This immersive collection of Soyinka's early poetry is powerful and engrossing, densely packed with an appreciation for Nigerian culture and history, the natural world, and the difficulties inherent in a long-established culture suddenly being pulled all at once into the twentieth century and all that came with it. Soyinka's language is, as ever, tense and demanding, but full of such images and moments as make any collection shine.

This isn't an easy collection, but I was glad to immerse myself in it, and plan to revisit it at length. I'd recommend it for those interested in Soyinka's early work or African poetry. Soyinka was the first African writer to ever be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and it's clear why. ( )