Umumaro w’Ibisigo by’Ubuse: Indyoheshabirayi ya Myr Alexis Kagame

Abstract

Alexis Kagame is a strong pillar of Rwandan literary writers and poets in Rwanda. He wrote many literary works and varied in genres although he seemed to focus on poetry and philosophy. His poems include Inganji Karinga, Isoko y’amajyambere, Umulilimbyi wa Nyilibiremwa. He also compiled others’ works, for example Iyo wiriwe nta rungu and Icara nkumare irungu. Alexis Kagame is the one who developed tangibly a satirical poetry in Rwandan literature. Long time ago, Rwandans had their style of teaching, punishing and advising their descendants through different literary works especially oral literature. They used different techniques such as gestures, body language and language using proverbs, poems and songs, tongue tuisters, and others but orally. The general objective of this paper is to find out the contribution of poems of Alexis Kagame to Rwandan culture in his poem Indyoheshabirayi. As far as the methodology is concerned, the study used literary criticism techniques to help the researcher in literary analysis and find out the contribution of Indyoheshabirayi to the Rwandan culture. The findings of the study revealed that poems contribute to the improvement of Rwandan culture. The way the pig was considered and how it was called as allegorical meaning with wrong and bad names is the evidence of its contribution to Rwandan culture and how the poet Alexis Kagame has contributed to Rwandan culture. The results of this research showed that the chiefs were cool and full of happiness rather than being angry at the use of satire found in Indyoheshabirayi.