Utendi or Utenzi

[Tinker]

Explore the Craft of Writing
African Verse

The Utendi or Untenzi (Swahili meaning deed or act) is a Swahili stanzaic form that I first found at Vole Central that is a Zejel without the Mudanza. The form is usually a narrative and should tell a story. Swahili epics appear in this form.

The elements of the Utendi are:

African Poetic Genres and Forms

1. a narrative.
2. stanzaic, written in any number of quatrains.
3. syllabic, 8 syllable lines.
4. rhymed, rhyme aaab cccb dddb etc. The b rhyme is a linking rhyme between stanzas.
   
   example from Vita Vya Wadachi Part 12: Stanzas 1 & 2

   Utenzi wa Vita vya Wadachi Kutamalaki Mrima  BISMILLAHI Ghaghara                                                                                   alWahidi - lKahari mwinyi kuhui shajari na jinni na insiya Yu pweke ARRAHAMANI wala hayuko wa thani mruzuku duniani ila ni yeye mmoya The German Conquest of the Swahili Coast

   IN THE NAME OF GOD, the Forgiving, the One, the Dominant, the giver of life to plants, to spirits and to mankind. He is alone THE COMPASSIONATE, there is none other that provides for the world but Him alone.

   
   Devil's Bridge
   
   A devil's pact as it is told,
   he'd help build a bridge, for first soul
   to traverse the viaduct bold.
   So goes the ancient folk story.
   
   Strong bodies and masons of stone
   with fieldstone and hard granite honed,     
   cut and fit rock, worked to the bone.
   A labor from hell to glory
   
   Once done, the devised, dry-stone span
   arched over the  river as planned,
   now for the payback of one man.
   Who will be consiliatory?
   
   A goat is baited by thrown bread
   to step upon the bridge instead.
   the devil raged, he was misled.
   in the end, complicitory.
   
   Today the arched stone bridge still stands,
   a testament to grit and bands
   of like minded folks joining hands.
   Out witting the signatory.
                    ~~Judi Van Gorder Dec 18, 2018
    
   • Insult Poetry
   • Mawaddes
   • Muyaka
   • Praise Poem
   • Qe'ne
   • Shairi
   • Takhmis
   • Utendi