SOURCE: "Belief and Man's Faith," in his Whispers from a Continent: The Literature of Contemporary Black Africa, 1969. Reprint by Heinemann Educational Books Ltd., 1971, pp. 315-84.

Cartey was a West Indian critic and educator. In the following excerpt, he examines Christian imagery in Okigbo's poems.

The reality of Christopher Okigbo's Heavensgate is not within the realm of nature, but moves through and modifies many Christian ordinances, soaring into the realm of belief and of spirit. The prodigal poet stands a naked supplicant, seeking to elucidate the mystery of the genesis, of his initiation, of his purification. Time is not only a linear chronological progression from innocence to spiritual awareness, but also a structurally lyrical moment in which the poem arcs from the dark waters of the beginning across the waters of noon to the fountain of lustration, to its final descent as the moon goes under the sea, bringing...