Plague Remedies – Colonialism: 1st Project 3/16

The Royal Plague Doctor

Author’s Note/Reflection:

[Post Disclaimer: I am a novice when it comes to poetry; having only recently found appreciation for the medium in the past year. Nevertheless, this “unessay” project proved to be just as entertaining as it was challenging.]

The purpose of this poem is to provide a narrative piece on Olunde’s experiences and the arcing effects of colonialism in Wole Soyinka’s play, Death and the King’s Horseman. Considering the setting of the play being 1946’s Oyo, ancient Yoruba city of Nigeria, I sought inspiration from twentieth-century Nigerian poets and playwrights. This is where I stumbled upon Dr. Niyi Osundare, an established writer born and raised in Nigeria – now currently a Distinguished Professor at The University of New Orleans. Osundare is known for works such as Invocations of the World, Alupayida, and Deep Green, all of which I took inspiration from in creating The Royal Plague Doctor. I believe there is an adequate emphasis on the introspective self, cultural impact, and narrative storytelling that holds some essence of Osundare’s writing. More information on Dr. Niyi Osundare can be found here:

https://www.uno.edu/academic-affairs/endowed-chairs/niyi-osundare

Furthering to the meat of this reflection, The Royal Plague Doctor specifically touches on the ignorance of colonizers and how that blindness affects the oppressed. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines colonialism as “a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another.” Using domination as a theme, reminiscent of the increasing tensions between Oyo’s people and the English colonizers, every line in this poem ends with a possession, up until the very last line as Olunde feels his only possession at the end of the play, is his (scare quotes) ’duty’ to die.

To avoid getting ahead of myself, analysis of The Royal Plague Doctor, ­stanza by stanza shall proceed:

The poem begins with Olunde explaining that he wants to learn from Plague, a proper noun in this case and for sake of metaphor. “Plague” equates to a person or people (likely White) that have spread their oppression like a virus, a plague. Poison being a double meaning as Olunde is literally going to medical school to cure such communal ailments. The poison and sickness, in later stanzas, form into a snake metaphor, highlighting the toxic grasp/bind colonizers have over the afflicted.

This stanza references the spiritual plot of Soyinka’s play, the “chaos” that will unfold given Elesin and Simon’s negligence, and how the oppressors aren’t privy to the oppressed’s culture(s) and customs. Specifically, the latter half of this stanza is calling out Jane and Simon Pilkings’ offensive ballroom attire. Jane asks Olunde why he isn’t too offended by their cultural defilement with Olunde responding:

“Why should I be . . . No I am not shocked Mrs Pilkings. You forget that I have now spent four years among your people. I discovered that you have no respect for what you don’t understand.”

Soyinka, 50

Olunde is quite directly naming who (as a collective notion) exists under ignorance, them being English colonizers like the Pilkings’. Them ‘bearing no mind’ to their destructive realities or even their own “ballad”, rhetoric.

Simply put, this is Olunde’s first realization that his father had not gone through with the ritual.

“Rapture” is in reference to the varying Christian belief of the divine end to the world, where only believers of the Christian faith will ‘rise’ to heaven (Hays et al., 2009). The intention is to represent how Christianity has had a lasting grasp and infiltration on subjected cultures, using “rapture” as a placeholder for Elesin’s possible repercussions for failing the ritual. The “viper” is Simon/colonizers and their intervention on traditions and principles they know nothing about. The “novel aim” is Olunde’s newfound destiny to rewrite his father’s wrongs.

Olunde proclaiming to defend his culture and accepting such fate.

Establishing that there is more than just one threat, and as some snakes bite and others constrict, so does colonialism and its variable avenues of oppression. Also referring to the unyielding reach of colonialism, having Olunde deal with one snake (his time getting educated) while the other is running ‘slithering’ rampant in his native city; all for Olunde to return home and see the outcome of “Brother Venom’s reach”. As the toxic virus is changing history, so too does Olunde, believing that the only prevention to his and his people’s suffering and inevitable cosmic collapse was what couldn’t be tainted by the colonizers – his culture, and his death.

Works Cited:

Hays, J. Daniel, et al. Dictionary of Biblical Prophecy and End Times. Zondervan, 2007.

Kohn, Margaret, and Kavita Reddy. “Colonialism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 29 Aug. 2017, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/.

Soyinka, Wole. Death and the King’s Horseman. Norton, 2002.