Poetry Evolution in Nigeria

Overview

Nigeria, the most populated nation in Africa, is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual Country. It is created up of ethnic nationalities like: Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, Efik, Ibibio, Bini, Nupe, Igala, Urhobo, Itsekiri, to mention a handful of, every single with its particular language. The nation's multi-ethnic and multi-lingual nature engenders an equally multi-cultural setting. Nigeria's cultural diversity come across expressions in the literary and artistic endeavours of her peoples, namely: poetry, prose, painting, music, sculpture, drama, dance, and so forth.

Pre-Colonial Poetry

Poetry as an art kind has undergone evolution from pre-colonial to colonial and then to post-colonial and modern eras in Nigeria. Poetry in the pre-colonial era was unwritten. There existed a thin line involving poets and musicians, who composed and rendered poetry in musical kind. Poets then like Mazi Oparan'aku Onyeukwu(author's grandfather), of Umude Avuvu in the present day Ikeduru regional Government Location of Imo State Nigeria, whose nocturnal poetry renditions earned him the nickname "Obe na abali" which means "the nocturnal voice", published their performs in type of renditions at funerals, marriage ceremonies, and so forth. Poets then have been also prominent in boosting the morale of tribal warriors, as properly as composing verses for use by diviners like the Ifa priests of the Yoruba race. Their presence in palaces had been also thought of as a paraphernalia of royalty. Poetry themes then consisted in praising virtues and condemning vices in the then compressed society. One function of pre-colonial Nigerian poetry that is lacking in other eras is its spiritual leaning. Poets in that era had affinities with deities worshipped in their cultures. In most pre-colonial Nigerian cultures, poets had been thought of anointed mouthpieces of deities and are accorded recognition as quasi-priests. Exceptional also is the resilience of the (oral) poetry of this era which nevertheless come across expressions in the functions of contemporary day Nigerian scholars of oral literature like Professor Wande Abimbola.

Colonial Poetry

The introduction of western style education in Nigeria by the colonial missionaries, radically changed the shape of poetry, this generation of Nigerian poets, like; Wole Soyinka, John Pepper-Clark, Christopher Okigbo, Gabriel Okara, et al, getting acquired western education, published their poems in book kind and rendered them in radio and tv stations and on the stages of semi- contemporary theatres. The themes nevertheless, centered primarily on fighting colonialism, which was viewed as a vice. Poetry themes throughout the colonial era tended towards academic, resulting into a tendency to weave the poetry of that era to appeal principally to members of the academia. The polarization of international political economy into capitalism and socialism also impacted the themes of colonial era Nigerian poets, most of whom have been educated in Europe and America. The impact of this polarization will much better be appreciated Although the performs of Nigerian poets of this era are assessed.

Post-Colonial Poetry

By the end of colonialism, poets in post-colonial Nigeria, now exposed to technological education, drastically changed the style and themes of poetry writing and rendition. Compressing Nigerian poetry themes in the post-colonial era into specific moulds is somehow tough. This is since of the emergence of different socio-financial, political and cultural tendencies which poets of this era need to appeal to. Even in the midst of this dilemma, post-colonial era Nigerian poets like Niyi Osundare, Onwuchekwa Jemie, Chari Ada Onwu, et al, managed to concentrate on socially, politically and culturally relevant themes.

Modern Poetry

Modern Nigerian poets like: Obi Nwakanma, Odia Ofeimun, Chidi Anthony Opara, Ogaga Ifowodo, Maik Nwosu, Sola Osofisan, et al, publish primarily on the World wide web and render their poems with sophisticated audio-visual instruments by way of equally sophisticated audio-visual broadcast channels and on stages of ultra-contemporary theatres. One of the main challenges faced by Nigerian poets of this era is the inability and/or reluctance on the components of literary critics, who need to typically be the fulcrum of qualitative literary craftmanship to upgrade their personal expertise to meet the challenges of literary productions in an Web age. Yet another big dilemma is the erroneous belief in modern Nigeria that Poetry is only an intellectual workout, whose entertainment content material need to not be emphasized. Even though modern Poets in other components of the planet are exploiting this entertainment aspect to boost themselves and their societies, professionally, economically, politically, socially and culturally, modern Nigerian Poets nevertheless view their craft from an erroneous prism of poetry getting only an intellectual physical exercise, with its attendant professional, financial, political, social and cultural consequences. World wide web poetry publishing has nevertheless, contributed largely to the collapse of poetry hegemonies formed along Ibadan-Ife-Lagos and Nsukka-Enugu-Owerri literary axis respectively, promptly immediately after the Nigerian civil war.