Awonoor's 'The Anvil and the Hammer' is best described as a/an___________

Analyze the question: You're asked to classify the poem form/type of Kofi Awoonor's "The Anvil and the Hammer."

Explain the concept: Poetry forms differ in structure:

• Free verse: no fixed rhyme scheme or metre; lines follow natural speech rhythm.
• Blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter (Shakespeare, Milton).
• Ode: a long, formal, elevated lyric addressing a person, object, or idea in praise.
• Apologue: a short moral fable or story that teaches a lesson, often with animals or objects speaking.

Working through it: "The Anvil and the Hammer" is built around a single extended metaphor: the anvil (the one who suffers, is struck) and the hammer (the one who strikes). The poem is about the poet's feeling of being crushed or shaped by hardship and about the cycle of suffering and endurance. It does not follow a regular metre or rhyme scheme, and it does not use iambic pentameter.

• Blank verse is ruled out because there is no steady iambic pentameter.
• It is not an ode, because it is not a formal, praise-style address.
• Apologue: the anvil and hammer image carries a lesson, but the poem is not a narrative fable with a story and moral.
• The poem uses irregular line lengths, no rhyme scheme, and speech-like rhythm, which matches free verse.

Answer: A. free verse

Exam tip: When asked about the form of a modern African poem (Awoonor, Soyinka, Okigbo, Clark), the safe default is free verse unless the question clearly signals rhyme, a fixed metre, or a praise address. Remember: blank = no rhyme but strict metre; free = no rhyme and no strict metre.