May 11, 2021 [ analysis of select poems by warsan shire ]

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA NSUKKA

FACULTY OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH AND LITERATURE

COURE CODE: ELS 512

CORSE NAME: STUDIES AFRICAN POETRY

LECTURER’S NAME: DR. ONYEMAUCHE ANAELE EJESU

STUDENT’S REG. NUMBER: PG/MA/18/89334

STUDENT’S NAME: MAKEPEACE DEORJI

TOPIC: ANALYSIS OF SELECT POEMS IN WARSAN SHIRE’S POETRY

COLLECTION OUR MEN ARE NOT OUR OWN

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Analysis of the Select Poems in Warsan Shire’s poetry collection ‘Our Men Are
Not Our Own’

INTRODUCTION

The poetry Our Men Are Not Our Own by Warsan Shire is a collection of about
fourteen poems; the titles of these poems include: What We Own, Ugly, Tea with
our Grandmothers, Things We Lost in the Summer, First Kiss, Haram, When We
Last Saw Your Father, Conversations about Home (at the Deportation Centre),
Trying to Swim with God, Snow, Residue, Grandfather’s Hands, Souvenir, and
Chemistry.

Of the fourteen poems listed above, analysis shall be made on three of the poems
namely: What We Own, Ugly, and Souvenir.

Analysis of the aforementioned poems already mentioned will take into cognizance
the possible meaning(s) or interpretation(s) of the select poems from the poetry
collection Our Men Are Not Our Own, the tone and mood of the poet; the figures
of speech evident in the poems as well as some possible themes evident in the
poems.

The need for the analysis of the select poems is vital as most of Warsan’s poems
have neither been reviewed nor analyzed and if at all some of them have been
analyzed or reviewed, little of those analyzed or reviewed works have been made
available in the public space.

The poems What We Own, Ugly and Souvenir are poems that basically reflect on
the aftermath of war; they paint pictures of what life is for people who survive
battles, conflicts, violent disputes and wars. The basic thrust of all three poems is
the effect of war on those who remain after the wars are over, what physiological,
psychological, physical and environmental impact war has on the people who
remain after the wars are over and how people (both natives of war-torn countries
and non-natives) relate to people from war-torn countries.

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What We Own
Our men do not belong to us
Even my own father left one afternoon, is not mine.

My brother is in prison, is not mine. My uncles, they

go back home and they are shot in the head, are not mine.

My cousins, stabbed in the street for being too or not enough,

are not mine. Then the men we try to love say
We carry too much loss, wear too much black,
are too heavy to be around, much too sad to love.
Then they leave, and we mourn them too.

Is that what we are here for?

To sit at kitchen tables, counting
on our fingers the ones who died,
Those who left, and the others who were taken by the police,
or by drugs
or by illness
or by other women?

It makes no sense
Look at your skin, her mouth, these lips, those eyes,
My God, listen to that laugh.

The only darkness we should allow into our lives is the night
For even then, we have the moon.

Explanation

This poem has literary and ordinary meanings. The ordinary meaning as
encapsulated in the plain writings of the poet will be taken first and afterwards the
literal meaning.

In the first stanza of the poem, the poet makes a general statement by stating
plainly
Our men do not belong to us

From the above line of the poem, it is not clear who the pronoun ‘our’ represents in
the poem. But with further reading, it is deduced that the pronoun ‘our’ used in the
first line of the first stanza of the poem refers to women specifically and the
community, nation, continent generally.

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Thus, in the first stanza of the poem, the poem makes an emphatic statement that
the women, the community, do not ‘own’ men; cannot lay hold on men as perhaps
a possession or a property.

The poet appears to be of the opinion that women should not hold direly the male
figures in their lives as they cannot really ‘own’ them. The male figure is thus
presented as a free spirited person who is at liberty to leave anyone (the woman
inclusive) whenever and however he dims fit. This is revealed in the second line of
the first stanza of the poem where the poet notes that her own father left them a
certain afternoon.
Even my own father left one afternoon, is not mine.

In the second stanza of the poem, the poet reveals that her brother is in prison and
that her uncles that dared to go back home (probably to Somalia her native war-
torn country) were shot in the head; thus these men, she says are not hers.
My brother is in prison, is not mine. My uncles, they
go back home and they are shot in the head, are not mine.

From the above line of the poem, we begin to see some of the reasons why the poet
opined that the women, community did not ‘own’ their men. They did not ‘own’
them because, people, others denied them of existence. The fact that the poet in the
fourth line of the second stanza of the poem mentions that her brother was put
behind bars and her uncles were shot in the heads reveals the cause of the
disassociation between the women, community and her, their men. That line paints
a clear picture of loss brought upon the male folks by evil people.

In the third stanza of the poem, the poet states that her cousins who were killed
were not hers and at this point, she begins to reveal the counter effects of such
killings, injustice done on the men folk on the women who remain- they begin to
feel alienated, act withdrawn for certainly they have lost loved ones- fathers, sons,
brothers, uncles, nephews, male cousins. The poet in this third stanza buttresses
that in spite of the loss that the women folk have encountered, they choose to love
the men who are alive and remain but this is something that is difficult to attain

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and because they cannot truly hide their loss, they are found repulsive by the men
whom they love.

The fact that the poet notes that the women bear so much loss and wear black
We carry too much loss, wear too much black,
are too heavy to be around, much too sad to love.

only serves to show that the women were mourning their dead as in most African
nations when people lose a loved one, relative especially in cases of a wife losing
her husband, the widow puts on black cloths to mourn the dead. These men who
remain whom they try to love finds these women who obviously carry their loss
around as women are emotional creatures and as such these men find the women
repelling, unattractive and so they leave, leaving the women to mourn their loss as
well. These lines of the poem, serves to show that the women do not only suffer
physical or psychological loss; they further suffer emotional loss which is very
traumatizing for them.

In the fourth stanza of the poem, the poet asks a few rhetorical questions,
questioning why the woman has to take it upon herself to continually mourn and
count the loss of the men folk in her life – men who either left or died through
diverse ways, means- by/at the hand(s) of the police, drugs, and illness. In this
stanza, the poet seeks to admonish the women by means of rhetorical questions not
to dwell so much on whom or what they have lost. This stanza seems to be the
rallying point, where the poet serves an advice to the women folk, the community
to put themselves together and be strong for themselves their communities.
Is that what we’re here for?
To sit at kitchen tables, counting
on our fingers the ones who died,
those who left, and the others who were taken by the police,
or by drugs
or by illness
or by other women?

From her questions, it is obvious that she would that the women cheer up and not
keep counting their losses and woes as it would only make them bitter and
unapproachable by the men who remain, are left behind.

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In the fifth stanza, the poet assures the women who have been bedeviled by
constant losses, loss of brothers, sons, uncles, husbands; that there was no need for
them to continue to mourn. She begins to ask the women to take a look at their
skin, mouth, lips and eyes- probably they show what the women have suffered
(physically) by reason of their continual mourning over the loss of their loved
ones.

However, in the third line of the fifth stanza, the poet makes a shift. She notes that
there was something admirable about the laugh of the women- one I believe that
showed their strength, courage, doggedness despite the hardships and losses they
have had to endure.

In the sixth and final stanza, the poet is of the opinion that the type of darkness that
the women should accept into their lives is the one that nature provides- night
which after it has kept a place dark for a season, a while, would give way to the
light of day. She advocates for night because even with night there is a glimpse of
hope by reason of the presence of the moon that lights us the darkness of the night.

Literally, the poem and poet addresses Africa generally and Somalia in particular
as the poet from Somalia, an African nation that has been bedeviled by series of
wars.

It seeks to state that several African states have been bedeviled by wars which have
led to the loss of the men- young and old-who are fathers of children, uncles,
nephews, cousins and husbands of women. It seeks to relate the after effect of the
outburst of war on the female folk in the nation; that it makes the women bear too
much loss, grief and feel so much psychological and physical suffering, isolation
and alienation. And so the poet advises against wars because its effects are
traumatizing especially to the women folk and she further advises Africa
(especially her women folk) to keep from allowing themselves hold onto over their
loss because according to her, ‘it makes no sense’. It would only cause them more
suffering.

It makes no sense
Look at your skin, her mouth, these lips, those eyes,

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It seeks to advocate that Africa as a continent has suffered greatly from wars
whether before colonization and after colonization and seeks to say that in spite of
the wars that Africa has had need to turn over a new leaf. The poem seeks to
advice against war as she paints a picture of the mishaps brought upon the African
continent by reason of her decades of war even after independence. The poem
advises that it was time from Africa to stand tall from the ashes of her wall and
build herself again. The last stanza of the poem seems to give Africa the advise
that she should cease to not be the source of her own plight (by choosing to do
away with wars) , that despite the havoc that wars must have wrecked upon her
that she can be well again.
The only darkness we should allow into our lives is the night
For even then, we have the moon

STRUCTURE

The poem What We Own is a poem of six (6) stanzas and twenty-one (21) lines.

TONE/MOOD

The tone of the poem is advisory while the mood of the poet is that of
thoughtfulness and resignation.

FIGURES OF SPEECH

Alliteration

Line 5 /s/ alliterates in ‘My cousins, stabbed in the street…’

Line 9 /d/ alliterates in ‘then they leave…’

Line 10 /w/ alliterates in ‘…what we’re here for?

Rhetorical Question

Line 10 ‘ Is that what we are here for?

Lines 11-16 ‘ to sit at …/on our fingers…/those who left…/or by drugs/or by

illness/ or by other women?

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Repetition

‘too’ is repeated in lines 5,7,8,9

‘my’ is repeated in lines 2,3,5

‘or by’ is repeated in lines 14,15,16

THEMES

1. The negative effects of war on the woman.

2. Loss brought about by death, drugs, and illness.
3. The negative effects of loss on a woman.
4. The need to brace up in the face of war, loss, lack of love.
5. The negative effects of war, conflict, dispute on a nation.

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2. Ugly
Your daughter is ugly
She know loss intimately
Carries whole cities in her belly

As a child, relatives wouldn’t hold her.

She was splintered wood and sea water.
They said she reminded them of the war.

On her fifteenth birthday you taught her

how to tie her hair like a rope
and smoke it over burning frankincense

you made her gargle rosewater

and while she coughed, said
macanato girls like you shouldn’t smell
of lonely or empty

you are her mother

why did you not warn her,
hold her like a rotting boat
and tell her men will not love her
if she is covered in continents
if her teeth are small colonies
if her stomach is an island
if her thighs are borders?

what man wants to lay down

and watch the world burn
in his bedroom?

your daughter’s face is a small riot

her hands are a civil war
a refugee camp behind each ear,
a body littered with ugly things

but God
doesn’t she wear
the world well

This is a poem that centers on the effect of war on those who remain after the war
and how wars affect the lives of those who remain after it is all over.

It has both plain and literal meanings. The plain interpretation of the poem will be
taken alongside its literal meaning.
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In the first stanza of the poem, someone (perhaps the author) is addressing
another’s daughter as ‘ugly’. The person being spoken about is said to be ‘ugly’
and she is said also to know loss deeply; this loss the person spoken about is said to
know could probably be by reason of the unacceptable way in which people both
relate to and treat the person.
Your daughter is ugly
She know loss intimately

The fact that she is addressed as ‘ugly’ makes it all the more obvious as to why the
person knows loss as few people would want to associate with anyone or anything
ugly; her ‘ugliness’ must have cost her meaningful relationships. One of the
reasons why the person spoken about is referred to as ‘ugly’ could possibly be
because she is ‘fat’. The third line of the first stanza of the poem gives this idea
Carries whole cities in her belly

From the line above, an imagery of a protruded stomach is presented giving the
impression of a person who is fat or chubby.

In the second stanza, the lines of the poem give the impression that this female
character under discussion could not be held by her relatives perhaps because of
her obvious ‘ugliness’. They give the reason for their not being able to hold her to
the fact she was a picture, representative of a disaster, something unwholesome
and unpalatable -‘splintered wood and sea water’ which was a reminiscence of
war.
As a child, relatives wouldn’t hold her.
She was splintered wood and sea water.
They said she reminded them of the war

From the second stanza of the poem the true picture of the ‘ugliness’ in the
character talked about is made clearer. Her ugliness is as a result of ‘war’. It could
be that the character spoken about may have been maimed or suffered a major
disorder in her formation for which she reminds her relatives of war. A more vivid
understanding of the harmful effect of war can be traced to the bomb that was
detonated in the Hiroshima Nagasaki of Japan which for decades has been
responsible for some neurological disorders in unborn babies in women who live
around that area which leads to the birth of children with diverse disorders.
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The third stanza of the poem reveals that on the fifteenth birthday of the person
being spoken about, that her mother taught her how to tie her hair and keep it fresh
smelling via placing her hair over a perfume (frankincense).
On her fifteenth birthday you taught her
How to tie her hair like a rope
And smoke it over burning frankincense

This teaching of the daughter by her mother of the art of perfumery seems to be a
skill which the mother tries to impact in her daughter in order to teach her to ‘cover
up’, ‘hide’ or ‘conceal’ the negative situations, circumstances that surround her.
The perfumery is more of a façade, something used to hide something unpleasant
beneath. No wonder the mother says
macanato girls like you shouldn’t smell
of lonely or empty

The above statement from the mother of the daughter reveals that the perfumery is
merely an act/art used to placate the unpleasant state of her daughter – perhaps, her
ugly, lonesome state.

A deeper look at the above lines gives off the impression that some Africa states
which have been victims of wars, disputes tend to cover up the negative effects of
these crises from the look, gaze of other non-Africa nations instead of dealing with
the menace that they are faced with squarely.

The fourth stanza of the poem further states how the daughter of the woman is
further advised by her mother to hide her loneliness and emptiness by keeping a
fresh breath – this fresh breath is achieved by the daughter being made to gargle
rosewater.
you made her gargle rosewater
and while she coughed, said
macanato girls like you shouldn’t smell
of lonely or empty

The fifth stanza of the poem shows the person who had addressed the daughter of
the woman in the first stanza admonishing the mother of the girl about her having
not trained her daughter properly and having not told her daughter the truth. The

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person (probably the poet) rebukes the mother stating that she should have told her
daughter that men would not find her admirable if she was unpleasant (whether in
character or in physical appearance) such things obviously cannot be covered by
fresh breath and perfumes.
you are her mother
why did you not warn her,
hold her like a rotting boat
and tell her men will not love her
if she is covered in continents
if her teeth are small colonies
if her stomach is an island
if her thighs are borders

From the lines above the expression ‘hold her like a rotting boat’ gives off the
impression that the girl is ‘filthy’ - someone that men would not find appreciable.
Her being covered in continents gives off the impression that the lady in question
is fat, big, large and her teeth being small colonies seems to imply that she doesn’t
have a fine set of teeth and her stomach being an island further reiterates her
bloated stomach and her thighs being borders show how large or chunky her thighs
are. Given the above description, such a lady would generally not be appealing to
men and so the speaker (probably the poet) tells her mother that she should have
admonished her daughter on the basics first – good looks, fit size which men
usually find attractive before introducing perfumery and throat gargling for fresh
breath.

A deeper look at the poem however reveals the obvious, that no continent or nation
would want to relate with a nation (such as Africa) with the intent to do her good,
love her; because she is full of confusion, havoc, corruption, wars which cannot
foster positive relationship between her and other nations. Thus, the poet seeks to
proffer an advice to the African continent, nation to clean up, if she must be taken
seriously in the international circles.
your daughter’s face is a small riot
her hands are a civil war
a refugee camp behind each ear,
a body littered with ugly things

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In the second to the last stanza as shown above, the speaker further stresses the
physical state of the lady talked about. Her face is not well contoured, so also her
hands and ears. Thus in this stanza, she concludes the physical anomalies that
make this woman’s daughter ‘ugly’ – her body is littered with ugly things -she is
handicapped or disadvantaged in her face, hands and ears.

In the same vein, the poet in this seventh stanza seeks to make clear the reason(s)
why Africa as a nation will not be courted by other nations or continents of the
world- the fact that she is full of riots and civil wars. And the aftermath of those
riots and wars are refugee camps. It is common story that any nation that is
immersed in wars and riots as is rampant in various Africa nations, Nigeria
inclusive have several refugee camps littered about their countries with the
government of such African nations being hugely indebted to other foreign nations
for necessaries and supplies to these camps in order to preserve the lives of the
people who remain after the riots and the wars. With this kind of picture, how
friendly can other foreign nations be a nation, continent such as Africa that has
known wars and riots deeply?

In the final stanza however, the poet just as she did in the poem What We Own,
makes a positive shift and asserts that in spite of all the qualities (physical or
otherwise) which make the lady addressed appear ‘ugly’, that she knows how to go
about her affairs accordingly.
but God
doesn’t she wear
the world well

This last stanza also connotes that despite the many wars, riots, crises, disputes that
the African nations have had to face that she somehow manages to survive, scale
through them holding her head up high.

In summary, the poem ‘ugly’ tends to discuss women’s relationship and marital
prospects in the African contest as a thing based on beauty. But much more than
the need for the African woman to be attractive, the poem makes a point about
ugliness brought about by the political anarchy, strife, wars that bedevils the
African continent and Somalia (the native country of the poet) in particular.

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The poem posits a loss that comes by reason of a lack of beauty as indeed beauty
and success go hand in hand. This poem further shows loss that comes upon a
people by reason of decades of war, strife. ‘Splintered wood and sea water’ in the
poem serves as a reminder to the suffering and destruction brought upon the people
by reason of war.

Throughout the poem, imageries of war persist such as ‘riot’, ‘civil war’, ‘refugee
camp’, ‘a body littered with ugly things’. The last stanza of the poem however
projects Africa as strong after undergoing decades of strife, contention and wars,
she still holds her head high and strives to survive. The end of the poem posits that
one can retain ones honor, pride and dignity despite being lonely.

The daughter addressed to in the poem is an allegory for Africa-its history of civil
wars, colonization and oppression. The body of the fifteen year old like the African
continent is littered with ugly things. Because of her many ‘problems’, she is most
difficult to love by the more fortunate corners of the world who do not wish to be
associated with the loss, emptiness she feels ‘watch the world burn in their
bedroom’.

Through this poem Shire hopes to project that Africa is beautiful, her many
traumatic challenges and experiences notwithstanding.

STRUCTURE

This is a poem of eight (8) stanzas and thirty-one (31) lines.

TONE/MOOD

The tone of the poem is sarcastic while the mood of the poet is that of resignation.

FIGURES OF SPEECH

Some figures of speech evident in the poem include:

Apostrophe

Line 1 ‘Your daughter is ugly’

Line 10 ‘You made her gargle rosewater’

Line 14 ‘You are her mother’

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Line 25 ‘Your daughter’s face is a small riot’

Rhetorical Question

Lines 15-21 ‘Why did you not warn her…?’

Lines 22-24 ‘What man wants to lay down/ and watch…/in his bedroom?’
Lines 29- 31 ‘ But God /doesn’t she wear /the world well

Simile

Line 4 ‘as a child, relatives wouldn’t hold her’

Line 8 ‘how to tie her hair like a rope’

Lines 12-13 ‘macaanto girls like you shouldn’t smell of lonely or empty’

Line 16 ‘hold her like a rotting boat’

Hyperbole

Line 3 ‘carries whole cities in her belly’

Metaphor

Line 5 ‘she was splintered wood and sea water’

Line 18-21 ‘if she is covered in continents/ if her teeth are small colonies/if her stomach is an
island/if her thighs are borders’

Lines 25-28 ‘Your daughter’s face is a small riot/ her hands a civil war/ a refugee camp behind
each ear/ a body littered with ugly things.’

THEMES

1. The unattractiveness of war

2. The negative impact of war on war-torn countries

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3. Resoluteness in the face of struggles and negativities of life.

4. Inability of the bigger world powers to assist/help lesser powers.
5. Loss that comes from unattractiveness.

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3. Souvenir
You brought war with you
unknowingly, perhaps on your skin
in hurried suitcase
in photographs
plums of it in your hair
under your nails
maybe it was
in your blood.

You came sometimes with whole families,

Sometimes with nothing, not even your shadow
Landed on new soil as a thick accented apparition
Stiff denim and desperate smile.
Ready to fit in, work hard
Forget the war
Forget the blood.

The war sits in the corners of your living room

laughs with you at your TV shows
fills the gaps in all your conversations
sighs in the pauses of telephone calls
gives you excuses to leave situations,
meetings, people, countries, love;
the war lies between you and your partners in bed,
stands behind you at the bathroom sink
even the dentist jumped back from the wormhole
of your mouth. You suspect
it was probably the war he saw
so much blood.

You know peace like someone who has survived

a long war
take it out day at a time because everything
has the scent of a possible war;
you know how easily a war can start
one moment quiet, next blood.

War colors your voice, warms it even.

No inclination as to whether you were
The killer or the mourner
No one asks perhaps you were both.
You haven’t kissed anyone for a while now.
To you, everything tastes like blood.

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This poem just as other poems of Shire’s analyzed in this work focuses on the
effect of wars or how wars affect the lives of people even after the wars are long
gone and over.
You brought war with you
unknowingly, perhaps on your skin
in hurried suitcase
in photographs
plums of it in your hair
under your nails
maybe it was
in your blood

The first stanza of the poem as captured above paints the picture of the effect of
war in the life of a war escapee even though unknown to him/her. It shows what
people who have the means would usually do when faced with war- they tend to
leave, to alienate themselves from the places, people that remind them of the war
they have had to face.

But the poet insists that no matter how people from war-torn areas run far away
from their native homes that somehow traces of war (its effects) follows them
about as revealed in the imageries ‘in your suitcase/in photographs/plums …in
your hair/…in your blood’. She gives a kind of impression that traces of war can
be found in people’s DNA.

In the second stanza of the poem, the poet seeks to assert that persons who flee
from war-torn areas usually do so with their families (if they have one). She
reveals that these escapees of war-torn nations tend to look like a shadow of
themselves a picture that depicts fear of the unknown, a lack of calmness, distress.

She reveals how incessant wars tend to change the physical and psychological
makeup of people from such countries hence the ‘stiff denim and desperate smile’
as revealed in the fourth line of the second stanza. Because of the sense of
alienation and loss that these escapees feel, they choose to prove themselves to be
responsible people by giving themselves wholeheartedly to work so as to fit into a
‘civil society’- one different from theirs that is full of wars. They do all these in a
bid to put the war behind them. But can a leopard wash off his spots?

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You came sometimes with whole families,

Sometimes with nothing, not even your shadow
Landed on new soil as a thick accented apparition
Stiff denim and desperate smile.
Ready to fit in, work hard
Forget the war
Forget the blood.

In the third stanza of the poem, the poet reveals that no matter how hard these
escapees- be they refugees, immigrants who flee from their countries owing to war,
riots, disputes try to fit into the new normal, that war stares them in the face as they
watch the TV and listen to the news which show them, tell them and yet repeat to
them the very ordeals from which they fled still taking place in their home
countries. She expresses that the effects of war have a way of hampering
meaningful relationships between people; that it has the potential of severing
people, bringing deadlock to meetings, conversations; estranging lovers and
causing sickness to its victim. A peculiar case study of the turbulent socio-
economic effect of wars, disputes, strife is in the Tutsi- Hutu genocide of
Rwanada.
The war sits in the corners of your living room
laughs with you at your TV shows
fills the gaps in all your conversations
sighs in the pauses of telephone calls
gives you excuses to leave situations,
meetings, people, countries, love;
the war lies between you and your partners in bed,
stands behind you at the bathroom sink
even the dentist jumped back from the wormhole
of your mouth. You suspect
it was probably the war he saw
so much blood.

In the fourth stanza of the poem, the poet reveals that amongst people who flee
from nations where war, riots, crises, has become the order of the day; there is an
incessant longing for quietness, calmness, something they lack(ed) in their country
home. She buttresses further that in spite of the sense of calmness that they crave
and enjoy by not being in their war-torn nation, that there is always the tendency in
them to become overly protective of themselves and the quietness they experience

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as they anticipate the outbreak of war at any time having stayed for quite some
time in a war prone country.
You know peace like someone who has survived
a long war
take it out day at a time because everything
has the scent of a possible war;
you know how easily a war can start
one moment quiet, next blood.

In the fifth and final stanza of the poem, the poet reveals that there is something
about the way people coming from war-torn nations speak- perhaps a weakened,
muffled voice not full of strength; one that comes from the hardships, sufferings
and servile position that the victims of war has had to endure; one that is geared
towards seeking ‘acceptedness’ from the people in whose land they have come to
sojourn, find refuge. She further stresses that coming from a war-prone nation
affects people’s relationships as people have to do a lot of background checks on
you before they decide to accept the persons of people from such countries. It casts
trust issues not only on the immigrant but on the persons in the country of
emigration this further hampers a person’s acceptance of himself and herself
thereby further breeding alienation in the escapee.
War colors your voice, warms it even.
No inclination as to whether you were
The killer or the mourner
No one asks perhaps you were both.
You haven’t kissed anyone for a while now.
To you, everything tastes like blood.

Summarily, the meaning of the poem Souvenir depicts something that is kept as a
reminder of a person, place or event; the poem posits that no matter how escapees
of war-torn, war-prone countries move far away from their countries that the effect
still lingers with or stays with them. The negative effects of war could be mental,
psychological, physical, emotional hence the end for these countries to end and say
no to war, crises, disputes.

STRUCTURE

This is a poem of five stanzas (5) and thirty-nine lines (39).

TONE/MOOD

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The mood the poet is thoughtful while the tone is sarcastic.

FIGIURES OF SPEECH

Repetition

‘you’ is repeated in lines 1, 9,20,22,24.27

‘your’ is repeated in lines 2, 5,6.8,10,16,17,18,22,

Apostrophe

‘you’, ‘your’ as used in the poem shows someone addressing someone else.

Alliteration

/w/ alliterates in line 1 ‘You brought war with you’

/w/ alliterates in line 9 ‘You came sometimes with whole families,’
/d/ alliterates in line 12 ‘Stiff denim and desperate smile.’

Personification
War which is not a living entity is said to ‘laugh, sigh and give excuses as seen in
lines 16-21as a human being would.

Simile

Line 28-29 ‘You know peace like someone who has survived/ a long war’
Line 39 ‘To you, everything tastes like blood.’

THEMES

1. The negative effects or impacts of war on natives

2. The need for peace.
3. The reverberating effect of war.
4. The lingering negative effects of war.

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From the foregoing, it can be deduced from the three poems of Shire herein so
treated that she uses female imageries as shown in the use of words such as
‘daughter’, ‘she’, ‘her’, ‘women’ and using such words for which women are
inclined such as ‘love’ in her writings. She uses female imageries not only to
depict the African woman but Africa as it were – as nations, countries are usually
referred to in the feminine gender. The fact that the writer is a female and uses
female experiences in her poem as revealed in the poem ‘Ugly’ which she used to
buttress the importance of female beauty in relationship and marital relationships
on one hand and the need for a nation to clean herself up from wars and its
negative effect presents Shire as a feminist writer.

Furthermore, the three poems here analyzed tend to agree as they basically focus
on the negative effects of war not only while it subsists but decades after it has
ended. She seems to use her poems to address the negative effects of war with a
view to advising African states of the need to do away with war.

From the study of the poem, it is obvious that the poet finds some form of comfort
speaking from the second person persona. In all three poems the use of the
apostrophe and the pronouns ‘you’, ‘your’ is dominant revealing that she seeks to
address the issues plainly. There is also the constant use of the rhetorical question
which she uses to either question a negative notion or to bring about a twist or shift
in her poems from negative to positive or from a harsh to a mild tone and the use
of similes, metaphors and personifications.

CONCLUSION

This paper analyzed three poems from the work of Warsan Shire: What We Own,
Ugly and Souvenir and deduced that all three poems lay emphasis on the negative
effects of war on people long after wars are over; the need to put an end to war and
the need for women albeit Africa t o stand up from the dumpsite of war and build a
continent other nations of the world would want to relate with. It revealed that
there is the dominant use of apostrophe and the rhetorical question in Shire’s with
which she addresses the situations in Africa and questions their stand and the use
of metaphors and personification.

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The analysis further reveals that Shire is most probably a feminist writer being a
female and writing from a female point of view with female experiences on love,
relationship used to serve as pointer to why war should be avoided at all cost.

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Bibliography

Warsan Shire (2014) Our Men Do Not Belong to Us. The Hudson Valley Writers’
Inc

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