magical rituals, especially connected to birth, survival, and death, are accompanied by words embedded in magical formulas and ‘are often accompanied by music and dancing. The words supply an indispensable intellectual element in what is largely a physical activity’ (Understanding Poetry 8). The mystery of poetry that prevents a quick loss of fascination lies in constructs such as these.

THE IGBO ANCESTRAL MASK AND THE ‘FIREWOOD’ CONSTRUCT

Igbo mask origins are embodied in oral tradition handed through down generations, thereby making appropriate written dating impossible; with its dateless and ancient origins, it is an embodiment of magic and mystery. This provides the element of ancestral mystique as salient flavour to its narratives and poetic chants.