Linguistic analysis of wole soyinkas poem the telephone. A song for the road wole soyinkas imagery and tradition. For nobel laureate wole soyinka its been a journey of many years, living and telling the african story. The choice of words of wole soyinka marked by great scope and has also made the researcher to embark on this project and to choose some of wole soyinka s works as the data. The data used to illustrate and substantiate our claims are systematically sourced from some selected poems of wole soyinka. What is the difference between jp clark abiku and soyinka abiku. The poems are seven in number and they are abiku, to my first white hairs and post mortem. The myth of abiku is handled by two foremost nigerian writers, wole soyinka. Forest of a thousand daemons city lights bookstore.
Taking soyinkas wellknown poem abiku as my example. This paper, using soyinka s a play of giants and king baabu, reexamines the centrality of ideology to texts of social engagement in the postcolonial space. As playwright, actor, producer, poet, novelist and author of scathing satirical revues, soyinka has been a champion of the responsibility of art and the artist to society. Wole soyinka s poetry reflects the contradictions in his heritage. A major portion of african literary history is mostly available through writers autobiographies such as soyinka s ibadan. He was awarded the 1986 nobel prize in literature, the first african to be honoured in that category soyinka was born into a yoruba family in abeokuta. In particular, the mood and modality choices show some kind of power and hierarchy conflict between the parent and the child who considers himself as older than his parents. An application of the aesthetics approach or art for arts sake is then made in the analysis of the 32line abiku written by wole soyinka.
He also was the first black african to be awarded the nobel prize in literature. Wole soyinka was born on the th of july 1934 in abekouta, ogun state, nigeria. They claimed that wole soyinka wrote the poem to prove to the military government of the period that he would remain unsubmissive. Wole soyinka and john pepper clark believe in the existence of abiku but bode ojoniyi is of different view. Wole soyinka works wole soyinka s family poems wole soyinka wole soyinka s childhood. This article defended this claim by using formalist literary theory to analyze some selected poems of soyinka. A relentlessly curious child who loved books and getting into trouble, soyinka grew up on a parsonage compound. A member of the unique generation of african writers and intellectuals who came of age in the last days of colonialism, wole soyinka has witnessed the promise. In the third line, clark emphasises this by asking abiku to follow where he pleases his kindred spirits, which gives a sense that abiku keeps coming and going from a community of likeminded spirits. Forest of a thousand daemons a h u n t e r s s a g a d. The poem is however, a calculated lines that is meant to reply the two abiku poems written by john pepper clark and wole soyinka. He was described as one who in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic.
He studied theatre arts at the university of ibadan, nigeria. Pdf wole soyinka and african poetry aformeziem brendal. It argues that soyinka s famous concept, the fourth stage, is his attempt to capture the unique and transformative character of the city of ibadan. The telephone conversation by wole soyinka the nigerian playwright wole soyinka born 1935 was one of the few african writers to denounce the slogan of negritude as a tool of autocracy. For wole soyinka, many critics, building on the ideas of chinweizu, madubuike and jemie, have identified a gap between social responsiveness and ideology in his works.
A song for the road wole soyinka s imagery and tradition 2 preface as a student i enjoyed reading modern plays. Naturally it is accepted the past and the present environment merge into one another. Soyinka s father is a school headmaster, and his mother is a devoted christian who comes from a prominent tribal family. His interest in literature led him to study english literature, greek nd history at the university college in ibadan. Both poems entitled abiku discuss the title child who returns to haunt his family after dying at a young age. A member of the yoruba people, soyinka attended government college and university college in ibadan before graduating in 1958 with a degree in english from the university of leeds in england. Wole soyinka, the first african to receive the nobel prize in literature, is a nigerian writer, poet, and playwright. Akinwande oluwole babatunde soyinka was born on the th of july, 1934 at abeokuta, near ibadan in western nigeria. Language, style and meaning in wole soyinkas poetry. Yams do not sprout in amulets to earth abiku s limbs.
As an author devoted to nigerian politics, one aspect that makes soyinkas plays credible is his perfect blend of poetry and political ideals. A dazzling memoir of an african childhood from nobel prizewinning nigerian novelist, playwright, and poet wole soyinka. The cry of blind bartimaeus and the wrestling of jacob. Wole s father, samuel ayodele soyinka, was a prominent anglican minister and headmaster, while his mother, grace eniola soyinka, was a shopkeeper and local activist. Wole soyinka books list of books by author wole soyinka. Soyinka deals with tradition and exploits traditional language, songs, dances, and themes and myths to help us see the good and bad effects of the world.
By asking abiku to stay out on the baobab tree, clark is asking him to stay in the spirit world and not be reborn. Among the modern plays, the plays of soyinka were my favorites. Wole soyinka was born july, 1934 in abeokuta a village on the banks of the river ogun in the western area of. Hes never known to have more than one wife at a time. This article promotes the idea of reading more of these autobiographies as.
Pics from the poets notionsome people claimed that abiku by wole soyinka symbolised the poets military imprisonment. An abiku childs return also occures in the writing of slovenian novelist gabriela babnik, in her novel koza iz bombaza. Wole soyinka was born july, 1934 in abeokuta a village on the banks of the river ogun in the western area of nigeria. He was the first african to be awarded in that category. A stylistic analysis of some selected poems of wole soyinka abstract language and style never moves beyond a concentration on the supremacy of words. Essays and criticism on wole soyinka, including the works early poetry. Wole soyinka born july th, 1934 wole soyinka, in full akinwande olu wole soyinka, was born on july, 1934, in abeokuta, nigeria. A stylistic analysis of some selected poems of wole soyinka. Its richness, complexity and its gradual evolution from a. Wole soyinka akinwande oluwole babatunde soyinka was born on the th of july, 1934 at abeokuta, near ibadan in western nigeria. We also see wole soyinka s poem abiku rely heavily on this occurrence. Wole soyinka is a black africas foremost dramatist and one of the controversial writers of this generation. What is the difference between jp clark abiku and soyinka.
The africa society profile of nobel laureate wole soyinka. In vain your bangles cast charmed circles at my feet. For his implacable resistance to political tyranny he has been imprisoned, threatened with assassination, and at times forced to live in exile. Shola balogun is a nigerian poet, playwright, filmmaker, and literary critic. Must i weep for goats and cowries for palm oil and sprinkled ash. This paper examines wole soyinka s lyricism along the axis of language, style and meaning and arrives at the significant conclusion that, through his exploitation of various linguistic and rhetorical devices and strategies, he gives voice, range and scope to his poetic art. Nobel laureate,professor wole soyinka once said he has an over healthy relationship with women.
This work therefore attempts a textual analysis of wole soyinka s abiku, using the formalist approach that studies a text outside the notions of culture, societal influence or authorship but. Wole soyinka, myth, literature and the african world. This leads to some idea of atemporality regarding the abiku child, which is confirmed by the analysis. However, they are formatted and presented in different manners to give alternate meanings to the story presented. His poem explores the myth and essence of the abiku and highlights the capricious and elusive, clairvoyant. Stylosemantic appreciation of wole soyinkas poem dawn. A stylistic analysis of the selection of some wole soyinka s poems is carried out to educate. Ake is an autobiography of wole soyinka s early life in nigeria. Read all poems of wole soyinka and infos about wole soyinka.
These words somehow contain meanings style is effectively language manipulated in ways that signal it as different from ordinary language. Coming and going these several seasons, do stay out on the baobab tree, follow where you please your kindred spirits if indoors is not enough for you. Wole soyinka was born on the th of july 1934 in abeokuta, ogun state, nigeria. In vain your bangles cast charmed circles at my feet i am abiku, calling for the first and repeated time. Much as soyinka s themes are eclectic and diverse including racial discrimination, mans inhumanity to man. Wole soyinka is a nigerian playwright, author, poet, teacher, and political activist. And wole soyinka chimdi maduagwu abstract this paper examines mythic creativity in the works of blake and soyinka. Obuke wole soyinka s often quoted remark that a tiger is not forever shouting about its tigritude and cyprian ekwensis comment that negritude is the french africans consciousness of being a negro in a whitedominated world1 have often been taken by some. He never married when he was still married to another woman. Wole soyinka s life is one of the rare, riveting biographies of our time. His religious beliefs are tribal, specifically the yoruba pantheon of gods, and christian, and his cultural upbringing draws.
A stylistic analysis of the selection of some wole soyinka s poems is carried out to educate, explicate and expose to everybody that comes across this write up, in guiding them on how to analyse. Wole soyinka poems, quotations and biography on wole soyinka poet page. Fagunwa being a translation of ogboju ode ninu igbo irunmale by wole soyinka illustrated by bruce onobrakpeya. Gerald broms illustrated novel, the plucker, depicts a childs toys fighting against an abiku, as described by pulse. Akinwande oluwole wole soyinka is a nigerian writer, notable especially as a playwright and poet. This work will be of great benefit to those students in the field of language and. Wole soyinka abiku poem by african poems poem hunter. He would later relocate the university of leeds to continue his studies in literature. An analysis of abiku poem by bode ojoniyi analyzed by o. On this note, i will discuss what really makes the poem a unique one in the literary world. In vain your bangles castcharmed circles at my feet. The lion and the jewel by wole soyinka the nobel prize winning playwright and novelist wole soyinka was born in 1934 into, within the context of nigerian society, an elite family that spoke english and was christian. His life course has brought him from deaths door as a political prisoner in.
In a sense, it is a general survey of the creation and application of myths as artistic structures for interpreting the nature of human life as depicted in the literary works of william blake and wole soyinka. Halfchild to the nigerian abikuroughly speaking, an evil spirit that inhabits. Wole soyinkas myth, literature and the african world. Comparing and contrasting wole soyinka and john pepper.
Wole soyinka biography, age, children, family, house. Wole soyinka wole soyinka, a nigerian poet was born in 1934. A nobel laureate offers a keen, thoughtprovoking analysis of africas current crises and points the way to cultural and political renewal a member of the unique generation of african writers and intellectuals who came of age in the last days of colonialism, wole soyinka has witnessed the promise of independence and lived through postcolonial failure. Mood, interpersonaland ideological meaning patterns in the. His interest in literature led him to study english literature, greek and history at the university college in ibadan. The political theme is continued in this novel, as the story unfolds, okri. A comparative study of the dramatic writings of wole soyinka and.