KOLA EKE

The purpose of the Abstract. This study seeks to examine the poetry of Dennis Brutus from differing perspectives.
To be specific, the study focuses not just on the depiction of South African predicament under the claws of Apartheid regime but looks at the ways and means with which the black South Africans are to tackle racial discrimination. We have adopted the qualitative approach of this study. By so doing we have looked at some critical writings on Brutus's poetry both past and present. There is no doubt that much has been written on Brutus's poetry. However, our study presents distinct themes from other critical writers. Consequent upon this, the study attempts a tripartite approach to the study of Brutus's poems. It is observed that one of the solutions to the hydra-headed problem of Apartheid is tenderness. Besides, the poet also encourages the victims to embrace the virtue of hope. And lastly, he advises black victims to be prayerful.

In the poem “Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol” by Okot p’Bitek, there are three important characters who show how different cultures clash and change after colonization in Africa.
Lawino represents African culture. She lives in the traditional African way, doing things the Acoli people do, and she really loves African traditions. She strongly believes in keeping African culture alive and doesn’t like Western influences. Through her character, we see how African traditions can stay strong even when other cultures try to change them.
Ocol, on the other hand, symbolizes Western culture. He rejects his African identity and prefers Western values. He even changes his name to a European one and abandons African beliefs and customs. Ocol doesn’t like African traditions like dances and food; he wants Africa to be more like the West.
This creates a conflict between African ways and Western ideas. Clementine is a character who represents the loss of African identity. She chooses a European name and prefers to speak English instead of her African language. She tries to look like a white woman by using things like skin bleaching and hair straightening. This shows us how African identity can fade away because of Western influences.
All three characters in the poem help us understand how African and Western cultures mix and sometimes clash after colonization. They show us the challenges people face when they want to preserve their culture but also get influenced by the West.

This study looks at how satire points out social issues in Niyi Osundare’s poetry collections entitled Village Voices and Songs of the Marketplace. It also illustrates how satire enhances the poet’s functional status as critic of the social, political, cultural, religious and educational facets of the Nigerian nation. The two collections were closely read and qualitatively analysed through the use of the theoretical framework of New Historicism developed by Stephen Greenblatt. The study shows that, through the employment of satire in Village Voices and Songs of the Marketplace, Osundare criticizes the political hypocrisy, educational decay and societal negligence ravaging the Nigerian nation and also uses his poetry to express hope in having a classless society that treats all human beings equally, with all the barriers of wealth, class, rank and ambition displaced for the good of humanity