Oral & Written Poetry in African Literature Today: A Review, Issue 16Eldred D. Jones, Eustace Palmer, Marjorie Jones "Poetry is very much a growing concern in Africa. The contemporary poet is continuing a long tradition of poetry which in many places pre-dated the advent of writing. The enthusiasm for traditional poetry in Kenya and other parts of Africa has institutionalized the oral form in the written form. The writing poet may well pine for the central position which the griot once occupied in society. But poetry has been and still is a fighting weapon. The poets too often speak from prison -- Brutus, Soyinka, Jacinto. From their roots in Africa to the Antilles, they have carried their songs into battle and too often paid the price. Aimé Césaire's poetry, as Abiola Irele demonstrates, is rooted through myth and metaphor in the soils of Africa and griots and scribes share a common heritage deep in African myth and the rhythms of nature." -- Publisher's description |
Contents
EDITORIAL | 1 |
Critical Perception of African Poetry | 26 |
In Praise of Kambili Sananfila | 39 |
Copyright | |
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Abiku Achebe African Literature Today age-grade age-group Aimé Césaire allusion Ancestors association audience beauty bird Brew Brew's poetry celebration Césaire Césaire's poetry chant child Chinua Achebe Christopher Okigbo consciousness context critical Crypt death Dennis Osadebay dream Dugo Dugo's earth Egudu emotional epic example experience expression feeling griot Heinemann hero human Ibadan Idanre Igbo Igbo mythology imagery images Kaabu Kambili Kanji kill Kumba Kunene lament language lexical London Look lusis lyrical Mandinka meaning metaphor mode mother myth mythology narrative nature négritude Nigeria Niyi Osundare Nnamdi Azikiwe Nwoga ogbanje oral poetry oral tradition Osadebay palm Paris performance poem poet poet's poetic political praise praise-name reader reference rhythms Senghor sense sentence Seydou Camara Shuttle significance situation social society song South African Soyinka's Soyinka's poetry stanza statement structure style symbols T.S. Eliot theme thought tion traditional African University verb verse vision Wole Soyinka words writing Yoruba young Zimbabwean