Versifying Dark History and the Quest for National Rebirth in Selected Poems of Odia Ofeimun

Abstract

It is not uncommon to find critical discussions on poetry and its evolution in Nigeria focusing on the two broad issues of aesthetics and value. After matters of aesthetics had become very prominent in the renditions of critics like Chinweizu and his friends as they responded to the pioneer poetry of Nigerian poets like Gabriel Okara, Wole Soyinka and John Pepper Clark, the concern for social value of poetry had since taken the space of poetry criticism in Nigeria. The Nigeria civil war was a watershed that brought poets, now known as second generation poets, who placed more concern on social issues. Odia Ofeimun is always associated with this second generation which has used poetry to raise issues of national concerns. However, the poets in this generation have only focused on the dilemma of leadership, which indeed is problem but have shown little effort at mobilizing the masses for change. This paper, using Ofeimun’s selected poems, engages his interventions on the Nigerian situation across the decades. The postcolonial thrust of this paper illuminates on the recurring issues in the Nigerian nation that have become subject of the poet’s tropes. The conclusion of the paper recognizes the dogged hope the poet has in the survival of the Nigerian state but wonders if the poet’s hope is not dimmed on account of the irresponsiveness of his audience to his musings over the decades.