Death and the King's Horseman: "Death and the King's Horseman" by Wole Soyinka

by Wole Soyinka
Set in Nigeria, this play depicts the destruction and chaos that are unleashed when tribal ritual and the English legal system collide.
32 words 279 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. lamentation
    the passionate activity of expressing grief
    Having the quality of death and lamentation.
  2. aide-de-camp
    an officer who acts as an assistant to a more senior officer
    I asked my aide-de-camp to bring him here.
  3. vitality
    a healthy capacity for vigorous activity
    He is a man of enormous vitality, speaks, dances and sings with that infectious enjoyment of life which accompanies all his actions.
  4. ambivalence
    mixed feelings or emotions
    The Yoruba trickster god often associated with doubleness, ambivalence, and duplicity.
  5. raconteur
    a person skilled in telling anecdotes
    He performs like a born raconteur, infecting his retinue with his humour and energy.
  6. retinue
    the group following and attending to some important person
    He performs like a born raconteur, infecting his retinue with his humour and energy.
  7. divination
    the art or gift of prophecy by supernatural means
    Ifa is the Yoruba god of divination.
  8. carnivorous
    feeding on animals
    Catlike carnivorous mammal with coarse hair, rounded ears, and narrow muzzle.
  9. mortify
    cause to feel shame
    If we offend you now we have mortified the gods.
  10. banter
    light teasing repartee
    We shall all meet at the great market. He who goes early takes the best bargains. But we shall meet, and resume our banter.
  11. veneration
    a feeling of profound respect for someone or something
    I touched, I wooed, rarely was the answer No. The honour of my place, the veneration I received in the eye of man or woman prospered my suit and played havoc with my sleeping hours.
  12. prostrate
    render helpless or defenseless
    When caught with his bride’s own sister he protested—but I was only prostrating myself to her as becomes a grateful in-law.
  13. blight
    cause to suffer devastation
    Not one who blights the happiness of others for a moment’s pleasure.
  14. impiety
    unrighteousness by virtue of lacking respect for a god
    It is impiety even to place hindrances in their ways.
  15. impertinence
    the trait of being rude and inclined to take liberties
    How dare you intrude here anyway? What a cheek, what impertinence!
  16. euphoria
    a feeling of great elation
    [A woman bursts into song and dance of euphoria
  17. dirge
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    The dirge wells up louder and stronger.
  18. redolent
    serving to bring to mind
    It is redolent of the tawdry decadence of a far-flung but key imperial frontier.
  19. quaint
    very strange or unusual
    That comes out even in his rather quaint grammar.
  20. enmity
    a state of deep-seated ill-will
    And since he has been so helpful to me I don’t want him to incur the enmity of our people.
  21. competent
    properly or sufficiently qualified, capable, or efficient
    My husband and I believe you will make an excellent one, sympathetic and competent.
  22. impudent
    improperly forward or bold
    I’ll give you business in a moment you impudent nigger.
  23. bereavement
    state of sorrow over the death or departure of a loved one
    I’ve lived with my bereavement so long now that I cannot think of him alive.
  24. ostentatious
    intended to attract notice and impress others
    Then he coughs ostentatiously and approaches.
  25. desecration
    blasphemous behavior
    I began to follow the moon to the abode of the gods . . . servant of the white king, that was when you entered my chosen place of departure on feet of desecration.
  26. contempt
    lack of respect accompanied by a feeling of intense dislike
    The contempt of my own son rescued something of my shame at your hands.
  27. emissary
    someone sent to represent another's interests
    You were the final gift of the living to their emissary to the land of the ancestors, and perhaps your warmth and youth brought new insights of this world to me and turned my feet leaden on this side of the abyss.
  28. quarry
    animal hunted or caught for food
    We said you were the hunter who brought the quarry down; to you belonged the vital portions of the game.
  29. homage
    respectful deference
    fulfil his oath and we will retire home and pay homage to our King.
  30. dearth
    an insufficient quantity or number
    If there is a dearth of bats, the pigeon must serve us for the offering.
  31. fumble
    handle clumsily
    He rushes within, fumbles with the handcuffs and unlocks them, raises the body to a sitting position while he tries to give resuscitation.
  32. usurp
    seize and take control without authority
    No child, it is what you brought to be, you who play with strangers’ lives, who even usurp the vestments of our dead, yet believe that the stain of death will not cling to you.
Created on Tue Jul 09 15:48:15 EDT 2013 (updated Wed Aug 01 16:41:36 EDT 2018)

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