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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Musical patterns and verbal structures: aspects of prosody in an African oral poetry |
Author: | Anyidoho, Kofi |
Year: | 1986 |
Periodical: | Black Orpheus: A Journal of African and Afro-American Literature |
Volume: | 6 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 27-44 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Ghana |
Subjects: | Anlo oral poetry |
Abstract: | This paper is concerned with prosody and polyrhythms as key elements of poetic structure, and it proceeds on the assumption that the structural complexities of these elements of African oral poetry may be better determined in relation to the musical dimension of the total art form experienced in performance. The aim of the prosodic time line is to create stability, so as to generate the variable polyrhythms that make for musical and poetic essence. The paper examines the complexities and subtleties of prosody in oral poetry, especially as seen in the polyrhythmic texture of the Ewe song, specifically of the Anlo Ewe of southeastern Ghana. This is done by an analysis of some Ewe oral poems in performance. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |