Analysis of The National Ceremony
Eric Maina Kimani 1991 (Nyahururu)
THE NATIONAL CEREMONY
We gathered in large numbers
To listen to the annual speech from His majesty
Daring the blazing sun
We couldn’t afford to lose concentration
Lest the sharp suits escaped our glances
The hot ultra violet rays pierced through our rags
But the ad hoc band cooled our worries
Family by family, clan by clan our voices lifted to heaven
Hymning the patriotic tunes
A glorious entertainment for our servant leaders
We had to take a hiatus
As his majesty drove in nonchalantly
We pushed and pulled hoping he would warm our stretched hands
But today we weren’t lucky
Huge men barricaded us away from our benevolent servant leader
One by one they stood to address themselves in the queen’s language
As we followed suit clapping for words not much understood
But we clapped the most for his majesty’s vernacular speech
He seemed to bear with our illiteracy in understanding the queen’s language
Such a humble servant leader who in our language had proved to be a son of the soil
It was an eloquent speech promising to award those loyal to his authority
The chief band master even incorporated his name in the anthem
And we sang our hearts out as they watered their throats cheering us on
The event unfortunately came to an end and
We were too tired and thirsty from the singing to even remember our rightful handouts
| Scheme | ABACCX XXCXB XAXAX DXXDX AXXXX |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 0100100 1100110 11010100111100 100101 110111010 1011011010 0110100111101 1011111010 1001100111101010110 100101 01000101101010 11110010 11100101010 1101101111011 1011110 1110010111001001010 11111110100110 1110110111101 1110111101001 11111100100000100110 10101010101010111101101 1111001100101110110100 01110100100110010 01110111110111011 0010100011110 10110010101011001010101 |
| Closest metre | Iambic heptameter |
| Characters | 1,344 |
| Words | 241 |
| Sentences | 1 |
| Stanzas | 5 |
| Stanza Lengths | 6, 5, 5, 5, 5 |
| Lines Amount | 26 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 42 |
| Words per line (avg) | 9 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 218 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
About this poem
National Ceremonies in Africa are celebrated with much awe and pomp. however, in the midst of the glamour and celebrations lies a country whose citizens have nothing much to celebrate for.
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Written on March 13, 1991
Submitted by ekimani7 on October 05, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:12 min read
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"The National Ceremony" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/143741/the-national-ceremony>.
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