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Elliot Ziwira
At the Bookstore

The contrived way poets use diction and its variations like metaphor, metonymy, imagery and symbolism, does not only inhibit communication in some sense, but makes readers find poetry cumbersome to interpret.

The traditional poem, for instance, uses conventions like rhyme, assonance, consonance, alliteration, lexical reiteration and a controlled metre, which, however, burden the reader.

As a result, the essence of poetry as a vehicle for ferrying societal mores and values, becomes dysfunctional.

A shift obtains, however, from the traditional poem’s restrictions as poets consolidate their role as the voice of the voiceless and truth’s defence.

Though that may be a plus, the quintessence of poetry remains as entrancing now as it was centuries ago, principally because of its two-fold nature.

There is a distinction between connotative and denotative meanings of poems, or any other literary work. It is this dissimilarity that integrates literature and communication.

The obvious surface interpretation that the reader draws from a poem is what is referred to as its denotative meaning. The connotative meaning on the other hand, is the deeper meaning underneath it, which is more subjective and less obvious. The connotative meaning is open to a plethora of interpretations whose truth lie in conviction.

This two-fold presentation of ideas enables poets to impart their deeper feelings of anger, distress, frustration, disillusionment, love, hatred and betrayal to their readers.

Usually readers are not unfamiliar to such experiences because, depending on geo-social links, they may share the same cultural norms and values with poets. If conventional imagery and symbolism is used, then the task is even mitigated; but if idiosyncratic elements are employed, it may be aggravated.

Freedom  Nyamubaya, for instance, embraces the connotative and denotative levels of poetry in the poem “A mysterious Marriage”.

Denotatively, the poem is about two children whose ideologies are infringed by “armed robbers” climaxing in their decision to seek solace in blood and iron as it dawns on them that armed confrontation is the only vent out.

In their search for freedom, they get married; coming home after the war, to wild cheers and merriment characteristic of a “wedding”.

Unfortunately, the grand wedding anticipated fails to take place, because only the bridegroom is present and the bride fails to materialise, much to the chagrin of the waiting crowd, which feels cheated and betrayed.

The general atmosphere is that of betrayal at the personal level, though it also reflects on the community and national levels. At the connotative level, however, the illocutionary force suffices to express the ugly consequences of imperialism on the African continent.

The names “Freedom” and “Independence” epitomise those values, which Africans hold dear, and feel are robbed by the nameless gang of aliens.

Africans do not take lightly to the robbery of these values. The union of such values in matrimony suggests how significant they are to their welfare.

Freedom, who is only seen as a shadow, is symbolic of mistrust, betrayal and snobbishness at the deeper sense of both the personal and national platforms, as the masses feel betrayed by their visionaries.

In the poem “Winter”, Charles Mungoshi echoes the same rationale. Denotatively, the poem is about an old man at wit’s end engrossed in his reminiscences of the past. He fails to notice the persona invading his privacy. The scene reincarnating itself in his eyes is that of destruction as suggested by the phrase “pulled down”.

The atmosphere pervading the poem is that of aridity and coldness as depicted by the imagery of “brick-and-rubble” and “the cold July wind”.

At the connotative level, however, the cold voice of politics and its bane on the individual psyche overwhelm the obvious diatribes and internal woes of an old man, who has lost variety and reason. Now at sixes and sevens, he nostalgically regards his past and its glory. Change to him is infectious as he fails to grasp the cold reality of the changing tide, which has swept him off his feet.

The depiction of the street, “Pioneer Street”, suggests political allusion, as the first settlers of Rhodesia dubbed themselves “Pioneers”.

Hence, the association of the street with all that is sinking and decaying connotes the idea of a sinking ship against the currents of change, yet the old man precariously hangs onto it.

The symbolic bastions of colonisation are reduced to rubble by the new political dispensation. Although the race and cultural identity of the old man is not explicitly stated, the “wilted rose in his button hole”, which is expressive of cultural connotations betrays him.

The fact that he also alludes to the demolishers of the buildings as “they” against “we”, exposes his racial identity.

Connotation and denotation have been defined in communicological terms by linguists like Barthes and De Saussure to demonstrate the convergence of literature and communication.

In concurrence with de Saussure (1916), Barthes defines denotation as the direct relationship between a sign and its referent in reality.

It follows reason, therefore, that the sign “Pioneer Street” denotes a road fringed by pavements and buildings in existence in Harare, although the street has since been renamed Kaguvi Street.

Semiologically the word pioneer becomes the sign “pioneer” whose use as a street in Harare depicts reality.

Connotation on the other hand, describes further interaction that exists between signs and their users. According to Barthes, signs have a way of interacting with language users’ feelings, emotions and cultural values.

This interacting influence enhances the creation of mental images more developed than the signs’ original referents.

Thus, to a Zimbabwean, the sign “Pioneer Street”, does not only evoke the mental image of a street that in reality exists in Harare, instead it connotatively conjures colonial domination characterised by suffering, dispossession and betrayal each time it is mentioned.

Connotation is possible because people sharing the same cultural values and norms share similar inter-subjective reality. Hence, by simply transmitting signs like “Pioneer Street”, “mzungu” or “Dedan Kimathi”, Mungoshi and WaThiong’o can connote the idea of imperialism, because artists share the same experiences with their societies.

Culture, therefore, plays a pivotal role in connotation.

In “Up in Arms” (1982), and “Red Hills of Home” (1985), Chenjerai Hove uses the signs “migratory bird” and “Bulldozers” in the poems “Lost Bird” and “Red Hills of Home”, respectively, to depict the dearth of cultural values and norms as a result of colonisation, and its influence on African societies.

Bulldozers are symbolic of destruction, not only the physical destruction of the African landscape, but the destruction of values and norms.

All the places that are considered sacred are wantonly destroyed, and with them the mores and values of a people perish. The migratory bird embodies abundance in the Zimbabwean context, because it is considered the harbinger of the rainy season. Culturally, the bird denotes a bumper harvest, as such its presence is associated with life, joy and celebration. However, there is cultural conflict in the way the bird is portrayed, flying to its death as is illuminated in the following lines:

But then disaster joined him

A skirmish followed, a nasty thing

The bird dragged his breast over the city

Compressed with smog . . .

As he missed his airy path.

WB Yeats also compounds symbolism and connotation in his poem “Church and State”.

Though the symbols evoke mutually different elements, religious and political, they both connote physical and psychological oppression.

In semiological terms the analysis of connotation, denotation and symbolism as Barthes espouses, reveals how readers interpret aspects of literary meanings. This interpretation process integrates literature and communication, as the extraction of meaning can only be possible if people understand, not only the denotative aspects of discourse, but its connotative facets expressed through symbolism, imagery, metaphor and metonymy as well.

It is this that makes the reading of poetry not only intriguing but unique.