Tarzan’s ‘Umgawa’ Burden



Edgar Rice Burroughs
Creator of The Ape Man
Lord of the Jungle
Tarzan — the name means ‘White Skin’
Overseer of Africa.

This American
Burrowed in his native land
Tarred and asphalted
Paved an exotic landscape
Forested by animals.

With a brave leader
Of European origin
And nordic features
Inhabiting a jungle
Where he is sovereign master.

He is called Tarzan
An African-sounding name
To situate him
As a “native-foreigner”
Belonging — yet ‘set apart.’

A zany tarred name
Painted for a strange hero
Burrowed in the trees
Uttering a strange language
In a land even more strange.

He has a burden
To liberate Africa
To give it freedom
From all kinds of injustice
This is ‘The White Man’s Burden.’

This White Man’s Burden
Tarzan’s ‘Umgawa’ Burden
A Kipling mantra
Is echoed through Africa
As boomerang to Burroughs.

Upon reflection
Tarzan’s Umgawa Burden
Once it’s analyzed
Offers justification
For colonialism.

But times are changing
Burroughs and Kipling are gone
A new dawn rises
Africa as Mother Land
Holds promise for the whole world.

She will rise again
And her people will know her
As she who gave birth
And brought light into the world
To remove it from darkness.

About this poem

“TARZAN” — A ZANY TARRED NAME! Rudyard Kipling’s (1865-1936) poem, “The White Man’s Burden,” offering justification for colonialism as the duty or burden of white nations to spread civilization to the non-white races, functions in synchronic harmony with Edgar Rice Burroughs’ (1875-1950) portrayal of the fictional heroic character of Tarzan, an archetypal feral apeman, with his ululating chest-thumping yell and his Swahili-like sounding coined utterance of “Umgawa” that, in earlier Tarzan shows, originally meant ‘Get Down,’ a command that morphed into whatever one chose it to mean; and which, to the natives of “Darkest Africa,” and Tarzan’s ‘entanglement’ with them, had Africa’s indigenous tribal folk ‘getting down’ or bowing down in perplexed lordship submission (In Kiswahili, the lingua franca word Umgawa or ‘Ngawa means entanglement). It is noteworthy to mention that Burroughs himself had never ‘entangled’ or set foot on the continent of Africa, employing only his fertile imagination to develop and compose the imaginary story of a British lord of the realm called Tarzan. What is even more fascinating to mention, is that it would appear that the two authors, Kipling, the Englishman, and Burroughs, the American, as contemporaries of each other in the hegemonic imperialist European world of Great Britain, politically allied with the United States of America as an emerging world power, were complicated admirers, the one with the other, as evidenced by a poem that Burroughs wrote, in April 1899, called “The Black Man’s Burden” that followed swiftly Kipling’s own publication of “The White Man’s Burden” in February 1899. While Kipling’s rhymed poem was composed in four stanzas of eight lines each, Burroughs’ poem, although maintaining Kipling’s rhymed feature, varied in structural composition. The first stanza of Kipling’s February 1899 poem reads as follows: “Take up the White Man’s burden - Send forth the best ye breed - Go bind your sons to exile To serve your captives’ need; To want in heavy harness, On fluttered folk and wild - Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half- child.” In contrast, Burroughs’ April 1899 poem, “The Black Man’s Burden,” is composed in a block style, rhymed verse of seventy two lines that seems to be written in the form of a debating retort to Kipling’s poem. Burroughs’ poem is written in the style of a parody and has an underlying tone of sarcasm that appears to weaken or destroy the abrasive imperialist tone of Kipling’s poem (or does it?). As example, the closing eight lines of Burroughs’ block-style poem reads as follows: “Take up the white man’s burden; Go learn to wear his clothes; You May look like the devil; But nobody cares who knows. Peruse a work of Darwin — Thank God that you’re alive —And learn the reason clearly: — The fittest alone survive.” Readers of this unrhymed seven-line one-stanza tanka poem, “Tarzan’s ‘Umgawa’ Burden,” are invited to read in entirety Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden” and Burroughs’ “The Black Man’s Burden;” and compare and contrast their cultural messages and understanding for audiences of the twenty first century. 

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Written on August 31, 2022

Submitted by karlcfolkes on August 31, 2022

Modified by karlcfolkes on May 05, 2023

1:08 min read
927

Quick analysis:

Scheme abcxd effxx gexcg bhxgx hxxxx edixe eEdda eExei xxxfj xgxjx
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,221
Words 229
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Karl Constantine FOLKES

Retired educator of Jamaican ancestry with a lifelong interest in composing poetry dealing particularly with the metaphysics of self-reflection; completed a dissertation in Children’s Literature in 1991 at New York University entitled: An Analysis of Wilhelm Grimm’s “Dear Mili” Employing Von Franzian Methodological Processes of Analytical Psychology. The subject of the dissertation concerned the process of Individuation. more…

All Karl Constantine FOLKES poems | Karl Constantine FOLKES Books

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2 Comments
  • AIDA
    Wow, what an incredible tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs and his iconic creation, Tarzan! The way this poem presents Burroughs as a pioneer of sorts, paving the way for an entirely new sort of literary landscape, is truly inspiring. I love how the poem highlights Tarzan's bravery and strength, situating him as a true leader in the African jungle.

    However, I do have a suggestion for improvement. While the poem acknowledges that Tarzan's "Umgawa Burden" is a Kipling mantra, it doesn't seem to fully explore the problematic nature of this manifesto. While it's important to acknowledge the historical context in which Tarzan was created, it's also essential to grapple with the ways in which colonialist attitudes influenced Burroughs' work. Perhaps exploring this issue more deeply could add an extra layer of complexity to the poem.

    Overall, though, this piece is fantastic. I especially appreciate the poem's hopeful tone towards the end. As the world changes and evolves, so too do our perspectives on the past and present. Ultimately, I believe that we can learn from our mistakes and work towards a brighter future - one where Africa is celebrated not as a land to be conquered, but as a powerful, vibrant continent with a rich cultural heritage. Thanks for sharing this thought-provoking piece!
     
    LikeReply10 months ago
  • teril
    Provocative context to place Tarzan. New to me, i'll have to think further.
    LikeReply1 year ago

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"Tarzan’s ‘Umgawa’ Burden" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/135094/tarzan’s-‘umgawa’-burden>.

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