Critical analysis of Richard Ntaru's poem "The Pauper." Give a brief analysis of the poem "The Pauper" by Richard Ntiru.

Richard
Ntiru is an African poet from Uganda in East Africa. There is little biographical information
available on Ntiru but critic Rosette Francis called him "one of the young writers" in
1971. Critics generally agree that the underlying impetus of Ntiru's work is to show the
"tensions and conflicts" embedded in the "cultural confusion" (Yeshufu) that
juxtaposes Ministers of Parliament having "triple" chins with paupers who "lean
on a leafless tree" (Ntiru) in order to dramatize "the futility, corruption,
injustice, poverty, moral decay" (Yeshufu) in the confused culture of man. This poem
certainly is illustrative of these elements of tension and conflict, juxtaposition of power
corrupted with the injustice of abject poverty, the cultural confusion that pits the pauper,
framed in shining headlights and snapshots, against the beautiful.

Ntiru's
poem "The Pauper" is structured in five-line stanzas with
no end rhyme. The underlying rhythm is
built upon iambic tetrameter but that is varied with the absence of
meter or with alternate meters. An example of iambic tetrameter giving way to no meter follows
in these lines:

What brutal force, malignant element
[tetrameter]
dared to forge your piteous fate? [tetrameter]
Was it worth the
effort, the time? [no meter]

Note that the first of these
three lines is varied by the addition of a fifth metric foot while the second is varied by being
"headless," or having a missing opening unstressed beat:

What bru' / -tal force,' / ma -lig' / -nant el' / -e -ment'

--
dared' / to forge' / your pit' / -eous fate?'

Was it worth' the ef' -fort,
the time?'

While there is no end rhyme, Ntiru does employ
line internal assonance to tie lines together. Assonance is the
repetition of a consonant sound within or between lines. A good example is in the early part of
the poem where there is line internal assonance on the /s/ sound:

your eyes
in all
directions, in no direction!
What brutal
force, malignant element
dared to forge your
piteous

, the repetition of the first letter, is shown in
"limply lean on a leafless." Another repetition Nitru employs is word
repetition: "Pauper, pauper, craning yours eyes
in all directions, in no
direction!"

The
theme extends beyond the description of a pauper with feet so
hardened that jiggers (parasitic fleas) are unable to penetrate the
thickened pad-like flesh. The theme raises the question of the
creation of the pauper and asks about the motives and reactions of the Creator.

What brutal force, malignant element
dared to forge your
piteous fate?

The Creator is questioned while Nitru
subtly connects this Creator to the parliamentary government that periodically raises the Pauper
Question for discussion. In our imaginations we can hear the Pauper
Question being raised: "We must take pity on the poor pauper, but what shall we do about
him? After all, he is of some economic interest as tourists snap photos of him, but what are we
to do about him?"

Pauper, pauper crouching in
beautiful verandas
of beautiful cities and beautiful people.
Tourists and I
will take you snapshots.
And your MP with a shining head and triple chin
will
mourn your fate in a supplementary question at
question time

For additional discussion on thematic elements, see: A. Rasheed
Yesufu. "Darkness and Light: the Interplay of Pessimism and Hope in the Poetry of Richard
Ntiru."

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