REVOLUTIONARY UNDERPINNINGS IN POETRY: A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF OSUNDARE’S THE EYE OF THE EARTH

Abstract

Language, whether written or spoken, is used for different purposes by man. The textual function of language makes it possible for writers especially poets to lend their voice to local, national and international matters of interest through written poetry. In most cases, poetry functions more than being just a mirror to the society; it has the implicit intent of causing a change, thus, it is underpinned with criticisms that could incite revolution in readers which could upturn the status quo. The intention is to awaken readers to the reality and to critically engage their mind in order to make a rethink so as to see the ‘evil’ behind the ‘good’ in the society. The data for analysis were purposively selected from Osundare’s poetry collection The Eye of the Earth. Stylistics was deployed as the theoretical framework to analyse the selected data while, Blending Theory was deployed to unearth the meaning-making process in the analysed data.  From the analysis, different stylistic devices used such as simile, rhetorical question, metaphor, parallelism etc. reveal societal ills and condemn apathy in readers with the aim of inciting revolution towards having an egalitarian society. The study found out that new meaning is created through blending of concepts from different input spaces. A general and common ground is derived from the input spaces which are used to derive new meaning. This linguistic dexterity is intended by the poet to project his message to readers in a subtle way. The study concluded that Osundare’s The Eye of the Earth contains implicit revolutionary nuances aimed at motivating readers to rise against the injustices in the society towards achieving an egalitarian society.  Also, the poet decries man’s injurious activities to nature and opts for preservation of natural endowments thus, the aim of this study is achieved which is to unearth the revolutionary nuances embedded in the selected and analysed data. Apart from its contribution to existing literature especially in communication, this study presents a methodology and a theoretical framework that is helpful in the appreciation of literary writings.