One of the worst effects of colonialism and colonial evangelization in West Africa has been the degradation of the indigenous West African culture in general and the indigenous religious worship in particular. The efforts of the early Christian missionaries were directed at estranging the natives from their indigenous religion and "planting" in them the imported Christian religion. Christopher Okigbo sees himself as a prodigal who has left this home religion for the foreign one. And, at a moment of mature realization, he returns to his original religion to revive and preserve the indigenous system of worship. This accounts for the satirical attitude to Christianity in his poetry.

Thus in Okigbo's poetry the themes of religious suppression, anti-Christianity, religious revival, and literary struggle are predominant. Besides these themes, however, he deals with love and with political issues, but only on a minor scale. (p. 3)

Early in Heavensgate ("Passage I"), Okigbo strikes a sad note. It is a note of mourning a dead mother. Like a "sunbird" the protagonist of the poem sings a song of woe…. To the poet the mother represents the indigenous culture. She is the same mother Idoto addressed in the poem "Idoto," who is a river goddess. And the poet's indigenous religion centers on the worship of this goddess. This goddess—mother—is, as it were, dead (i.e., suppressed by the Christian religion), and the poet is mourning her.

The loss of the indigenous religion is a serious one, for it implies the loss of "innocence." Thus in the second part of "Passage" the poet responded to the song of the sunbird during the period of his innocence and that was before "white buck and helmet"—representing Christian missionaries—"pulled us thro innocence."

Christianity has waged a terrible war against the indigenous gods. (p. 4)

Okigbo's poetry reflects this kind of situation. "Limits VII" shows Flannagan, a Catholic missionary, preaching "the Pope's message"…. The message is destruction; and there is the implication that it will be effective, for when fire is set to grass, the grass will naturally be burned clear.

In "Limits X" … the enemies of the indigenous gods are shown in action. These are the Christian missionaries or their agents. They first kill the "sunbird" which is sacred to the gods and then, entering the forest, find the twin gods living there. The malicious "scanning" of the forest points to savagery that will mark the vandalism of the invading "beasts"…. Like the soldiers who cast lots on the garment of Christ after crucifying Him, the despoilers of Okigbo's twin gods divide among them the gods' "ornaments," "beads," "carapace," and "shell." The evocation of the Christian image (death of Christ) is a variation of the technique of juxtaposing Christian and indigenous images…. Besides, in this very incident of the killing of the twin gods the Christian and the pagan meet. The fertility ritual in which a god is killed or hanged—an old pagan practice—is reflected by Okigbo, though his context shows an antagonistic rather than a religious purpose. (pp. 4-5)

Christopher Okigbo reacts contemptuously and critically to the Christianity that has suppressed his native religion and its gods. For Christianity has done him two wrongs. First, it has estranged him from his indigenous system of worship for a long period of his life; and, secondly, it has nothing reasonable to offer him as a substitute. Because of his sad experiences in the Catholic religion, he satirizes the Catholic Church in his poems. (p. 6)

It should be noted that [Okigbo] is attacking the management of religion and politics …, not religion per se as an idea. After all, he is constantly defending his own indigenous religion against foreign corruption and desecration. He accepts that the "Mystery" (of religion) would be a witness to "the red-hot blade on the right breast / the scar of the crucifix" if only there were not the "errors of the rendering." In other words, to him the rulers of the church have misinterpreted the religion of Christ. (p. 8)

Since Christopher Okigbo could not be accommodated any longer in the Catholic religion, where he felt exiled, he decided to go back to the indigenous religion to revive it for himself and retain it. Thus in "Idoto" (Heavensgate) the poet stands before "mother Idoto" as "a prodigal" desiring to return to her who is his parent and deity, and praying to her to "give ear and hearken" to his "cry."… He is a prodigal, and outcast, an exile (the word "prodigal" is used three times in Heavensgate). And, having had an unsatisfactory experience with the imported Catholic religion, he, like the prodigal son of the Bible, comes back home now to his parent, begging for readmission into the family fold.

From now on, Okigbo's poems begin to teem with the apparatus of indigenous religious worship. (p. 9)

In "Lustra (iii)" (Heavensgate …), we get a mixture of Catholic and indigenous religious symbols. But while the Christian references are made satirically, the indigenous worship is carried out with genuine and serious intentions…. (p. 10)

There is a revolution of the spirit in Okigbo, but he is not trying to revolutionize the Catholic church with any view to making it better. This is not his aim; it is not even necessary for him. He has simply exposed this church with all the harm it has done to the indigenous values, which makes it unacceptable to him. The only choice left to him is "homecoming."

That homecoming is uppermost in his mind can … be illustrated by reference to "Distances." In this poem in which the refrain—"I am the sole witness to my homecoming"—runs from the beginning to the end, the idea of homecoming assumes a tone of uncertainty, for it is to a dream that the poet is returning…. Okigbo's period of exile in the Christian religion can as well be described as a period of "dark labyrinth"; and he is returning to a dream which will quickly become a reality. (p. 11)

Christopher Okigbo has struggled as much to establish his fame as a poet as to revive and preserve his indigenous religion. Like every artist he must have had to be cautious and wary, and must have had his difficult time with critics. His poetry is generally difficult and sometimes obscure…. Okigbo was sensitive about comments or questions about his poetry…. Thus, in some of his poems he has dealt with the problem of an artist struggling for survival.

Limits II is about this theme. It is packed full with images of the desire for growth, struggling for light, and the desire for expression. We have a whole picture of a tender child in the midst of giants, or of an equatorial forest where the gigantic trees form a canopy with their leaves on top, preventing a low undergrowth from getting light and rain for effective growth. (pp. 11-12)

The struggle to succeed as a poet in the face of other poets and critics and to attract publishers is quite a common literary experience. But in its usual extraordinary manner Okigbo's imagination has re-created the theme in such a way that one wonders if he meant to say anything beyond this. (p. 12)

The entire political scene in Nigeria comes under the surveying rays of Okigbo's poetic imagination. In the "Elegy for Slitdrum" and "Elegy for Alta" … the political corruption leading to the crisis of the later years is clearly shown. In the latter, politicians are represented as "robbers," parading their wealth and power. In the former we hear that "parliament is now on sale" and that "the voters are lying in wait." "The cabinet has gone to hell" and "ministers are now in gaol." The elephant symbol is very significant in the poem. It stands for all the old politicians who have fallen victims of the crises in the country. But the poet expresses some fear: the "thunder that has struck the elephant/the same thunder can make a bruise."

This is the warning that is central to the poem "Hurrah for Thunder."… Here the "elephant," who is a king of the jungle, is destroyed by the thunder that has been invoked by the "hunters." These hunters are warned by the poet to the effect that they themselves may also be victims of the same thunder…. It is in this prophetic function that the greatness of Okigbo as a poet of crises lies. And, besides, the clear and impeccable images in which Okigbo has couched his ideas not only confirm him as the purist image-maker, but also portray him as much more developed in tone and seriousness, precise in his visions, and clear in his expression. (pp. 16-17)

"Path of Thunder," particularly "Come Thunder," has shown that Okigbo could handle a very complicated (political) issue without being unnecessarily obscure; and this clarity, coupled with effective imagery and appropriate emotional appeal, has made the poem one of the most successful of Okigbo's poems.

Christopher Okigbo is so famous for his craftsmanship that it is worthwhile to discuss his style separately. In fact, in his poetry as a whole, the art seems to matter more than the thought that is communicated. This does not mean that his style is always successful: it simply means that his preoccupation in poetic activity is craftsmanship. The dominant stylistic elements in his poetry are incantation, sound, imagery, and borrowing from other languages and other authors. (pp. 17-18)

The essence of this method lies in its emotional intensity, its lyricism and economy achieved by the use of effective short phrases instead of complete sentences. It is the method which Okigbo has inherited from the Igbo indigenous culture and literature. It is so pervading in his poetry that it is found in poems that have nothing to do with worship or invocation. In fact the main point of this book is to prove that the modern West African poets have creditably made use of the indigenous African poetic traditions as well as the British and other foreign traditions, and examples are rife to demonstrate the veracity of this thesis. Indeed, Okigbo has drawn some of his most significant modes of expression and stylistic elements from the traditional African linguistic and other experiences. (p. 18)

Okigbo is also noted for his music and sound effects. No African poet rivals him in this respect. Sound dominates his poetry so much so that in some of his poems it completely overshadows the meaning. (p. 19)

Not less important than sound or music in Okigbo's craftsmanship is image-making. (p. 20)

Very often Okigbo is so taken up with image-making that he loses sight of the fact that the images in a single poem do not make meaning or unity of thought. One does not see why such images should be grouped together to form the poem…. It is Okigbo's weakness, which arises from his greatness, that with his beautiful images, he only sets his readers guessing at what he means.

Finally, Okigbo has the habit of borrowing tags-lines from other languages and other authors…. This element in Okigbo's poetry is the least effective and least important. It is directly the influence of such foreign poets as Pound and Eliot on him.

Christopher Okigbo's poetry is that of agonized and excruciating experiences. His historical and social insight has created a labyrinth of life, from which the process of extrication is not easy. In his poetry the traditional and the foreign elements meet with equal force; and, in the exploration of his none-too-beautiful world, the poet "uses the type of broken melody perfected by T. S. Eliot to evoke the reproachful sadness of abandoned shrines and rotting images, symbols which quite naturally carry the whole weight of an African tradition which has always concentrated the expression of its values upon them." Okigbo's poetry is essentially a hodgepodge of many cryptic ingredients and this has naturally led to its tense obscurity—a quality by no means to its credit. (pp. 21-2)

Romanus N. Egudu, "Cultural Oppression: The Poetry of Christopher Okigbo," in his Four Modern West African Poets (copyright by Romanus Egudu 1977), NOK Publishers International Ltd., 1977, pp. 1-22.