Contemporary Nigerian Poetry in English: Context and Form

Abstract

The importance of contemporary Nigerian poetry in English does not lie merely in its consideration as a point of historical construct within the conceptual framework of modern Nigerian poetry, rather, it must be construed more significantly vital as a social credo of poetic engagement, set apart, for instance, from the self-reflexive indulgent attitude of the earliest Nigerian poetry of modern era. Consequently, this paper aims at examining and determining through systematic outlay, firstly, if the expressive character of poetry purely must be a verbal act with strictly aesthetic function or, a functional statement of a social act. From that foothold, this paper proceeds to specifically examine by theoretical application, the Nigerian poetic instance in order to establish a possible conceptual framework for the poetry written by contemporary Nigerian poets.

Keywords: Poetry, Nigerian, Contemporary, Verbal Act, Social Act