Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol

Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol are epic literary works from Africa. The former is a woman’s lamentation over the cultural death of her Western-educated husband, Ocol. The latter is the husband’s rebuttal to his wife’s rejection of Western civilization. Together the two poems powerfully highlight the cultural conflict between Africa and the West courtesy of the European invasion of Africa. The missionaries were merchants of civilization. They brought formal education and a new religion to Africa. Lawino weeps for the village world that is now gone; swept away by the fierce fires of progress and civilization. Lawino’s words are a clever expression of how oppressive it is to impose an exotic culture on another person. Song of Ocol, a poem written from Ocol’s perspective, expresses his disdain at the traditional ways of his people. He abhors everything that Lawino perceives as beautiful and rich from their culture. The poems are valves through which the author, Okot P’Bitek, vents his concerns that African nations are built on African and not European foundations. Both poems are gripping and vividly capture the conflict between two opposing approaches to the cultural future of Africa.