An Analysis of "Chimes of Slience"
             Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, and the author of the prose poem "Chimes of Silence". In order to describe his experience in solitary confinement Soyinka uses descriptive language involving his vision to better enlighten the reader to his experience. The most dramatic passages in "Chimes of Silence" describe his limited vision, which expresses to the reader how difficult and horrible of an experience it must have been. Soyinka's efforts to see any sign of life through peepholes in order to have some way of connecting with the outside world, shows just how lonely he really is.
             The poem opens with Soyinka struggling to see through a peephole in the door of his cell. His interest in the boring details outside of his cell shows just how lonely he is, and how much he longs to have any kind of contact with reality. "A little square hole cut in the door, enough for a goaler's fist to pass...enough for me to...steal a quick look at the rare flash of a hand, a face, a gesture...(140)." Soyinka is desperate to see anything that he can relate to human life. Anything that assures him that even though he has no contact with humans that life is still going on. Anything that reminds him that there's the possibility that he could one day enter back into the life that he has been exiled from. Soyinka continues describing things he strains to see thorough the peephole including, "...more often a blur of khaki, the square planted rear of the guard on the other side (140)." Not only does Soyinka strain to see any part of the human body itself, but also anything else that reminds him of human beings. Something we take for granted everyday Soyinka finds as a connection to the outside world. It's clear through his description of vision seeing through the peephole that Soyinka is desperate for human interaction and is clearly very l
             ...