ABSTRACT
Literary scholars believed that literature serves as one of the viable tools for transforming and liberating the society from it ills. This study however attempted to investigate the socio-political motifs in Niyi Osundare’s the Eye of the Earth and Village voices. The researcher applied the Marxist theory in order to have a clearer and better understanding of the two works. Based on the findings, it has been discovered that there is no work of art written in vacuum. They are meant to reform, transform, and revolutionize the society. In another dimension, it has been discovered that revolutionary writers are readily identified with the masses most especially the unprivileged. The study showed that art is inevitable in any human society. This work therefore portrayed Niyi Osundare a poet that used poetry to advocate for the masses.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract vi
Table of contents vii
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction 1 – 3
1.1 Purpose of the study 4
1.2 Justification 4 -5
1.3 Scope of the study 5
1.4 Methodology 5
1.5 Biography of the Author 5 – 6
REFERENCES 7
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Introduction 8
2.1 The Concept of Marxism 8 - 12
2.2 Review of Class in a Marxist Concept 12 – 17
2.3 A Critique on Osundare’s Works18 – 20
REFERENCE21 – 23
CHAPTER THREE: Socio-Political Motifs In The Eye of the Earth
3.0 Introduction 24 - 25
3.1 The Theme of Economical Wastage 25 - 28
3.2 The Theme of Class Division or Stratification 28 - 29
3.3 The Theme of Oppression of the Black 30 - 31
3.4 The Theme of Hope on the Fertility of the Land 32 - 34
REFERENCE 35
CHAPTER FOUR: Socio-political Motifs In Village Voices
4.0 Introduction 36
4.1 The Theme of Inequality 37 – 40
4.2 The Theme of Unfulfilled Promises 41 – 45
REFERENCE 46
CHAPTER FIVE
Summary 47
Findings 47 – 48
Conclusion 48
Bibliography 48 – 52
INTRODUCTION
Political sociology is the study of relations between state and society. The discipline draws on comparative history to analyze socio-political trends. There are four main areas of research focus in contemporary political sociology: The socio-political formation of the modern state, who rules? How social inequality between groups (class, race, gender etc) influences politics. How public personalities, social movements and trends outside of the formal institutions of political power affect politics and power relationships within and between social groups.
What is motif? A motif in English literature is a recurrent image, idea or theme. An author may use an object, a color or an emotion as a motif to enhance the story she is trying to tell. While people often may consider motif relics of antiquated writing, they are prevalent in books, as well as plays and poems. If something recurs in story, you can argue that if it is a motif. A motif may appear in literature as an image. This can include such images as animals, money, plants and sunlight. Writer can choose from a range of possibilities. For instance, William Golding’s “Lord of the flies” features a Couch shell as a central image. A motif is not always fungible. It can also include such abstracts as emotions and ideas. For instance, a power struggle is an abstract motif.
However, this work is being embarked on through poetry which is one of the genres of literature. Poetry as a genre of literature is a creative and also a universal means of communicating the emotional, spiritual, social, political or intellectual concerns of mankind. Poetry also deals with the experience of a poet with special techniques such as meter, rhyme and verses stanzas. A poem is also a piece of writing in any form which manifest throughout and in its unity, the quality of poetry
A poet as social critic develops in one or two fundamentally opposed directions. He may see himself as an upholder or a civilized valve which lies in the future. As it is well known, a number of modern poets were strongly attracted to the kind of reactionary politic whose most extreme form is fascism. Others committed themselves in progress politics, socialism and Marxism. What they had in common was disaffection with the present, and it was this that more than anything to define both the content and the formal consideration of what is usually thought of as modern poetry.
Niyi Osundare is one of the fecund poets that have written in Africa today. A Nigerian, of Yoruba extraction, his poetry is richly colored by common expressions of traditional life (like proverb and songs) which reflects the worldview of his people. Besides, his poetry is an accessible because in it he assumes the voice of the unlettered peasants and villagers who speak plain without feigning sophistication. His themes are many and varied they range from a preoccupation with the poor and downtrodden in the society to an engagement with African’s socio-political problems and a revolutionary vision that will bring about a new Africa. In all these, Osundare’s is not blind to his physical environment. In fact, most of Osundare’s poetry dwells on the impoverishment and decay of the rural communities. His fourth collection of poetry, The Eye of the Earth is entirely devoted to Mother-Earth and other forms of physical nation.