1ST TERM SS1 LITERATURE IN ENGLISH SCHEME OF WORK AND NOTE

FIRST TERM E-LEARNING NOTE

SUBJECT: LITERATURE IN ENGLISH CLASS: SSS 1

SCHEME OF WORK

WEEK  TOPIC

1. Introduction to Literature
2. Literary Appreciation
3. Genre of Literature
4. Introduction to Drama and its Features
5. Introduction to Prose and its Features
6. Introduction to Poetry and its Features
7. Literary Terms and Definitions
8. Literary Terms and Definitions
9. Reading of Recommended Text

 10  Reading of Recommended Text

 11  Revision

REFERENCE

• Exam Focus by J.O.J. Nwachukwu Agbada et al.
• Essential Literature-in-English for S.S.S. by Ibitola A.O.
• The Mastery of Literature by Iwuchukwu Chinweikpe Esq.
• A Handbook of Creative Writing by J.O.J Nwachukwu Agbada.

   

   

WEEK ONE

TOPIC: INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE

CONTENT

• DEFINITION
• TYPES OF LITERATURE
• SOURCES OF LITERATURE
• PURPOSES OF LITERATURE

DEFINITION

The term literature derives its origin from the adjective, ‘Literate’, which can be interpreted to mean ability to read and write. ‘Literature’ can mean in its widest sense everything written in every discipline. Thus, books on economics, history, chemistry, law, football, chess or even company brochures etc. can pass for literature in these spheres of life. However, the literature we are keen to talk about here is that which refers to those writings that creative or imaginative. It is those artistic expressions in which the writer’s imagination has played a prominent role in their production. A literature writer is called a Litterateur while a small group of people in a society who knows a lot about literature is known as Literati.

TYPES OF LITERATURE

Literature can be divided into two broad types. These are fiction and non fiction.

FICTION

Is a story invented by someone, it is not real. It is the creation of the writer with the aim of eliciting literary reactions from readers. It is a story that centres on imaginary people and events. A writer of fiction may take a story line from real event, and people and then change some details about them and subsequently add some imaginary characters in order to make it real and plausible (e.g.) Purple Hibiscus.

NON-FICTION

This is the direct opposite of fictitious literature. Non-fictions are books, journals, novels, plays, poems and articles that centre on real facts or events which were not created or imagined (e.g.) Women of Owu.

EVALUATION

1  Give an elaborate definition of literature.

2  Write extensively on the types of literature.

SOURCES OF LITERATURE

Literature takes its source from;

1. Folklore
2. Festivals
3. Rituals
4. Myths
5. Legends
6. Oral Poetry

    

1. FOLKLORE: These are traditional stories that take their roots from the culture of a particular group of people. It is usually a fictitious but elaborate story accepted by people and transmitted from one generation to another through the medium of speech. Folklore consists of folkheroes. These are persons admired by people in a particular society, because of their alleged positive and long time influence on their people and society at large. FOLKDANCE: Is a kind of traditional dance from a particular area. The folkdance is usually done by a folkdancer. FOLKMUSIC is a traditional music that has been played by ordinary people in a particular area for a long time. It is a style of popular music in which people sing and play with the aid of traditionally made guitars without any electronic equipment.

    

2. FESTIVALS: Festivals are occasions where there are performances of many films, plays and piece of music. Festival is a period in a year, regularly marked out for public gaiety and feasting. It is also a special occasion when people celebrate something such as religious events, and it is usually associated most often with a public holiday. Festival consists of traditional ceremonies which reveal the culture and tradition of the people.

    

3. RITUAL: This is a ceremony that is always performed in the same way in order to mark an important religious or social occasion. It is also a form of religious obligation performed with the sole mission of appeasing traditional gods and deities.

    

4. MYTH: This is an idea or story that many people believe which may or may not be true. It is also an ancient story, especially those ones invented in order to explain natural or historical events. Myth is also an imaginary story of gods, heroes, heroines and supernatural beings which the society holds in high esteem. This form of story is usually rendered orally.

    

5. LEGEND: An old, well known story, often centred on adventure of brave people, or magical events. A legend could mean someone who is famous and admired for being extremely good at doing something.

    

6. ORAL POETRY: This is poetry done by word of mouth. That is, it is rendered orally. The purpose is to praise an event, individual or society for great deeds. Poems under this are known as praise poem or panegyric.

    

   GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS
   

   1  Define the following (a) festival (b) legend (c) oral poetry

   2  Discuss the purpose of literature.

    

   WEEKEND ASSGNMENT
   

   1. Literature has ____ genres. (a) eight (b) play (c) one (d) three
   2. ____ mirrors life. (a) film (b) literature (c) camera (d) textbook
   3. Folklore and festival are classed under ____ literature. (a) light (b) tragic (c) spoken (d) literary
   4. Panegyric is a form of ____ poetry. (a) verb (b) oral (c) old (d) written
   5. ____ is an element of literature. (a) Fable (b) Festival (c) Plot (d) Lyrical poetry.

       

   THEORY
   

   1.  Discuss folklore as a source of literature.

   2.  Give three definitions of literature you know.

    

   READING ASSINGMENT
   

   Essential Literature in English for SSS by Ibitola A.O., pgs. 1- 4.

    

    

   WEEK TWO
   

   TOPIC: LITERARY APPRECIATION
   

   CONTENT
   

• THE RUDIMENTS OF LITERARY APPRECIATION
• APPROACHES TO LITERARY APPRECIATION
• CONCRETE ISSUES IN LITERARY APPRECIATION

THE RUDIMENTS OF LITERARY APPRECIATION

From the introduction to literature, it can be clearly deduced that literature is an imitation of life. One important medium adopted by most writers to make literature a true imitation of life is in the use of characters/casts/dramatic personae. In identifying characters in a literary piece, the reader must take into cognisance what a character says, what other characters in and around him say about him, how he thinks and reflects on issues confronting him, his characteristic nature based on that of the reader’s values and beliefs, his attitude to the society represented in the work of art to show whether he is a stereotype individual or not, how successful is the author in showing him as an appropriate character, his physiological makeup, what drives and motivates him and finally the ironies and contrast associated with his action and inaction which invariably affect the growth and changes seen in him as the literary piece progresses to its climax.

Furthermore, the socio-political context of work of arts must also be identified so as to have a good understanding of the work. This will determine the salient issues behind the work, For example, in the play, Women of Owu, the socio-political context of the play is the war in the city of Owu between the people of Owu and the people of Ife and Ijebu, which was as a result of selling the Ijebus into slavery by the Owus.

Finally, the historical background of the work of the author should be taken into consideration for a better appreciation. For instance, in Oswald Mtshali’s, ‘Boy on a Swing’, the poets makes a very successful attempt to clearly condemn the apartheid policy of the minority government in south Africa which characterise the lives of the blacks with constant sudden raid. The poet, himself, is a victim of the policy, which had dehumanizing effect of obnoxious policies on the majority blacks. Therefore, many writers allow their socio-political background to form the basis for their writings. Literary appreciation is a literary concept, which is universally accepted as a means of understanding all the nuances that are very prevalent in literary works; be it drama, prose or poetry. It must not be confused with literary criticism. For somebody to be able to do this successfully, he must put the following basic principles in proper perspective. These include: the context of the text, the structure of the text, the device used by the writer and their effectiveness, the setting of the text and the central ideas or themes which the text symbolizes.

APPROACHES TO LITERARY APPRECIATION

THE CONTEXT OF THE TEXT: One of the basic problems confronting readers of a text is the inability to fully appreciate the context referring to the actual meaning and background conveyed by the writer, which can be literal or metaphorical. Here, the point of view of the writer must be taken into cognizance, in order to have literal and metaphorical knowledge of the work. The content of any work of art centres on its plot and theme or central issues raised in the storyline.

THE STRUTURE OF THE TEXT: Structure refers to the organization of text. It is also known as the format of any work of art, that is, the way it is presented by the writer, his use of diction and its effectiveness, as well as, techniques used. All these constitute the structure.

THE POETIC DEVICES EMPLOYED IN THE TEXT: Sometimes, we do not get the correct meaning of a word in a text until we have decided whether it is used literally, that is, according to its basic original meaning, or metaphorically, which means applying one form of meaning to another. Hence, most writers make use of both literal and metaphorical words when writing. Due to this, it is very important for readers to have a good knowledge of diction and figurative devices adopted by the writer, as a way of appreciating the text.

THE THEMES OF THE TEXT: The theme means the central message conveyed in any piece of writing. A proper understanding of the theme in a text is very important, and it is a necessary tool for good and detailed appreciation of the text itself. The theme of a text must not be mistaken for the subject matter, which may only be implied after a proper reading of the text.

EVALUATION

1  Discuss the approaches to literary appreciation.

2  How important is the rudiments of literary appreciation.

CONCRETE ISSUES IN LITERARY APPRECIATION

The concrete issues in literary appreciation are nothing but the indispensable ingredients meant for objective and apt understanding of any particular work of art. These are:

1. The plot- the storyline, which must be very detailed.
2. The theme- the central issues raised in any work of art.
3. The style- style of any writing is the technical devices and the way the language is structured. A style is the manner the writing is done which can be classical, down to earth, simple or difficult.
4. The mood- feeling of the writer when writing. This must be fully appreciated by the reader in other to understand the plot and characterization.
5. The diction- the effective use of language to carry the theme, plot and mood of the writer.
6. Literary devices used- which must be appropriate so as not to confuse the reader. It must give the reader the opportunity to understanding the work of art.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1. List and explain the concrete issues in literary appreciation.
2. Explain the significance of the concrete issue in literary appreciation.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. ‘To drag your father from his farm is as difficult as dragging a child from his mother’s breast’, illustrates (a) metaphor (b) personification (c) simile (d) amplification
2. When a poem has no regular rhyme scheme, it is called (a) a prose (b) a dramatic verse

   (c) a lyrical verse (d) a blank verse

3. A poem without a regular rhyme is referred to as (a) a blank verse (b) free verse

   (c) solomonic verse (d) traditional verse

4. ‘How can he compare our church outing with theirs? After all millions of people attended ours while very few people were seen at theirs,’ illustrate what device (a) paradox

   (b) oxymoron (c) hyperbole (d) comparison

5. When one work of art attempts to imitate the style of another work in a mocking manner, we describe the newer work as (a) parody (b) innuendo (c) pun (d) farce.

THEORY

1  Discuss the importance of literary appreciation to you as a student of literature

2  How relevant is the historical and socio-political background in appreciating a particular work of art.

READING ASSIGNMENT

Essential Literature-in-English for SSS by Ibitola A. O., pgs 41-44.  

WEEK THREE

TOPIC: GENRES OF LITERATURE

CONTENT

• DEFINITION OF ‘GENRE’
• DIAGRAMMATIC DISPLAY OF GENRES OF LITERATURE

DEFINITION

The word ‘genre’ is a technical notation for the different branches or arms of literature. And these branches of literature include: Drama, Prose, and Poetry. It is important to note that in the oral literature before the advent or introduction of the writing skill, these genres of literature have unconsciously existed. That is, works of oral literature can be classified as drama, prose or poetry. Invariably, works of oral literature serve as source or raw materials for written literature. And this can be represented in a diagram.

LITERATURE

Oral Literature Written Literature

Folklore Drama Prose Poetry

Festivals Comedy Narrative

Rituals Tragedy Fiction Non-Fiction Lyrical

Myths Tragi-comedy Fable Biography Sonnet

Legends History play Allegory Autobiography

Oral poetry

Farce Parable Adventure/Travel

Panegyric

Melodrama Romantic Essay

Praise poem

Mime Novel Criticism

Epic

Opera Short-story Journals

Novella Diaries

But basically, wherever genre is mentioned, students of literature narrow their minds to only literary (written) literature. Though, this is not completely erroneous, it helps to maintain focus in studying aspects of literature.

EVALUATION

1. Explain the phrase, ‘genres of literature’.
2. Oral literature is a source to written literature. Discuss.

DIAGRAMMATICAL DISPLAY OF GENRES OF LITERATURE

The genres of literature: Drama, Prose and Poetry, have their uniqueness and peculiarities, which make them distinct from one another. As they are all written works that are creative and imaginative, they also possess features that are particular to a type.

A proper understanding of the genres of literature means a proper understanding of drama, prose and poetry. The genres of literature will be properly treated in the subsequent chapters or weeks of this note.

DIAGRAM ON GENRES OF LITERATURE

GENRES

DRAMA POETRY

PROSE

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1  Represent the genres of literature on a diagram.

2  Why is the term ‘genre’ used for written literature?

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. A term used in describing an effective choice of words in a literary work is (a) diphthong (b) diction (c) denotation (d) dialogue
2. The moment of heightened tension in a play is called (a) denouement (b) denotation

   (c) conflict (d) climax

3. ‘I listened as the car screeched and squelched its tyres on the road; and mangy dogs roared and howled before I took another step.’ The above sentence is an example of the use of

   (a) Onomatopoeia (b) Oxymoron (c) Enjambment (d) Metonymy

4. A figure of speech in which a part stands for a whole or a whole for a part is referred to as (a) Personification (b) Partition (c) Synecdoche (d) Metonymy
5. Another term for the denouement of a play or story is (a) Reference (b) Interlude

   (c) Inference (d) Resolution

THEORY

1. In your own words, define the three genres of literature.
2. ‘Genre’ has existed in the oral literature. Discuss.

READING ASSIGNMENT

1  Exam Focus by J.O.J. Nwachukwu Agbada et al, pgs 1-10.

2  Essential Literature-in-English for S.S.S. by Ibitola A.O., pgs 4-25.

WEEK FOUR

TOPIC: DRAMA AND ITS FEATURES

CONTENT

• DEFINITION OF DRAMA
• FORMS OF DRAMA
• FEATURES OF DRAMA

DRAMA

Drama is taken from the Greek word, ‘Dran’, which can be said to mean, do or act. That is, drama as a genre of literature possesses a major feature which is action, whether it is on a built stage or on a village pathway as in the case of village festivals or dances. And this becomes a unifying factor for all dramatic types.

FORMS OF DRAMA

The forms of drama include the following:

Comedy: This refers to a drama usually imbued or filled with a light atmosphere and which often ends on a happy note (e.g.) The Blinkards by Kobina Sekyi and De Graft’s Son’s and Daughters.

Tragedy: Often regarded as the opposite of comedy because it is a drama whose atmosphere is usually serious and tense with an unhappy ending and in most cases involves death or a calamity e.g. Women of
Owu by Femi Osofisan and Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

Tragi-comedy: It is a play which harbours elements of tragedy and comedy and often ends on a happy note (e.g.) Tempest by William Shakespeare

History Play: Also known as the chronicle play or Epic, its material is based on historical records. Besides presenting the history of individuals and people, History play also glorifies the past heroic deeds of individuals and people. William Shakespeare has a number of history plays. The commonest of them is Julius Caesar.

Farce: It is a comic drama, though of a cheaper kind in which a spectator’s belief in what is happening is not as important as the main desire to cause laughter. In a farce, believability is sacrificed while laughter and hilarity enjoy more prominence (e.g.) The Comedy of Errors by Williams Shakespeare.

Melodrama: In this type of drama, for purposes of creating excitement, sensation and shock in the spectator, belief is downplayed. Melodrama is often referred to as a tragic farce, especially when a tragedy lacks a sense of believability or convincingness (e.g.) The Jew of Malta by Christopher Marlowe.

Mime: In this type of drama, action and events are conveyed through the medium of movements, facial expression and gesture without words. In other words, it is a speechless play (e.g.) Sango by Duro Ladipo.

Opera: This is a drama that is essentially made up of songs. Here, all the actions are musical. Hence, opera is a musical play in which all of the words are sung. (e.g.) “Samson and Delilah” adapted from the Holy Bible.

EVALUATION

1  Discuss ‘drama’ as a genre of literature.

2  Highlight any three forms of drama.

FEATURES OF DRAMA

The following are the features of drama. But there is no restriction toward other literacy writers or authors to use some of these features. And they include:

Dramatis Personae: The display of all the participants in a drama.

Cast: A list of actors and actresses given defined roles in a drama by the playwright or director.

Playwright: The writer of a piece of drama or play.

Conflict: Another common feature of drama often involving the protagonist and the antagonist in their rivalry and struggle for assertion of influence or relevance.

Protagonist: A character that plays the most prominent role in a play or novel, often referred to as the hero/heroine or the chief character.

Antagonist: A character in a play or novel who opposes the protagonist rightly or wrongly. Often he/she contradicts the protagonist.

Denouement: Also known as resolution or the unknotting of events, it is the resultant process soon after the climax has been reached. Here the conflict in a play or novel is finally resolved.

Catharsis: This means purgation (from ‘purging’ the original Greek word). It is the feeling by an audience of a sense of release or the cleansing of the mind of excess emotion, often through the shedding of tears as when a great tragedy is being played out on stage.

Tragic Flaw: A costly mistake made by the protagonist in a play or drama. It could also mean an in-built or inherited weakness (flaw), say pride (hubris), which aids the downfall of the protagonist.

Dramatic Irony: It is a point in a drama or fiction in which a character out of ignorance says or does something which runs counter to the prevalent course of action whose real outcome is known to the audience but is hidden from the character in question.

Suspense: It is the state of anxiety and expectation in the reader/audience of a play or novel as to the likely outcome of events. It raises a reader’s interest and keeps him/her guessing as to what will happen next.

Soliloquy: It is a device in drama or novel which allows a character to engage in a loud self-talk while enabling the reader/audience to have access to what is in his/her mind.

Prologue: It is the formal introduction to a play written in prose or verse whose content is relevant to the unfolding events in the play.

Epilogue: It is the closing comment in a play which justifies an earlier course of action or fills an untreated gap in a play. It always comes at the end of a play.

Chorus: It is a couple or a band of people in a play who takes it upon themselves as a group to comment on the proceedings of a dramatic action. The group sheds light on the unfolding events and audience for what is yet to happen.

Flashback: A literary technique in a drama or novel involving the recalling of an earlier scene, action or event which sheds further light on what is currently happening.

Dialogue: It is a conversation between characters. Although, dialogue is an integral part of drama or play, novelist and poet often make use of it to make their narration a bit dramatic and real.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1  Discuss the importance of chorus, epilogue and prologue in drama.

2  Discuss dramatic irony with scenes from any of the recommended plays.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. In a play or story, we refer to the character who contradicts the protagonist as the

   (a) opponent (b) obstacle (c) villain (d) pun.

2. A bashful smile of appreciation illuminated Nelly’s pretty face’. The figure of speech implied in the use of illuminated is (a) personification (b) metaphor (c) simile (d) meiosis
3. ‘Hedwig, in spite of her misfortune, held her head to high heavens.’ The device used is

   (a) alliteration (b) anagnorisis (c) personification (d) prolepsis

4. ____ determines the atmosphere of a poem. (a) Tone (b) Theme (c) Structure (d) Synopsis.
5. A type of play which is funny, whose action is difficult to believe is called a

   (a) farce (b) melodrama (c) prosaic drama (d) comedy.

THEORY

1 Discuss ‘Mime’ and ‘Opera’ as different forms of drama. 2 List and define six features of drama.

READING ASSIGNMENT

1 Exam Focus: Lit-in-Eng by J.O.J. Nwachukwu Agbada et al., pgs 1-3

2 Essential Literature-in-English for SSS by Ibitola A. O., pgs 5-7.

WEEK FIVE

TOPIC: PROSE AND ITS FEATURES

CONTENT

• DEFINITION OF PROSE
• KINDS OF PROSE FICTION
• KINDS OF NON-FICTION PROSE

PROSE

‘Prose’ refers to the literary or written form of the language of ordinary speech. Some plays are written in prose (e.g.) Sheridan’s The Rivals, Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer, the plays of Ene Henshaw, etc. Fictional writings largely come under the aegis prose, although fictional works could be written in poetic prose. In a modern sense, fiction refers to a work in which an invented tale/story is presented in the form of a narrative in prose. In other words when we say ‘narrative in prose’, we do not include plays and poems. The reason is that the story conveyed in a play is enacted while the story in a narrative poem is narrated in verse rather than in prose. Prose may be classified as fiction and/or non-fiction.

KINDS OF PROSE FICTION

Fable: It is a story with a surface denotation which bears a deeper meaning (connotation). It aims to explain a problem in a very simple manner by pointing out a moral truth in an offensive way. Some of the characters in fables are animals which are made to talk and converse as if they were human beings (e.g.) George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

Allegory: An allegory and a fable share more in common except that whereas the fable almost always presents animals as characters, the allegory has characters which depict ideas such as Hope, Love, Pride, Despair, etc. (e.g.) John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.

Parable: This shares something in common with the fable in that it is a simple, brief story used to demonstrate a moral truth or lesson; Examples are the biblical parables of ‘The Sower’, ‘The Prodigal Son’, ‘The Good Samaritan’ etc.

Romance: This term is not derived from the word, ‘romance’ (amorousness) as commonly used among today’s youths. In literature, romance refers to a fantastic story whose settings, incidents and even characters are removed from real life possibilities or achievements. Romances are meant to delight, shock or chill the blood of the reader (e.g.) Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto. These days, the modern romance is no more than a fantastic love story.

Novel: It is a long fictive or non-fictive prose narrative in which imaginary characters and events are presented to us as if they happened, as if they were realistic or true-to-life. It is usually long, from thirty thousand words and above.

The Short Story: It is a miniature novel. Unlike the novel, it does not have too many characters; often times it concentrates on a single event.

Novella: The novella falls between the novel and the short story. It is a prose fiction of middle length.

EVALUATION

1  Discuss ‘prose’ as a genre of literature.

2  Highlight any three kinds of prose fiction.

KINDS OF NON-FICTION PROSE

Biography: This is the account of the life of someone written by another person. The biographer obtains his/her facts through research, interviews, visits, and by perusing through lots of documents and files (e.g.) Chinua Achebe: A Biography by Ezenwa-Ohaeta.

Autobiography: This is the account of the life of someone written by him/her. Modern autobiographies tend to adopt narrative styles used in writing novels which is why these days, some critics insist that they be classified as fiction (e.g.) Camera Laye’s The African Child, Wole Soyinka’s Ake: Years of Childhood, Chike Momah’s The Shining Ones, etc.

The Essay: Generally, the essay is a fairly short composition in prose which enables the writer to express his/her thoughts on a single subject or topic. However, some essays are in verse rather than in prose e.g. Alexandra Pope’s ‘An Essay on Criticism’ and ‘An Essay on Man’.

Travel and Adventure: Books of travel and adventure are narratives in prose centred on the experiences of the traveller/adventurer spiced with descriptions of people, scenes and settings (e.g.) Travels in the Congo by Andrie Gide.

Criticism: This shares everything with the essay except that criticism tends to evaluate or pass judgement on works of literature and art (e.g.) Stylistic Criticism and the African Novel by Emmanuel Ngara.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1  Would you say that autobiography is a non-fiction prose? Discuss.

2  Explain extensively ‘The Essay’ as a kind of prose.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. The principal aim of drama is to (a) educate and entertain us (b) educate us (c) entertain us (d) strengthen and beautify us.
2. Poetry is focused on one of the following

   (a) emotion and ideas (b) beauty only (c) emotion only (d) ideas only.

3. Drama differs from poetry because it (a) involves many characters (b) deals with tragic experiences (c) uses elevated language (d) exists mainly in action.
4. A novel is a (a) prose writing about great people (b) prose writing about various people

   (c) a long narrative fiction (d) a long story involving human characters.

5. The expression, ‘All the world is a stage’ is an illustration of the figure of speech referred to as (a) simile (b) paradox (c) metaphor (d) parody.

THEORY

1  Discuss any three kinds of non-fiction prose.

2  Explain any other two kinds of non-fiction prose not mentioned here.

READING ASSIGNMENT

Exam Focus: Lit-In-Eng by J.O.J. Nwachukwu Agbada et al; pgs 3-4.

WEEK SIX

TOPIC: POETRY AND ITS FEATURES

CONTENT

• DEFINITION OF POETRY
• KINDS OF POEMS
• POETIC DEVICES

POETRY

Poetry is a form of writing stimulated by emotion and expressing a deep feeling that may be very difficult to explain in literary form. This is because it is the sum total of the use of certain devices such as rhyme, rhythm, metre, figure of speech, stanza, subject matter, the poet’s feeling, his/her attitude to the subject matter, etc. This use is expressed in a manner of language application which attracts attention to it, especially when words are found or used in unusual places or settings. From the above, it becomes necessary to note that a poet is literally permitted to use language the way it pleases him/her. And this liberty or freedom with language-use by a poet is called Poetic License. This is the freedom to change the system and rules of a language in order to achieve a particular effect.

Poetry is also seen as a spontaneous over-flow of powerful emotions and feelings in tranquility by deploring rich diction. Poems can be classified on the basis of content, style and structure. And this leads us to the next issue.

KINDS OF POEMS

It is important to note that all manner of poems, for convenience, are grouped under three broad kinds. And they are:

Narrative Poetry: It is a poem which tells a story (e.g.) Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’, Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’, Wordsworth’s ‘Solitary Reaper’, etc.

Lyrical Poetry: It was originally a poem meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a musical instrument called the lyre. But these days, it neither needs to be sung nor recited with a lyre. Nor does the lyrical poet need to narrate a story. All he needs to do is to get stimulated by what he observes, say a flower or a bee at work, and as a consequence expresses his thought and emotions about that, and possibly draws conclusions. Examples of lyrical poetry in a modern sense include, William Wordsworth’s ‘Daffodils’ and Kofi Awoonor’s ‘Songs of Sorrow’, etc.

Sonnet: It is a fourteen-line poem divided into the octave (8 lines) and the sestet (6 lines). However, it is not always that a sonnet is marked by any physical division. A sonnet has a well-defined subject, often focused on one idea, thought or feeling. Most known sonnets have rhyme schemes, although different sonneteers employ different types of rhyme schemes. Most English poets wrote sonnets-Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton, Byron, Wordsworth, Rossetti, etc.

EVALUATION

1  Discuss ‘poetry’ as a genre of literature.

2  Define the kinds of poetry.

POETIC DEVICES

Below are some of the popular poetic devices often used, not only by poets but also by prose writers and playwrights. Although any literary author could use them and some do, they are of the poetic origin.

METAPHOR A metaphor is an indirect comparison between two different things with a common attribute. It is sometimes described as a compressed simile because of the writer’s desire to save words. The comparative words- ‘as’ and ‘like’-are sacrificed while the quality is transferred straight to the object.

E.g.  (i) The sunshine of her smile kept me thinking.

 (ii) The man is a lion in the field of play.

SIMILE

A simile is an expression that describes something by comparing it with something else using the words: as, like, as if, as though, as…as, as…so. This is a direct comparison between two objects that share at least one quality.

E.g.  (i) He turned and stared at me like a ghost.

 (ii) The girl was as lifeless as a stone.

PERSONIFICATION

It is a figurative device which gives the attribute of life and understanding to inanimate objects.

In other words, this is the representation of a thing or a quality as a person life.

E.g.  (i) The trees jubilated in the winds.

 (ii) Death lays his cold hands on kings.

HYPERBOLE

A hyperbole consists of an exaggerated statement which cannot be taken literally. Its purpose is to emphasize and achieve a humorous effect.

E.g.  (i) The chair weighs a know ton.

(ii) She prepared a mountain of akpu.

IRONY

This is the expression of the exact opposite of what one means though the words are not meant to be taken at face value.

E.g.  (i) ‘Oh! What a beautiful voice you have’ (when actually the person has a croaky voice).

(ii) Michael won’t be late: you know how punctual he always is (when actually Michael is

a notorious late comer who has been late for school many times.)

PARADOX

A statement which appears to be contradictory at the surface level but which on closer scrutiny bears some truth. In paradox, the ideas are self-contradictory, while in oxymoron, the words placed side by side are self-contradictory.

E.g.  (i) The child is the father of the man.

 (ii) If you want peace prepare for war.

SARCASM

This is an irony that is used with contempt. It is usually without disguise, it is a direct ridicule to show annoyance or unkind joke. Sarcasm aims to hurt its victim or listener.

E.g.  (i) A flight is delayed for two hours. Somebody then remarks: ‘Good and efficient

service’.

EUPHEMISM

This is a figure of speech which states an unpleasant fact in a pleasant way in order to conceal or hide its real nature.

E.g.  (i) He passed away quietly in the night (died)

 (ii) The dump is a sight to behold (repulsive)

OXYMORON

This is a device which put two contradictory words side by side for effect.

E.g.  (i) It is an open secret that the lovers have separated.

 (ii) Parting can be such a sweet sorrow.

METONYMY

It is a figurative device in which the name or attribute of a thing is given for the name of the thing itself.

E.g.  (i) Enugu is such a bustling city.

 (ii) How many Shakespeare’s have you read?

 (iii) The pen is mightier than the sword.

SYNECDOCHE

It is a figurative device in which the part of an object or idea is taken to stand for the name of the thing made from the material.

E.g.  (i) Greg hair (old age) should be respected.

 (ii) Nigeria won the cup.

 (iii) She was dressed in silk.

ASSONANCE

This is the repetition of similar vowel sounds in the same line or nearby line of a poem or poetic prose passage.

E.g.  (i) With thoughts of the path back, how, rough it was (/oo/ sound and /aa/ sound)

ALLITERATION

It is a systematic repetition of certain consonant sounds in a poetic line or nearby line in order to produce a special sound effect.

E.g.  (i) I bring fresh showers for the flowers, from the seas and the streams. (repetition of ‘f” and ‘s’ sounds)

(ii) While wars waste wealth and human resources, peace makes for progress (repetition of ‘w’ and ‘p’ sounds).

REPETITION

It is a figure of speech in which a word, phrase or idea is expressed more than once in a piece of poem or in a dramatic or fictive passage for emphasis.

E.g.  (i) Rain, rain go away.

Talk, talk! Who wanted it?

 (ii) And she forgot the stars, the moon and the sun

And she forgot the blue above the tree

And she forgot the dells where waters run

And she forgot the chilly autumn breeze

(John Keats: ‘Isabella’).

ANTITHESIS

It is a device in which two unlike ideas are put against each other for effect and obvious contrast.

E.g.  (i) United we stand; divided we fall.

 (ii) God made the country, man made the town.

CLIMAX

This is a figurative device which places ideas in an ascending order of importance. Hence, events develop from a lower level to a higher level.

E.g.  (i) The queen’s mother was mourned by her family, countless admirers, her town’s people the and entire world.

 (ii) The warrior came, he saw and he conquered.

ANTI-CLIMAX (BATHOS)

It is the direct opposite of climax. Events or ideas are arranged in descending order of importance in such a way that the ideas lose their importance.

E.g.  (i) The captain lost his two children, household goods and his pet dog in January 27 bomb blast.

 (ii) The professor lost his head, his job and his books after the nation-wide strike.

ONOMATOPOEIA

This is the use of words whose sounds suggest their meaning or sense.

E.g.  (i) Croak, squeak, hiss, boom, bang.

PUN

It is an amusing use of words or phrases with similar sound but different meanings.

E.g.  (i) Seven days without water make one weak (one week)

 (ii) ‘Come, I’m a mender of soles, let me mend your souls’, the man preached.

RHETORICAL QUESTION (Apparent interrogation)

A rhetorical question is a question asked as a way of making a statement, not really because one is expecting a definite answer from the reader or audience

E.g.  (i) Who knows what might happen? Who knows whose turn is by the corner?

(ii) What if I am my father’s son? What if I came here through his influence? Haven’t I done enough to prove that I am equal to the demands of the position?

LITOTES

This is a deliberate understatement by one who uses the negative in order to express the opposite. It also involves the use of double negativity

E.g.  (i) Let the past go; we shall not be sorry to miss it (in other words, we shall be glad).

 (ii) The girl, though petite is not lacking intelligence.

 (iii) I am not ungrateful for your assistance.

APOSTROPHE

In spite of apostrophe being a certain type of punctuation mark, in literature or rhetoric, it is a figure of speech in which the speaker turns away from the audience to address or appeal to someone or an object which is not present at the scene of reference.

E.g.  (i) Death, how unkind you are!

(ii) O wild west wind, thou breathe of autumn’s being / Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead/ Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, …

(Shelley: ‘Ode to the West Wind’).

ALLUSION

An explicit or indirect reference in a piece of literature (a poem, play or fiction) to a person, place or historical event. In literature many allusions are made to the Bible, to the gods, to a people’s myths and legends, etc, for purposes of association or comparison.

E.g.  (i) When I refused, he gave me some money; perhaps he thought I was a Judas.

 (ii) I came, I saw but I could not conquer.

(This is Napoleon Bonaparte of France’s statement).

SYNAETHESIA

This is the description of one kind of sensation in terms of another, say colour being attributed to sound; odour to colour; sound to odours etc.

E.g.  (i) I am never merry when I hear sweet music.

 (ii) The morning light creaks down again

 (iii) I dreamt that my hands were covered with the yellow blood of a stranger.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1  With your own example, define any ten poetic devices of your choice.

2  Identify and define other poetic devices not mentioned here.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. Identify the odd literary device from the list. (a) enjambment (b) plot (c) rhyme (d) alliteration.
2. We study literature in school because it (a) provides a means to kill time (b) expose students to life realities (c) provides readers with entertainment (d) teaches readers the use of words
3. Dramatic irony entails (a) the praise of the audience (b) a statement with a deeper significance (c) a statement hilarious and sarcastic (d) the praise tag of a great person
4. The echoing of the meaning of a word by its sound is called (a) phonetics (b) oxymoron (c) pun (d) onomatopoeia
5. A comedy is a play in which (a) nobody dies (b) there is a happy ending (c) there is real laughter (d) the hero is a clown.

THEORY

1. List the various types of poems under the kinds of poetry mentioned here.
2. Poetry is a spontaneous overflow of excess emotions and feelings. Discuss.

READING ASSIGNMENT

1. Exam Focus: Lit-in-Eng by J.O.J. Nwachukwu Agbada et al., pgs 5-9.
2. Essential Literature-in-English for SSS by Ibitola A. O., pgs 7-12.

WEEK SEVEN

TOPIC: LITERARY TERMS AND DEFINITION

CONTENT

• BACKGROUND /SETTING
• PLOT
• SUBJECT MATTER / THEME / MOTIF
• CHARACTER / CHARACTERIZATION

These literary terms that will be discussed later are seen also to be the conventions of creative writing or concrete issues considered when appreciating a literacy work. That is, a proper understanding of these terms would yield proper appreciation and understanding of any world of art. In other words, students of literature should have a proper understanding of what these terms mean, to be able to discuss the aspects in a work of literature. And these terms are:

BACKGROUND

Background which can be seen as the situation of a play, novel or poem, is a combination of the circumstances, the setting inclusive, out of which emerges the story’s action. It also includes the motivation and the stimuli which give rise to the choices open to or made available to some characters in a novel or play. It was the background (situation) of oppression and domination of blacks by whites in South Africa that gave rise to the spineless (timid) characters that we often meet in South African Stories of the apartheid era.

SETTING

Setting is the particular location where all the actions in a piece of fiction or drama take place, at a particular time or under certain psychological and moral conditions. These features serve as the plat-form against which characters live and pursue their life goals. Moreover, setting is an important factor in the author’s choice of subject matter and certainly is influential in the implementation of his theme(s). A story may have a physical, socio-psychological, temporal or metaphorical setting. The physical setting of a story is its realistic background, its geographical environment. It is the physical location of the occurrences in the story. This may be localized in a known or imaginary/unfamiliar place. In drama, the physical scenery presented on stage is also part of its physical setting. The physical features of the places such as the flora and fauna, the jungle, the hills and mountains, the landscape etc. are important in tangible setting. Such other details as sounds (including music and background noises) and odours are also part of physical setting.

The socio – psychological setting of a piece of literature has to do with its social emotional atmosphere, the cultural state of a period. It includes the language spoken and the way it is spoken, the norms and the customs, occupations, attitudes, religious outlook, the moral and state of value, the living conditions, the quality of human relationship, the intellectual and emotional environment of the characters, the economic and social class formations prevalent at a time etc. These influence the characters and inform their motivations and actions in a work.

Setting is temporal when it is simply a reference to historical times such as in Renaissance England, at the turn of the century post – independence era in Africa, the Nigerian Civil War period etc. It is metaphorical when it tends to objectify or vividly show internal states.

It is important to note that the kind of setting a writer adopts is a function of his intentions, themes or notions. A writer could also utilize all these levels of setting in one work or could make use of some.

PLOT

Plot is the sequence of actions which constitute the nucleus (centre) of the story and conveys the theme. It is what the characters do or what is done to them as the story progresses. As bones hold up our mass of flesh and remain the only easily observable features on an x – ray film, so is the story’s plot, its structural framework. A plot is a carefully thought-out plan in which all the events, all the actions and reactions of the characters contribute towards the forward leap of the story.

It is the plot that imbues (gives) a story with a recognizable form, a definite structure or shape. A simple plot has pyramidal shape made up of an exposition, complication, conflict, climax and denouement. Diagrammatically, it looks like this:

action A simple, linear or conventional plot.

It is necessary to explain the various parts of the simple plot:

(i)  Exposition (Development): At this point, the author establishes the background of the story, paints and builds up the setting and introduces the readers to his character.

(ii)  Complication: Here something throws spanner in the works. That is, some unexpected event disrupts the plans of the chief character.

(iii)  Conflict: This is a clash between the hero and the villain in particular, or the clash of all opposing forces in the story in general.

(iv)  Climax: It is the highest point of tension and intensity in a piece of fiction or drama. It is also called the turning-point because it is after here that the reader descends the slope of the story’s actions. A conventional plot usually has one climax while a more complex one would have more than one climax.

(v)  Denouement (Resolution): It is the unraveling or unknotting of the events. At this stage in the narration, the tense situation is resolved or contained through the action or inaction of certain characters. The simple or conventional or well-made plot is only possible when we have a subject matter and theme which can be expressed by a linear or straight forward development of events. That is, because X happened, Y took place, and because Y took place, Z occurred etc.

EVALUATION

1. With the aid of a diagram, define plot
2. Briefly discuss background and setting.

    

   SUBJECT MATTER AND THEME AND MOTIF
   

The subject matter of a work of literature is simply the issue the author discusses in his work.

And this issue is made up of the particular actions, characters and settings which the author chooses for his work.

In other words, these make up the subject matter, the surface facts. From the fore-going, a novel’s subject could be a place, a situation or the quality of the human condition. It could centre on the adventures of a character with the opposite sex, a flashback into childhood, the modern Nigerian city (always the subject matter of many of Ekwensi’s novels), the Nigerian civil war (already the subject matter of many Nigerian novels), undergraduate life the travails of long spinsterhood or the embarrassment of chronic bachelorhood, barrenness etc. Out of a subject matter there could be many themes, themes being the abstract ideas that the subject matter exemplifies. No theme is possible without a subject matter because it is in the relationship of the former to the later that the ultimate truth the writer has in mind is made obvious.

The theme (thesis) of a novel, poem or drama is the message it wishes to impart, some overt or subtle philosophical pronouncement it strives to make. The subject matter of Sola Owonibi’s “Homeless Not Hopeless” is composed of the mere facts of the action, character and setting of the poem; while the truth the author aims at namely, the economical, social and spiritual importance of the beggars in the African society, constitutes the theme. The subject matter, or simply subject, is the area of a story’s focus while the theme is the author’s attitude towards it. For example, if the subject of a story is poverty, the theme may be the deprivations caused by it or the disadvantages to which a poor person is exposed in a developing country.

Motif should not be confused with motive. It is derived from Latin movere, motum-meaning to move. It is a particular idea or dominant element running through a work of art, constituting part of the main theme. It is a type of incident, device or formula which recurs frequently in a piece of creative literature. Very many authors aware of these motifs make use of them in their stories, poems or plays. For instance, the motif of a beautiful lady who rejects all her handsome suitors but marries an ugly or non-human one is derived from folklore. Motif or the German leitmotif (a guiding spirit) is equally applied to the frequent repetition of a significant phrase or set description or complex of images in a particular work. If the theme of a work is the author’s statement of value for or against the events constituting the subject matter of a work, its motif is a recognizable incident which recalls a similar incident in oral or written literature or attracts a historical or bible comparison. In the example we gave about the subject matter of a work being poverty and the theme being the deprivations it gives rise to, the motif could be the biblical incident between Lazarus and the king’s dogs which such a theme recalls.

Theme is occasionally used interchangeably with motif even though ‘theme’ has to do with some underlying doctrine implicitly or explicitly stated in an imaginative writing and which the author persuades his readers to behold. Somehow, every creative writer has his own notions about life and humanity. We call this notion a writer’s philosophy of life which in a good artistic work is often hidden from a lazy reader or the reader who is merely interested in the story. Cyprian Ekwensi’s

Jagua Nana has two controlling ideas (themes) namely, the city corrupts young people and secondly, those who are morally deficient must pay for their short comings while one of its easily perceivable motifs is ‘the wages of sin is death’

CHARACTER AND CHARACTERIZATION

M.H. Abrams speaks of the characters in a literary work in this vein: “the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and dispositional qualities that are expressed in what they say – the dialogue and by what they do – the action.” In drama or fiction, there would be no story or plot without a character or characters.

Without characters, there would be no action since the events are determined by them. The conception of, and manner of presentation of characters have a lot of influence on the stature of a piece of creative writing as much as the significance of the story’s events and patterning. Character means both the people (including animals) who appear in a novel, play or poem and the description of the personality of any of these figures, particularly those traits which have significant effect on the development of the work.

To build up characters who are realistic and credible, who enjoy our love and affection or elicit our hatred or condemnation is probably one of the most herculean challenges that confront the imagination of a creative writer. In conventional terms, the most important character in a story about whose fortunes and misfortunes we are most desirous of knowing is the protagonist, also called the hero or heroine, whether or not there is anything heroic in his or her experiences or actions. The protagonist is often at the centre of the story’s action and controls the universe in which his actions or inaction provoke one form of crisis or the other. In the process of the hero trying to tame his universe, he usually meets some resistance. The reader is often desirous of knowing how he faces these obstacles and what he experiences in the attempt. Sometimes we get so immersed in identifying with him that we laugh when he overcomes and sighs when he is disadvantaged.

The character in opposition to the protagonist is called the antagonist or the villain. He opposes the hero and tries to foil him in his plans. He makes every effort to soil the hero’s good name and reputation, and / or snatch his lover or mistress from him. The foil of a character contrasts him; his role in the novel or play is essentially to serve as a mirror of behavioural contrast to the chief character. The hero’s goodness stands in bold relief if the antagonist is shown to be mean, cunning and devilish. However, the antagonist need not be an ‘evil’ character in the way that the protagonist may not have to be a ‘good’ personality. For example, in The Merchant of Venice by Williams Shakespeare, the protagonist is shylock, the resolute money-lender, while the antagonist is the kind-hearted Antonia.

Two main characters exist in literature. There are the round and flat or static characters. This is in fact the only way we can conveniently say it because human personalities are difficult to be neatly classified, the human person being capable of adopting a combination of roundness and flatness if he so desires, and depending on the circumstances before him. The roundness of character indicates that a literary character is dynamic, complex, developing, life-like and multi-faceted. A round character grows and changes as the narrative progresses. The growth may be physical – from childhood to adulthood; it may be mental /psychological – from ignorance to knowledge, or from naiveté to sophistication. A round character is not usually in the same state of innocence or ignorance with which he is associated at the beginning of the novel or play. Towards the end, he now exhibits a new consciousness, a new awareness and can now behold reality with new eyes, capable of surprising the reader in a convincing manner.

The other type of character is the flat or simple character, also referred to as one-dimensional, non-developing or simple character. Flat characters are quite predictable and never really grow or change in the course of the story. Often static characters are minor characters, but this need not be so.

The stock character, on the other hand, may be round or flat. His distinguishing quality is that he is a character type which recurs repeatedly in a particular literary genre. He is an archetypal model, the typical character specimen whom authors try to portray as prototypes.

Characterization is the effort made by a creative writer to erect credible characters. Authors adopt a number of methods in characterization. There is exposition in which the writer or narrator steps into the tale to let the reader know about the character such as his physical attributes, his motives and his traits. Another is the dramatic or scenic or showing method, the author presents the character as he acts, reflects, talks or interacts without any attempt to tell the reader the type of person the character is.

The writer allows the character to reveal himself through his words and actions. Characterization could be advanced by the author’s use of some characters to inform his reader about the other characters. In that way the writer is further removed from the scene, and in that way increases his level of objectivity in the story. A writer does this by pitching characters against one another in dialogues at which they talk about their fellow characters.

There is also stream of consciousness method by which the writer merely records the state of a character’s mental activity as it traverses the present and the past, as it reels off the character’s mental torture or excitement. Through this approach, the writer appears to be showing us the character’s mental film of feelings, thoughts and memories which flows or streams. In the end readers learn about characters by what they do, what they say and what others say about them. In one work, a writer may use all these techniques or some of them.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1.  Explain character and characterization to a layman.

2.  What factors differentiate subject matter from theme and motif?

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1.  A play is said to be tragic when ____ (a) the author paints life as a hopeless venture or adventure (b) the author presents life as absurd (c) there is much bloodshed in the play (d) a weakness in the principal character causes his/her downfall

2.  The central organizing element which links character, action, style and language in a work of art is referred to as ____ (a) theory (b) plot (c) theme (d) paradox

3.  When a question is asked in a piece of work without an answer being sought, such a question is known as a ____ question. (a) rhetorical (b) paradoxical (c) leading (d) pointed

4.  ‘Assonance’ in a poem results from the use of ____ (a) many consonants (b) similar-sounding vowels (c) similar-sounding consonants (d) different-sounding vowels.

5.  A saying that is short, emphatic and witty, and bears antithesis or paradox is said to be an ____ (a) anology (b) epiphany (c) apology (d) epigram

THEORY

1.  Explain in detail, the two characters we have in literature.

2.  Identify vivid examples from all recommended works for each literary term mentioned

READING ASSIGNMENT

A Handbook of Creative Writing by J. O. J. Nwachukwu-Agbada pgs 48-51.

WEEK EIGHT

TOPIC: LITERARY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

CONTENT

• LANGUAGE AND STYLE
• POINT OF VIEW
• RHYTHM, METRE AND SCANSION

   

  LANGUAGE AND STYLE
  

This has been variously defined as “the manner of linguistic expression” (M.H. Abrams), “the patterning of language” (Richard Taylor), “way of writing “(A.F. Scott), “that which intervenes between the artist and his material” (Victor Jones), “the expertise which goes into your creation”

(Chukwuemeka Ike) etc. While some authorities seem to anchor style on language, some consider it as being constituted by the overall presentation and achievement of effect in a work. But it has a lot to do with the manner of writing with which a creative writer is associated. Hence, there is a popular adage which says that the style is the man himself. “Style is the final result of what the author does with the materials he employs – his characters, the environment of the story, the narrative perspective (is it in the first person or in the omniscient voice etc?), the organization of the events and actions and the implementation of linguistic devices. Style includes a creative writer mannerism and rhetoric, his effective use of language for the decoration of ideas and for painting features in bold relief, presenting facts with charity and brevity, the utilization of wits, ironies and jests and the arousal of emotions in others, for, as F.L. Lucas says in his Style, “without emotion, no art of literature; nor any other art.”

Style possesses two principal ingredients: the content as shown in the expression of ideas and the way this is done; and the consistent and unique manner an author deploys various devices and strategies so as to make his work memorable. To examine a writer’s style demands a consideration of all that he does in a piece of creative writing with a peculiarity associated with him. In addition to a characteristic portrayal of characters, setting, narrative points of view, events and actions which we pointed out in the preceding paragraph, there are also the author’s use of dialogue, his humour, powers of observation, the length and variety of his sentence structure, his fidelity or otherwise to linguistic conventions, the words and word-types he employs, the paragraphing and figurative use of language.

Discussions on style often tend to centre on the author’s levels of language deployment: the high (or grand), the middle (or mean), and the low (or base, or plain) styles. A writer may employ the three levels in the same novel or play, depending on his characters and the cumulative effect he has in mind. It is the duty of an author to ensure that the level of style in a literary work is appropriate to the speaker, the occasion and the dignity of the literary genre in question. The high or grand style is associated with formality in language, consisting of elaborate sentence patterns and figurative ornamentation, tight, united statements, balanced constructions and consciously designed statements. The middle level is akin to informality in language use which would include the language of domestic conversation and the classroom, ordinary speech rhythms, loose constructions, short, simple and compound sentences, phrases and clauses which often stand on their own, declamatory statements and the admittance of interjections, and asides which interfere with the movement of the basic sentence construction. The low level is the illiterate / vulgate speech exemplified by regional dialects, slangs and artisan vocabulary.

We may also classify styles according to literary epoch – Augustan style, metaphysical style etc. It may be derived from the source of its influence – the Biblical style; or from a type of use, say the journalistic or the scientific style; or it could be traced to the influence of a specific author – Shakespearean, Miltonic, Achebean, Soyinkan etc styles. It is after the consideration of all these stylistic facets that an author’s style may be described in a number of ways. These include its classification as possessing the ‘ornate’, ‘episodic’, ‘poetic’, ‘elaborate’, ‘forceful’, ‘florid’, ‘gay’, ‘sober’, ‘dull’, ‘pace/racy’ etc. style.

POINT OF VIEW

Point of view in a story is the author’s expressive devices, his models of narration. It is associated with the theme, but more precisely it is the outcome of the subject – theme relationship. An author’s chosen theme or themes have a direct impact on his viewpoint because just as point of view is the angle from which a story is narrated, an author’s theme is informed by his chosen perspective. In drama and poetry, the point of view is often easily identifiable, but in fiction this is not always possible. The fact is that narrations have narrators who may act as filters standing between the author, and the story events, on one hand, and the characters and the author, on the other.

Every story then could be told in a number of ways or a combination of some of them. The three common approaches are the use of one of the character in the story; the use of a third person, an outsider who is not a participant in the story events; and lastly, the story could ‘tell’ itself without the intervention of anybody whatsoever. The use of one of the characters is also referred to as the personalized point of view; the third person narrator (persona) is the omniscient view in which the third – person pronouns (he, she, they or it) are used in reference to characters in a story; and there is also the non-intervening narration, also referred to as the objective point of view in which the narrator merely introduces the characters to the reader without any effort to describe them or to reveal their inner thoughts and motivations.  `

(i)  The Participant/Personalized Point of View

This is equally referred to as the first – person point of view. In this narrative technique, the writer appoints one of the characters who is both a participant and a narrator. Such a character is usually the story’s protagonist. He uses ‘I’ or ‘We’ in places. The voice is his own, not necessarily the author’s. He is not necessarily the author’s favourite and what he says, the follies he commits or the fortunes he makes may not necessarily enjoy the author’s support. In addition, the first person narrator in any work of literature must not necessarily be a major character. That is, a minor character can enjoy the right to be the narrator in a piece of literature.

(ii)  The Non-Participant Narrator/Third Person/Omniscient Point of View

The narrator here is omniscient, he is everywhere. He is not a character in the novel. The story told in the omniscient viewpoint uses the third person (he, she, it or they) in describing the characters and their action except when they are conversing. The omniscient narrator is an outsider who enjoys the characteristics of God omniscience. He sees and knows everything, and can and does enter the minds of the story’s characters to reveal their fears and hopes. He knows the past, the present and the future of the characters.

The non-participant narrator or the third-person point of view is sub-divided into three: the editorial omniscient narrator, the neutral omniscient narrator and selective omniscience (stream of consciousness). In editorial omniscience, the author, in addition to a full knowledge of his characters, intervenes from time to time to say one or two things about his characters. In neutral omniscience, the narrator makes no comments on his feelings about anything instead he makes available the much he knows about each character without passing value judgement on them or on their actions. In the third type of omniscience the narrator has access to very few of the characters, sometimes to one of them. This is called selective omniscience or stream of consciousness technique because of the narrator’s restriction to one character or two whose formed and unformed thoughts, emotions and dreams he is able to make available to the reader by occasionally penetrating their consciousness.

(iii)  The Objective/Camera Point of View

Like in the omniscient narrator model, the objective /camera/disappearing author point of view uses the third person pronouns but has no omniscient narrator. The author does not intervene in the course of the story. It is described as ‘camera’ because the author does no more than present the characters as they act and converse with one another. The author makes no attempt to describe them or to penetrate the recesses of their consciousness, or to judge their actions and reasons for doing what they do. It is the reader who makes all the deductions based on what he hears the characters say or do and what the characters say about other or what they do to one another. There are neither authorial intrusions nor the summarization of events in parts. One incident gives rise to another without intervention from any quarters whatsoever. The result is that there are usually a lot of conversations, almost resembling what happens in a drama.

(iv)  Multiple Points of View

This is the use of more than one point of view in the same story. It can lead to the complexity of a work. A story written in the first person could also have a substantial number of passages in which the stream of consciousness is employed by the narrator to dissect his own thought. It is also possible that an author whose point of view is omniscient could have passage of stream of consciousness, some letters or even diaries.

EVALUATION

1. Discuss the aspects to style in literature.
2. Discuss the types of author’s point of view.

    

   RHYTHM, METRE AND SCANSION
   

Apart from inventing new pictures/images reflecting one or more of the sense impressions, poets quite often arrange their diction with the purpose of achieving a special kind of beat, pulse, movement or rhythm. This is especially true of English poetry before the 20^th century. This is not to say that rhythm is not important in 20^th century poetry, for there is a sense in fact in which every good poem has an inherent rhythm, even if it is irregular. J.P. Clark’s “Ibadan” may possess irregular rhythm, but it does suggest that the arrangement of buildings and structures in the city is irregular and confused:

  Ibadan,

running splash of rust

  and gold-flung and scattered

  among seven hills

  like broken china in the sun.

(J.P. Clark)

Rhythm in words or drumming in wave motion or in landscape refers to the repetition of pattern, particularly when it is done with some amount of variation and movement. Rhythm is a natural process such as we experience in our breathing, speaking, walking, pounding, etc. in the existence of day and night; in the appearance and disappearance of the moon or the seasons etc. In English speech, the voice falls more heavily on some sounds than on others. English poetry has always made use of these rhythmic patterns. Therefore, whenever we read a poem, we should try to observe the words that are emphasized or repeated, and the general pacing of the poem. Essentially that is what rhythm in poetry is about. Rhythm in poetry expresses emotion and suggests or aids the determination of a poem’s theme.

In English poetry, the regular beats are referred to as the foot or metre. Until very recently English poems were written with an eye on certain rules of rhythm known as metrical laws. Metre refers to the pattern of accented and unaccented syllables in a line. This is possible because English as a language is syllable – timed. In other words, every English word is composed of phonemes which are either stressed or unstressed (account and unaccented). For example, con/duct (noun) and con/duct (verb). When we read a poetic line aloud, our voice is never at the same level throughout; we vary and modulate it. The pitches fall on particular syllables according to the nature of their phonemic weight.

Sometimes a whole word is taken to be a syllable as in come, put, quick, John, eat, hell etc. At other times, the word is regarded as possessing two syllables and so are divided in a manner that the accent falls on the first or second syllable. For example, quickly, report, rapport etc. Thus is a poetic line, one would expect to find a number of accented and unaccented syllables arranged in an identifiable order or pattern, known as the metre. It is the arrangement of the feet in a line of the stressed and unstressed syllables that determines what the metre of the whole poem is;

(i)  The Iambus/Iambic Foot (⁰ – ): consists of one unaccented (unstressed) syllable followed by one accented (stressed) syllable.

 (a)  That time of year thou mayst in me behold

When yellow leaves, or none or few do hang.

 (b)  The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.

(ii)  The Trochee/Trochaic Foot (- ⁰): consist of one accented syllable followed by one unaccented syllable.

 (a)  There they are, my fifty men and women.

  In a cavern, in a canyon.

(iii)  The Anapest /Anapestic Foot ( ^{0 0} – ): two unaccented syllables followed by one accented syllable. It is also called running rhythm because of its prevalence in swift movements.

1. The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaning in purple and gold.

(iv)  The Dactyl /Dactylic Foot (-^{0 0}): consists of one accented syllable followed by two unaccented syllables

 (a)  Half a league, half a league,

  half a league onwards

(v)  The Spondee /Spondaic Foot ( – -): One stressed syllable followed by another stressed syllable.

 (a)  All whom war, death, age, ague, tyrannies

Despair, law, chance hath slaine

(vi)  The Pyrrhic/Pyrrhic Foot (o o): two successive unstressed syllables as found in the second and fourth feet of the first line below:

1. My way is to begin with the beginning

1. Oh weep for Adonais the quick dreams.

Scansion is the marking of strong and weak stresses where they fall in the various syllables. To scan a passage of poetry is to plod through it line by line, noting its component feet while indicating where the strong and weak pauses fall within the poetic line. It is the measuring and marking of lines by taking them foot by foot for the purpose of establishing their metrical pattern.

RHYME

This is the repetition of the same sound, usually but not always, at the end of two or more lines. Rhymed words must have the same vowel sounds, or similar consonantal sounds preceding the vowels or they must enjoy parity of accents. These would ensure a perfect rhyme.

(a) There is sweet music here that softer falls

Than petals from blown roses on the grass,

Or night dews on still water between walls

Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass;

Music that gentler on the spirit lies

Than tired eyelids upon eyes.

 (Tennyson, “The Lotos Eaters”)

The rhyme scheme in the above passage is ababcc. There are a variety of rhyme schemes including abab, aabb, abba, acbc etc. The portion of the poem cited below has the rhyme scheme of aabbcc.

(b)  Two neighbor, who were rather dense,

 Considered that their mutual fence

 Were more symbolic of their peace

 (Which they maintained should never cease)

 If each about his home and garden

 Set up a more substantial warden.

 (William Soutar, “Parable”)

A verse/poem without any rhyme is referred to as blank verse while the free verse is a poem which disregards the traditional notions of rhyme and metre, and rather relies on the nature of the content to achieve its poetic form.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1. What is scansion?
2. Discuss three feet with examples in literature.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1.  We describe as ‘tragic flaw’ the ____ (a) slip made by a character which results in his fall (b) unsuccessful play written by an otherwise wonderful dramatist (c) typographical error which recurs in a work of drama (d) element of plot whose prominence makes an artistic work faulty

2.  To be total or complete a play needs to have a ____ (a) soliloquy (b) conflict (c) prologue (d) epilogue

3.  The plot of a novel is best described as ____ (a) the outline of the story in a logical order (b) the story with its beginning, middle and end (c) the distinct summary of the story (d) the story in all its detail

4.  The writer of play is known as a ____ (a) playwriter (b) playwrite (c) playwrighter (d) playwright

5.  A narrative poem ____ (a) preaches a sermon (b) tells a tale or story (c) propounds a philosophy (d) argues in a narrative manner

THEORY

1. Scan the poem, “The Ambassadors of Poverty” by Umeh P. O. C.
2. Discuss the style of the poem, “The Ambassadors of poverty” by Umeh P.O.C.

READING ASSIGNMENT

1. Visit Wikipedia on literary terms and definitions.
2. Visit Encarta on literary terms and definitions, and Scansion.

WEEK NINE AND TEN

TOPIC: READING AND CONTENT ANALYSIS OF AFRICAN POETRY-
‘PIANO AND DRUMS’ by Gabriel Okara.

CONTENT

• ABOUT THE POET
• BACKGROUND OF THE POEM
• CONTENT ANALYSIS
• THEME
• POETIC DEVICES
• STRUCTURE OF THE POEM
• MOOD
• TONE

Poetry: “Piano and Drums” by Gabriel Okara.

ABOUT THE POET

Gabriel Imomotime Okara was born in Nembe in the present day Bayelsa state of Nigeria in 1921-1971. He attended a prestigious Government College Umuahiea. Okara is one of the most significant and serious early Nigeria poets. The motifs of childhood innocence and nostalgia run through many of his poems. His first published collection of poetry was The Fisherman’s Invocation and his second book was Fantasy.

BACKGROUND OF THE POEM

In the poem, Okara presents the dichotomy between the past life and modern world. Though the poem dwells on culture clash as its main theme, it is borne out of the disgust Okara has on the attitude of the post-independence elites who instead of redeeming the African continent from the shackles of colonialism, decided to uncritically adopt the Western cultural values at the expense of their traditional cultural values. Hence, the result was a collapse in the system of the African society. This was because these African elites were half-baked and not ready to engage in the manipulation of the complexities of the Western culture. So, the post-colonial Africans exhibited great shortfalls to manage the areas of difference when faced with two contrasting and competing cultures.

CONTENT ANALYSIS

The poem, “Piano and Drums”, is about the cultural dichotomy of African and Western cultures in post-colonial Africa. It reveals the dilemma faced by individuals who are confronted with the circumstances that would warrant them drop their culture for Western one, in the name of globalisation. The first stanza highlights the poet-speaker’s attachment with his cultural heritage before the intrusion of a foreign culture. It shows the simplicity the traditional culture is known for. In the opening of the poem, ‘When at break of day at a riverside’, the inspiring serenity of traditional culture is suggested, even with the imagery introduced by the drum in the lines ‘I hear the jungle drums telegraphing/the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw.’ The poet-speaker reveals the connections Africans have with nature. The last three lines of the first stanza showcase the occupation of Africans to be majorly hunting. The rhythm produced from the drums reminders the poet-speaker of his early days as a youth who enjoys watching wild animals or probably engaging in hunting.

The second stanza continues with his attachment for traditional culture. Then suddenly he sees himself in a reminiscing state ‘in my mother’s laps a suckling; /at once I’m walking simple’. He presents a lifestyle that is divulged of complexity and/or rancour. The poet-speaker creates in the readers’ mind the extensive simplicity of cultural norms that characterises the African society with ‘paths with no innovations, /rugged, fashioned with the naked/warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts/in green leaves and wild flowers pulsing’. This simplicity is seen in the relationship that exists among the people as they live in communality without unhealthy rivalry and selfishness.

In the third stanza, the poet-speaker announces the presence of a seductive culture represented by the ‘Piano’. ‘Then I hear a wailing piano’ suggests that the poet-speaker could not withstand the tempting nature of the piano, even when on his mother’s lap. That is, several innocent Africans like him were lured by a foreign culture that showed great complexities. In great ignorance, the poet-speaker and others like him are seductively enticed by the Western culture to adapt what it represents at the expense of their traditional culture and norms. He speaks of ‘solo speaking of complex ways in/tear-furrowed concerto: /of far away lands’. Under this, so many Africans were deceived by the notion of a foreign land with new horizon (technological development). He sees himself to be persuaded by the ‘coaxing diminuendo, counterpoint, /crescendo’. He realises that he was ‘lost in the labyrinth/of its complexities, it ends in the middle/of a phrase at a daggerpoint’. This avers that the songs produced by the piano, though seductive enough to draw the poet-speaker and others, were received by people who lack the technicalities to understand the complex meaning of the rhythm. Hence, they become more confused as seen in ‘And I lost in the morning mist/of an age at a riverside keep/wandering in the mystic rhythm/of jungle drums and the concerto’. He displays great dilemma between the traditional and Western cultures of what choice to make.

The poem discusses the traditional village lifestyle of the Africans and the complex society of Westerners which was introduced as a result of colonial presence in the continent. The poem seems to answer the question of why the traditional society has lost its heritage and identity to a foreign culture.

THEME

The theme of cultural obliteration

The theme of inferiority

The theme of dilemma and confusion

The theme of the need for cultural reorientation

The theme of neo-colonialism

THEMATIC DISCUSSION

The Theme of Cultural Obliteration: The poem talks about the concomitant effect that the coming of the Europeans have on the continent and the culture of the people. A people that have been known to possess a culture propelled on the wheels of simplicity and great affinity to nature, see the fabric of their culture truncated by a foreign culture known for its complexities. The poet represents the African culture with the ‘Drums’ and the Western with the ‘Piano’. He creates a vivid picture of the lifestyle of Africans before the coming of the Whites and their colonial regime through the powerful imagery deployed in the poem, ‘… at once I’m/in my mother’s laps a suckling;/ at once I’m walking simple/paths with no innovation’. From the above lines, Africans lived in a society where innovations such as tarred roads and street lights. In their communal societies, the people were ‘rugged, fashioned with the naked/ warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts/in green leaves and wild flowers pulsing’. The Africans were comfortable with their simple life where they were able to co-exist without rancour and unhealthy rivalry, which technology and science have promoted in the world. But in the third stanza where ‘… I hear a wailing piano’, the poet-speaker reveals the presence of the European culture that has come to efface the African culture and way of life. The culture was forcefully passed on the people who became confused as shown in ‘it ends in the middle of a phrase at a daggerpoint’. Hence, he says, ‘And I lost in the morning mist/of an age at a riverside…’. So these Africans see their culture truncated and replaced with a foreign one which has been the reason for the imbalance experienced since the post-colonial era.

The Theme of Inferiority: The poet-speaker reveals his inability to resist the imposition of a foreign culture on him and other Africans like him. After hearing ‘a wailing piano’, he became distracted and was attracted to tune from the piano even though ‘at once I’m in my mother’s laps a sucking’. He could not say no to the ‘solo speaking of complex ways in/ tear-furrowed concerto: / of faraway lands’. His show of inferiority is affirmed in the line when he confesses that he was ‘lost in the labyrinth/of its complexities, it ends in the middle/of a phrase at a daggerpoint’. He is in a dilemma of what culture to uphold as expressed in ‘wandering in the mystic rhythm/of jungle drums and the concerto’. This shows the poet-speaker’s preference for the Western culture because of the technological impact on the world system at the expense of his traditional culture, which has ‘paths with no innovations’.

The Theme of Dilemma and Confusion: The main crux of the poem exposes the altercation between the African culture and the European culture over which is supreme than the other. And this has placed the poet-speaker and other Africans, especially of the post—colonial era, to be in dilemma and confusion over what cultural inclination should be accepted and adopted into the fabric of their societies. The poet-speaker recounts the splendid nature of the traditional culture when he says ‘When at break of day at a riverside/I hear the jungle drums telegraphing/the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw/like bleeding flesh, speaking of/ primal youth and the beginning’. But the reverse became the case when he said, ‘Then I hear a wailing piano/ solo speaking of complex ways in/tear-furrowed concerto: /of faraway lands’. His helplessness and confusion heightened when he cries out that he was ‘lost in the labyrinth/of its complexities, it ends in the middle/And I lost in the morning mist’. The internet, computer, exotic cars and modernity that technology provides have caused great confusion in the minds of Africans.

The Theme of The Need for Cultural Reorientation: The poem is a clarion call for all apostles of the African heritage, who have been overwhelmed by the intrusion of Western culture into the fabric of the African society, and has been the reason for non-conformity of the action of the people of the post-colonial era to the ethos of African traditional cultural values, due to the distraction stirred by the presence of ‘a wailing piano’ with ‘solo speaking of complex ways in/tear-furrowed concerto’. The resultant effect of the tune of Western complexities and contamination of traditional civilisation and norms has made the poet-speaker to raise alarm of his dilemma as reflected in ‘And I lost in the morning mist/of an age at a riverside keep’. In order not to have the upcoming generations of the African society to toll the steps of the poet-speaker, the poem suggests a reorientation to sensitize and save them from the mirage of ‘faraway lands/and new horizons with/coaxing diminuendo, counterpoint/crescendo’. He alerts the readers of the dangers in the uncritical adoption of foreign ways.

The Theme of Neo-colonialism: Gabriel Okara uses his poem, ‘Piano and Drums‘ to resent the cowardly acceptance of some quarters of the African society that wholeheartedly welcome the imposition of Western ways as represent by the ‘Piano’. He states that African even after colonialism seem to be attracted by the seductive ‘labyrinth’ and ‘its complexities’ of the piano with little or no understanding of its effects. Hence, they are placed in a confused state the even ‘in my mother’s lap a suckling’, they were still able to hear ‘a wailing piano’ of faraway lands’. The people have lost their united front bound by the rhythm of the ‘Drums’ in the face of tempting tunes of the ‘piano’. So they are noted to be wandering in confusion of choice to make. They helplessly see themselves being subject to the same ambience of superiority created by the colonial presence.

EVALUATION

1. Give a detailed content analysis of the poem, ‘Piano and Drums‘ by Gabriel Okara.
2. Discuss two major themes of the poem, ‘Piano and Drums‘ by Gabriel Okara.

POETIC DEVICES

Antithesis: The poem is basically a contrast that exists in the worldview of the poet-speaker whose attitude shows great confusion towards his decision on what culture to adopt as represented by the musical instruments: piano and drums. The disagreement that surrounds these instruments is seen in the first two stanzas for the drum and the third stanza for the piano. The poet-speaker in ‘I hear the jungle drums telegraphing … speaking of primal youth and the beginning’ reveals how the traditional culture displays a life of simplicity without innovations where hunting of wild animals like ‘panther’ and ‘leopard’ was the occupation of the people. On the other hand, the piano speaks complex ways as its sole responsibility. Unlike the drums that produce ‘mystic rhythm’, the piano produces a ‘wailing … solo speaking of complex ways in tear-furrowed concerto’. The ideas are simplicity against complexity; the traditional culture against the Western culture.

Symbolism: From the title of the poem, ‘Piano and Drums’, we can understand that the poet-speaker has decided on both musical instruments as symbols aid understanding of the message of the poem. The description ‘jungle drums’ reveals that this instrument is made from skin of wild animals you find in Africa, while the ‘wailing piano’ which speaks complexities ‘of faraway lands and new horizons’ shows that it is an instrument of modern technology. In another sense, the drums represent simple, incorrupt, uncontaminated and primitive African ways of life while the piano represents imported culture of Western world. The poet-speaker, on his part, represents the helpless and confused post-colonial Africans who are products of two conflicting cultural values.

Enjambment: In several points of the poem, we realise that few punctuation marks are used. This shows the connections that the lines of the poem possess. In highlighting the effects of the drums on the animals and the people in a traditional African society, the poet-speaker presents the first stanza without a pause at the end of each line as the ideas runs into the succeeding lines. The introduction of the Western culture represented by piano is done with the aid of enjambment in the first three lines of the third stanza. Furthermore, the helplessness of the innocent African who was faced with a culture with complex ways is not also in the last three lines of the third stanza.

Personification: Okara employs personification to show the relevance of the musical instruments: piano and drums. In the poem, the drum is seen to be doing the job of a human being by ‘telegraphing the mystic rhythm’ and ‘speaking of primal youth and the beginning’. For the piano, it started by ‘wailing’ then ‘solo speaking of complex ways’. Both instruments (Drums and Piano) have been employed to express the cultural values and norms of the traditional African society and the Western society respectively.

Imagery: The poet employs this device to help readers retain in their mind’s eye a clear picture of what they are exposed to in the poem. Majorly, in the first stanza to help readers have pictorial knowledge of the animals found in Africa and the occupation of the people, the lines: ‘I see the panther ready to pounce/ the leopard snarling about to leap/ and the hunters crouch with spears poised’ are imageries used to stamp this information in the inner mind of the readers. Also imagery is deployed in the lines: ‘and at once I’m/ in my mother’s laps a suckling; /at once I’m walking simple/paths with no innovations’. The simplicity of the African society is further painted by these words where the poet-speaker is seen walking a road filled with natural elements.

Simile: This device is seen in the line, ‘the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw/ like bleeding flesh’. The poet-speaker compares the type of music made by the ‘jungle drums’ with a bleeding flesh in its entirety of freshness. In other words, he speaks of the African traditional culture which communicates morals and norms that are uncontaminated and unpolluted by hate, greed, selfishness and unhealthy rivalry, which are induced by the Western culture.

Metaphor: This device can be seen in the words, ‘And my blood ripples, turns torrent’. The impact of the rhythm from the drums stirs in poet-speaker a sensation that equates it with that of a ripple made on liquid substances. So ‘ripple’ is used to portray in a comparison the state of the African man’s blood under the influence of the traditional culture.

Repetition: For purpose of emphasis, the poet is seen repeating some words to drive home his intended meaning. The following words: mystic rhythm, riverside, lost, complex, jungle drums, concerto are employed to reiterate the views expressed in the earlier line of the poem.

STRUCTURE OF THE POEM

The poem has twenty-nine lines with four irregular stanzas. The first two stanzas has eight lines each, the third stanza has nine lines while the last stanza has four lines. Stanza one and two highlight the beauty and effects of the African traditional culture and its values, while the third one introduces the Western culture with all its complexities and seductive influence on the post-colonial African elites. The last stanza reveals the state of confusion such contact of Western and African culture has on the poet-speaker and others, who find it difficult to manage the complexities of the foreign culture. The poem is a free verse and the language is simple for an average reader.

MOOD: Considering the outburst of the poet-speaker, it is clear that the mood of the poem is that of sadness and disappointment in the characters of the elites of the post-independence Africa, who find it impossible to go back to their traditional cultural values due to their undue attachment to the Western culture.

TONE: The words of the poet-speaker reveal a tone of great helplessness in the face of two conflicting cultures.

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Comment on four major poetic devices employed in the poem, ‘Piano and Drums‘ by Gabriel Okara.
2. Comment on the mood and tone of the poem, ‘Piano and Drums‘ by Gabriel Okara.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

1. A deliberate violation of the rules of versification constitutes (a) imperfect rhyme (b)poetic license (c) verbal irony (d) comic relief
2. “A black beautiful brilliant bride” is an example of (a) pun (b) alliteration (c) assonance (d) onomatopoeia
3. The paragraph in prose can be compared to ____ in poetry (a) couplet (b) line (c) stanza (d) verse
4. The juxtaposition of two seemingly contradictory words is (a) contrast (b) anti – climax (c) oxymoron (d) antithesis
5. ____ is a play written for television (a) Televista (b) Teledramatic (c) Teleplay (d) Tele – theater.

THEORY

1. Comment on the use of symbolism and imagery in the poem, ‘Piano and Drums‘.
2. The poem, ‘Piano and Drums‘ comments on the attitude of the Nigerian post-independence elites. Discuss.