Season by Wole Soyinka
"Season" is a prominent poem by Nigerian playwright and poet Wole Soyinka, featured in his first poetry collection, "Idanre and Other Poems." This work stands out for its accessible theme that resonates universally, dealing with the cyclical nature of life through the lens of agricultural metaphors, particularly the dualities of growth and decay. The narrator reflects on the contrasting experiences of youth and age, using evocative imagery to highlight moments of vibrancy and the inevitable passage of time.
The poem opens with the striking line "Rust is ripeness," introducing a central paradox where decay coexists with the promise of new life. Through the interplay of verb tenses, Soyinka crafts a narrative that juxtaposes the lively, joyous imagery of youth with the somber realities of harvest and aging. Despite its dark undertones, the poem maintains a thread of hope, suggesting that from decay arises the potential for new beginnings.
Soyinka's reflections are also influenced by his engagement with the Yoruba deity Ogun, embodying the themes of creation and destruction that permeate his work. In "Season," the complexities of existence are explored, inviting readers to contemplate the intricate balance between life's fleeting moments and the enduring cycle of renewal.
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Season by Wole Soyinka
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1967 (collected in Idanre, and Other Poems, 1967)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
“Season,” one of Soyinka’s most widely anthologized poems, is in the Grey Seasons section of his first poetry collection, Idanre, and Other Poems. The poem is easily accessible to readers around the world because of its simple and universal theme. Many of Soyinka’s early poems are of this type. In later poems, Soyinka more frequently turns directly to politics, requiring more knowledge of historical figures and events on the part of the reader.
“Season” is spoken by a narrator who is involved with growing and harvesting. At harvesttime he or she surveys a cornfield and considers how ripening and decay are intermingled. Although the final message is one of hope, the tone of the poem is dark and mournful.
The poem opens with a short statement of the theme: “Rust is ripeness.” The word “rust” can carry many meanings, and all these meanings work in the poem. It can be oxidized iron, a symbol of decay. There is a fungus called rust that can attack plants (destruction) but which is itself alive (creation). Rust is also the color of the corn, when ripe, that is grown in many parts of Africa (creation). “Rust is ripeness” points out a central paradox of life.
The poem contrasts two seasons of life, youth and age, using subtle manipulation of verb tense to develop the ideas. The first stanza describes youth—“mating time”—with images of light and dance, leaves and feathers. The mating time is described in present tense, but the speaker remembers that “we loved to hear” the sounds of it. The past tense points out that the time has passed for “us.”
The second stanza describes the harvesttime, when the people “draw/ long shadows from the dusk.” The imagery is of darkness and dryness, and the verbs are in the present tense. This is not a time without hope. Twice in the six-line stanza Soyinka uses the word “await.” At the opening of the stanza, the speaker is “awaiting rust.” By the end of the stanza, reminded of the creation that follows destruction, he amends it to “we await/ The promise of the rust.”
Critics have pointed out that early in his life, Soyinka took as his personal muse the Yoruba deity Ogun. Ogun is a god of artistic skill but also a god of war. This dual nature—of creation and destruction—echoes the ideas of growth and decay found in “Season.” Soyinka was fascinated with the ambiguities Ogun represented. He turned again and again in his poetry and plays to this idea that destruction and creation were forever tied.
Bibliography
Gibbs, James. Wole Soyinka. New York: Grove Press, 1986.
Jeyifo, Biodun. Perspectives on Wole Soyinka: Freedom and Complexity. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001.
Jones, Eldred D. The Writing of Wole Soyinka. 3d ed. London: W. S. Heinemann, 1988.
Maduakor, Obi. Wole Soyinka: An Introduction to His Writing. New York: Garland, 1986.
Maja-Pearce, Adewale. Wole Soyinka: An Appraisal. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann, 1994.
Ojaide, Tanure. The Poetry of Wole Soyinka. Lagos, Nigeria: Malthouse Press, 1994.
Wright, Derek. Wole Soyinka: Life, Work, and Criticism. Fredericton, N.B.: York Press, 1996.
Wright, Derek. Wole Soyinka Revisited. New York: Twayne, 1993.