International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue IV, April 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186

Aesthetics of Modern African Poetry: A Study of Niyi Osundare and Oswald Mtshali.

Oparebea Nelson¹, Alhassan Yakubu^2
1Department of Languages, Presbyterian Women’s College of Education,
Aburi Akuapem
²Department of languages, E.P University College of Education, Bimbilla
P.O. box 16, Bimbilla, Ghana, West Africa

Abstract: This paper discusses the aesthetics of modern African poetry. It focuses every discussion on African poetry and as such, the nature and features of African poetry itself are examined, especially in the light of African poetry being “Modern”. Two modern African poets from different parts of the African continent has been examined – Niyi Osundare(Nigeria, West Africa) and Oswald Mtshali(South Africa).These poets have been carefully selected for their common ideologies of writing for the oppressed and the less privileged. Again, four selected poems – two each from the named poets – which have common messages of highlighting the fear of the oppressed and giving hope to the under privileged, have been selected for study. Using the Aesthetic Theory of Linguistic Parallelism, the study does a qualitative analysis of these four poems to establish refrain as an aesthetic device in modern African poetry. The study therefore concludes that, refrain or repetition, is an effective tool used by modern African poets to put across their message and to achieve aesthetic values in their works.

Key Words: Aesthetics, African Poetry, African Art, Modern, Parallelism

I. INTRODUCTION:

Generally speaking, African literature, both pre and post independence, is, in one way or the other, a reaction to European colonization of Africa. A deeper understanding of (West) African poetry therefore cannot be achieved without taking this colonization into consideration (Boachie: 200:1). African literature, however, did not start with the coming of European to Africa, because a people’s literature is an old as the people themselves. Africans had an indigenous literature before the European came to colonize the continent, and the tradition continues to thrive to this moment. The indigenous literature was (and still is) oral, because of non-literate nature of the traditional culture and society. African oral literature manifests in the following forms: folktales, folksongs, specific type of songs and chants, myths legends, epics, proverbs, riddles and tongue-twisters.
In African Literature, there is no clear-cut division of genres of narratives, poetry, and drama as in modern western literature. The African perspective constitutes the blend of all, in the sense that a good narrative involves poetic songs and chants, with the minstrel wearing a mask and a special costume and performing to the accompaniment of music supplied by drums or another musical instrument.