The Essentials of Niyi Osundare's Poetry

In any serious discussion of contemporary Nigerian (African) poetry, the name of Niyi Osundare usually features prominently. This prominence is due in large part to his championing of an orally-informed, mass-oriented performance poetry, a unique poetic style described by African scholars as the “Alter/native Tradition” in contemporary post-colonial poetry. Not surprisingly, therefore, a burgeoning tribe of “singers” and poets has risen in Osundare’s wake, thus, invariably universalizing the distinctive stylistic/rhetorical hallmarks of his poetry. This short piece is an attempt to examine and evaluate the core features of Niyi Osundare’s verse