English Language Learning and Development of Teen Poetry in Contemporary Nigeria

Abstract

It is a known fact that English Language is Nigeria’s official language. As such, it is the language of administration, banking, commerce, education, inter-cultural interaction and a host of other sectors. It is strong in education in that it is the language of teaching and learning at all levels of education, including the secondary school (level) where we have the bulk of teenagers. In most schools in the country, their ability to express themselves in poetic form has developed poetry writing in Nigeria to a level that is fast becoming comparable to that of experienced adult poets. Adopting the conventional literary analysis method, the paper examines several poems in Beyond Limits and discovers that the teen poets in Nigeria have developed appreciably contemporary themes of poverty, environmental degradation, man’s inhumanity to man, patriotism, hopelessness as well as myriad of others which they handle with cheering dexterity. The poems are rich in commendable musicality, impressive symbolisms, appropriate figures of speech as well as good diction. Going by the depth of richness of the themes as well as poetic and linguistic devices, the paper concludes that some contemporary Nigerian teen students have adequately learnt the English Language and have hitherto used it for the development of teenage poetry in contemporary Nigeria.

Key words: Language Teaching and Learning, Poetry, Teenagers