Tangu ujana wangu, nimebahatika kusoma na kuyafurahia mashairi mazuri ya ki-Ingereza. Ninakumbuka nilivyoingia kidato cha tano, Mkwawa High School, mwaka 1971, nikakutana na Mugyabuso Mulokozi na Kulikoyela Kahigi ambao nao walikuwa wanafunzi. Walikuwa na kitabu cha mashairi ya ki-Ingereza, tukawa tunayasoma na kuyafurahia. Mifano ni shairi la Thomas Hardy, "An Ancient to Ancients."
Mashairi ya Shakespeare yaitwayo "sonnets" yalituvutia. Mfano ni "Sonnet 18" ambayo mstari wake wa kwanza ni "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" Shairi la Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," lilikuwa daima mawazoni mwetu. Shairi la W.B. Yeats, "The Second Coming," ni moja ya mashairi yaliyonigusa sana, kama nilivyoandika katika blogu hii. Shairi la Walter de la Mare, "The Listeners," limeng'ang'ania akili mwangu tangu enzi zile.
Mashairi mengine tulisoma darasani, kama vile yale ya Percy Bysshe Shelley na Alfred Lord Tennyson, ambao ni wa-Ingereza, na pia waandishi wa ki-Afrika kama vile Wole Soyinka, John Pepper Clark, Dennis Brutus, na Keorapetse Kgositsile. Hiyo ilikuwa ni miaka ya sabini na kitu.
Baada ya kuja masomoni katika Chuo Kikuu cha Wisconsin-Madison, mwaka 1980, niliendelea kukutana na mashairi yenye mvuto mkubwa kwangu. Mifano ni shairi la William Wordsworth, "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.'' Hilo tulilisoma kwa makini katika kozi ya "Poetry" iliyofundishwa na Profesa John Brenkman. Profesa Brenkman alitufundisha pia mashairi ya washairi wengine, kama vile Wallace Stevens.
Baada ya kuja kufundisha katika Chuo cha St. Olaf, mwaka 1991, nimepata fursa ya kusoma na kufundisha mashairi ya watunzi wengi zaidi, kuanzia wa Australia, kama vile Judith Wright na Oodgeroo Noonuccal hadi wa Marekani, kama vile Carl Sandburg na Lawrence Ferlinghetti, hadi wa Caribbean, kama vile Derek Walcott. Derek Walcott ni mshairi mojawapo ninayemwenzi sana, kwa uhodari wake wa kutumia lugha, kusisimua akili. na kuelezea hali halisi ya tabia na hisia za binadamu kwa upeo mpana wa historia na tamaduni mbali mbali.
Ninaendelea kusoma mashairi ya ki-Ingereza, ili kutajirisha akili yangu, na wakati mwingine ninayatafsiri kwa ki-Swahili. Kwa mfano nimetafsiri shairi la Stanley Kunitz, "The Layers," na shairi la Edmund Spencer, "Ye Tradefull Merchants." Ninajiona mwenye bahati kwa hizi fursa nilizo nazo za kufurahia kazi za watunzi maarufu. Jana, kwa mfano, nimesoma shairi la William Savage Landor, "To Wordsworth," nikaguswa sana.
Kuhitimisha ujumbe wangu, ninawazia ingekuwaje kama ningejua lugha nyingi zaidi, kama vile ki-Faransa, ki-Jerumani, ki-Hispania, na ki-Arabu, nikawa ninasoma tungo maarufu zilizomo katika lugha hizo.
Mashairi ya Shakespeare yaitwayo "sonnets" yalituvutia. Mfano ni "Sonnet 18" ambayo mstari wake wa kwanza ni "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" Shairi la Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," lilikuwa daima mawazoni mwetu. Shairi la W.B. Yeats, "The Second Coming," ni moja ya mashairi yaliyonigusa sana, kama nilivyoandika katika blogu hii. Shairi la Walter de la Mare, "The Listeners," limeng'ang'ania akili mwangu tangu enzi zile.
Mashairi mengine tulisoma darasani, kama vile yale ya Percy Bysshe Shelley na Alfred Lord Tennyson, ambao ni wa-Ingereza, na pia waandishi wa ki-Afrika kama vile Wole Soyinka, John Pepper Clark, Dennis Brutus, na Keorapetse Kgositsile. Hiyo ilikuwa ni miaka ya sabini na kitu.
Baada ya kuja masomoni katika Chuo Kikuu cha Wisconsin-Madison, mwaka 1980, niliendelea kukutana na mashairi yenye mvuto mkubwa kwangu. Mifano ni shairi la William Wordsworth, "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.'' Hilo tulilisoma kwa makini katika kozi ya "Poetry" iliyofundishwa na Profesa John Brenkman. Profesa Brenkman alitufundisha pia mashairi ya washairi wengine, kama vile Wallace Stevens.
Baada ya kuja kufundisha katika Chuo cha St. Olaf, mwaka 1991, nimepata fursa ya kusoma na kufundisha mashairi ya watunzi wengi zaidi, kuanzia wa Australia, kama vile Judith Wright na Oodgeroo Noonuccal hadi wa Marekani, kama vile Carl Sandburg na Lawrence Ferlinghetti, hadi wa Caribbean, kama vile Derek Walcott. Derek Walcott ni mshairi mojawapo ninayemwenzi sana, kwa uhodari wake wa kutumia lugha, kusisimua akili. na kuelezea hali halisi ya tabia na hisia za binadamu kwa upeo mpana wa historia na tamaduni mbali mbali.
Ninaendelea kusoma mashairi ya ki-Ingereza, ili kutajirisha akili yangu, na wakati mwingine ninayatafsiri kwa ki-Swahili. Kwa mfano nimetafsiri shairi la Stanley Kunitz, "The Layers," na shairi la Edmund Spencer, "Ye Tradefull Merchants." Ninajiona mwenye bahati kwa hizi fursa nilizo nazo za kufurahia kazi za watunzi maarufu. Jana, kwa mfano, nimesoma shairi la William Savage Landor, "To Wordsworth," nikaguswa sana.
Kuhitimisha ujumbe wangu, ninawazia ingekuwaje kama ningejua lugha nyingi zaidi, kama vile ki-Faransa, ki-Jerumani, ki-Hispania, na ki-Arabu, nikawa ninasoma tungo maarufu zilizomo katika lugha hizo.
5 comments:
Usemayo ni kweli ndugu Mbele. Nakushauri utunge japo kiduchu nasi tufaidi.
Hapa nakumegea kidogo toka kwenye sharjala yangu niyaonavyo maarifa.
Knowledge
Pursue knowledge without stopping
Inquire about everything
Never worry to question everything
Whatever that’s wanting
Just treat it suspiciously
Never take things effortlessly
Whatever you think you don’t know
Just take it on in order to know
Again, go back to your ways
Compare and contrast everything
Never take things by usage
Make sure no stone is left unturned
You’ve the right to preach your faiths and feelings
You don’t have to fear anybody or anything
This country to you it belongs
You’ve to make choices
Based on your understandings
Nobody should put you in bonds
Simply because you’re expressing your feelings
The verses challenge yes-yes behaviours
The very reasons that brought us sorrows
Believing in things without questioning them
Has brought us bedlam
Look at how you’ve been exploited
Look at how you’ve been divided
You now kill one another
A brother hates a brother
If you ask why
It is because of religion
Because of nation
Because of nonsense
Because of illiteracy
Nothing aliens brought is picture-perfect
However they say theirs are perfect
You know what’s and what isn’t
Thus, stay put and request
Take on all dogmas
This is your right
Question all hyenas
Question all eaters
Explore their altars
Those who fool you
Those who eat you
Those who dupe you
It is time to put them to rest
It is time to rethink
Let me say something about our knowledge
First of all, I acknowledge our knowledge
My loyalty I pledge
Every society has knowledge
Africa had its own education
Then when aliens came
Condemned our system
They said they found a vacuum
What bunkum!
How could there be vacuum
While Africa was peopled
Fibbers treated our sciences as primordial
They heinously termed theirs contemporary
Their barbarity became exemplary
While ours they brand-named savagery
All was but a mere chicanery
It is sad we believed their lies
We ridiculously went on with this ignorance
Wake up and read the verses
Aliens dubbed their ways innovative
Whatever they did was progressive
Ours were branded to be primitive
Whatever we did became retrogressive
They regarded us as being naïve
They put themselves above
This mess can’t go on
This why we’re to fight on
We’re tired of such ruination
Yes, we need to fight on
Tell them your stories of creation
Teach them your civilization
They taught you their ruination
It is now your turn
Preach your civilization
Rejuvenate your lost grandeurs
Ndugu Mhango
Shukrani kwa mchango wako. Wale ambao hatukujua kuwa unajibidisha pia katika uwanja huu wa utunzi wa mashairi umetuletea uthibitisho.
Kwa upande wangu, nilitunga hadithi fupi kwa ki-Ingereza nilipokuwa mwanafunzi Mkwawa High School, zikachapishwa katika majarida maarufu ya Afrika Mashariki ya wakati ule, kama vile "Busara" na "Umma." Baada ya pale, niliingia katika uhakiki tu wa fasihi, si utunzi wake. Nilifikia hatua ya kujiaminisha kuwa kuzama kwangu katika uhakiki kulizimisha moyo wa utungaji.
Hata hivi, kauli yangu hii ina utata, kwani ninajishughulisha pia na kutafsiri mashairi ya ki-Ingereza na ki-Swahili. Tukizingatia kwamba kutafsiri kazi ya fasihi si kuitafsiri, kwa kweli, bali ni kuitunga upya, ni wazi kwamba siwezi kudai kuwa mimi si mtunzi. Kwa hivi, kauli niliyotoa hapa juu ni tata. Ninajikanyaga. Ndivyo taaluma ya fasihi ilivyo; inasisimua kwa kuwa aghalabu inakanganya akili.
Ndugu Mbele,
Ushahid nilioleta hautoshi. Kwani, hadi sasa, nimeishachisha vitabu vitatu vya ushairi wa kiingereza yaani Souls on Sale, Born with Voice na Psalm of the Oppressed. Hivyo, naweza kusema naukaribia ugwiji.Pia ninayo miswaada kama mitatu Zaidi ya ushairi.
Ndugu Mhango
Shukrani kwa ujumbe. Kutokana na mawasiliano yako nami ya miaka kadhaa, na kuvifahamu vitabu vyako, niliweza kuanza kufuatilia taarifa za kampuni ya Langaa inayochapisha vitabu vyako. Ni kampuni kubwa, na kuna waandishi maarufu wamechapisha vitabu vyao katika kampuni hii, katika nyanja mbali mbali, kama vile historia, uchumi, siasa, falsafa, na fasihi. Baadhi ninafahamiana nao.
Ninategemea kuwa kwa mawasiliano ya aina hii, angalau baadhi ya wasomaji wa blogu hii watakuwa na duku duku ya kufuatilia masuala haya ya uandishi, vitabu, na usomaji wa vitabu. Ninategemea pia kuwa waandishi chipukizi, na wale wanaowazia kuwa waandishi, watahamasika pia.
Ndugu Mbele,
Nami nikushukuru kwa ushauri wako wa kuchapisha kwenye mtandao mwenyewe. Kwani,niliunganishwa na msomaji mmoja wa kitabu changu cha Nyuma ya Pazia baada ya kukitengenezea link kwenye mtandao aliyenishauri nikitume Langaa wakichapishe. Tangia hapo sikurudi nyuma.
Kusema ukweli mawasiliano yetu ya muda mrefu ni sehemu ya shule.
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