Poetry
Diwani ya Mnyampala
Not translated into English
Mathias Mnyampala · 1963
Synopsis
Diwani ya Mnyampala (Mnyampala's Collection): the diwani is the personal collection in which a Swahili poet gathers his best verse. This one brings together poems of classical form, mostly in four-line stanzas, preceded by a preface classifying poetry into five kinds, ordinary, joyful, sad, serious and educational. It contains Christian poems, an appeal to poets to adopt the mtiririko style and exchanges in verse with other poets. Critics read in it a vision of the world at once religious and philosophical.
Context
The collection appeared in 1963 from the East African Literature Bureau, in the Johari za Kiswahili series, then was reprinted several times in Kenya. The author follows in it the classical forms of Swahili verse, metre and rhyme, while dealing with modern themes, and is regarded as the first Christian to have composed poetry in Swahili. Researchers have put forward the hypothesis that his wife, the poet Mary Mangwela Mnyampala, known as Wastara, wrote at least five of its poems.
Who it is for
For approaching the classical Swahili poetry of Tanzania at independence; no translation exists.
Prizes and reception
Mathieu Roy counts it among the author's best-known works, and the collection is still studied in East African reviews.
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