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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Orality and the Craft of Modern Nigerian Poetry: Osundare's 'Waiting Laughters' and Udechukwu's 'What the Madman Said'
Author:Ezenwa-OhaetoISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:African Languages and Cultures
Volume:7
Issue:2
Pages:101-119
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:oral traditions
literature
Literature, Mass Media and the Press
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
About persons:Obiora Udechukwu (1946-)ISNI
Niyi Osundare (1947-)ISNI
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1771807
Abstract:This essay considers the ways in which contemporary Nigerian poets have effectively utilized the resources of their oral traditions to produce modern artistic works. In particular, the author analyses two collections of poems, 'What the madman said' (1990) by Obiora Udechukwu, and 'Waiting laughters' (1990) by Niyi Osundare. He shows that Udechukwu and Osundare clearly exploit and appropriate their respective Igbo and Yoruba oral traditions. In their choice of personae, and their use of proverbial lore, snippets of folktales, aphorisms, refrains, cumulative repetitions, culturally loaded phrases, songs, and exclamatory words associated with verbal rhetoric, they have contributed to the distinct tradition of modern poetry in Nigeria. They highlight the possibilities of the synthesis of modern elements of poetry and African oral traditions. Bibliogr.
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