The Wandering Minstrel in Contemporary Nigerian Literature: A Study of Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo and Ezenwa-Ohaeto’s Poetry

Abstract

The art of minstrelsy is very prevalent in traditional African society. Minstrels abound in these societies and they are mostly regarded as singers, musicians or reciters of poems. They are notable for their itinerant nature which makes them familiar with the goings on in their immediate societies. Even with the transition of most African societies from oral to written culture as a result of colonialism which introduced the Western system of education in Africa, the activities of these minstrels have not ebbed. Instead, it has found renewed expression on the pages of the collection(s) of poetry of contemporary Nigerian and by extension, African poets. This paper studied two collections of poetry of the poets under study; Akachi-Adimora-Ezeigbo’s Heart Songs and Waiting for Dawn and Ezenwa- Ohaeto’s The Voice of the Night Masquerade and The Chants of a Minstrel. It employed Formalism (New Criticism) theory in the analysis of these works. This paper showed that Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo writes from the angle of a wandering minstrel which affords her the opportunity to permeate different segments of her society. Ezenwa-Ohaeto on the other hand employed, not only the masquerade minstrel personae in his collection of poetry, The Voice of the Night Masquerade but equally structured the work on the circular movement associated with the entrance and exit of the Night masquerade. Also, he equally writes The Chants of a Minstrel from the angle of the mad man and itinerant minstrel persona. The research concludes on the note that these contemporary Nigerian poets studied have succeeded in continuing the art of minstrelsy prevalent in their cultural milieu even as they incorporate their wandering/itinerant nature in their works.