THE POET AND HIS ANCESTORS: A STUDY OF SELECTED AFRICAN POEMS

Abstract

The notion of the ancestors is a reoccurring index amongst adherents of traditional religious worship. Some poets of African descent have however used the ancestral motif to craft excellent poeticized narratives. These poets in their poems have exalted the ancestors to levels of eminence. This paper traces the relevance of the ancestors in the cosmology of the cultural and religious milieu of the African people. It discusses the use of the ancestral theme in Kofi Awonoor’s “Songs of Sorrow I and IIâ€, Birago Diop’s “Vanity†and “Viaticum†and Kwesi Brew’s “Ancestral Facesâ€. The Magical Realism literary theory is in tandem with the sentiments expressed in these poems. The views of these poets tally with the pre-eminent status the traditional religious believers confer on the ancestors.