"The Second Coming," shairi la William Butler Yeats wa Ireland, ni kati ya mashairi maarufu kabisa katika ki-Ingereza. Yeats aliliandika shairi hili baada ya vita kuu ya kwanza ambayo ilisababisha vifo vya mamilioni ya watu na uharibifu mkubwa. Simanzi ilitanda ulimwenguni, na ilikuwa rahisi kukata tamaa kuhusu hatima ya binadamu na ulimwengu.
Hisia hizi zinajitokeza kimafumbo katika "The Second Coming." Kinachoshangaza ni jinsi shairi hili lilivyoonekana kubashiri majanga yaliyoikumba dunia miaka iliyofuata. Adolf Hitler aliibuka na himaya yake ya ki-Nazi iliyosababisha mauaji ya mamilioni ya watu na kisha ikaja vita kuu ya pili.
"The Second Coming" ni shairi ambalo wengi tulilisoma tulipokuwa sekondari, na wengi wetu tunakumbuka lilivyonukuliwa na Chinua Achebe mwanzoni mwa riwaya yake ya Things Fall Apart. Kati ya mambo mengi, riwaya hii nayo ilielezea mtafaruku uliotokea katika jamii ya asili ya ki-Afrika kufuatia kuingiliwa na wazungu.
Kila mtu anaweza kulisoma shairi hili la "The Second Coming" kimya au kwa sauti. Jaribu kulisoma kwa sauti, uone linasikika vipi na linatoa maana au hisia gani. Haiwezekani kwa shairi hili kusomwa kwa namna ile ile lilivyokwishasomwa, hata kama msomaji ni yule yule. Lazima zitajitokeza tofauti, hata kama ni ndogo sana.
Hata mimi ambaye nimerekodi usomaji wangu katika video niliyoiweka hapa, siwezi kurudia kulisoma shairi hili sawa sawa kama nilivyofanya. Jambo hili linatulazimisha kujiuliza: kusoma ni nini? Bila shaka kusoma ni kutafsiri, na kila usomaji wa shairi kama hili ni tafsiri tofauti na nyingine yo yote.
Tunaweza kujiuliza masuali mengine. Kwa mfano, Je, shairi linabaki lile lile kila linaposomwa? Tunaposema shairi, tunamaanisha nini? Nini maana ya kusema "The Second Coming" ni shairi? Inakuwaje liitwe shairi lile lile iwapo kila usomaji wake unaleta maana na hisia tofauti?
Watu wengi wanaamini kuwa inawezekana kuelezea maana ya shairi na kuhitimisha. Wanaamini kuna ujumbe katika shairi ambao unaweza kufafanuliwa. Ni lazima tujifunze kutafakari zaidi masuala haya kwa kusoma nadharia mbali mbali za fasihi badala ya kuridhika na dhana zilizozoeleka.
Nisikilize ninavyolisoma shairi la "The Second Coming." Nilirekodi video hii jana, ghafla tu, bila mazoezi, nikaiweka kwenye ukurasa wangu wa Facebook. Watu wamejitokeza kutoka pande zote za dunia wakionyesha kuipenda. Siwezi kujua ni nini kilichowagusa; labda ni shairi lenyewe, au labda ni usomaji wangu, na hata hivyo, ni lazima kila mtu ameguswa kwa namna tofauti na mwingine. Ni kitendawili.
The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Source: The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (1989)
Hisia hizi zinajitokeza kimafumbo katika "The Second Coming." Kinachoshangaza ni jinsi shairi hili lilivyoonekana kubashiri majanga yaliyoikumba dunia miaka iliyofuata. Adolf Hitler aliibuka na himaya yake ya ki-Nazi iliyosababisha mauaji ya mamilioni ya watu na kisha ikaja vita kuu ya pili.
"The Second Coming" ni shairi ambalo wengi tulilisoma tulipokuwa sekondari, na wengi wetu tunakumbuka lilivyonukuliwa na Chinua Achebe mwanzoni mwa riwaya yake ya Things Fall Apart. Kati ya mambo mengi, riwaya hii nayo ilielezea mtafaruku uliotokea katika jamii ya asili ya ki-Afrika kufuatia kuingiliwa na wazungu.
Kila mtu anaweza kulisoma shairi hili la "The Second Coming" kimya au kwa sauti. Jaribu kulisoma kwa sauti, uone linasikika vipi na linatoa maana au hisia gani. Haiwezekani kwa shairi hili kusomwa kwa namna ile ile lilivyokwishasomwa, hata kama msomaji ni yule yule. Lazima zitajitokeza tofauti, hata kama ni ndogo sana.
Hata mimi ambaye nimerekodi usomaji wangu katika video niliyoiweka hapa, siwezi kurudia kulisoma shairi hili sawa sawa kama nilivyofanya. Jambo hili linatulazimisha kujiuliza: kusoma ni nini? Bila shaka kusoma ni kutafsiri, na kila usomaji wa shairi kama hili ni tafsiri tofauti na nyingine yo yote.
Tunaweza kujiuliza masuali mengine. Kwa mfano, Je, shairi linabaki lile lile kila linaposomwa? Tunaposema shairi, tunamaanisha nini? Nini maana ya kusema "The Second Coming" ni shairi? Inakuwaje liitwe shairi lile lile iwapo kila usomaji wake unaleta maana na hisia tofauti?
Watu wengi wanaamini kuwa inawezekana kuelezea maana ya shairi na kuhitimisha. Wanaamini kuna ujumbe katika shairi ambao unaweza kufafanuliwa. Ni lazima tujifunze kutafakari zaidi masuala haya kwa kusoma nadharia mbali mbali za fasihi badala ya kuridhika na dhana zilizozoeleka.
Nisikilize ninavyolisoma shairi la "The Second Coming." Nilirekodi video hii jana, ghafla tu, bila mazoezi, nikaiweka kwenye ukurasa wangu wa Facebook. Watu wamejitokeza kutoka pande zote za dunia wakionyesha kuipenda. Siwezi kujua ni nini kilichowagusa; labda ni shairi lenyewe, au labda ni usomaji wangu, na hata hivyo, ni lazima kila mtu ameguswa kwa namna tofauti na mwingine. Ni kitendawili.
The Second Coming
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Source: The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats (1989)
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