The Leader And The Led By Niyi Osundare- Comprehensive Analysis

The Leader And The Led:

Content

   The Leader and the Led serves as the voice of Niyi Osundare in finding solutions to the leadership problems bedeviling Africa.

The belief of some people that the seat of power is their birth-rite, that they are all in all, and that nobody can do it better is stealthily condemned in this poem.

He also suggests the type of leaders that are beneficial to our society. In achieving these, he makes use of the qualities and the characters of animals to bring home his points.

The poem opens in the first stanza with the Lion saying that he is the only animal that can lead the other animals, but the Antelope is against this because of the pounce of the Lion’s paws. The Lion would be too autocratic.

   The Hyena in the third stanza also lays claim to the leadership, the Impalas, African antelope condemns this due to the lethal appetite of the animal that he always looks for something to eat, he is never satisfied, hence the Hyena would be corrupt.

   In the fourth stanza, Giraffe also jumps to the front that it is the only animal that can lead the others successfully but he forgets that his eyes are too far from the ground, hence he would not be able to see everywhere.

 This could lead to a serious problem as the Giraffe would not be able to secure the animals under him.

   The Zebra also says that he is the best when it comes to leadership in stanza five, but the duplicity of his stripes connotes a great danger as a good leader; any animal with stripes can present itself as the leader because the stripes are not unique.

   The Elephant also claims that the crown fits him most, but the other animals fear his trampling feet that are killing.

Whatever or whomever the Elephant steps is dead, so the other animals believe that with Elephant as their head, they are not safe.

   The Warthog, a species of wild dog and the Rhino also say the same thing, but they are ugly and riotous respectively.

 A good leader should be presentable and should not engage in disagreement always for peace to reign in the society.

   Finding a good leader now becomes a problem. It gets to a stage where a solution should be sought. The sage, the elders in the forest now put their heads together to proffer solutions.

The sage then suggests that there is a need to bring different habits and characters together.

“Our need calls for a hybrid of habits,”

Proclaims the Forest Sage,

“A little bit of Lion

A little bit of Lamb.”

    The sage explains further that the blending of these habits makes things work so as to live peacefully in the society.

“Tough like a tiger, compassionate like a doe

Transparent like a river, mysterious like a lake”

    In the last stanza, it is expatiated further that a servant leadership is deserved, a leader that is able to carry along their followers and knows their right in the course of carrying out their duties.

“A leader who knows how to follow

Followers mindful of their right to lead” 

Themes

AUTOCRACY: This is a form of government in which unlimited power is held by a single individual. This is the form of governance that operates when somebody is solely laying claim to the leadership of a society. The poet tries to condemn autocracy in the poem. The animals claim to be the best for the headship of the jungle, this might lead to autocracy.

DEMOCRACY: This is the government of the people, for the people, by the people. This is the type of leadership the poet clamors for in the poem where everybody would be a stakeholder and not that somebody would be dictating. With this, any form of lacuna would be blocked.

DECENCY: One of the qualities of a good leader is decency. A good leader should be decent both in appearance and in approach. This is why Warthog and Rhino are condemned to lead in the poem; one is ugly and the other is riotous.

“The warthog is too ugly

The rhino too riotous.”

COLLABORATION: This is the idea given by the elders in the poem to solve the problem of leadership. The habits and the individual characters have to be blended together to be able to have smooth running governance.

WISDOM: This refers to the voice of the elders that it is a voice of wisdom which should be listened to in order not to go astray. They proffer the solution in the poem that the habits of the individual should be blended together for good leadership.

“Our need calls for a hybrid of habits,”

Proclaims the Forest Sage,”

SERVICE: In the last stanza of the poem, the poet describes the qualities of a good leader. He sought for servant leadership; a leader that is ready to serve his people wholeheartedly and are conscious of their responsibilities over the followers.

“A leader who knows how to follow

Followers mindful of their right to lead” 

Poetic Devices

ALLITERATION: This is the repetition of a consonant sound two or more times in a line of poetry. This is seen in lines 2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 14, 19, 22.

SIMILE: We have this in lines

16, 21 and 22

“And the pack thrashes around

Like a snake without a head”- 16

“Tough like a tiger, compassionate

like a doe- 21

Transparent like a river, mysterious 

like a lake”- 22

METAPHOR: This is used all over in the poem. The habits of the animals are used to compare the habits of some of our leaders in order to bring out their weaknesses and why they would not be a good leader.

ENJAMBMENT: (Run-on-line) – This occurs when the sense expressed in a line of verse is not complete in that line and has to be completed in the next lines. There is always no definite pause at the end of such lines. If we study the poem critically, we shall see that it runs-on-line from the beginning to the end.

PARADOX: This is the use of a statement that may look far from common sense or truth. This is in line 23 of the poem,

“A leader who knows how to follow”

This expression looks absurd that one would think how a leader can be a follower at the same time, but the poet is preaching servant leadership.

ALLEGORY: This is a symbolic representation that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, usually a political or moral one. Animals are used in this poem to illustrate the leadership problems and bring out the subject matter of the poem which is on leadership and the qualities of a good leader.

Read Questions and Answers on  “The Leader and The Led here