THE LEADER AND THE LED BY NIYI OSUNDARE

Background of the Poet:

Niyi Osundare was born in the year 1947 in Ekiti state, Nigeria. He had his education in the
University of Ibadan, Nigeria; Leeds University, England; and the York University in Toronto,
Canada.
He is a playwright, an essayist, a poet as well as an Emeritus professor in the University of New
Orleans U.S.A.
He has won many prizes, has published over 15 books of poetry, and is also a human rights
activist. Many of his poems have been translated also in other languages.

Background of the poem:

This is a poem that focuses on leadership and followership in Africa as Africa politically operates
as a jungle at the moment.
The battle for leadership in Africa is similar to the battle for who leads among the animals in the
animal kingdom as seen in the poem. This animals present themselves for leadership on the
basis of strength and size not based on the quality needed to be called a leader or seen as a
leader.
This is the same circumstance in Africa during elections. Some persons have what it takes {e.g
good education, values, money, good personality, good manifesto} to be elected while others
just present themselves for the sake of showing up. Thus, what is suggested here by the poet is
that what we need is not just good leadership but good followership as well. That we must
cultivate a mixture of two values which is: if we want to lead, we must learn how to follow.

Setting of the poem:

The setting of the poem is ‘the forest’ where the animals carry out their contest for leadership.
Some of the animals show off their leadership skills based on strength and size while others
show off based on raw energy.
Notwithstanding, the physical setting is Africa where there is confusion in leadership and
disorderliness in followership. Instead of electing leaders based on their credibility and ability as
the poem suggests, the followers elect them based on either Ethnicity {tribe} or Religiosity
{religion}.

Subject-matter of the poem:

This is a poem that talks about how Africa operates politically as a jungle at the moment. In the
quest for leadership, candidates contest for leadership without minding whether they possess
the characteristics needed in a leader; While the followers likewise elect leaders based on
tribalism or religiosity instead of based on credibility and ability.
As such, the poem speaks of what is expected of those who lead and those who are led as seen
in Lines 20-24. It is a collective responsibility rather than to be seen as the responsibility of those
who lead or those who follow. A good leader must have been a good follower; thus the use of
animal to represent various character traits which is seen in the present day struggle for
leadership.

Themes in the poem:

As expected, every work of art comes with it’s own messages.
The several themes that can be identified in this poem are as follows:
• Followership:
Leadership brings about followership; for followers to succeed they must have a good leader.
Thus looking at the poem, the followers within the animal circle are fault-fault-finding {critical}
upon any animal that projects itself for leadership position.
They thoroughly assess such an animal and identifies it’s shortcoming because they know what
they want in a leader. Therefore the poet suggests to us that as human beings what we need in
a leader, is one who has the character of “a little bit of a lion” and a little bit of a lamb.”

• Leadership:
Every group needs a leader and in this group there are animal leaders {e.g lion, giraffe, hyena,
warthog, zebra, rhino, elephant, as well as animal followers.
Each of these animal leaders have a weakness/weak point. The lion’s weakness is “the pounce
of his paws; the elephant is “too weighty and frightful as he trudges about; the giraffe is “not
down to earth, it always looks up; the warthog is “ugly-faced and horrible looking; the Zebra
“has multiple stripes on his body which the animals do not understand; none of these
characteristics/shortcomings of these animals can support leadership thus the need for a leader
with the characteristics of “a bit of lion and a bit of a lamb”

• Criticism of African leadership and followership:

The scenario painted in the poem is similar to what happens in African leadership and
followership.
The poet happens to be the Forest sage in this poem and recommends a “hybrid of habits”
which is a mixture of character traits. At the moment Africa is disorganized in their political
system instead of being organized and it trashes around for a leader “like a snake without a
head”. Leadership candidates “crave” a place in front despite their shortcomings and project
themselves for leadership without credible and fair process. None relies on the other nominating
him or her!
The poet advises that the followers should not be overlooked.

STYLES IN THE POEM

The following are the different styles used by the poet in this poem.

Imagery: are words that creates images in the mind of reader. The poet makes use of some of
such words in the poem like: “riotous” which brings to the mind an image of chaos and violence
or unrestrained behavior. This attitude is referenced to the rhino in the poem.
Again the use of “stakes” in the first line of the poem indicates a struggle for something.
Furthermore, the Hyena “says”, and the Zebra also “says” this brings to mind action of animals
talking.
Other words of imagery includes: “crave”, “the pack points to the duplicity of the stripes,” and
“like a snake without a head”.

Alliteration: is the repetition of same consonant letters in the lines of a poem.

•The “L” sound in line 1 and 2
•The “P” sound in line 4
•The “F” sound in line 7 and 8
•The “T” sound in line 11 and 12
•The “R” sound in line 14
•The “H” sound in line 18

Simile: The indirect comparison between two things using the word “as” and “like”.
Examples of simile in the poem are as follows:
“thrashes around like a snake without a head”, line 15 -16.
“Tough like a tiger” and “compassionate like a doe”, line 21.
“Transparent like a river” and “mysterious as a lake”, line 22.
The rest of the styles are: personification, metaphor, structure.
Examining the structure of the poem:
• The poem is one that focuses on the political system in Africa looking at the problem of
leadership and followership.
• Through the poem, we see how Africa operates as a jungle at the moment in it’s political
space where there’s confusion in leadership and disorderliness in followership as ther is no
credible process of electing leaders; the leaders who present themselves for leadership positions
as well, lack the characteristics of what a leader is expected to possess.
• The poem is made up of twelve stanzas and 24 Lines simultaneouly. Each contains a unique
idea that is never repeated in the poem.
• There are multiple animal characters in the poem; and five of uthe animals project themselves
for leadership position.
The poetic persona suggests his own opinion when he says “the Warthog is too ugly” and “the
rhino too riotous”.
• The poem is a blank verse as it doesn’t have any end rhymes. It also contains run-on-lines
{enjambment}.