Representing Ethnicity of Yoruba Tradition: A study on Select Poems of Niyi Osundare

This paper studies the representation of Yoruba tradition in the poetry collection Songs of the Market Place by Niyi Osundare. It examines how the poet’s deployment of proverbial lore and folksongs in his poetry. As the oral traditional performance, his poetry employs rich Yoruba and literary devices such as the usage of repetitions such a way that Osundare’s poetic style is unique. Osundare’s poetic style is infused with the experimentation in language, usage of Yoruba words and proverbs. African literature, especially poetry can be considered as the byproduct of Africa’s historical experiences, It encourages the dynamic cultural varieties prevailed in African society. The usage of traditional African literary and musical elements that attractive to ordinary people evokes cultural associations among the readers. In the paper titled “Representing Ethnology of Yoruba tradition: A Study on Select poems of Niyi Osundare discusses the use of indigenous Yoruba concepts found in the texts.