TECHNIQUES AND SOCIO-AESTHETIC CONFIGURATION IN REMI RAJI’S POETRY

Abstract

Techniques in poetry are essential vehicles that convey the striking messages of the poet to the readers. Such messages, nevertheless, are the end products of realistic representation of various happenings that are mostly evident in society, upon which the poet and his creative works are rooted in. It is against this backdrop that this paper sets to carry out a sociological reading of the poetic techniques in Remi Raji’s poetry. Through a purposive sampling method, this paper selects thirteen poems from four out of the total six published poetry collections of the aforementioned poet which include: A Harvest of Laughters (1997), Webs of Remembrance (2001), Gather my blood rivers of Song (2009) and Sea of my Mind (2013). On the premise of qualitative analysis, this paper reveals that there are good deployments of various poetic techniques which project musicality, free flow of thoughts and creation of imagery through figurative devices in the studied poems. This paper further reveals that the poetic interest of the poet is predicated on the oppressive structures which are against the social wellbeing of the hapless masses in society. Drawing strength from these findings, this paper strongly concludes that the embellished poetic techniques in the studied poems are distinctive channels through which the socio-political messages of the poet are conveyed to the target readers or audience.