The Poetic Aesthetics of African Poetry

There has not been any thorough stylistic study of Ademola Dasylväs Songs of Odamolugbe and Raji-Oyelade¿s A Harvest of Laughters. Neither has there been a comparative analysis of the two texts. The present study aims to fill the gap in knowledge by examining the elements of African oral poetic tradition that could be found in the two volumes of poetry. It discusses the thematic and stylistic similarities and differences discoverable in the poems. The methodology adopted for this study is primary research in which the texts are closely read and vigorously analysed using Black aesthetic theory. Materials are sourced from conference papers, textbooks, magazines and the Internet. A detailed elucidation of Dasylväs Songs of Odamolugbe and Raji-Oyelade¿s A Harvest of Laughters using such African poetic aesthetic yardsticks as language, universality, style, theme, African folklore, African concepts of time and space, African concepts of order and justice, African mystical life, the motif of African cultural defence, the motif of social cohesion, ethical and utilitarian functions of African poetry was carried out.