An Analysis of Lade Wosornu’s ‘Raider of the Treasure Trove’

Lade Wosornu is a Ghanaian poet and medical practitioner of world renown. ‘Raider of the Treasure Trove’ is one of his best known poems. The subject matter of the poem is the purpose of life and how to fulfill it. The poem is at once didactic and philosophical. It advises the individual on how to live a successful life on earth while avoiding those pitfalls that ruin people’s lives. Structurally, the poem is organised in 5 stanzas of 23 lines. It is written in free verse and makes use of run-on-lines. Ideas do not only flow from one line into another, they also flow from stanza to stanza.

 The first stanza is made up of 4 lines, meaning that it is a quatrain. The first line of the stanza is a rhetorical question and it sets the tone for the philosophical discourse on life in the poem. The question that the poet-persona asks is: But what can be worthy of your life? In the third line, the persona establishes that for life to be worth living, one has to discover its purpose, or specifically, the reason for one’s existence. It is a truism that life only tends to have meaning when one knows what one has been called to do and what one finds satisfaction and fulfilment in. Towards the end of the line, the persona maintains that the purpose of life is for one to be happy in it. In other words, the individual should seek to do things that bring happiness and shun those things that do not make for a good life. This is what the persona means by ‘to fly flags of joy’. Note the alliteration in the expression ‘fly flags’. It is apparent that, for the persona, happiness is the first virtue that man has to cultivate in order to have a meaningful life.

The next virtue that is vital in maintaining the first is love. Without love, it is difficult to maintain happiness. The mind that hates or harbours hatred cannot be happy. This is stated in the second stanza in the expression ‘the breeze of love’. Next, the persona mentions compassion. A heart that loves is one that is compassionate towards others. The word ‘roses’ which is mentioned in the third line of the second stanza is a symbol of love. Thus, when the persona says ‘fling roses wherever you pause’, the persona is urging the individual candidate for happiness to first of all be generous in sharing love and compassion.  What should be noted in the poem so far is the rich deployment of metaphors. An example is ‘the gems’ mentioned in stanza one, which is compared to the dreams the individual has. The implication is that the persona sees the fulfilment of one’s dreams as one of the important routes to attaining happiness in life. Another instance of metaphor is ‘flags of joy’, which the persona uses to implore the reader to do everything to make others and himself happy. ‘Breeze of love’ constitutes yet another metaphor in the work, as well as ‘ink of compassion’. The persona urges the reader to seek to make the world a paradise by cultivating these virtues. This is seen in the expression, ‘Heavens-on-earth your destination’, which is the fourth line of the second stanza, which is made up of five lines, a quintet in poetic terms.

In the third stanza which is also a quintet, the persona identifies one of the most grievous pitfalls that man must avoid in order to stay happy. And that is anger, which the persona refers to as ‘Rage’. Notice that ‘rage’ is written in capital initial in the poem. This means that it is personified. The expression ‘breach your sails with arrows unseen’ is a metaphor which the persona deploys to reinforce the dangerous effects that anger has on the life of an individual. The persona goes on to state that anger is so bad a vice that it can ‘rob you of your life’. The person who is given to anger can kill someone else and can also be killed by his own anger. This is another truism in the poem because the person who murders another has only succeeded in destroying his own life. The poet deploys another metaphor which sees anger as a thief that steals the individual’s priceless virtues such as love, ‘Charity’, and laughter. The persona refers to anger as ‘Enemy of equanimity’, which is an instance of assonance in the poem as /e/ is repeated at the initial position in ‘enemy’ and ‘equanimity’. Equanimity refers to the state of being calm and stable especially when under stress. Anger takes all this away; hence the need to avoid it.

In the penultimate stanza, the persona sustains his exegesis on rage by emphasising its harmful effects as well as its causes. The stanza has five lines and reads: ‘Rage spreads toxic fumes on every scene./In essence, Rage spells calamity/Its sole cause? Your perception of storms/Breaking around you, not upon, your head/There are either snakes, deviants nor norms’. In this stanza, the persona alludes to air pollution in industrial societies through the expression, ‘toxic fumes’. This instance of visual imagery evokes in the reader the idea that anger is a pollutant and that the person that harbours it contaminates wherever she goes. The persona is of the view that anger is basically caused by how people perceive the world and the realities around them. In other words, it is not the ugly occurrences in the world that cause anger, but rather it is how people choose to react to those occurrences, which results in anger. Hence, people’s attitude towards life predisposes them to anger when things fail to go as they would desire them to. The expression ‘storms’ is a metaphor that refers to the catastrophic events people witness in the world today. The ‘storms’ are depicted as ‘breaking around’ the individual, and not actually touching him, otherwise the person would be dead or injured. Note that ‘breaking’ is a movement word and constitutes kinesthetic imagery in the poem. But the word is also suggestive of the breaking news phenomenon in our time and how these pieces of ‘breaking news’ affect those who hear them even when they are far away from the scene of the tragic events. It is at this point that the reader realises the significance of the poem’s title: the Raider of the treasure trove is Rage.

 In the final line of the stanza, the persona identifies three attitudinal types often associated with people in society by using the words ‘snakes, ‘deviants’ and ‘norms’. It is obvious that the poet-persona wants the reader to be identified among those who maintain the norms of society by living and acting right. Deviants are those who flout rules of decorum and peaceful coexistence in society, and ‘snakes’ is a metaphor for those subtle but dangerous ones in society.

In the final stanza which is quatrain, the persona stresses the importance of mental health and the need for one to take care of his mind. The stanza begins with the epigrammatic and aphoristic expression, ‘As you think, so you feel’. This means that the individual should pay attention to the type of thoughts that he entertains. The persona is aware of the wiles of anger. Once it starts, destruction is imminent. This is captured in the expressions, ‘Rage sets sail. Can ruin lag behind? The two expressions constitute personification rhetorical question, respectively. The persona then makes a personal decision to serve as an example to his audience when he states: ‘I’ll fling roses wherever I berth’. In this expression, the persona identifies himself as a lover of humanity and a traveller through life. He is determined to spread love and kindness wherever he goes. The last line of the stanza and of the poem restates the thesis of the poem, which is that man should strive to make the earth a paradise, instead of waiting for one that may or may never come.

An Analysis of Lade Wosornu’s Raider of the Treasure Trove’

Lade Wosornu is a Ghanaian poet and medical practitioner of world renown. ‘Raider of the Treasure Trove’ is one of his best known poems. The subject matter of the poem is the purpose of life and how to fulfill it. The poem is at once didactic and philosophical. It advises the individual on how to live a successful life on earth while avoiding those pitfalls that ruin people’s lives. Structurally, the poem is organised in 5 stanzas of 23 lines. It is written in free and makes use of run-on-lines. Ideas do not only flow from one line into another, they also flow from stanza to stanza.

 The first stanza is made up of 4 lines, meaning that it is a quatrain. The first line of the stanza is a rhetorical question and it sets the tone for the philosophical discourse on life in the poem. The question that the poet-persona asks is: But what can be worthy of your life? In the third line, the persona establishes that for life to be worth living, one has to discover its purpose, or specifically, the reason for one’s existence. It is a truism that life only tends to have meaning when one knows what one has been called to do and what one finds satisfaction and fulfilment in. Towards the end of the line, the persona maintains that the purpose of life is for one to be happy in it. In other words, the individual should seek to do things that bring happiness and shun those things that do not make for a good life. This is what the persona means by ‘to fly flags of joy’. Note the alliteration in the expression ‘fly flags’. It is apparent that, for the persona, happiness is the first virtue that man has to cultivate in order to have a meaningful life.

The next virtue that is vital in maintaining the first is love. Without love, it is difficult to maintain happiness. The mind that hates or harbours hatred cannot be happy. This is stated in the second stanza in the expression ‘the breeze of love’. Next, the persona mentions compassion. A heart that loves is one that is compassionate towards others. The word ‘roses’ which is mentioned in the third line of the second stanza is a symbol of love. Thus, when the persona says ‘fling roses wherever you pause’, the persona is urging the individual candidate for happiness to first of all be generous in sharing love and compassion.  What should be noted in the poem so far is the rich deployment of metaphors. An example is ‘the gems’ mentioned in stanza one, which is compared to the dreams the individual has. The implication is that the persona sees the fulfilment of one’s dreams as one of the important routes to attaining happiness in life. Another instance of metaphor is ‘flags of joy’, which the persona uses to implore the reader to do everything to make others and himself happy. ‘Breeze of love’ constitutes yet another metaphor in the work, as well as ‘ink of compassion’. The persona urges the reader to seek to make the world a paradise by cultivating these virtues. This is seen in the expression, ‘Heavens-on-earth your destination’, which is the fourth line of the second stanza, which is made up of five lines, a quintet in poetic terms.

In the third stanza which is also a quintet, the persona identifies one of the most grievous pitfalls that man must avoid in order to stay happy. And that is anger, which the persona refers to as ‘Rage’. Notice that ‘rage’ is written in capital initial in the poem. This means that it is personified. The expression ‘breach your sails with arrows unseen’ is a metaphor which the persona deploys to reinforce the dangerous effects that anger has on the life of an individual. The persona goes on to state that anger is so bad a vice that it can ‘rob you of your life’. The person who is given to anger can kill someone else and can also be killed by his own anger. This is another truism in the poem because the person who murders another has only succeeded in destroying his own life. The poet deploys another metaphor which sees anger as a thief that steals the individual’s priceless virtues such as love, ‘Charity’, and laughter. The persona refers to anger as ‘Enemy of equanimity’, which is an instance of assonance in the poem as /e/ is repeated at the initial position in ‘enemy’ and ‘equanimity’. Equanimity refers to the state of being calm and stable especially when under stress. Anger takes all this away; hence the need to avoid it.

In the penultimate stanza, the persona sustains his exegesis on rage by emphasising its harmful effects as well as its causes. The stanza has five lines and reads: ‘Rage spreads toxic fumes on every scene./In essence, Rage spells calamity/Its sole cause? Your perception of storms/Breaking around you, not upon, your head/There are either snakes, deviants nor norms’. In this stanza, the persona alludes to air pollution in industrial societies through the expression, ‘toxic fumes’. This instance of visual imagery evokes in the reader the idea that anger is a pollutant and that the person that harbours it contaminates wherever she goes. The persona is of the view that anger is basically caused by how people perceive the world and the realities around them. In other words, it is not the ugly occurrences in the world that cause anger, but rather it is how people choose to react to those occurrences, which results in anger. Hence, people’s attitude towards life predisposes them to anger when things fail to go as they would desire them to. The expression ‘storms’ is a metaphor that refers to the catastrophic events people witness in the world today. The ‘storms’ are depicted as ‘breaking around’ the individual, and not actually touching him, otherwise the person would be dead or injured. Note that ‘breaking’ is a movement word and constitutes kinesthetic imagery in the poem. But the word is also suggestive of the breaking news phenomenon in our time and how these pieces of ‘breaking news’ affect those who hear them even when they are far away from the scene of the tragic events. It is at this point that the reader realises the significance of the poem’s title: the Raider of the treasure trove is Rage.

 In the final line of the stanza, the persona identifies three attitudinal types often associated with people in society by using the words ‘snakes, ‘deviants’ and ‘norms’. It is obvious that the poet-persona wants the reader to be identified among those who maintain the norms of society by living and acting right. Deviants are those who flout rules of decorum and peaceful coexistence in society, and ‘snakes’ is a metaphor for those subtle but dangerous ones in society.

In the final stanza which is quatrain, the persona stresses the importance of mental health and the need for one to take care of his mind. The stanza begins with the epigrammatic and aphoristic expression, ‘As you think, so you feel’. This means that the individual should pay attention to the type of thoughts that he entertains. The persona is aware of the wiles of anger. Once it starts, destruction is imminent. This is captured in the expressions, ‘Rage sets sail. Can ruin lag behind? The two expressions constitute personification rhetorical question, respectively. The persona then makes a personal decision to serve as an example to his audience when he states: ‘I’ll fling roses wherever I berth’. In this expression, the persona identifies himself as a lover of humanity and a traveller through life. He is determined to spread love and kindness wherever he goes. The last line of the stanza and of the poem restates the thesis of the poem, which is that man should strive to make the earth a paradise, instead of waiting for one that may or may never come.