4Nhango and NdyaringoTWO COMPLEMENTARY POETIC GENRESG. FortuneDepartment of African Languages, University of Rhodesia, SalisburyShona traditional poetry contains a numberof different genres suitable to particular socialoccasions and social relationships which, be-tween them, cover many of the rhetorical re-quirements of social life. Thus clan praisepoetry, nhetembo dzorudzi, is evoked as a res-ponse to service and to kindness, or is utteredin order to conciliate and to elicit clemencyfrom the person or persons addressed. Criticalor 'blame' poetry, nheketerwa, on the otherhand, is evoked as a response to disservice andunkindness. It is uttered to air grievances, oftenin a licensed form and situation, and seeks toright wrongs and restore equilibrium. Thuswhereas praise poetry confirms social relation-ships and good social qualities, 'blame' poetryis corrective of harmful attitudes and selfishqualities. Each genre regulates social relation-ships, but from complementary angles.Another complementary pair of genres isformed by nhango and ndyaringo, respectivelythe didactic and narrative poetry of traditionalShona literature. These forms, like the former,contrast not only in their social function butalso in their style and subject matter. Thesocial context of both is the dare, the villagecouncil or gathering-place, but the tone and in-tention of these contrastive forms, as well asthe relationship of the speaker, nyanduri, to hisaudience, are quite different. It is proposed tostudy and exemplify some of the characteristicsof these two forms in this paper.The universe of Shona traditional literaryutterance or discourse has other contrastive orcomplementary poles which it will be helpfulto state here, both because they provide usefulnotions for describing the two forms chosen forparticular study in this paper, as also becausethey serve to rough out the outline of the wholeof which the nhango and ndyaringo are contri-butory parts.Still within the inventory of forms we findelagaic poetry, nhembo, with several sub-varieties, (i) utterances of sorrow on the partof the bereaved, kudemba; (ii) condolences onthe part of sympathetic mourners, kunyaradzavafirwa or kubata maoko; and (iii) system-atic chiding of death by those who have cometo attend a funeral. Contrasting with thenhembo we have the love or courtship poetry,madetembedzo okupfimbana, rejoicing at unions*to be created as the elegies mourn at partings.Courtship poetry is a kind of praise poetry,but much freer and more individual in itsimagery and conceits than the clan praises.Other forms of praise poetry which contrastwith the clan praises are the praises of peoplein their professional capacity, and the boasts.Boasts are either communal, when uttered onbehalf of a clan, or individual, proper to eachman, and composed by him as he grows up.Whereas praise poetry directed to others is anexpression of thanks, admiration or love, boastsare uttered to intimidate others, either to wardoff a fight or to warn of the consequences ofprovocation.Shona has other literary forms which needto be studied further for their main character-istics to emerge. The utterances used to addressthe ancestral spirits, kupira midzimu, form sucha genre. Addressed to the dead members ofthe clans as opposed to the living, they arenone the less not so much contrastive or com-plementary with those addressed to livingseniors as continuous with them.27The different kinds of sung poetry, varyingwith the occasions which elicit them, such asthe eve of a hunting expedition or a funeral, arecomplementary to the genres of spoken poetrywhich have been already mentioned in thispaper and which are better known. Nheketenva,critical poetry, is usually sung. When it ac-companies the instrumental music of the drumor the mbira it is called madeketera, allusivesocial comment conveyed in a rhythmicallyspaced series of lines.The various kinds of nhekeierwa differgreatly in the degree of indirection thoughtnecessary. In certain confrontations such asin the utterances of grievances between husbandand wife, the utterance is direct both as re-gards its target and its content or burden. Inthe bembera, the recital whereby a man for-mally makes known to all his neighbours,usually at night, that he is aware of the evilintentions of a sorcerer among them, the con-tent is plain, but the target is not mentioned.The message will be clear, it is thought, to theculprit himself. In other kinds of nheketerwa,even content is conveyed by metaphor in theallusive style called madimikira.We have left the domain of form and arenow dealing with style in the wide sense. Thereare several parameters to note here, although,in order to include them, we can no longerrestrict ourselves to the field of poetic genresand styles, but must include those of prose aswell. Here we find a contrast between familiarand restrained styles depending on the relation-ships of the parties to the discourse. The speechbetween vasekedz.cmi (those between whomthere is laughter) is free and relaxed both inmanner and matter, whereas that between va-nyarikani (those between whom there is shy-ness) is constrained in both respects.Another interesting contrast lies between thedramatic style of the ndyaringo (entertainingnarratives) and the more sober manner of nho-roondo (descriptive narratives). That of thendyaringo, which is to be examined here, ismarked by the use of ideophonic phrases, whilethe matter of nhoroondo is conveyed mainly byverbal phrases.The contrast between diction which is fac-tual and that which is metaphorical providesthe basis for a parameter which is very per-vasive and includes many socially recognisedspeech styles. Examples are nzvengure (the lan-guage of courtship, or pursuit and evasion, ofhide-and-seek), the criticism conveyed by ma-dimikira (allusive comments) and the nhango(the didactic poems of the village meeting place.We turn to a comparison now between thenhango and ndyaringo in order to exemplifythis contrast and some of the others which havebeen mentioned.NDYARINGONdyaringo are a class of recitals usuallyuttered" in the form of a succession of rhythmic-ally spaced lines, the purpose of which is toentertain, divert or instruct an audience bymeans of a narrative. The appropriate settingfor ndyaringo is the dare (the village meetingplace), the beer party during a communal work-ing session, or the home during the season ofrecreation. They appear to be in part, amongadults, the literary form which corresponds tothe ngano (folk-tales) of younger audiences.Hodza, who has published a number of themin his anthology of Shona traditional poetry,describes them as follows:Ndyaringo or ny'ambo are poems orpoetic fantasies of which some are meantto amuse, others to inspire pity or terror.This kind of poetry is the special pro-vince of professional jokers or enter-tainers who wish to divert their audi-ences, or to tell them what they haveseen, or what they have heard, or whathappened long ago.'In another place he describes the entertaineras follows:A person who narrates ndyaringo issomeone who wants to keep peoplelaughing all the time. The ndyaringo-or nyri ambo-teller can speak pure fan-tasy, describing episodes he has neverseen. For the sake of mirth and enter-tainment he can form a story out of bothfictitious and real elements.When he appears before people you canhear him say,Here I am!I've come,Son of Her-who-was-cast-away.As a child she was abandoned in a wild fruitgrove in a year of famine.284A 4ii x4,My grandmother drew water with a hyena'stail,My aunt took snuff seated on a spear.I am one not to be talked about:Where I am talked about, I come straight-away.I am the darling of the girls.All tricks are at my disposal for my defence;My playground is where the girls spendtheir day.Were I a spirit I would light on a baboon.Sit where its buttocks project.My dog has licked a wizard.The day I die, bury me at the wellSo that I may see the girls' tattoo markswhen they come.2Hodza distinguishes ndyaringo which arepure fantasies from those which are foundedon fact and exercise fantasy by means ofhumorous exaggeration or hyperbole. Thesefigures of speech are called zvizukuru (fantasticlaughable statements) or gudziramukanwa (hy-perbole, lit. what is blown up in the mouth).3Ndyaringo lend themselves very well to aa written medium. Another poet who has pub-blished a series of ndyaringo is M. A. Hamu-tyinei.4 His work brings out well the dramaticcharacter of these narratives and the importanceof the ideophone phrase as a stylistic device forachieving dramatic effect.The subject matter of ndyaringo falls intoa number of characteristic types, each of whichit will be convenient to list and describe so thattheir general stylistic features may emerge.Ndyaringo deal with (i) cultural institutions;(ii) sensational or exciting experiences; (iii)items- of fantasy suggested by folklore ordreams; (iv) extensions of riddles and otherforms of word play; (v) satirical pieces.Nyanduri make ndyaringo out of culturalinstitutions. These receive humorous treatment,and their more laughable or vulnerable aspectsare dwelt on and brought out by hyperbole orcritical comment. Examples of this variety ofndyaringo from Hamutyinei's work are a treat-ment of feminine behaviour during courtship,Kana wamutanga musikana (When you startcourting a girl); and the traditional complaintsof daughters-in-law against their fault-findingmothers-in-law, Muri parumananzombe varoora(You are in a cleft stick, young brides).5 InHodza's unpublished collection of ndyaringowe have a description of a nhimbe where workand the hours of the day are punctuated bycustomary pots of beer; and a satirical treat-ment of lobola, Kuchiri kuroora here?, inwhich the grasping claims of the bride's familyare pilloried by hyperbole. In this kind ofndyaringo the poems adapt themselves to theculturally recognised stages of the institutionstreated, and are accordingly organised andsegmented. The parts into which the poemsare divided may be signalled by descriptivetechnical terms, often metaphorical or idio-matic in diction. Thus the progress of thendyaringo on the nhimbe is marked by themention of the different times of the day, thatis the different stages of the sun's progress, thedifferent stages of the work, and the namesof the pots of beer which mark and accompanythem.Here we have a development of a featurewhich figures seminally in a type of children'sverse called zvindori. 1'hese songs are one formof competitive game played by children inwhich items of certain defined categories, forexample the names of children or of chiefs,the names of types of cattle, food or wildplants, or the names of hills or rivers have tobe supplied within the framework of a song,and in successive verses. The best knownexample of these 'item' songs is a game calledPjukumbwe. In this game the children gothrough each stage of the agricultural year frompreparing a new field to the threshing of theharvest. It is worth giving here in full as it isa splendid example of the use, at a leveladapted to children, of two features of thendyaringo, (i) parallelism of lines by means ofsimilarity of grammatical constructions andof variety of imagery, and (ii) the developmentor segmentation of content according to theculturally recognised stages of an institution.Such nursery rhymes taught children the prin-ciples of verse construction which were deve-loped in more mature fashion in all the differ-ent poetic genres which were necessary to theexpression of a full adult life.In Pfukumbwe the children are divided intotwo competing sides, each with a leader (zimai,lit. big mother) who may be a boy or a girl.The leader of the side which is 'in' sings a29solo verse consisting of two repeated lines, theother children responding as chorus to each line.As the leader sings each verse, he or she pre-tends to drill a seed into the ground, the actionbeing done amid the hands of all the childrenof the side placed together. The 'seed', usuallya pebble, is left in the hand of one of thechildren by the end of each verse, and membersof the other side have to guess who has it.If they fail in their guess, the side which is'in' continues with the next verse which men-tions the next stage in the agricultural cycle.They continue in this way until the other sidesucceeds in guessing who is holding the 'seed',and has its turn at being 'in'. It now beginsthe series of verses, and continues in the sameway as the other side until a lucky guess fromtheir opponents puts them 'out' again. Theside which finishes the series of verses first wins,and its members are allowed to call the otherside sluggards as they have been so slow inarriving at the end of the game, namely at theverses which symbolise the harvest.PFUKUMBWEMushauri (Leader) Vadaviri (Response)Tsvagei gomboTsvagei gombo(Looking for a newfield)DunhureiDunhurei(Clearing the bushes)Temei maviviTemei mavivi(Chopping up thebranches)Haiya, gomboHaiya, gombo(Oh yes, a newfield)TichidunhurawoTick idunh urawo(We clear them too)Haiya, maviviHaiya, mavivi(Oh yes, thebranches)The remaining lines of the game, which arequoted only once though they are sung twice,are as follows:Omei mavivi(Drying up thebranches)Pisei(Burning)Haiya, mavivi(O yes, the branches)Tichipisawo(We burn them too)Nhongei makoho(Picking up the burntends)Parurei(Hoeing the ridgeone side)Tsivirei(Hoeing it the otherside)Dzongerei(Sowing)Sakurei(Weeding)Ibvei(Ripening)Omei(Hardening)Chekei(Reaping)Purei(Threshing)Purei makoto(Threshing the chaff)Isei mudura(Storing in the barn)Haiya, makoho(Oh yes, the burntends)Tichiparurawo(We hoe it one sidetoo)Tichitsivirawo(We hoe the othertoo)Tichidzongerawo(We sow it too)Tich i^ak urawo(We weed it too)Tichiibvawo(We ripen too)Tichiomawo(We harden too)Tichichekawo(We reap it too)Tichipurawo(We thresh it too)Haiya, makoto(Oh yes, the chaff)Haiya mudura(Oh ves, the barn)The segmentation of the agricultural yearprovides the basis for the division of the gameinto verses. The functions of this device areeducational, recreational and artistic, all atthe same time. In ndyaringo the function of thedevice is, similarly, literary and, through theliterary, recreational and educational, as whena nyanduri is speaking of the institutions ofthe past to listeners who have never experiencedthem.A good example is provided by Hodza'spoem Chayambuka chasiya (What has crossedthe river has left the bank behind) in his un-published collection. The title refers to the factthat, in his description of the nhimbe (theworking bee), the nyanduri is recalling the past.The following is an extract from the middle ofthe poem:Ł-*Ł Ł30> 4* *ŁrHwaiti hwanzi bvundu ihwo uchena naiwayomazuva,Mapadza nevhu zvaiteterera,10 Kunyanya panguva yainge zuva ropisa got si.Kuzoti ropisa chipande,Vanhu vaimiswa kuti vamboosa zuvaPavaipihwa musumo nenhururazviso.Pashure penhurura, vaipihwa nhiridziro.1 *-15 Kuzoti paye porondoreka,Waiona vana vevanhu vamukirana narwo.Kuzoti rondogara miti, vaipiwa hotore,Vanashongamakavi, nehumwe uzhinjihwebasa.Kuzoti rochindodya mbira, ndopaibudazv igar am usungwa,20 Dzlye dzinonzi zviparadza, mharadza-musasa.Raizoti zvino rapinda mumakanda,Waiona huruva yotunga makore.Vonanga kumusha zvino, iko chaikokubikiro,Kundonwa mbigirwa netsvitswa.The sequence of times, stages of activity andaccompanying pots of beer is clear. Also clearis the parallel form in which these stages areset out. A temporal clause introduced by theauxiliary verb j-tij indicates in each case (instanzas 2-6) the position of the sun, and it isfollowed by a verbal clause describing the in-terrelated sequence of stages of activity andpots of beer. Each of these verbal clauses isinflected in the past habitual with tense signsj-a-i-j, since the speaker is passing on to hishearers a description of the past.When the light-coloured beer was stirred ondays like that,Both hoes and soil were shown no mercy(though they pleaded),Especially at the time when the slantedsunlight made itself felt at the back ofthe head.When the sun was burning the crown of thehead,People were called away to shelter fromthe sun.Then they were given the opening pot, andthe one to remove the shyness from theirfaces,And, after the shyness had gone, anotherto top up the level.When the sun was about to start itsdescent,You would see the youngsters take up thev/ork with one accord.When the sun had reached the level of thetrees, they were given the pot forknocking off from work,Great pots carried on litters, and the mainbeer as recompense for the work.When it was the time for the sun to seekout (he rock-rabbits, the big pots inwhich the strong beer had stood cameout.The ones called the dispersers, that break upthe party (lit. camp site).And when it sank into its bed (lit. skins),You would see the dust penetrating theclouds.People heading for the village, to the veryspot where the beer had been brewed,To drink the pots set aside for the masteragainst an unforeseen arrival.Another aspect of the sung game Pfukum-bwe, namely its diction, should not be passedover. Some remarks about it will serve to in-troduce the second type of ndyaringo which hasbeen identified on the basis of its content,namely that dealing with striking and memor-able adventures or experiences. In the children'sgame the solo lines consist of ideophonicphrases, the ideophones all being derived fromverb radicals. For example the ideophonetsvagei (seeking) in verse 1 is derived from theverb radical j-tsvag-j (seek). The responses31are of two kinds, and it is interesting to notethat the choice is determined by a purelystructural clue. Where the solo line consistsof a full ideophonic phrase, that is ideophoneand complement, we have the response, 'Haiyafollowed by the complement repeated:Tsvagei gombo(Looking for a newfield)Haiya, gonibo(Oh yes, a new field)Where, however, the solo line consists of anincomplete ideophonic phrase, that is ideophoneless complement, the response consists of averbal participial inflection of the verb radicalfrom which the ideophone was derived:Dunhurci(Clearing, that is thebushes)Tichidunhurawo(lit. We clearingthem too)Virtuosity in the use of language, parti-cularly constructions based on the ideophonephrase, is a general feature of ndyaringo, andone of its attractions to a knowledgeable, ex-perienced and appreciative audience. It is per-haps particularly noticeable in ndyaringo whichdeal with exciting adventures and memorableexperiences. These are described in all theirparticularity, an aspect which ideophonicspeech is admirably suited to convey. Ideo-phones strive to capture, within an evokingverbal image, unique and particular states andactions. They aim at doing justice to thecharacteristic activity of an object in its con-crete speciality. They strive to be, in as faithfula way as the speaker can make them, countersof the unique event, and capable of dieting,in the mind and imagination of the hearers,an answering image characterised by clarityand vividness. Thus their purely semantic con-tent is reinforced and particularised by expres-sive features of stress, tone and length, as wellas by facial and manual gestures. Their useis also an index of a speaker's emotional in-volvement in his subject. All in all, these fea-tures are aspects of a special dramatic stylewhich exploits the co-operative potentialities ofthe ideophonic phrase, and for which thendyaringo forms a culturally developed frame.Examples of the second type of ndyaringounder study at this stage are provided by boththe authors cited. Hodza has a poem of astorm Mazauone aNyadenga (The wonders ofthe Lord of Heaven), of which the followingis a section:V hPakarepo chimvuramabwe chakatangakudonha,10 Chichiita samazaya echando.Aiona aiti mheno ari kudonhedza mabwepasi.Vaiva musango vaingoti nhasi zvatiwana.Kumusha magonhi akaita seachataura,Chamuzari muzari kuti zari,15 "Chamuhuva muhuva kuti huva-a.Suddenly the rain began to fall in hailstones,Like pieces of frozen ice.Those who saw it thought someone wasthrowing down stones.Those who were in the veld thought thattheir time had come.At home doors seemed to be speaking theirmind,Such a shutting, shutting everywhere,Such a slamming, each echoed the others'slam.Chiteerera unzwe pfuti yaNyadengazvoyoita,Asi kungova kamutogo mutogo kuti togo,Kamupovo mupovo kuti povo,Kamuvaku muvaku kuti vaku,20 Kamuputi muputi kuti puti,Kamuchenyu muchenyu kuti chenyu,Kamutsemu mutsemu kuti tsemu,Kamubari mubari kuti bari,Kamupwati mupwati kuti pwati.Listen to the cannon of the Lord of Heaven,Such a sequence of claps, one clap after theother,Rumble after rumble across the heavens,Flash followed by lightning flash,Muttering answering dispersed muttering,Glimmering cast by dispersed coruscation.Then splitting crack upon crack,Burst upon burst of sound,Crash upon crash in the heavens.32' 4* kAs in the earlier examples quoted, we havehere a sequence closely matching the steps inthe development of the storm and expressedby a series of expressions closely parallel andrepetitive in construction. There is also anevident boisterous delight in word-play, thesuccessive nominals constructed and struck offthe anvil of creation as each piece of ideo-phonic raw material is fitted into the mould:e.g. Kamuvaku muvaku (lightning flashinghere and there) (12)cp. vaku (flashing)Word-play has been singled out as thecharacteristic content of the fourth type ofndyaringo. As a stylistic device it is found inall types, enjoyed quite as much by the nyanduriwho provides thereby a display of verbalartistry, as by his audience.Hamutyinei has an account of a convivialbachelor who, on going to sleep, woke to findthat he was sharing his bed with a snake. Theopening stanza captures the unsuspecting, con-vivial mood of the hero, narrated in the firstperson.Ndainge ndiri ishe zvake, muzvinanyika,Ndiri ndoga chikara kubva kudoro.Chakanga chakandikiya kuti shwe,Hwahwa hwaVaMuchikuye chipanda.Ndaingunotsika matama enzirakudzadzarikaSvikei mugota mangu susururu,Rupas'a rwangu chee, gumbeze pamusorowazviona!Hope dzikati tasvikawo, changamire!Hezvi ndava mungoro yavashakabvucliinyeponyepo.This stanza exemplifies the combination ofverbal and ideophonic constructions which istypical of the narrative style of ndyaringo. Thesetting, both local and temporal, is providedverbally but, when the action starts, ideophones,ideophonic phrases, and ideophonic equivalentsappear and carry the narrative forward.In 1. 3 an infinitive ideophonic phrase, kutishwc (to tie tightly), is used descriptively as acomplement to the verbal construction chakangachakandikiya (it had locked me up). In 1. 5the vivid kudzadzarika (to stagger), a derivativeof the ideophone dzadzara dzadzara (stagger-ing), is used. Two ideophonic phrases follow inquick succession ,Sv/te' mugota mangu susururu(lit. arriving fuddled inside my bachelor hut),and Rupasa rwangu che-e (lit. spreading outmy sleeping mat). Now two ideophonic equiv-alents, formed out of direct speech, are used tocontinue, but vary, the vivid narrative. In thephrase gumbeze pamusoro wazviona (lit. blan-ket over the head Š or, on top Š you haveseen it), the blanket is reminded of the workit was bought to do, and thus, in the narrative,I was a king, and lord of the land,Alone in the world, on my merry way backfrom beer.A pot of the brew of Mistress Grind-mealHad locked me in and tied me up tightinside.Staggering along, from one side of the pathto the other,I came to my hut and entered fuddled inside.Spread out my mat! "Blanket over me,now do your job !"Sleep cried, "I've come along too, my lord !"And so I was off, as a hearse takes a deardeparted.7it is implied that it did do so. Hence sleepcomes. Its action, introduced by the auxiliaryverb radical /-til, is conveyed by the use of the1st person principal recent past inflection ofl-svik-j (arrive). This is a common ideophonicsubstitute or equivalent, in the sense that it isa constituent occurring in the same construc-tions as ideophones and ideophone phrases:e.g. Hope dzikati tasvikawo(lit. And sleep said we have come too;viz. and sleep came too)cp. hope dzikati svikei(and sleep came)The final line of the stanza is a verbal con-struction and expresses a fantasy, another ofthe stylistic features of the ndyaringo. Gudzira-mukanwa and zvizukuru appear to require thefuller apparatus of verbal constructions, ratherthan ideophonic, for their effect. Other examplesin the stanza are 1. 3, Chipanda chakanga cha-kandikiya (the beer pot had turned the key onme), and 1. 5, Ndaingunotsika matama enzira(lit. all the while I was treading the cheeks ofthe path).33The constructions which provide the nyanduriwith the linguistic flexibility for his virtuosityare those which are built upon the auxiliaryverb j-tij and its various complements. Thefollowing ndyaringo by Hodza entitled Chino-kuvadza hachiyambire (What hurts you givesno warning) will exemplify this feature as wellNdakati ndaibatira padenga hombororoyedamba,Rakati naiwoyo musi zuva ropisa chipande,Ndokuenda kurwizi kunozviponora.Ndakati ndapedza kuzviponora,5 Ndakazoti ndochiti cheu,Ndokuona mutamba nechokumabvazuva.Pana iyoyi nhambwe, zuva rakangarorereka.Mutamba waiva namatamba mambishi,Iwo wakangoti goyo goyo nawo matamba.10 Ndakati, 'Nhasi Mariga akombord',Ndokukurumura rimwe chete, ndokuridya.Kuzoti zuva rogara miti,Ndokupinda mune yangu nzira.Kuzoti rondodya mbira,15 Ndokutanga kudzengedzeka sendanwangoto.Kuzoti rondoti mumakanda kwetsvere,Ndakaona changu chisina akamboona.Irwo rwava rufura-mhembweNdokutanga naro kudapa kurutsa,20 Nomwoyo ukabva wati tikibvu kuneta.NdotariSa, ndokuona kuti gore rawa.Vakazosara vouya vana-rubvunza-vaeni,Rukunzvi-kunzvi, vana-hope dzechibva-mundiro.Kuzoti pakati pousiku nazvose zvomurira-kamwe,25 Jongwe rechipiri, nerechhatu, pane rechina,Ini ndakanga ndototsvaira marindanavamwe.Mukanga-nyama weUe, handina kuuziva.Mwedzi nehweva zvikati zvanyn'ura,Nyamatsatse ikati yabuda, utonga tsvu-u.30 Huku neshiri dzomarira-kwedza dzikatidzadavidzana,Zuva vhu-u, ini ndokutanga kuzivawo.as all the others which have been mentionedso far as characterising this genre, segmentation,parallelism, ideophonic constructions and theuse of hyperbole and fantasy. It describes thepainful experience of poisoning as a result ofan unwary act of eating an unripe damba(klapper apple):The time when I reached, thoughtlessly, forthe poisonous klapper apple,On that very day when the sun was burningoverhead,I went to the river to douse myself down.When I had finished bathing,I turned around,And saw the klapper apple tree to the east.At that time, the sun was about to descend.The fruit tree had many unripe apples,It was covered all over with hanging apples.I thought, 'Providence has blessed metoday',And I plucked one, only one, and ate it.When the sun had reached the level of thetrees,1 started on my journey.At the time when it seeks out the dassies,I began to stagger as if I had drunk strongbeer.When the sun was about to sink into itsskins,I encountered my trials, something neverexperienced before.At the time when the duikers grazeMy trouble started, a prolonged retchingand vomiting,And my heart felt quite strengthless withinme.I realised that my last hour had come.The succession of times passed over me,the time when the strangers ask,Dusk and the time of the sleep that comesafter dinner.T'hen as for the middle of the night andthe first cock-crow,The second, the third, and at the fourth,I was just sweeping the graves with theother dead.The time when hunters slip away quitepassed me by.The moon and her attendant star sank outof view,And the morning star rose with the rosyflush of dawn.h34Kuzoti rorova gotsi, chikara ndikati,'Ndotora mbuva!' Vhara vhazhu, mukonouno.Vedu we-e, kukurukura hunge wapotswa.35 Mushayo wandakatukwa handiutsike,Zvinokonzera nhonho mutsoka.Kuja hakufiranwe,Negorewo harizi pakabva rimwe.The fowls and birds at the dawning crybegan to answer each other,Up came the sun and I came to my sensestoo.At the time when its rays strike the backof the head, the survivor thought,Til take some food.' So up I got and satapart, feeling a man again.Brothers, only survivors tell tales.At a place where I was ill-treated I neverset foot again,It gives one callouses under one's feet.No one can experience death for another,And a year never comes from the same placetwice.In this recital there are five separate types ofconstruction involving the auxiliary /-///. Ananalysis of the poem from this aspect will showthe underlying structure which supports thelively narrative style.(1) There is first the use of j-tij with participialcomplement:e.g. 1.1 : Ndakati ndaibatira padenga ho-mbororo yedamba(That time when I reached out,without thinking, for the poison-ous klapper apple)1.4 : Ndakati ndapedza kuzviponora(That time when I finished dous-ing myself down)The construction has a two-fold function, (i)to introduce a following clause, and (ii) toindicate the time and circumstances underwhich the action of the following clauseoccurs. The verbal inflection of the clausewhich is introduced is usually principal,though it is in consecutive position:e.g. Takati tapedza kudira hwahwa, taka-tora musumo, toenda nawo kudare(We then having finished, viz. Whenwe had finished pouring out the beer,we took the ceremonial first pot, andwent to the meeting place with it)Normally after first clauses with other ver-bal radicals as nuclei, inflections in sub-sequent clauses are consecutive,cp. Takapedza kudira hwahwa, tikatoramusumo, toenda nawo kudare(We finished pouring out the beer, andwe took the ceremonial first pot, andwent to the meeting place with it)In the first stanza 1.1 is a clause, in-troductory in the sense explained, to 11.2and 3; and 1.2, which is an introductoryclause of the same structure as 1. 1, isintroductory to 1. 3. LI 4-6 are parallel inconstruction to 11. 1-3.The introductory clause with auxiliaryj-tij is often infinitively inflected, and thisis so in this ndyaringo in which the stepsof the action are linked to the stages of thesun's progress. Kuzoti followed by the ap-propriate participial complement is thebasis for initial linking of successive linesindicating successive times in parallelfashion. Thus:1.12 : Kuzoti zuva rogara miti(When the sun is about to rest onthe trees, has reached tree-top,about 4 p.m.)1.14 : Kuzoti rondodya-mbira(When the sun is about to pursue therock-rabbits, about 5 p.m.)1.16 : Kuzoti rondoti mumakanda kwe-tsvere(When the sun is entering its skinbag [in which it will be kept], sunset)1.24 : Kuzoti pakati pousiku(At the middle of the night)1.32 : Kuzoti rorova gotsi(When it [viz. the sun] starts to befelt at the back of one's head)Of the couplets formed by these intro-ductory clauses and their sequels, 11. 12-1335are closely parallel to 11. 14-15 and slightlyless so to 11. 16-17. Thus the narrativeadvances by successive stages set out inparallel wise.(2) The second constructional type incorporat-ing auxiliary j-tij which occurs in this poemis that in which j-tij introduces an ideo-phone or ideophonic phrase as complement:e.g. 1.5ndochiti cheu(now let me turn around)cp-1.91.16:Iwo wakangoti goyo goyo nawo(it was covered all over withpendant fruit)rondoti mumakanda kwetsvere(about to sink into its skins)1.20: Nomwoyo ukabva wat'i tikibvu(And my heart Celt quite strength-less within me)Elsewhere ideophone prases occurdependently of introductory /-//'/,viz. 1.29m-utonga tsvu-u(the dawn reddened)1.31 : zuva vhu-u(the sun came up)1.33 : vhara vhazhu(up I got and sat down apart)(3) In the third constructional type j-tij in-troduces speech or thought, the actual wordsin which these are expressed appearing asa complement:e.g. 1.10 : Ndakati, 'Nhasi Mariga ako-mbord(I said, 'Providence has blessedme today')cp. 1.33 : chikara ndikati, 'Ndatorambuva!'(feeling better I thought, 'I'lltake some food')In the discussion of Hamutyinei's 'Zvinyokamugumbeze' it was stated that I and IIperson forms may function as ideophonicequivalents, and it appears that the rela-tionship between introductory j-tij andideophonic phrases is analogous to thatbetween introductory j-tij and direct speechor quotations.(4) In a fourth construction auxiliary or in-troductory jti-j is a co-constituent withprincipal sentences and clauses. Normallythis construction is infinitively inflected andthe infinitive inflected auxiliary and phrasethen occurs in substantival positions:e.g. 1.21 : ndokuona kuti gore rawa(and [I] saw that the sky hadfallen, viz. that my last hour hadcome)(5) In other places in this poem the combina-tion of introductory j-tij and principalinflected verbs is consecutively inflected:e.g. 1.28 : Mwedzi nehweva zvikatizvanyn'ura(The moon and her attendantstar sank out of view)1.29 : Nyamatsatse ikati yabuda(The morning star rose)1.30 : Huku neshiri dzomarira-kwedzadzikati dzadavidzana(The fowls and birds of thedawn began to call to eachother)These examples are probably instances,again, of principal verbs being used asideophonic equivalents, albeit they are IIIperson inflections. They are given a certainprominence within the course of the narra-tive which would be lacking if not sointroduced:e.g. 1.28 : Mwedzi nehweva zvikatizvanyn'ura(And what happened next wasthat the moon and her attendantstar sank out of view)cp. Mwedzi nehweva zvikanyn'ura(And the moon and her attend-ant star sank out of view)This is a device, then, for drawing attentionto the sequence of events, or to events asconsequences.Greater immediacy and vividness isachieved by inflecting these principal verbsintroduced by /-/// so that they appear to bespoken by the agents concerned:e.g. hope dzikati, 'Tasvikawo'(and then sleep came along too)hosha ikati, 'Ndakurd(and the sickness grew worse; lit. itsaid, T have grown big')Here a contribution is made to the dramaticstyle of the ndyaringo by personificationand by action being conveyed as if by36r' r **rŁ*.Łspeech. There is also a strong element ofword play.e.g. nzara nenyota zvikati, 'Ko watikanga-nwa? Tinewe. Tiri tese. Handei!'(and hunger and thirst made themselvesfelt as he went on; lit. and hunger andthirst said, 'Have you forgotten us?We are with you. We are all together.Let's go !')(6) In a final construction in which j-tij isauxiliary the verbal complement is a sub-junctive inflected verb phrase. In this con-struction, which is not exemplified in thispoem though it belongs to the series ofstylistic devices appropriate to the ndyari-ngo style, an action is conveyed as desiredand attempted. The attempt so describedis normally unsuccessful, and attended withfrustration:e.g. Shumba yakaii, Nditobata, mudzimuukati, Kwete hazviitike(The lion tried to seize him but hisguardian ancestral spirit interposed: lit.'Let me just take hold', but the spiritsaid, 'No, it is not to be')In this construction there is the same rangeof choice between third person inflectionsindicating (attempted) action and the in-flection of direct speech used to introducegreater dramatic vividness:e.g. Shumba yakati itobata(The lion tried to seize (its victim))'Chinokuvadza hachiyambire' provides, then,a splendid example of a range of narrativestylistic devices used in ndyaringo and basedon the auxiliary verb j-tij. As pointed out it alsoillustrates the devices of segmentation and paral-lelism, the use of ideophonic phrases, and theuse of exaggerated conceits which have emer-ged from the study of other examples. Twoother features also characteristic of ndyaringomust be pointed out before we leave this poem.The first is personification. The term hasalready been used in the description of certainkinds of verbal complements of j-tij wherebyaction is rendered more immediately andvividly. Here the term is applied to the per-sonification of things and abstractions in orderto make them agents in a story and so raiseits dramatic potential. In the poem 'Chinoku-vadza' this device comes in briefly in the thirdstanza to personify the times of the eveningwhich come and go while the victim of thefruit-poisoning is unconcious. These are rubvu-nza-vaeni (the time when strangers ask for shel-ter) (11), rukunzvi-kunzvi (dusk) (11) and hopedzechibva-mundiro (the sleep that comes afterdinner) (10,9) Normally of classes 11 and 10,9,these nominal constructions are transformedinto class la nominals which normally indicatepersons. The signals of this transformation arethe use of class 2 subject concords and thechanges of tone pattern which follow from theprefixing of the pluralising relative inflectionvana- (lit. those who are with).Thus, vand-rubviinza-vaeni(early evening and the other times)vand-hope dzechibva-mundiro(late evening and its companions)cp. vand-babd(father and his companions)The second feature which should be pointedout is the conclusion, quite as much a stylisticfeature of the ndyaringo as the exaggeratedfancies, the ideophonic diction, the segmentationof the experience, and its setting out in a seriesof steps with parallel phrasing. The experienceis summed up at the end in one or more pro-verbial sayings. It is not that the moral sawsare drawn from the experience so much as thatthe experience is seen to verify and confirmthem:e.g. 1.34 : Kukumkura hunge wapotswa(lit. To tell a tale is to have beenmissed (by death or by a missile))1.37 : Kufa hakuftranwe(No one else can die on yourbehalf)The form of the final proverb in 1.38 is usuallygiven as follows,Gore harizi pakaza rimwe(A year never comes from whereanother year comes)The last two proverbs mean that experience isincommunicable.In some ndyaringo the element of instructionis prominent and the recital is made in orderto convey a warning or a chiding in an allusive,indirect way, or to strengthen proper attitudes.Hamutyinei has a delightfully tender poemdevoted to his grandmother, 'Havachagoni37mbuya vangu' (My grandmother cannot manageany more) which is devoted to her own strength-less condition after a lifetime of work. It usesthe title as a constant refrain upon which adivision of the poem into stanzas is made toYaisiva nyanzvi yechimbo nejerusarema,Vainge vachidadisa nenyora dzavodzamasvunurira.Yainge mhandara singwi nehuhwa yavoAsi zvino huhwa yakasendekwa murukuva,Yangova nhumbi yamirira vadyi venhaka;Kwave kusakara kwedovo serisakambo-dyiwe nyama.Kwavari idzi dzangova ngano chete.Zoro rava redu kupa mbuya rukudzo.Pataichema usiku paucheche ivo vaishayahope,Patairwara vaitirurira mishonga inovava.Ko, zvino ndovaitireiko mbuya vangu?Ndoda kuvapa gumbeze rina magamba-magamba,Vachigozoenda zvavo kunyikadzimu,Nyika isina kana mheremhere,Nokuti havachagoni mbuya vangu.Published examples of these narrativendyaringo by our poets include the following.Hodza describes the experiences of a rianga(diviner) who is diagnosing a case of revengeby an angry spirit.9 Hamutyinei in 'Ngoziyerombe'i° describes the murder of a beggarand the return of his spirit in vengeance. Themoral in both these pieces is Mushonga we-ngozi kuripa (the remedy against a vengefulspirit is compensation). Other pieces by Ha-mutyinei are 'Pfumo renyuchi', an attack by aswarm of bees; 'Wava musord', the fate of ayoung woman dragged to her death by a croco-dile; and 'Ganyamuto'," a leopard hunt. Hamu-tyinei's poems are excellent examples of ndya-ringo adapted for reading. The liveliness andverbal art of the oral prototypes is maintainedin his vivid descriptions and dramatic pre-sentations. The same devices which commandattention in the oral genre are maintained here,a brief graphic outline of the setting, a sus-tained taut narrative consisting of a successionof clear individual pictures recreating the event,characterisation conveyed by praise-names andrest. Thus its form is influenced by the require-ments of the written medium of eye-language,but enough of its oral character remains toleave it recognisably a ndyaringo with a mess-age for the young.She used to be a wonderful singer anddancer,She used to be so proud of her beauty-marks cut on each cheek.She was just like a girl, with her dancing axe,But now her axe leans against the wall,Just an article waiting for a new owner;As with a worn-out kaross,No one would dream its meat was onceenjoyed.To her these things are just so many stories.Our turn now to honour our grandmother.When we cried as babies in the night, shelost her sleep,When we were sick, she moistened the bittermedicines in her mouth.So now, what will I do for my grandmother?I want to give her a blanket with brightpatterns,As she goes her way to the ancestral country,The country where there is no outcry,Because my grandmother cannot manageany longer.8blame-names; humour, grim or hilariousaccording to the mood and subject of the poem;and the brief summing up of experience at theend. Such poems demand a very great com-mand of language, responsive in all the dimen-sions required to express a sensibility asvibrantly alive as if the speaker were an actorin the action he is narrating. This sensibility ismore poetically creative, however, than a run-ning commentary upon a present event wouldbe. Assimilation of the event is necessary beforethe creative sensibility of the poet, schooledin the traditional devices of the genre, canbring forth such an evocation which is at oncefaithful to the traditional genre and faithfulboth as a whole and in the articulation of itsparts, to the original event.The other subtypes of ndyaringo, concernedrespectively with fantasy, word play and satire,can be described more briefly since they exhibit,on the whole, the same stylistic devices as haveemerged from those dealing with cultural in-stitutions and adventures and experiences.38,4k.X IIri rIn the third type, dealing with fantasy, itemsof folklore find a congenial setting. The subjectis frequently a description of a dream. Hodzahas composed several which exemplify thiscategory. I2 For example 'Mashura namashiri-piti' (Omens and wonders) describes the abduc-tion of a hunter by a nzuzu (water sprite), andthe means, mainly music and dance, taken byhis neighbours to recover him from the bottomof the pool to which he had been taken.'Rima reruju (The darkness of death) des-cribes a storm which followed upon a warningand frightening omen, and which plunged every-thing into darkness. 'Pane nhamo hapabvedzimwe' (lit. Where there is one trouble, othertroubles do not go away) describes a series offantastical experiences, one following uponanother. The series, which does not appear tohave any logical or causal connection, endswith a piece of nonsense: 'Crying for the liverof a fly which took four men to lift it, the fifthhaving gone off to the leaves.' In 'Ndodakusherekeld (Now I want to play the fool)'13Hodza gives a version of the well-knownndyaringo called Biriviri. The poem describesa series of incidents and experiences, somewhatsimilar in spirit to those in 'Pane nhamo hapa-bve dzimwe', but the treatment adds the formaldevice similar to that in the English nurseryrhyme 'The House That Jack Built', wherebythe treatment of each step concludes with arhythmic mention of each of the preceding steps,but in reverse order.The only ndyaringo by Hamutyinei whichappears to conform to this subtype is 'Mazikopeeguti' (Deep sleep during a time of drizzle).14The content of this poem consists of a seriesof dreams which end amusingly as the poetawakes to find himself late for work. Thedreams are meant to be diverting as well assatirical. One describes his behaviour after hehas won a lottery, and another his predicamentat the gate of heaven:Suo raizarurirwa zvirema namapofu chete.Vana vaduku vaikwana napamaburi nyorenyore(The gate was opened only to the crippledand the blind.Little children could easily slip through thechinks)In the fourth type the element of word playappears to be uppermost. By word play hereis not meant artistry or skill in the choice andarrangement of words and constructions in theservice of meaning. Evidence of this facilityand felicity in the use of language has alreadybeen provided. Rather is meant the creation ofa piece which is based upon word play as atechnical device. Hodza gives an example of apoem which describes the antics of some crowsaround a sleeping man. The sequence is de-veloped partly through imitation of their caw-ing, an imitation performed through the useof suitable Shona words. This is a pastimewhich was a favourite among herdboys whodevised pieces to suit the distinctive cries andsongs of other birds as well. The device is alsoin use by storytellers who imitate animal traitsby simulated speech made conformable to theirsupposed characters. In addition animals aresometimes made to lisp when speaking instories.This subtype of ndyirango is suited more tochildish performances and audiences than theothers. Thus children play with the names ofthe numbers in order to make up what are tothem intriguing verses:Chiposhi : Ndochakapotswa mhembwe, ikafu-ra nemusi usi wayo(One) (That was when the duiker wasmissed, and it grazed on a day itwas not supposed to)Chipiri : Ndochakcrpikirana vakunt padare,mhosva ikaswera iri dembetembe(Two) (That was when the elders tookoaths in disagreement, and the casewas not decided)Chitatu ; Ndochakatatnka mbira mugomo,ikabuda isina mus'we(Three) (That was when the rock-rabbitjumped from the rock and came outwithout a tail)However, puns and puzzles are used as thepoint of adult verses as well, showing that,in this subtype too, there is continuity betweenthe word games of children and those of adults.Hamutyinei has an intriguing poem entitled''Chidyamafuta asingakori' (An eater of fat thatdoes not get fat).15 This character is the firstto be considered whenever there is meat to beeaten. No one else can eat in his absence. Thepiece is a ndyaringo in the form of a boastand is in fact an extended riddle to which theanswer is 'A knife'.39Finally there are the pieces with satiricalbarbs devised to lodge in the consciences ofthose to whom they apply. Hamutyinei hastwo very telling pieces of this sort. In the first,Iwe muromo wangu, iwe,Ndiwe mapedzapfuma, mandiurayisa.Unondiparira masakandibayiwe.Mazwi aunobudisa ane uchi nenduru.5 Unotaura ndisati ndazeya seiko?Muromo wangu url mharadzamusasa.Ndichakusona zvangu, doro ndlkanwanenzeve.The device used here is personificationmaintained through the use of apt 'blame'names, and a plausible tone of aggrieved com-plaint. There is wit in the conceits of 11.5 and7 and in the attempt, a pretence purposelytransparent, to shift the speaker's failings onto his tongue. The piece is aimed at a wideraudience than the author's mouth, however.He blames himself with impunity for faultswhich, as he describes them, may in realitybelong to others, and he trusts that the capwill be seen to be worn by him whom it fitsbest.In a second piece 'Vakachenjera vanoti,"Zvipei doro"' (The wily ones say, 'Give thembeer')17 Hamutyinei instances, in parallel form,case after case in which beer is used to calmtroublesome characters, as well as to underminehappiness and goodness by the evilly disposed.While it deals pertinently enough with thesurface facts, discerning readers claim to seein the poem a criticism of the practise of pro-viding beer halls in the African townships.In these pieces the poet's intention is con-veyed by the use of madimikira, by figurativelanguage and indirection. There is no call forvivid ideophonic presentation, and so theclauses and sentences are verbal. In fact thepoems of this last subtype verge on the pro-vince of the nhango and are called ndyaringodzokuraya (entertainment for instruction).NHANGOThis is a convenient place to move to aconsideration of nhango, the genre of didactic'Wangu muromo ndimandiurayisa' (My mouthis my worst enemy), he personifies his mouthin order to accuse it of all the faults of whichhe is guilty:You, my mouth, yes you !You destroyer of my goods, my mortalenemy.You sin in my despite, you get me stabbed.The words you let fall have honey in them,and gall.Why do you speak before I have chewedthem over?My mouth, you are the enemy of amity.I shall sew you up and drink beer throughmy ears.16poems in Shona. The word nhango may berelated to the verb radical j-rang-j (instruct,teach, correct), a radical close in meaning toj-ray-j. A nominal more closely related toI-rang-j is chirango, pi. zvirango, customs orobservances which symbolise right attitudes ofmind and reflect an awareness of right socialrelationships. Thus zvirango zvehwahwa arecustomary polite observances which regulatethe serving out, in the right order, of the cupsand ladles of beer. The passive j-rang-w-j in-dicates the reception of instruction by youthsand maidens prior to marriage. Nhango dzinopamunhu kuti ange arangwa (Didactive verse en-ables a person to be instructed). Nhango aresometimes known as nhango dzepadare (didac-tic poems for the council place). This does notmean that the delivery of nhango is limited tothe dare but that the delivery of nhango from anelder to a junior creates an occasion for thegiving of counsel. Another term employed isnhango dzepadumba; and this use of dumba,which refers to a small temporary shelter usedto guard crops in a field, indicates moral in-structions of a more private kind, for examplethat given by a paternal aunt to a niece.J. Haasbroek has given a number ofexamples of nhango in articles in the weeklynewspaper Moto which form part of a generaldiscussion of Shona traditional poetry.18 Hisexamples show nhango being recited by madzi-sekuru (maternal uncles) to their nephews, andby madzitete (paternal aunts) to their nieces.He also gives examples of nhango by elderbrothers or sisters to juniors, and by ritualfriends (madzisahwira) and personal friends(shamwari) to one another.kA JkA* X[Jt40i *i. a.rv *Hodza describes nhango in the Introductionto his collections of traditional poetry:These didactic poems which contained somuch of value for the lives of those to whomthey were addressed were spoken by madzi-sekuru to their vazukuru (nephews). Thenephews would thus be given guidanceabout adult life within the family, principlesof customary law, as well as training in theformation of sound judgement on domestic,local, and tribal affairs. This moral educa-tion was absorbed particularly on the occa-sions when the boys and young men werepresent at the daily discussions of villageand district affairs at the family councilplace.To madzimbuya (the wives of madzise-kuru) and madzitete belonged the consider-able responsibility of instructing and teach-ing their vazukuru (nieces) the proper con-duct of a wife in the home in regard to herhusband, and the proper care of her childrenand household property. Long ago this taskof instructing the daughters of each clanfell particularly upon the monga (a clans-woman standing in the relation of sister tothe head of the clan, and who was alsoentrusted with the clan's charms and pro-tective medicines).Nhango are utterances full of insight andknowledge of the traditional conception ofmanhood and womanhood. Madzisekuru,madzimbuya and madzitete were the tradi-tional councillors of their nephews andnieces. If the young people failed in anyway to come up to expectation, particularlyin behaviour relating to courtship, marriageand the family, their lapses would be takenas reflecting adversely upon the moral train-ing they had, or had not, been given. Forexample, in the case of a sluttish bride,people would say 'She eloped while the oldmen and women were at the work- andbeer-party.' Nowadays they say, 'She camewhile her elders were away at church.'Nhango forewarn people about the evilswhich may befall them. The matters treatedin nhango dzepadare are so numerous thatthe writing of them down would never cometo an end.19Nhango lend themselves to writing betterthan ndyaringo since they are delivered in amore neutral verbal style than the highlycoloured narratives, and rely for their effectmore on a reflective use of proverbs and aptmetaphors than on ideophones with theirfrequent recourse to expressive and imitativefeatures. Writers Who have published nhangoinclude Hodza,20 from whose work we shalllargely quote, Kumbirai,21 and Haasbroek.22'Mukadzi mwoto' (Woman is a fire) will pro-vide a good example of the stylistic qualities ofnhango. It is a widely known piece which seeksto instruct and forewarn men about the limita-tions of women. Like the proverbs for whichnhango form a setting, and which may be veryone-sided in their views, this poem presents abiased and partial opinion23 In Hodza's versionit runs as follows.MUKADZI MWOTOChawanzwa usaudze mukadzi!Mukadzi mwoto. Unofuma wokupisa.Mukadzi imbwa irere.Ukaimutsira kudya inokuruma.5 Mwoyo wemukadzi ndimasadaguke.Kufunga kwake hakuna nharo ndeju.Mwoyo wake unopinduka-pindukaserwaivhi.Mukadzi inyoka yemvumbiInogona kugara mumba sechipfuyo.10 Asi, must unosvika twayo,Inhemerakurasa, nyoka yenzayo.WOMAN IS A FIREWhat you hear never tell a woman !Woman is a fire. It will burn you first thingin the morning.Woman is a sleeping dog.It bites you when you rouse it for its food.The heart of a woman is change itself.Her thought has no deep dimensions.Her heart keeps changing like a chameleon.Woman is a drowsy adderKept in a house as if domesticated.But the day its anger is aroused.It kills for killing's sake like a mamba.41Mukadzi inda inoruma akaitakura.Mukanwa make makapfavira kutanaKunge nyama yemusoro wemombe.15 Zviri muhana make mutoroUnokunda gomo ripi neripi.Mukadzi rwiyo rwusina kwarwo.Uimbe wafa; urege wafa.Zvinobuda mime wake muromozvijadzawaja.20 Ungadzikamise mwoyo uchiti ndomazvo,Us'ingazive kuti wananga mutome.Front-linking and parallelism are featuresof this poem. The linking element is the wordmukadzii the subject of the poem. It is also thegrammatical subject of a series of substantivalclauses, namely those in 11. 2, 3, 8, 12 and 17.In 1.5 there is a slight departure from thisrhythmical repetition in that the subject ismwoyo womukadzi (the heart of a woman). Inthese clauses the character of woman is des-cribed in a series of images. She is fire, a sleep-ing dog, a drowsy adder, a louse which bitesits host, a song impossible to sing. These imagesand their developments result in the poem being,in the main, a series of stanzas, parallel in con-struction and meaning. The poem ends withthe correspondence between stanzas havingpassed to those commencing with 11. 15 and19, Zviri muhana make (the things on hermind) and Zvinobuda mune wake muromo (thetilings that come from her mouth).This is a polished piece of verse in whichthe forma! poetic devices play a major part inmaking it didactically effective. The imagesreinforce each other cumulatively by beingmarshalled and deployed rhythmically in corres-ponding positions in the stanzas. The poem isan excellent example of the kind of repetitionmost favoured in Shona poetry. Mere verbalrepetition is kept down to an indispensableminimum, namely the repetition of the initiallinking element mukadzi. More important is therepetition of phrase structures and the semanticrelationships between constituent parts of thephrases. It is seemingly in these more abstractaspects of the repetition that Shona poets de-light. Their control of the form is achieved alsoin combination with freedom to depart fromWoman is a louse that bites its bearer.Her mouth seeming soft but tough withinLike the meat on the head of a cow.The thoughts in her mind are burdensome,Heavier than any hill to bear.Woman is a song one can't get right.If you sing you're wrong; if you don'tyou're wrong.Her kind words come when expedient likerespect shown to the dead.You may calm your heart thinking you aresecure,Unaware that you are being led astray.the recurrent pattern whenever a local develop-ment is required.The poem helps us to recognise a certainsententious nhango style which derives from theproverb, just as that of the animated ndyaringostyle derives from the ideophonic clause.There are no proverbs, strictly speaking, in'Mukadzi mwoto', but the stanzas to whosecorrespondence we have drawn attention areproverbial in style, both in regard to theirstructure and their diction. Shona proverbsoften fall into two balancing halves, a tantalis-ing or teasing opening, which leaves the mindin enquiry or suspense, followed by a con-clusion which resolves the puzzle and bringsillumination:e.g. Muroyi mimhu. Kubayiwa anochemawo.(A sorcerer is human. When he isstabbed he cries like anyone else)24The opening half is often, as in the examplequoted, in the form of a substantival, non-verbalclause, while the concluding half is verbal instructure. These structural features, as well asthe metaphorical diction, can be observed inthe verses formed by 11. 2, 3-4, 5-7, 8-11, 12-14,15-16, 17-18, 19-21. These stanzas are not assuccinct as proverbs, but they reflect and ex-tend the proverbial style into the nhango.Nhango deal with the whole of life underits more serious aspects as the field of moraland responsible choice, of moral dangers andof moral good and evil. The pieces vary ingenerality, and the height from which life isviewed. Thus, in descending order, we findnhango which (1) are statements of generalprinciples or truths drawn from experience.v424 ŁThese are more pragmatic than abstract. Wefind as well (2) critical commentaries on currentmores and (3) exhortations, instructions andwarnings peculiar to the different sexes andage groups.The term nhango is also applied to utter-ances which are not didactic, such as the rhyth-mic dialogues in which elders communicate toone another their views on current problems orimportant items of news; or the exchange ofgreetings called mamuko, addressed to eldersby a visitor making a call, or just passing by ahomestead. The reason for the term beingapplied to these pieces of traditional rhetoricis that they are an expression of the proper,stylised use of language required betweenNhamo haisarudze kuti youyaKana youya, inouya naambuya vayo vose.Nhamo haina muzivi kana gamba,Nenyikawo haina mupjumi kana murombo.5 Nyika chisukukuviri, haina wayo.Nhamo ndimutemagaga, nyoka yemvumbiInoruma nemili yose kana yatsamwa.LI. 1-2 are cross-linked which allow a de-velopment in 1.2 of the thought broached inl.l.26 LI. 3-4 and 5-6 are two verses formed byparallelism, the latter having an additionalcross-linked line in which the indiscriminateand unpredictable attack of the adder, figureof misfortune, is graphically developed.Kufa kuri nani tigozororawo zvakaitavamwe.Nyika nhasi yangova rufuse rusingapore.Mud kumarinda pasi pevhupamakafugidzwa,Mune rugare rusina kana ani achajema.Vakaja mose makazorora musaricheme.Vari kutsi kwaro ivhu vari kudya nhakayavoKusina ani anofema anondokwatako.persons of standing and authority. Such verbalskills are not taught as such. They can only beacquired by listening to the old people and,in being learned, they implant right attitudesand sentiments. These nhango may be com-pared to the zvirango, referred to earlier, whichare the forms of behaviour appropriate to aninstitution, which reflect right social attitudesand sentiments, for example the order observedin serving the first ladles of beer from a pot.A good example of a general statement ofexperience is provided by the poem 'Nhamohaisarudze' (Trouble does not choose, that is,it is impartial).25 It dwells on the fact that allare liable to suffer, irrespective of their merits:Trouble does not choose when it comesIt comes accompanied by all itsgrandmothers.Trouble has no favourite wise man or hero.Nor does the world exempt any rich manor pauper.The world is a two-headed blind snake, itknows no favourite.Trouble is a gratuitous killer, a murderousadderWhich bites even trees when it is roused.After five further lines similar to the pre-ceding in which there is rhythmic repetitionof the key words, nhamo and nyika, and thequalities, expressed metaphorically, which aretypical of them and which, significantly, jointhem as allies, the poem turns to a comparisonof the lot of the living with that of the dead:Better to die and rest like others do.The world is a hot-bed of embers that nevercools.You in your graves where you lie coveredbeneath the ground,You have a peace undisturbed even by abreath.You dead who are at rest, never weep foryourselves.They who are below the earth enjoy theirinheritanceWhere no one breathes or comes to beg fromthem.43Ichokwadi kuti kusara kunze huona.Kusluwa nepjumvu zvatekeshera pasi rose.After this, the poem concludes with thedominant theme and repetitions which give itunity, variety being supplied by the differentmetaphors which symbolise the indifference offate to human worth and values.An example of the second category whichNONDO MUMBIZICharovedzera charovedzera.Bveni rakakwira mawere kwasviba.Zvimiro zvavanhu zvazungurwa.Unhu hwedu hwapera kupepetwa.Vedu we-e! A katiroya akazunza negonarose.This opening to a long poem starts with aproverb which provides a point of departure.The speaker uses the proverb as an introduc-tion to his main theme which is that the youngZvainyadzisa zvava zvedambe nazvo.Mwanasikana otamba nababa kungemuramu.Zvaiera hazvina achazviera.Chokwadi vazvinazvita mune chitema.Ndimi makakonzera vana ujoki.Later on in the poem the relevant proverb isquoted and developed in corresponding couplets:Nondo ikapinda mumbizi,Zvinonzi, 'Ndava mbiziwo'.Mbizi ikapinda mun'ombe,Zvonzi, 'Ndava n'ombewo'.Dzambiringwa munyembaZvonzi, 'Ndava nyembawo.Vana vedu zvava zvimbwa zvowastmgata.Zvongotevera chero waridza murudzo.Zvino dzimba dzedu dzaiswa mirao miviriKuti wavabereki, kukati wavana.Tochingotarisa dzambiringwa munyembaRichizovewo nyemba.Truly, to remain outside the grave is toexperience.Sorrow and suffering cover all the earth.has been suggested, namely commentary oncurrent mores, is supplied by the poem 'Nondomumbizi' (a tsessebe among the zebra) whichlaments the alienation of the young from theirelders by western education and missionaryinfluence:What you get used to, you are used to doing.The baboon climbs a cliff even in the dark.The settled ways of the people have beenupset,Our human values shaken and sifted likechaff.Alas ! the sorcerer who bewitched us sparedus nothing of his spell.27have been taught alien ways to the extent thatthey no longer respect their traditional languageand culture, and the representatives of these, thedead ancestors and the living elders:What was shameful before is now aplaything,A daughter at play with her father as witha familiar.What was sacred before is sacred no longerTruly you church people are guilty.You have led our daughters intoprostitution.If a tsessebe comes among zebras.It says, 'I'm a zebra now too'.If a zebra comes among cattle,It says, 'I'm a head-of-cattle too'.Wild grapes among cowpeasSay, 'We are cowpeas now too.'Our children are like dogs without a master.They follow whoever gives them a whistle.Now our homes are under the rule of twodispensations,One of the parents, and the other of thechildren.We watch the wild grape among thecowpeasBecoming the cowpea itself.i« w4-44The same source provides a good exampleof the third type of nhango. 'Kuraya is a pieceMwanangu Raviro, muzukuru,Nhasi waroorwa.Handiti baba wako pjutna atambira?of advice given to a niece by her tete on theeve of her marriage:My child Raviro, my brother's daughter.You are betrothed today.Your father has accepted the bride-wealth,has he not?Ik- <Ł v-*Łr rChirega ndikuudze, muzukuru.5 Zvamesomeso ibva wasvipira pasi.Zvoumhandara nhasi zvakuva samazhanje.Vsikana idambakamwe.Chikuru umvana.Idana naye wakubvisira pfuma.10 Us'ave noruchiva nomurume wanhingi.Urege kuva norudo runongotiWakuti kwenyu,Wanzi herwu.**As in the last example, these lines are butthe introduction to a long discourse full ofgood advice, couched in memorable form byChamunodya mumba menyu, muzukuru,Ngachipakurwe 'norugwaku rumwe chete,kwete ruviri.Uyu ndiwo mupfuhwira mukuruwavarume.The formal devices of this poem are, asusual, linking and parallelism. LI. 2-3 aresemantically similar; 11. 5-6 semantically paral-lel and front-linked; 11. 7-8 consist of a cross-parallel proverb, usikana corresponding toumvana, and dambakamwe (a single game) tochikuru (an important thing). This verse is anexample of the apposite use of proverbs innhango. Haasbroek has written of them thatthey fit neatly into the poem's structualpattern as well as clarifying, and giving weightand authority to, the poet's abstract argumentand train of thought through their concreteimagery.29With its sharp structural outline and itsdefinite antitheses, the proverb forms a nucleusin the flow of the discourse, radiating an in-fluence through the other parts of the poemwhich mediate and develop its thought. TheLet me advise you, then, my brother'sdaughter.Put your flirting behind you.Your girlhood is over like the loquats oflast season.Maidenhood is a single game.Motherhood goes on.Love him who paid your bride-wealth as heloves you.Never have desire for another's husband.Do not entertain the sort of love which,If a man nudges you,He is offered it straightaway.various kinds of repetition, and culminatingin a recipe for a truly effective love-charm:The food you eat in your home, my niece.Must be served out with only one spoon,not two.That is the great love-charm that works withmen.relationship of proverb to development makesfor a type of unity within poetry which ispeculiar to nhango.So far we have been content to takeexamples of nhango from the work of Hodza.This is because we wished to dwell on thetraditional characteristics of this form of poetrywhich, indeed, this author is anxious to dis-play and preserve. The work of Kumbirai, towhich we have already referred, exemplifies adevelopment of nhango which enables us toexamine briefly the way in which one poet hasadapted his traditional poetry for a modernaudience of readers.Kumbirai is a poet conscious of living in aperiod of transition and aware of a responsi-bility to enable poetry to play its traditionalsocial role in new conditions. Among thesenew conditions is the relation of a writer to his45readers, analogous to, but different from, therelation of the nyanduri to his hearers. Thenew medium offers the poetry new opportuni-ties and imposes new restrictions which callfor an adaptation of forms, devices and dictionwhich have yet to be fully understood.Another of the changed conditions is thenew faith of Christianity, shared in varyingdegrees by literate Shona. Kumbirai writes asa Christian, indeed as a teacher of that faith.There is little, if anything, repugnant toChristianity in the moral teaching of the tradi-Chido moto unokuchidzirwa kuti usadzime.Ramba uchingofutidza chigorambachichibvira.Ukaona chave kuda kurota, pamhidzatsotso;Ukaona chave kuda kunyenga, pamhidzahuni.3°tional nhango, and clearly Kumbirai wishes tocontinue to transmit it.As a result of these two new conditionsKumbirai's work, though didactic, is a personaldevelopment of the traditional nhango andother forms which lend themselves to a didacticend. He is at pains to make his poems plainboth because he wishes to write for the young,and because the written piece must be able toconvey its whole message by itself. There isa certain loss of depth here in the repetitivelanguage and transparent images which attimes border on the childish.Love is a fire which is fed to keep it alive.Keep blowing on it that it may keep burning.If you see it dying down, add more twigs;If you see it using up its fuel, add morewood.vNot that Kumbirai is incapable of depth andof profound insights through an original useof imagery. These depths however are personaland, to that extent, are a withdrawal frompublic poetry. Witness his description of theenduring relationship, based on an affinity ofmind and spirit, between himself and hismother in 'Haurovi Herina Shumbisd': He in-vites the spirit of his mother to possess his mind.Svikai norumwe rudzi musarove zita.Mukarova zita maita mufakaviri.Kana nebira hamungafi makarinhuhwa.Mukutaurirana ndimi hatinganzwani.Torai njere dzangu dzive svikiro renyu,Zvandisina mwana angave svikiro renyu.Chemedzai urozvi hwangu mupembererwe,Herina Shumbisa arege kurova pasii.31Be present in a new way so that your namebe not banished.If your name should vanish, then you dieagain.Even the fragrance of an offering will neverreach you,The words we exchange we do notunderstand.But take my mind to be your mouthpiece.Since I have no child to be your medium.Rouse my wits to utter and make youcelebrated,That Herina Shumbisa may not vanish fromthe earth.The same personal expression is found in thedramatising of his moral consciousness in thetwo poems 'Zuro' (Yesterday) and 'Mangwana'(Tomorrow). Thus he personifies Yesterdayand addresses him:'Tagurirwa ukama hwedu naNhasi.Ati, "Zuro 'newe ukama hwapera,Chishamwaridzana nerd naMangwana,'Our kinship has been cut by Today.He said, "Yesterday and you are no longerrelated,Make friends with me and with Tomorrow,46A *I' *~Zwro achizvigarira kwake oga.Usamurege achikutevera,Angazokuioonora zvako zvose.Dzanga dzava shamwari dzikakusemaVakabvuta zvos'e zvavanga vakupa.Wava munyika itsva, chingwarirazvitsva." '32A final aspect of Kumbirai's work whichwe may select for notice is its expression ofpersonal religion. In Shona thought morality isnot dependent upon religion. The supreme valueis a happy community life, and morality definesthe role which each one must play in achievingthat end. Christian thought appears to be notso very different from this conception save thatWandishamisa Zame, wandishamisa.Ndikatsika chiva, chinondikobora.Ndikagunzva nyuchi, inonditi ndure,Ndikasvosva igo, harinditambisi.Tsikidzi yandiruma ndinoipwanya.Nyoka ikandigunzva ndinoiponda.Svosve rikandiswinya rasiya past.Asi kana isu tave kukuruma,Hautinakuri, hautipwanyizve.Unotifuridzira patinorumaNokutipepa maronda edu oseAtinotapura patinokuruma.Wandishamisa Zame, wandishamisa.Ndaive ini, ndaiparadza nyika.33And let Yesterday live at his place on hisown.Do not let him follow you.He could betray everything, your every deed.Those who were your friends, who nowhate you,They've taken back the things they gave you.Now in a new country, find a new wisdom." 'the community is the Kingdom of which Godhimself is the King, and in which love is theall-embracing commandment. As a result allrelationships are seen ultimately as religious,and morality as a response to God's rule.The poet addresses God, using one of thetraditional names of the Creator, Zame, in away never heard in traditional poetry:You make me marvel, Lord, make meadmire.If I step on a cobra, it bites me.If I brush against a bee, it stings me.If I provoke a wasp, it will not play withme.A biting bug I crush.A snake too close I kill.An ant that nips is dead.But when we would bite you,You do not flick us away, nor do you crushus.You blow coolness upon us when we biteyou.And you nurse us for all the woundsWhich we incur when we bite you.You make me marvel, Lord, make meastonished.If it were me, I would destroy the world.CONCLUSIONNdyaringo and nhango are widely differentgenres of traditional poetry which are of greatinterest, not only in themselves, but as exempli-fying complementary poles of an oral literature.As a conclusion to this study it will be helpfulto set out the complementary aspects of thetwo literary forms which have emerged.Ndyaringo deal in the main with particularsituations and individual experiences ina narrative mode in order to entertain an adultaudience, though the instructional function,common in varying degrees to all Shona litera-ture, is not neglected. Nhango on the otherhand are concerned to convey the generalprinciples and rules of social experience, andto criticise behaviour in the light of proverbsand saws which enshrine that experience.Ndyaringo entertain and divert through vir-tuosity of language. There is considerable roomfor invention and a personal flair for vividdescription and narrative. The brilliance of thisverbal skill is content to be superficial, though47certain forms of ndyaringo show wit and satireas well as humour. The response sought islaughter, or awe and pity, as well as literaryand aesthetic pleasure in the skilful use oflanguage. Nhango on the other hand rely onconsecrated formulae, such as proverbs andidioms, and on the aptness of their developmentand application to life. Speakers of these dis-courses are not required to be original, but tohave a deep grasp of moral principles and anintuition into the potential relevance of imagesand metaphors to express them. The appeal isto the mind and moral sense of the audiencewhich is typically youth in its formative yearsand at the crises of life.In style ndyaringo make great use of ideo-phones in order to do justice to particular situa-tions. They aim at reproducing, in the imagina-tions of the audience and in the round, the ex-periences which are described. To this end theideophonic diction which evokes the data ofevery sense, as well as more complex pheno-mena such as movements, postures and concreteconditions of different kinds, is particularlysuitable. This diction includes, of course, in theoral medium, reinforcing gestures and expres-sive features of tone, length and stress whichwitness to the emotional involvement of thespeaker in the subject of his discourse.Humorous exaggeration and hyperbole are notonly condoned but expected, and they arisefrom the challenge to the artist to make themost of his materials in the pursuit of the aimof literary entertainment. Where there is a dis-criminating, knowledgeable and appreciativeaudience, the dare is as evocative as a stage,the traditional art also present and presentingdemands which arise out of the nature of theform.On the contrary the style of the nhango issober, its saws being expressed in sentenceswhich can convey the general and the profound.These are substantival and verbal constructions.The mental training which from early youthis concerned with riddles and word play enablesthe young to seize analogies and relationshipswhich light up the moral dimensions of life.These relationships are not only the corres-pondences of metaphors to life situations, butalso those that exist between proverbs them-selves. Proverbs are rarely explained in literalterms. The young are expected to learn theirmeanings and relevant applications from theircontexts. No single proverb expresses the wholetruth about any aspect of life. They are alwayspartial, even though they are susceptible ofdifferent applications in different situations, andno literal explanation exhausts their meaning.For these reasons the meanings of proverbs arebest learned by comparison with, and referenceto, other proverbs, as the shape of jewels throwseach into relief. The part is learned in relationto the whole. Thus is the relevant teaching ofthe proverbs grasped both in their positive con-tent and in their limitations. The style of thenhango preserves wisdom from being banal. Itis also profoundly educational, eliciting themental effort of the disciple to make the truthhis own. Finally it ministers to the authorityof the elders who have the greatest store of pro-verbs and the ability to expound them ap-positely. As the style of the ndyaringo arises outof the expectations of an audience wishing tobe entertained, so that of the nhango arises outof a relationship of moral responsibility be-tween madzisekuru, madzitete, madzimbuyaand their vazukuru.4 Ł!REFERENCES'A. G. Hodza V go hwamadzinza avaShona (The culture of the Shona clans), Salisbury, Longman Rhodesia,1974, Introduction, 'Mazwi okutura zvinyorwa zvebhuku', p.7 (my translation). The section devoted to Ndya-ringo is ch.9, pp.72-9.zHodza, 'Denhe renhetembo' (a draft Ms from which U go hwamadzinza avaShona was selected). The passage.cited is, of course, a translation. The verse which it includes is a professional boast.sPersonal communication.*Mabvumira enhetembo (The harmony of poetry), compiled by the Rhodesia Literature Bureau, Gwelo,Mambo Press in association with Rhodesia Literature Bureau, 1969. Hamutyinei contributed the first 26 items-to this anthology of which 15 are different kinds of ndyaringo.slbid., pp.17, 21.*Ugo hwamadzinza ava Shona, p.72.'T'Zinyoka mugumbeze', in Mabvumira enhetembo, p.25.eMabvumira enhetembo, p.38.48AnA *. k4-ŁA-* *M4v'Kusaziva kufa ugere', in Ugo hwamadzinza avaShona, p.74.ioMa.bvum.ira enhetembo, p-14."Ibid., p.39.'zThese poems are as yet unpublished, but will be included in a stencilled collection of ndyaringo to be publishedby the Department of African Languages, University of Rhodesia.'3This poem is printed in Ugo hwamadzinza avaShona, p.77. Another version by Simon Mashoko was recordedby Paul Berliner in 'The Soul of Mbira', Nonesuch Records, H-72054 (stereo).^^Kiabvumira enhetembo, pp. 36-7.tsibid., p.30.telbid., p. 13nlbid., p. 12.isMoto, 30 Sept.; 7, 14 and 28 Oct.; 4, 11, 18 and 25 Nov. 1972.ssThese four paragraphs are a free translation of the description of nhango given by Ilodza in the Introduction toUgo hwamadzinza avaShona and in that to the unpublished collection, 'Denhe renhetembo'.zoln Ugo hwamadzinza avaShona, pp. 35-45. However the majority of the nhango which Hodza has written orcompiled are as yet unpublished.21J. C. Kumbirai's published poetry is entirely didactic in content and style, and in form consists of differentadaptations of nhango and zvindori ('children's verses). He contributed 30 poems to Mabvurnira enhetembo, aswell as 7 to an earlier anthology, Mutinhimira wedetembo, ed. C. R. Musiwa, Salisbury, Longmans of Rho-desia [1964?].22Haasbroek's examples were contributed by his students at Gwelo Teachers' College and appeared in Moto (seeabove note 18)."The bias is probably intentional and culturally sanctioned. Analogous uncomplimentary views about menare conveyed by vadzitete in their warnings and instructions to their nieces. Cp. Hodza, 'Kuraya', in Ugohwamadzinza avaShona, p.45."Quoted in Tsumo-Shumo, Shona Proverbial Lore and Wisdom, introduced, translated and explained by M. A.Hamutyinei and A. B. Plangger, Gwelo, Mambo Pi ess, 1974, p.105.25An unpublished poem compiled by Hodza. For another example of this kind of nhango, also compiled byHodza, see G. Fortune, 'Shona traditional poetry', Zambezia, 1971, 2, i, 54-5.developments in 11. 2, 7 are by the use of zvizukuru, hyperbolic conceits.hwamadzinza avaShona, p.44.?-&\bid., p.45.z^Moto, 7 Oct. 1972, p.6.soMabvumira enhetembo, p.65.31 Jfilrf., P.41.zzlbid., p.64.p.48.T *49JL]* HŁ* Ł50