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.
