Tendi

 Strongly influenced by Arabic models, poetry in Swahili, an African language written in Arabic script, dates back to the 18th century . Among the Swahili people, poetry is the principle mode for recording historical events, with woman enjoying a leading position as keepers of oral tradition and gifted reciters. A principle form is the utendi (tendi in the plural), a narrative poem, sometimes intended to teach, that recounts history, lives, and legends. Tendi consist of four phrase units; the first three units rhyme, while the fourth introduces a different rhyme echoed in the final syllable of each stanza (aaab). With its words typically ending on a vowel sound, the Swahili language is a rich source of rhyme, lending itself to intensely musical patterns. One of the best known tendi is the Utendi of Mwana Kupona, a 19th-century woman, whose poem gives advice to her daughter:

Take this amulet that I give you
fasten it carefully upon a cord
regard it as a precious thing
that you may cherish it with care.

Let me string for you a necklace
of pearls and red coral let me
adorn you as a beautiful woman
when it shines upon your neck.

(Trans. Ali Ahmed Jahadmy, 1975)