The relationship between praise poetry and poetry in Zulu and Xhosa

This study deals with traditional, oral praise poetry and modern, \nwritten poetry in Zulu and Xhosa. Previous contradictory and confusing \nresearch findings are reassessed. The theoretical nature of poetry and \nconditions for its composition are examined. The development of praise \npoetry as an oral genre and previous hypotheses concerning this \ndevelopment are reviewed. The widespread incidence of praise poetry in \nAfrica and the extensive exposure of children to ukubonga (praising) is \ntraced. Tentative hypotheses are posed concerning the developmental \nsequence of ukubonga from the coining of a praise name, to the \nfashioning of unpolished praise images until finally, a fully-fledged \npraise poem is composed. The structural development of Zulu and Xhosa \n_....... - ---·- .. ··----- \nc lan praises and the origins of modern Nguni poetry are shown. The \nprofound impact on modern poetry by missionaries and Christianity, the \n"/ \npervasive traditional izibongo (praise poetry) as well as the European \n// \nand Western poetic~nfluence is set out. \nl1iscellaneous general theories on the structure of Nguni poetry and the \n£ requent incidence of repetition are commented on. The nature, extent \na nd efficacy of various types of imagery such as simile, \np ersonification, metaphor and symbolism in Nguni poetry is studie d. The \nseemingly facile and obvious difference between traditional and modern \n~ guni poetry; that is, between oral and written poetry, is shown to be \nsomewhat blurred due to the reduction of much oral poetry to writing. \n:rhe study highlights the urgent need for further research because the \nIII \noral art is i ncreaJ i ngly falling into disuse due to the inroads of \nWesternization anY urbanization. The composition of poetry on themes \ndrawn from a new, technologically advanced society and the \nexperimentation with Western literary techniques such as rhyme schemes, \nis shown. The recent poetic genius of Vilakazi, a modern poet, as well \nas the originality of traditional poetry \nconclusion reached is that the best modern \nis a s s essed and the general \npoetry £ Nguni is that which \nis a symbiosis of traditional and modern, representing a continuum from \nthe traditional genre of izibongo.