Versifying History and National Trauma in Tanure Ojaide’s The Endless Song

Onwuka, Edwin and Uba, Emmanuel and Fortress, Isaiah A. (2019) Versifying History and National Trauma in Tanure Ojaide’s The Endless Song. SAGE Open. pp. 1-9.

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Abstract

The symbiotic relationship between literature and history is most visible in the writer’s deployment of his or her art to document experiences of the past and their impacts on the feelings and well-being of his or her people in the periods represented in the work(s). This article explores the historical content and significance of Tanure Ojaide’s The Endless Song from a new historical perspective. Most studies on Ojaide’s poetry often focus on his critique of bad leadership and his denunciation of exploitation and pillaging of Nigeria’s Niger Delta region with little attention paid to his poems as history in verse form. This article therefore contributes to criticism on the interface between literature and history. This study further highlights significant motifs in Nigeria’s history in the periods documented in The Endless Song and analyses the traumatic impacts of the events on the well-being of Nigeria and her people. These are aimed at showing that Ojaide’s The Endless Song is more than an outcry against the plundering of the Niger Delta region; it represents the spatiotemporal record of Nigeria’s turbulent history.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Tanure Ojaide, Nigerian poetry, history, national trauma, literary criticism
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PE English P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Mrs Patricia Nwokealisi
Date Deposited:	14 Jun 2021 12:47
Last Modified:	14 Jun 2021 12:47
URI:	http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/id/eprint/14457

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