AFRICAN POETRY
Discuss the characteristics and effects of the storm in “An African Thunderstorm”.
Explanation
An African thunderstorm is a highly descriptive poem about the ravages caused by a typical storm.
The two aspects of the storm — its characteristics and its effects — are clearly brought out. In respect of its characteristics, the storm, as a natural phenomenon, is presented as destructive and fearsome. The wind that blows in its wake "tosses up things in its tails/like a madman chasing nothing" "or like a plague of locusts". .
The above two similes emphasize the chaos that is caused. The impression formed is that of some brute force tha: is being unleashed. There is a sense of the foreboding as the "pregnant clouds" gather to "perch on hills". Hell appears to break loose as nothing is spared in the wind's trail. As the accompanying thunder is unleashed and the storm's effects diminish, this is felt in the onomatopoeia words "tremble", "rumble", "crack" and "pelting".
The storm's effects on its surroundings are also conveyed in words that appeal to the senses. "Screams of delighted children" contrast with the frenzied movement of women carrying their babies on their backs upon sensing danger. Their clothes are torn apart, "exposing dangling breasts". Not spared, even, are the trees which "bend" to let it pass.