Meditations on Soji Simpson’s love-torn life

By Udo Ibuot

MEDITATIONS: The Poems of Soji Simpson  is a compilation of the poems of John St. Michael Olusoji Simpson, compiled and annotated by Femi Simpson and published by Diamond Publications Limited, Lagos, in 2017. John St. Michael Olusoji Simpson who was born April 8, 1939 mysteriously disappeared in Lagos on August 8, 1974  at  age 35. Soji reportedly wrote 81 poems in all. Seven of these when he was at the Baptist Academy (1955-59) for his secondary education. He wrote 17 more poems at the Kings College (1960-61) when he went for his Higher School Certificate. The poet was said to have written the other 56 poems between 1962 and 1964, after which he devoted his later years to the writing of plays which were performed by Neighbourhood Players, a drama group he formed.

Soji’s plays are listed as Too Much Too Soon, The Vogue, If I Forget Thee, His Master’s Voice, and The Mirage.

The compilation of Soji’s poems was carried out by his younger brother, Femi Simpson, who also wrote the annotations to them. Eight of the 81 poems are, however, not accounted for as 73 are published in this compilation, with their thematic contexts situated in this annotations. According to Femi, the themes were universal in most cases, though they all had African settings. However, in terms of technique, versification, phonetic structure and metre, the poet had pandered towards the classical format. This is apparently because he wrote them under the influence of such classical poets as Keats, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Petrarch, Milton and other other great poets.

Eight of these poems are in the category of sonnets. As in classical or Italian and British traditions, the rhyme scheme in the octave or first eight lines of the sonnets apply ABBA, ABBA format, while the sestest or last six lines apply the CDE, CDE rhyme scheme. About 26 of the published poems are ballads or love poems. The rhyme schemes are as diverse as the poems. In most of the poems, the ABAB schemes were observed, while others featured ABC, ABC.

The compilation opens with an acrostic on Baptist Academy, the poet’s alma mater. An acrostic is defined as a poem in which the first letters of the lines are read downwards to make a word. This poem delivered ‘Baptist’ in seven lines downwards and ‘Academy’ downwards in another seven words. The acrostic on Baptist Academy was said to have been written in 1958 when the poet was a form IV student of the institution. The second poem in this section is entitled Floreat Collegium, and was written to pay accolades to Kings’ College where the poet spent two years as a student.

The third unit of the work is entitled The Cinquain and Limerick. There is only one poem in this section and it is entitled Handle These Lines With Care. Considered as the shortest of Simpson’s poems, it presents the poet’s concerns and apprehensions about readers’ penchant for derision of poetic works in general. The fourth section offers two poems on colonialism and is entitled Ogbuefi and Nigerianisation. Ogbuefi apparently was a tribute to Nigeria’s governor general, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Internal evidence indicates that it was actually forwarded to the Editor of the West African Pilot newspaper for publication in 1963.

Desolation and Melancholy is the theme of the fifth section. Two poems entitled It’s better To Die In The Prime Of Life, and Outcast are presented in this section. Given the outcome of the poet’s life, the poem, It’s better to die in the prime of life, is considered poignant as it prophetically seems to have captured his destination.

There is only one long poem in the elegy tradition and this is entitled Elegy on Evelyn Abiodun Black-Duke. The poems ends on the note of the Christian hope of resurrection, thus:

…’we will meet again at Jesus’ feet

On the resurrection day

Oh till then, my Evelyn, rest in peace’.

Lyrical poems dominate the compilation, about 33 in number. They range from The key of success, Down along the Marina, Gifts, Anxiety, Incantation, Psalm 23, Under the iroko tree, to Star of hope. Most of these apply the alternate rhyme schemes. Section eight features three odes. These are Ode to diligence, Ode to our staple food, and Ode to victory. The rhyme scheme in the first two follows the pattern of ABC,ABC and ABBA. The third has no identified pattern. The work ends with the Philomena poems, a series of lyrical ballads with rhyme schemes of ABAB.

At the end of the work, the compiler leads readers through the late poet’s world. He reproduces a list of Soji Simpson’s friends in Club Tinnars as well as excerpts of reminisces of his family members and friends.

He starts with excerpts of an interview with Prof. Ekundayo Simpson, in which the interviewee recounted the setting that produced Soji Simpson. This is followed by a piece entitled Soji’s last act and Lagos literary scene, written by Bayo Awala which painted the scenario in which Soji disappeared from the acting environment at the National Museum, venue of the poet’s last rehearsal.

Femi Robinson in a piece entitled Soji Simpson and I  also relived his relationship with the poet before he passed on. The section ends with a piece by Bashorun J. K. Randle on Soji Simpson, a recollection that spanned their years at the Kings’ College and through the Tinnars Club. The last section of the work features pictorial representations of the poet, as well as press coverage of the mysterious disappearance of the poet and playwright.

Meditations: The Poems of Soji Simpson is a must read for students of literature in secondary schools and literary studies in the universities. The work is particularly endearing as the compiler has gone to great lengths to explain poetic terms such as the meaning of sonnets, elegies, odes, lyrical poems and metrical structures. Students with interest in poetry are bound to find the work not only interesting but beneficial as they pursue their careers.

 

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