Kwara State University
Saeedat ALIYU
Designation: Senior Lecturer
Department: Linguistics African and European Languages
| My Publications | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S/N | Title | Abstract | Authors | Volume Numbers | Publication Type | Publication Date | Link | |
| 1 | Aesthetics of place in contemporary Nigerian poetry: An ecocritical reading of Joe Ushie’s Hill Songs |
Abstract Depicting landscapes and locations in creative writings have been a dynamic and recurrent feature of literary art across periods and climes. The concept of ‘Place’ has provided creative material for writers to reflect upon their home or birthplace. It has also been used in reverence to nature as muse and also to explore socio-political and economic concerns as they affect the people. Contemporary poets from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria’s South-South geo-political zone are now moving away from merely deploying nature and its tropes in their works as tribute to a muse or as indication of their connection to their places of origin. Their works now reflect a conscious use of the concept as anchor for larger and wider concerns; poetry about place is now being used to reflect the implications of industrialisation and capitalism on both the environment and the people. Adopting the theoretical framework of Ecocriticism which underscores literary works commitment to the natural world, this paper analyses Joe Ushie’s Hill Songs and maintains that the contemporary poet’s usage of nature tropes reflects greater commitment to the protection of the environment and increased socio-political and economic conditions for the masses than before. KEYWORDS: place, nature, poetry, ecocriticism, Niger Delta, Joe Ushie | Aliyu, S.B. | Issue 5, June, 2013.142-149. ISSN: 2251-0095 | Journal of the Literary Society of Nigeria (JSLN) | 2013-01-01 | ||