Abiku, Discussed

See the poem by Charles Efetobo Oyibo

Background

Abiku, admittedly, is a daunting poem. This is so because a background understanding of the meaning and implications of the word “Abiku” is necessary for a proper understanding of the poem.

If the belief in the supernatural is all-pervasive in traditional Africa, then the belief in the inimical, diabolical and sinister variant is even more insidiously ingrained in African tradition. Abiku (figuratively “born to die”) in Yoruba folklore refers to a one such sinister spirit who appropriates a (pregnant) woman’s womb to be born and reborn, for the singular purpose of causing the woman emotional turmoil. Such woman, then, conceives, carries her pregnancy to term, delivers the baby, only for the baby to die within the first few years of her birth. Sometimes though, the spirit-baby pities her mother and decides to stay permanently. The Abiku concept has equivalents among other Nigerian tribes (the Ibos, for instance, have their Abiku equivalent in Ogbanje), and superstitious or not, the belief in the notion only began to diminish with westernization and Christianization.

Abiku (the poem) explores the travails of a woman who has suffered the pain of the recurring birth and death of her children. Each birth brought her an admixture of elation at the arrival of the baby, and despair at the knowledge that this one, like the ones before her, was destined to die. Hers then was a perpetual state of sorrow, for in one year she would conceive, in another, she would deliver, and in a few more, she would lose her child. Abiku captures a moment when the woman, pregnant again, sits at her windowsill, gazing at the night sky, crying silently, praying for the baby within her to have mercy, and stay this time. As though to assure her mother of her resolution to stay this time, the baby stirs within.

Imagery & Symbolism

“Death” and “rebirth,” “an emergence” and “a downward spiral into abyssal depths,” “elation” and “despair,” “arrivals” and “departures,” are all imageries that are at odds with each other and all create a feeling of antagonism within the poem. They suggest a battle between life and death, upward movement (emergence) and downward movement (spiral into abyssal depths), and desirable and undesirable feelings.

Another striking imagery is that of accentuation of the pregnant woman’s belly by the night’s full moon—for one thing, they are both round, and for another, they are both literally full. Importantly though, just as the full moon heralds the dawning, or birth, of a new day, so does the woman’s “full” belly herald the impending birth of a new life.

The theme of Abiku is that just as the woman who had suffered in the hands of Abiku (the spirit-child) clung obstinately to the hopes of having a child that would live past infancy, we must continue to aspire to and hope for a brighter tomorrow, and refuse to resign ourselves to fate.

While relating directly to the experience, albeit superstitious, of unrelenting cycles of deaths and rebirths, Abiku applies universally to recurrent cycles of failures and successes. “Her belly accentuated,” symbolizes another opportunity, and “maybe she’ll stay this time,” is an expression of hopes for enduring success this time.

Analysis originally written for a Poetry Assignment in Dr. Paul Urbanick's Humanities 201 at Harold Washington College, Chicago. May 9, 2002