Poem: Raider Of The Treasure Trove By Lade Wosornu Complete Analysis; This poem is necessary for students who are sitting for the following examinations and should be studied so as to stand a chance of passing the exams. JAMB, WAEC, NECO, GCE.
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Raider Of The Treasure Trove By Lade Wosornu
But what can be worthy of your life?
What dearer than the gems or your dreams;
The reason you are here? Always strive
To fly flags of joy, and, sail upstreams
Powered by the breeze of love, your course
Chattered in the ink of compassion.
And, fling roses wherever you pause
Heaven-on-earth your destination.
Of things which would blot out that brief
Or, breach your sails with arrows unseen
No! Rob you of life, Rage is chief.
Rage drags rags after you. Of charity,
Laughter, sweetness and joy, Rage is thief
Enemy of equanimity,
Rage spreads toxic fumes on every scene.
In essence, Rage spells calamity.
Its cause is your perception of storms
Breaking around, not upon, your head.
There are either snakes, deviants nor norms:
As you think, so you feel. Watch your mind.
Rage sets sail. Can ruin lag far behind?
I’ll fling roses wherever I berth.
My destination is heaven-on-earth.
Themes Of The Poem Raider By Treasure Trove
RAGE’S DESTROYING EFFECTS: Rage or anger, according to the poet persona, is the root of man’s problems on Earth.
This is why he strongly advises against allowing strong negative emotions such as rage to rule one’s life.
Rage is a powerfully destructive force. It acts like a thief, robbing anyone who entertains it of their joy.
Furthermore, rage is a toxic emotion that spreads discord and consumes happiness and joy.
THEME OF THE MIND’S POWER TO INFLUENCE ONE’S LIFE SITUATION: Another important theme in the poem Raider of the Treasure Trove is that everyone has the ability to manifest whatever they desire.
The human mind is the source of this power. Positive thoughts have the ability to produce the most desired results, just as negative thoughts cause a lack of progress.
According to the poet, how we think about what happens to us determines our feelings and, by extension, our actions.
Positive thinking produces the desired feelings and outcomes. As a result, rage is an unavoidable result of how we see (perceive) the events in our lives.
According to the poet, many people tend to focus solely on the negative aspects of life’s events. Even in the darkest of times, they fail to see the possibilities.
And it is this that drives them to negative emotions, which ultimately destroy their happiness here on Earth.
THEME OF LOVE AND JOY: Lade Wosornu contrasts rage with love, compassion, and joy, which are all beneficial emotions.
The poet’s persona promotes love in a didactic manner. He sees it as the most effective way for any living person to achieve their dream of a better life – the heavenly bliss that we all seek.
While rage only leads to disaster, positive emotions like love, compassion, and joy are the agents of all things positive.
So these are the desirable emotions that the individual must cultivate and spread (promote) wherever he goes.
THE PERCEPTION OF LIFE AS A JOURNEY: The poem describes life as a journey. It compares life to a sea voyage in particular. The ships are humans. Their growth and movement are analogous to a ship sailing. The sea is life itself. Storms are life’s difficulties. And the human interactions one has along the way are represented by the places one berths.
The poem teaches readers how to make the most of the situations they encounter on their journey. It also informs one of the behavioural codes to be followed while on this journey.
BLISS: The poem also explores the concept of bliss, specifically the kind associated with heaven. It says that man should build his life around the concept of bliss. He should be cheerful and embody “laughter, sweetness, and joy.” He should love everyone he meets on his journey through life.
The phrase “heaven-on-Earth” appears several times. The first time it is mentioned, the poetic persona is attempting to persuade his audience to aspire to the kind of extreme joy associated with heaven. The poetic persona himself says the second time the expression is used that he wants to live that kind of life here on Earth.
As a result, the poetic persona’s description of an ideal life is one marked by unparalleled happiness, sweetness, and good-naturedness.
Related; Poem: Leader And The Led By Niyi Osundare Complete Analysis
POETIC DEVICES IN THE POEM RAIDER BY TREASURE TROVE
METAPHOR: A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two unrelated things by stating that one thing is another. This is another prominent poetic device in Lade Wosornu’s Raider of the Treasure Trove. In the following lines, the poet uses metaphor to flesh out his ideas.
Line 5 – Powered by the breeze of love
Line 6 – Chattered in the ink of compassion
Line 11 – Rage is chief
Line 16 – Rage spells calamity
Line 21 – Rage sets sail…
RHETORICAL QUESTION: A literary device in which a question is asked in order to make a statement that does not expect an answer.
Line 1 – But what can be worthy of your life?
Line 2-3 – What dearer than the gems or your dreams;/The reasons you are here? …
Line 21 – …Can ruin lag far behind?
ALLITERATION: This is the repetition of the same sound or sounds, particularly consonants, at the beginning of several closely related words. The poem contains the following examples:
Line 4 – To fly flags of joy, and sail upstreams.
Line 11 – No, Rob you of your life, Rage is chief
Line 12 – Rage drags rags after you, of charity.
PERSONIFICATION: Personification is a figure of speech or poetic device in which human qualities are transferred to inanimate objects or things. examples:
Line 13 – Rage is thief
Line 15 – Rage spreads toxic fumes on every scene.
USE OF DICTION
The poet’s word choice is straightforward. The poet carefully chooses words that help the reader form an image of the subject matter. In general, the poet’s use of diction makes reading the poem a lot easier.
SUMMARY OF THE POEM RAIDER OF TREASURE TROVE
Lade’s Raider of the Treasure Trove is a didactic poem about man’s life. From its title, which depicts man’s pursuit of life treasures or the value of life, to its opening line, which asks a rhetorical question about the value of life: “But what can be worthy of your life?”
The word raider is used by the poet to represent humans. Every human being comes into the world with the sole purpose of discovering their destiny. The treasure trove is this destiny. The poet metaphorically presents two concepts in the poem that will enable every human being to achieve or lose this “Treasure Trove.” They are affectionate and rage. He stated that “Rage,” as personified in line 11, is a human weakness that has the snarky power to limit humans’ journeys in life. Poem: Raider Of The Treasure Trove By Lade Wosornu
The poet metaphorically creates an imagery of the sea and a sailor on a voyage in stanza four of “The Raider of the Treasure Trove.” He compares life to a destination or path, with pain and gain.
Finally, the poet issued a warning against the mind that harbours Rage, stating that only a heart filled with love, compassion, and joy can triumph over rage.
Rage sets sail. Can ruin lag far behind
I’ll fling roses wherever I berth// My Destination is heaven-on-earth.” ‘
The final two lines emphasize that when a man lives with a loving heart, he will undoubtedly arrive at his destination in peace.
QUESTIONS ON THE POEM RAIDER OF THE TREASURE TROVE
- Lade Wosornu’s Raider of the Treasure Trove is built around imagery. Comment.
2) What two poetic devices aided your understanding of Raider of the Treasure Trove?
3) In Raider of the Treasure Trove, discuss the poet’s use of diction and imagery.
4) Investigate the role of metaphor in the poem Raider of the Treasure Trove.
5) “Rage spreads toxic fumes on every scene” is an example of what figure of speech?
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