ORATURE IN THE POETRY OF SELECTED FRANCOPHONE WEST AFRICAN NEGRITUDE POETS

Abstract

Orature, a literature that is oral, is evident in African poetry, including that of Francophone West African Negritude poets. Previous studies on West African Francophone poetry focused on form, content and style with little attention paid to elements of orature in the poems. This study was therefore, designed to examine features of orature in the selected poems of Negritude poets, with a view to determining the literary features of orature and their implications for Francophone African society. Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial postulations on cultural hybridity served as the framework, while the interpretive design was used. Four Negritude poets were examined: Leopold Sedar Senghor, from the collections Oeuvre poétique (OP), Birago Diop Leurres et lueurs (LL), David Diop Coup de pilon (CP); and Bernard Dadié Hommes de tous les continents (HC) were purposively selected based on their thematic relevance. The data were subjected to literary analysis. Four features were deployed across the selected poems and categorised as: Figurative expressions, Sound devices, Code-mixing and Code-switching. Figurative expressions common to the poems that are related to orality include, apostrophe and metaphor, among others. The apostrophic expression is used to recall African religious chants, eulogise individuals and invoke the forces of nature. Apt metaphor is found in “Les Vautours” (CP), “Vanité” (LL) “sèche tes pleurs, Afrique” (HC) and “Femme Noire” (OP). The metaphorical expression in “Les Vautours” (OP) describes the European Missionaries as vultures who came to exploit Africans. Allegorical metaphor is displayed in “Vanité” (LL); it demonstrates the wickedness of the Whites to the Blacks. Sound devices that manifest in the poems include chant, song, incantation and initiation rites. Chant runs across all the poems; it appears in “Chant des rameurs” (LL). Song also manifests in “Le Tam-tam” (CP), lncantation and initiation rites are displayed in “incantation” (LL) and “Chant de l’initié” (OP). Code-mixing involves intra-sentential and extra-sentential expressions. Intra-sentential code-mixing is deployed in Oeuvre Poetique (OP) in “Lettre a un prisonnier” where French and Wolof language are being code-mixed “Ngom! Champion de Tyané” while extra-sentential code-mixing is employed in CP in the poem “Rama-Kam” where French and Wolof are combined many times: “Le Tam-tam Rama-Kam, le Tam-tam tendu comme un sexe de victoire”. Codeswitching involves English and French inter-sentential expressions in CP particularly in “Le temps du Martyre”, “Hé boy, un Berger, une serviette, de l’eau!”. Linguistic varieties in the poems are used to frame African identity. The selected Francophone African Negritude poets deploy features of Orature to promote African unity and an identity that provide convergence for both oral tradition and written orality.