Read The Analysis Of The Poem Titled Ambush By Gbemisola Adeoti

THE REAL PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE YOU MUST KNOW.

This article is written to expanciate vividly on the poet, the themes, the mood, the figures of speech, and the expected questions on this poem.

WHO MAY NEED THIS ARTICLE...

This article is needed by the following sets of individuals:
1. All lovers of poetry
2. All lovers of Literature-In-English
3. Students who will be sitting for these examinations: WASSE/WAEC, NECO,
GCE, A-LEVEL, IJAMB,JAMB and NABTEB.
4. Students of English Language And Literature In Universities, Polythenics, Colleges of
Educations, and so on.

DETAILED ANALYSIS AND SIMPLIFICATION OF THE
POEM TITLED AMBUSH

Ambush is a poem
written by Gbemisola
Adeoti who is a lecturer, a poet, an editor,and an author.He is a Nigerian who hailed from South West Geopolitical zone of the country.He is a yoruba man.He is also a member of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). Gbemisola Adeoti works as a lecturer at
the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Ambush has four themes,which are:
1. Hopelessness
2. Helplessness
3. Danger
4. Deceit.
Hopelessness in a
nation full of hardworking people appeared in the
language of the poem
speaker. With the use of symbolism, whale stood as the symbol of
hopelessness swallowing every effort and attempt
of the citizen to the extent of petering out their desires and made them return home without catching a fish.
Another theme of the
poem is Helplessness.
How correct is the
statement When the
sabre-toothed tiger cried “deep in the glade”? The poem speaker made the
readers to realize that
“infants shudder home”
and adults that stood their grounds only did so because such troubles or
tribulations were
inevitable. Besides their

helplessness towards the tiger, they also had no help against the hawk of disasters hover above them and none to redirect from the path where the
land await ambush them “toward the snare of possibilities”.
The theme of danger is the next and virtually all the lines of the poem
exemplified it. They made it known with the use of following words like “swallows”, “cries”, “snatch”, “tribulations”, “disaster” and created dreadful agents of death like “a giant whale”, “a sabre-toothed tiger”, “a giant hawk” to carry out fear and danger.
The theme of deceit can be seen crystal clear at the end part of the poem where those walking toward the right direction are ambushed and misdirected.
The poem has a tone of sincerity and made the poem speaker to speak in a mood of revelation, revealing the evil plots of the land or in the land.
The Figures Of Speech:
Symbolism is used in the poem where the whale symbolizes hopelessness, tiger symbolizes helplessness and danger, hawk and the title of the poem “ambush” both symbolize danger. The
land was personified and the land was also used as a metaphor by comparing it to a giant whale, a sabre-toothed tiger, a giant hawk, a dangerous person or an animal laying ambush. There was repetition of the following: the land, a giant, Peter, dusk, etc.Alliterations in the poem were “swallows the sinker”, “Peter with
Petered out desires”, “the land lies”. The poem also made use of biblical allusion of Peter fishing but could not catch any fish until Jesus Christ directed him to the right place to cast his net (John 21:3-6).
COMMON QUESTIONS
1. Narrate Ambush by
Gbemisola Adeoti in a
prose form.
2. Discuss how the use of poetic devices portray the feelings of the poet.
3. Describe Ambush As
Metaphor Of societal Evil
4. From your understanding of the
poem Ambush, what
messages are passed
across by the poet?
Reference: www.naijapoets.com