A STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF SOME

SELECTED POEMS OF WOLE

SOYINKA

AGEMO, OLUWATOSIN STELLA

07/15CD026

AN ESSAY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF
BACHELOR OF ARTS (HONS) IN ENGLISH

TO

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, FACULTY OF ARTS,

UNIVERSITY OF ILORIN, ILORIN.

MAY, 2011.
 CERTIFICATION

This essay has been read and approved as meeting part of the requirements

for the award of a Bachelor of Arts Degree (Hons.) in the Department of English

of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Ilorin.

Supervisor Date

Head of Department Date

External Examiner Date

ii
 DEDICATION

This project work is dedicated to the Almighty God, the everlasting

Father who has been my help from ages and will continue to be and has

made the journey in this citadel of learning a success.

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With my whole heart, I express my immense gratitude and

appreciation to the Almighty God, who in His infinite mercy saw me

through to this present time and made this dream a reality.

My profound and unreserved gratitude also goes to my able

supervisor, Dr. (Mrs.) O. C. Medubi who guided and put me through in the

course of writing. Her co-operation and effort towards the success of this

long essay is immeasurable.

I give thanks also to my dear parents, Pastor and Mrs. Z. O. Agemo,

for the parental love and advice given and shown to me in the course of my

study from the elementary level to this time. You are great. I pray you shall

live to eat the fruit of your labour in Jesus Name. Amen. My siblings the

Omegas in person of Sis. Yemi, Niyi and Toba Agemo: you are wonderful.

Your concern has contributed a lot to the success of this work.

I cannot but appreciate my uncle, Elder E. O. Agemo, a daddy

indeed, Pastor ‘Dayo Oluwamakin & his wife Mrs. Oluwamakin and my

sweet cousins especially the sure sis. Kemi Agemo for her caring attitude;

iv
to Mr. Niyi Adesiyan, I use this medium to say a big thank you, God will

continue to increase you in Jesus Name. Thank you so much.

My friends’ contribution cannot be left out. Eunice Abajo, Ann

Akinboyewa, Funmi Balogun; My colleagues, Tunmise, Solomon,

Abdulsalam and to my school sisters, Mariam and Sandra, I am so grateful

to you all.

I will be an ingrate if I do not acknowledge my ever sparkling Uncle

Osho and Mummy Mushab who during my stay in Ilorin took me as their

sister. You are all wonderful. Thank you all.

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 ABSTRACT

Language and style never moves beyond a concentration on the

supremacy of words. These words somehow contain meanings style is
effectively language manipulated in ways that signal it as different from
‘ordinary’ language. A stylistic analysis of the selection of some Wole
Soyinka’s poems is carried out to educate, explicate and expose to
everybody that comes across this write up, in guiding them on how to
analyse. The data used to illustrate and substantiate our claims are
systematically sourced from some selected poems of Wole Soyinka. The
lexico-syntactic patterns and choices, the phonological, morphological and
graphological devices are the main stylistic elements used to prove our
claims. Finally, we find that each of the elements however, has identifiable
functions which contribute to the effective meaning of the poems. It can
therefore be concluded that these elements trigger and play important roles
in passing the intention of the writer across.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents Page

Title Page i

Certification ii

Dedication iii

Acknowledgement iv

Abstract vi

Table of Contents viii

CHAPTER ONE : GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Research Problem 2

1.2 Aims and Objectives 3

1.3 Scope of the Study 3

1.4 Justification 3

1.5 Research Methodology 4

1.6 Biography of the Poet 4

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REWIEW

2.0 Introduction 6

2.1 Style 6

2.2 Stylistics 8

2.3 Approaches to Stylistic Analysis 12

2.4 Levels of Stylistic Analysis 15

2.5 Elements in Stylistic Analysis 17

2.5.1 Lexico-Syntactic Patterns 17

2.5.2 Lexico-Syntactic Choices 18

2.5.3 Phonological Devices 20

2.5.4 Graphological Devices 21

2.5.5 Morphological Devices 21

CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS

3.0 Introduction 23

3.1 Textual Analysis 23

3.2 Discussion of Tables 44

3.3 Conclusion 44

viii
CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY,FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

4.1 Summary 46

4.2 Findings 47

4.3 Conclusion 48

Bibliography 49

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 CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Stylistics is a word derived from style; it is a discipline which studies

different styles. It can refer to the study of proper use of words or language in

proper places. Widdowson (1975, p 3) defines stylistics as “the study of literary

discourse from a linguistic orientation”. He goes further by saying that what

distinguishes stylistics from literary criticism on the one hand, and linguistics on

the other, is that it is essentially a means of linking the two and has (as yet at

least) no autonomous domain of its own. He also added that stylistics, however

involves both literary criticism and linguistics, as its morphological make-up

suggest: the ‘style’ component relating it to the former and the ‘istics’ component

to the latter. Style has grown to mean so many things to so many people today.

Carter (1989, p 14) is of the view that it is generally recognized that the style of a

work can depend on linguistic levels-often simultaneously and that one fairly

crucial factor is our expectation concerning the literary form or genre employed.

Haynes (1989, p 3) believes that the study of style is the study of

distinctions: looking at what was said against what might have been said. Style is

almost synonymous with variety. Style refers in a simple way to the manner of

expression which differs according to the various contexts.

1
 Style, being a versatile field, is defined depending on one’s field of study.

Adejare (1992) makes this clear when he said that style is an ambiguous term.

Lawal (1997, p 6) however, describes style as an aspect of language that deals

with choices of diction, phrases, sentences and linguistic materials that are

consistent and harmonious with the subject matter. He added that it involves the

narrative technique of a writer in terms of choice and distribution of words and

character. Lawal (1997, p 6) also added that it may be reckoned in terms of the

sociolinguistic contexts and it may also be reckoned or analysed on linguistic,

semantic and even semiotic terms.

1.1 RESEARCH PROBLEM

This research notes that the stylistic analysis of this selection of poems has

not been done so this research will address itself to analyzing these poems

stylistically and examining the uniqueness of stylistics as it combines both

linguistics and literary studies as it pertains to these poems. It is also addressing

itself to examining how words are put together in transferring of message to the

readers.

1.2 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The ultimate aim of this research is to explore ways in which language use

has been integrated in the selected poems. It is also aimed at analyzing some of

2
the distinctive features that give the selected poems their identity. This refers to

the recurrent features of stylistics employed by the writer.

In the same vein, this work will be concerned with striking and marked use

of words in these poems in order to enhance effective transfer of message. The

effects and functions of the stylistic elements as regards the poems will be looked

at in the analysis.

1.3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This work shall be exclusively stylistic, and analysis will be conducted

through the use of the following levels of analysis: lexico-syntactic patterns and

choices, phonology, graphology and morphology. Analysis will be conducted

using the stylistic elements in each of the above mentioned levels of analysis,

such that it could provide a guide and be relevant to future researchers in a related

field.

1.4 JUSTIFICATION

What fascinated the researcher into doing this work is the uniqueness of

stylistics as it combines both linguistics and literary studies. The choice of words

of Wole Soyinka marked by great scope and has also made the researcher to

embark on this project and to choose some of Wole Soyinka’s works as the data.

3
 This work will be of great benefit to those students in the field of language

and literature who also have interest in stylistics. It will also inspire them more on

how to analyse texts using the levels of stylistic analysis employed in this work.

1.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The data for analysis have been randomly selected from the “Selection of

African Poetry”- introduced and annotated by K. E. Senanu and T. Vincent. All

the poems of Wole Soyinka in the selection have been selected. The poems are

seven in number and they are ‘Abiku’, ‘To my first white hairs’ and ‘Post

mortem’ written in 1967. ‘Telephone conversation’ written in the 1960’s, ‘Night’

and ‘I think it rains’ written in 1988 and the seventh poem ‘Procession 1-hanging

day’ written in 1969. The poems will be analysed stylistically and the five levels

of analysis already mentioned will form the basis of the analysis.

1.6 BIOGRAPHY OF THE POET- WOLE SOYINKA

Wole Soyinka was born on 13 July, 1934 in Ake in Abeokuta, near Ibadan

in Western Nigeria. After preparatory University studies in 1954 at Government

College in Ibadan, he continued at the University of Leeds, where, later, in 1973,

he took his doctorate. He showed interest and ability in poetry and drama while in

the University.

Soyinka has published about 20 works: drama, novels and poetry. He

writes in English and his literary language is marked by great scope and richness
4
of words. His writings are sophisticated and show a profound exploration of

human themes and concerns through a unique exploration of his cultural milieu.

He has won many international prizes for his contribution to literature. He won

the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.

5
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 INTRODUCTION

There are divergent scholarly views on what stylistics means and what it

entails as opinions differ from scholar to scholar. Several ideas are discovered

although they are considered not to be too far from one another, varying

submissions on stylistics have been proved by critical studies to be of a similar

message but different voices. This chapter is aimed at reviewing related literature

as it pertains to stylistics.

2.1 STYLE

The concept of style has had a troubled history in the modern period both

within and outside literary study. It has commonly been argued that we use the

term ‘style’ without knowing its meaning. According to Leech (1969)

“style is the way in which something is spoken, written or performed” Narrowly

interpreted, it refers to word use, sentence structures and figures of speech. More

broadly , style is considered to be a manifestation of the person speaking or

writing. He further refers to ‘style’ as elocutio- a latin term which means style and

also means lexis in Greek. Elocutio is the style and diction of a language.

Leech and Short (1981, p. 10) believe that the word “style” has a fairly

uncontroversial meaning: it refers to the way in which language is used in a given

6
context, by a given person, for a given purpose, and so on. Birch (1989, p. 10)

says that language and style never moves beyond a concentration on the

supremacy of words; he believes firmly that these words somehow ‘contain’

meanings and is effectively language manipulated in ways that signal it as

different from ‘ordinary’ language.

Carter (1989, p. 14) cites that it is generally recognized that the style of a

work can depend on linguistic effects produced at a number of different linguistic

levels often simultaneously and that one fairly crucial factor is our expectations

concerning the literary form or genre employed. Leech and Short (1981:11)

believe also that “it is a selection from a total linguistic repertoire that constitutes

a style”. Style can be applied to both spoken and written, both literary and non-

literary varieties of language but by tradition, it is particularly associated with

written literary texts.

Leech and Short (1981, p.15) argue further that “the distinction between

what a writer has to say, and how it is presented to the reader, underlies one of the

earliest and most persistent concept of style: that of style as the “dress of

thought”. They add that although this metaphor of style as some kind of

“adornment” or “covering” of thought or meaning is no longer widely current, it

frequently appears in renaissance and rationalist pronouncements on style, and is

implicit.
7
 In this view, which prevailed throughout the Renaissance period, devices

of style can be catalogued. The essayist or orator is expected to frame his ideas

with the help of models, sentences and prescribed kinds of “figures” suitable to

his mode of discourse.

Oloruntoba-Oju (1999, p.127) believes that “style is almost synonymous

with variety; it refers in a simple way to the manner of expression, which differs

according to the various contexts”. He further added that stylistic variation may

be reckoned in terms of the sociolinguistic contexts producing the variation. For

instance, styles may differ according to place (e.g Western or African), time (e.g

Old English, new English, Classical Poetry, Modern Poetry etc), individuality (e.g

the style of Shakespeare, style of Soyinka) and modality (written, spoken,

complex, poetic, informal etc).

Style or stylistic variation may also be reckoned or analysed in linguistic

terms e.g sentence types, phonological elements, morphological variety, lexical

variety: rhetorical terms (e.g. figures of speech) semantic terms, and even

semiotic terms.

2.2 STYLISTICS

Many attempts have been made by different scholars to define stylistics.

To Freeman (1971, p.1) “stylistics, is a sub-discipline which started in the second

half of the 20th century”. It can be seen as a logical extension of moves within

8
literary criticism early in the 20th century to concentrate on studying texts, rather

than authors.

To Leech and Short (1981, p.13) “Stylistics is simply defined as the

(linguistic) study of style, is rarely undertaken for its own sake, simply as an

exercise in describing what use is made of language”. They are also of the view

that we normally study style because we want to explain something, and in

general, literary stylistics has, implicitly or explicitly, the goal of explaining the

relation between language and artistic function.

Short and Candlin (1989, p.183) are of the view that “stylistics is a

linguistic approach to the study of the literary texts. It thus embodies one essential

part of the general course - philosophy; that of combining language and literary

study”.

Widdowson (1975, p.3) defines stylistics as “the study of literary

discourse from a linguistic orientation”. He takes the view that what distinguishes

stylistics from literary criticism on the one hand and linguistics on the other is that

it is a means of linking the two. He also proposes that stylistics occupies the

middle ground between linguistics and literary criticism and its function is to

mediate between the two. In this role, its concerns necessarily overlap with those

of the two disciplines.

9
 Carter (1988, p.161) is of the same view with Widdowson. He also

believes that stylistics is essentially a bridge discipline between linguistics and

literature and there are always arguments about the design of the bridge, its

purpose, the nature of the materials and about the side it should be built from.

Stylistics, the study of the devices in languages (such as rhetorical figures

and syntactical patterns) that are considered to produce expressive or literary

style. Stylistics is therefore a field or study that combines both literary criticism

on the one hand and linguistics on the other as its morphological make-up

suggests: the ‘style’ component relating it to literary criticism and the ‘istics’

component to linguistics. Widdowson (1975, p.3) claims that stylistics can serve

as a means whereby literature and language as subjects can, by a process of

gradual approximation, move towards both linguistics and literary criticism, and

also a means whereby these disciplines can be pedagogically treated to yield

different subjects.

He further suggests that stylistics can provide for the progression of a

pupil from either language or literature towards either literary criticism or

linguistics. Carter (1988, p. 4) proposes that practical stylistics is a process of

literary text analysis which starts from a basic assumption that the primary

interpretative procedures used in the reading of a literary text are linguistic

procedures. He added that stylistics analysis can provide the means whereby the
10
study of literature can relate a piece of literary writing to his own experience of

language and so can extend that experience.

Carter (1988, p.10) sub-categorized it into 5 sections.

1. Linguistic Stylistics– In several respects, linguistic stylistics is the

purest form of stylistics in that its practitioners attempt to derive from

the study of style and language variation some refinement of models

for the analysis of language and thus contribute to the development of

linguistic theory.

2. Literary Stylistics– A distinguishing feature here is the provision of a

basis for fuller understanding, appreciation and interpretation of

avowedly literary texts. Although a precision of analysis mode

available by stylistic methods offers a challenge to established

methods of close reading or practical criticism of texts, the procedures

of literary stylistics remain traditional in character inspite of

developments in literary theory which challenge assumptions about the

role of language in depicting literary realities.

3. Style and Discourse – Work in stylistics within this category

acknowledges that style is not an exclusively literary phenomenon and

addresses itself to the description and characterization of stylistic

11
 effects in a wide range of discourse types. Fowler (1986) calls it

‘linguistic criticism’.

4. Pedagogical Stylistics – There are a number of issues deriving from

deep-rooted divisions between linguistic and literary critics but which

still require to be considered; which emerge in the context of debates

concerning the pedagogical relevance of stylistics.

5. Stylistics and the foreign language learner – Perhaps because questions

of language and learning are more widely addressed in the domain of

foreign language learning than in the no less important area of mother

tongue language development, issues of pedagogy in relation to

stylistics, literature and language study can be more easily surveyed.

However, there is a growing recognition that integration of language

and literature can be of mutual benefit in the context of foreign or

second language education and that a situation of literary education;

conducted by exposure to a canon of texts in English literature mainly

through a method of lecture may be in need of modification on a

number of counts.

2.3 APPROACHES TO STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

There are different approaches to the analysis of styles of texts i.e there are

various ways/perspectives from which we can account for the analysis of texts.
12
Lawal (1997) in his own view identifies these factors as “approaches” while

Babajide (2000) on his own part defines them as “concepts”. The two of them

however give similar points.

1. Style as personality/individuality – Style is a relational term: we talk

about ‘the style of x’ referring through ‘style’ to characteristics of

language use, and correlating these with some extralinguistic x…

Leech and Short (1981, p.11) believe that “traditionally, an intimate

connection has been seen between style and an author’s personality”.

Deriving largely from ‘idiolect’ – this largely prove that every

individual or person is unique in one way or the other.

2. Style as Choice from Variants – This approach is backed with the fact

that every phenomenon has many possible alternatives that form the

variants. It constitutes selection from a total linguistic repertoire. Each

individual has the right to choose from the available possibilities that

which is appropriate and fits in to his work. This approach is usually

prominent in paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations among linguistic

elements.

3. Style as deviation from the norm – Language is a behavior governed

by rules and norms. When something is done in a quite different way

from how it is usually done, then that is said to be a deviation from the
13
 norm. This is achieved by reconstruction from the structural resource

of language to extend the frontiers of current usages. This concept is

most common at both the lexical and the syntactic level and used

mostly for effective communication.

4. Style as situation or relationship between message and medium –

Language use does not occur in a vacuum, the message and medium

are always of importance. The medium can be formal or informal,

spoken or written and so on. Different language use is determined by

the different context of operation. In other words, there are variations

in language use. For example, the kind of language used in the court

room will be different from the one used in the classroom and so on.

By and large it is obvious that the concept of medium and message is

indispensable in stylistics.

5. Style as a temporal phenomenon – According to Babajide (2000) style

changes as nothing in life is static abreast of time. Therefore style can

be referred to as being old or new, in or out of vogue, modern or

ancient. There are features for certain periods, thus language style

changes according to time, and style is recognized by the predominant

features of the period. In the language world, there are Chaucerian and

classical time, differentiated by features. Old English, Middle English

14
 and Modern English periods, Elizabethan, Victorian and Renaissance

age with peculiar features (literary and linguistic).

Using any of these approaches explained above, stylistic analysis could be

conducted by means of the levels of analysis. We therefore explain briefly the

levels of stylistic analysis and the elements under them.

2.4 LEVELS OF STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

The levels of stylistics analysis are identified as:

1. Graphology: in the works of Crystal and Davy (1969, p.18) cited in Alabi

(2007, p.170) “Graphology is the analogous study of a languages writing system

or orthography as seen in the various kinds of handwriting or topography”. Leech

(1969, p.39) believes that graphology transcends orthography. “Its refers to the

whole writing system: punctuation and paragraphing as well as spacing”.

Alabi (2007, p.170) added that a graphological discussion of style among other

features entails the foregrounding of quotation marks, ellipses periods, hyphens,

contracted forms, special structures, the full stop, the colon, the comma, the

semicolon, the question mark, the dash, lower case letters, gothic and bold prints,

capitalization, small print, spacing, italics etc.

2. Phonology – Ofuya (2007, p.14) is of the view that “phonology describes

the ways in which speech sounds are organized in English into a system”. Lodge

(2009, p.8) believes that “phonology is the study of linguistic systems.

15
Specifically the way in which sound represents differences of meaning in a

language”. Phonology in stylistics usually deals with analyzing sound patterns in

a piece, the systemic use of sounds to form words and utterances in language.

Phonological devices are obtained through the repetition exhibited. For example

in rhyme elements, alliteration, consonance, assonance and phonaesthesia.

3. Morphology – Mark and Kirsten (2005, p.1) say “Morphology refers to

the mental system involved in word formation or to the branch of linguistics that

deals with words, their internal structure, and how they are formed”.

Morphological level of analysis is concerned with word formation processes

subjected to specific conditions and rules of the processes of affixation – the

prefix, suffix and the root words, coining, back formation etc.

4. Lexico-Syntax – This is a word formed by the combination of two

different words “Lexis” and “syntax”. Lexis is the total vocabularies that make up

a language or the body of words known and used by a particular person. Syntax,

According to Tallerman (1998, p.1) means ‘Sentence construction’: how words

group together to make phrases and sentences”. It is also used to mean the study

of the syntactic properties of languages; in this sense it is used in the same way as

we use ‘stylistics’ to mean the study of literary style.

Lexico-Syntactic patterns may be obtained through various means which

include unusual or inverted word order, omission of words and repetition.

16
Lexico-Syntactic choices are obtained through devices such as piling of usual

collocates, unusual collocates, archaic words, particular parts of speech,

metaphor, simile, oxymoron etc.

2.5 ELEMENTS IN STYLISTIC ANALYSIS

The elements under each of the levels of analysis mentioned above are discussed

briefly below.

2.5.1 Lexico-syntactic patterns include

1. Anastrophe – Alabi (2007, p.163) says ‘anastrophe is the inversion of the

natural or usual word order’. The use of anastrophe secures emphasis and focuses

the readers’/hearers’ attention.

2. Parenthesis – According to Alabi (2007, p.163) ‘ it entails the insertion of

some verbal unit (extra information, and after thought or a comment) in a position

that interrupts the normal syntactical glow of the sentence’.

3. Ellipsis – Alabi (2007, p. 163) cites that ‘ Ellipsis entails the deliberate

omission of a word or words, which are readily implied by the content: It is used

to create brevity reemphasis or ambiguity’.

4. Asyndeton – This is the deliberate omission of conjunctions between a

series of related clauses. Asyndeton produces a hurried rhythm in the sentence.

Corbett (1971, p.470) cites Aristotle’s observation that ‘asyndeton was especially

appropriate for the conclusion of a discourse, because there, perhaps more than in
17
other places in the discourse, we may want to produce the emotional reaction that

can be stirred by, among other means, rhythm’.

5. Anaphora – Alabi (2007, p.164) cites that ‘it entails the repetition of the

same word or phrase at the beginnings of successive stages of the chosen pattern’.

The repetition of the words helps to establish a marked rhythm in the sequence of

clauses, this scheme is usually reserved for those passages where the author wants

to produce a strong emotional effects.

6. Epizeuxis – According to Alabi (2007, p.165) repeats a word or phrase

without any break at all.

2.5.2 Lexico-syntactic choices include:

7. Pun- Alabi (2007, p.167) Is the genetic name for the figures which play

on words. It is a figurative expression in which a speaker plays on a word or

phrase to suggest double meanings. A speaker may also play on two or more

semantically different but orthographically or phonologically similar words to

construct a thought –provoking statement. It is often employed to display

linguistic process or verbal dexterity and ultimately entertain the audience.

8. Anthimeria – In the words of Alabi (2007, p.168) ‘this is the substitution

of one part of speech for another’. Employing a part of speech in a sentence or a

group of words instead of another.

18
9. Periphrasis (antonomasia) – Alabi (2007, p.168) says ‘This is the

substitution of a descriptive word or a phrase for a proper name or of a proper

name for a quality associated with the name’. It can also be described as an

expression in which a celebrated person, event or place is used to represent

another person, place or event as a result of a similar quality present in them.

10. Hyperbole – Alabi (2007, p.168) cites that ‘this is the use of exaggerated

words. a figurative expression in which a fact or a situation is blown out of

proportion’. It is an overstatement of a fact in the course of emphasizing it or as a

result of over enthusiasm for it. Hyperbole gives emphasis or produces humour.

11. Personification – This invests abstractions or inanimate object with

human qualities. In other words a quality associated with man is given to a non-

living phenomenon thereby making it look like a person. It is also called

prosopoeia and personification stirs the emotion. Alabi (2007, p.168).

12. Paradox – Alabi (2007, p.168) says ‘This is a seemingly contradictory

statement, which happens to be true’. Paradox is a kind of expanded oxymoron. It

is also an expression which is obviously absurd or unreasonable but will become

logical or reasonable on a closer look or a deeper thought.

13. Synecdoche – Alabi (2007, p.167) believes that this is the employment of

a part of the referent to stand for the whole or vice versa.

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14. Oxymoron – According to Alabi (2007, p.168) ‘This is a figure of speech

in which two contradicting words are placed side by side in a statement thereby

making it sound self contradicting. In other words oxymoron yokes two terms

which are ordinarily contradictory’.

15. Simile and Metaphor – Alabi (2007, p.167) believes that both the

metaphor and the simile are related to the topic of similarity, for although the

comparison is made between two words of unlike nature. Metaphor gives

clearness and liveliness to words.

16. Archaic or difficult words – Alabi (2007, p.166) says ‘This is used to

show level of education or social accomplishment, they are attention focusing.’

17. Synonyms, hypernyms/hyponyms are part of lexical means of achieving

cohesion in discourse. They are means of unifying the discourse.

18. Parts of Speech – The deliberate preponderant choice of particular parts of

speech in discourse sometimes give precise and accurate descriptions some seek

precision and intensify meaning. They are means of achieving cohesion in

discourse.

2.5.3 Phonological devices Include:

19. Rhyme elements – According to Abrams (1981, p.163), the Standard

English rhyme ‘consists in the identify, in rhyming words, of the last stressed

20
vowel and of all the speech sounds following that vowel’. End rhymes occur at

the end of a verse-line while internal rhymes occur within a verse-line.

20. Alliteration – This is generally taken to be the repetition of the initial

consonant in two or more adjacent words.

21. Consonance – Is a half rhyme in which final consonants are repeated but

with different preceding vowels.

22. Assonance - Is also a half rhyme realized by repeating the same (stressed)

vowel but with different final consonant in a sequence of nearby words.

23. Phonaesthesia (secondary onomatopoeia) are those sounds, which are felt

to be appropriate to the meaning of their words. The repetition of sounds of words

helps in linking related words to reinforce meaning. It provides tone and musical

colour and it aids memorability

2.5.4 Graphological Devices Include:

24. Punctuation – These are marks used in writing that divide sentences and

phrases. It is also the system of using the punctuation marks.

25. Paragraphing – Paragraph involve a section of a piece of writing, usually

consisting of several sentences dealing with a single subject. The first sentence of

a paragraph starts on a new line.

21
2.5.5 Morphological devices Include:

26. Compounding – In the works of Osundare (1983, p.28) cited on Alabi

(2007:166), he asserts that “Soyinka employs compounds in a way that boosts the

baffling compactness of his work”. What Soyinka collapses into compounds i.e

simple compounds. (Unhyphenated or hyphenated) or multiple compounds are

shown to be potentially longer expressions and structures.

27. Affixes – This is a process of forming new words by putting certain

morphemes before some words, while adding certain morphemes after some

others i.e. prefix and suffix respectively.

We have two popular types of morphological operations (affixation) in

English which are inflection and derivational. Inflected forms of English words

are variants of one and the same word inflecting a word does not necessarily

cause it to change its category. A derivational suffix is a morpheme that usually

changes the class of a word to which it is added.

28. Coinages – These are words created from existing word. It is a process of

forming new words through the already existing ones.

The above discussed elements will form the basis of the analysis in the next

chapter.

22
 CHAPTER THREE

DATA ANALYSIS

3.0 INTRODUCTION

As earlier stated, this chapter will provide a stylistic analysis of the

selected poems of Wole Soyinka. The lexico-syntactic patterns and choices,

phonological, graphological and morphological levels of analysis are going to

form the basis of the analysis.

3.1 TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

LEXICO –SYNTACTIC PATTERNS

Anastrophe- This is the inversion of word order. Examples are:

1. “In vain your bangles cast charmed circles at my feet” (Abiku).

2. “Where I crept, the warmth was cloying” (Abiku).

3. “In silence of webs, Abiku moans, …” (Abiku)

4. “Your hand is heavy, Night, upon my brow, and bear no heart mercuric

like the clouds” (Night).

5. “Caught I was, foully” (Telephone Conversation).

6. “Considerate she was, varying the emphasis” (Telephone Conversation).

In the above sentence, the arrangements of the words are changed. They

are not arranged in the natural order by the writer. In sentence 1 above, the writer

inverts the word order to show the intensity of the pride of Abiku that all efforts to
23
make him stay is in vain. In sentence 2 &3 , the poet also inverted the word order

to show the prowess of Abiku. Sentence 4 is to show how powerful the effects of

night is on him and in sentence 5, the intensity of the foolishness of the writer is

shown and in sentence 6 above, the sentence shows how considerate the woman is

varying the emphasis in Telephone Conversation. These elements are used by the

writer to secure emphasis and to focus the readers’/hearers’ attention.

Parenthesis

For examples

7. “Sensations pained me, faceless, silent as night thieves” (Night).

8. “I must hear none! These misted calls will yet undo me; naked, unbidden,

at Night’s muted birth (Night).

9. “… confluence of coarse cloud fleeces – my head sir! – scourbrush” ( To

my first white hairs).

10. “…Submit thesis dues, harnessed glory be! – in the

cold…” (Post mortem).

In the above sentences, the underlined words and phrases are inserted by

the writer in a way that interrupt the normal syntactical flow of the sentences.

They give additional information as a result of an afterthought or a comment.

Ellipsis

11. “Must I weep for goats and cowries

24
 For palm oil and sprinkled ask? (Abiku)

12. “I am the squirrel teeth, cracked

The riddle of the palm; remember” (Abiku)

13. “I saw your jealous eye quench the Sea’s

Flourescence, dance on the pulie incessant” (Night)

14. “Her accent was clinical, crushing in its light

Impersonality” (Telephone conversation).

15. “Let no man speak of justice, guilt” (Procession 1- hanging day).

16. “Knit me webs of winter sagehood, nightical, and the

“fungoid, Sequins of a crown”( To my first white hairs).

17. “Let us love all things of gray; grey slabs gray scapel

…grey images” (Post mortem)

In the above sentences i.e. sentences 11-17, there are some words or group

of words that are deliberately omitted or readily implied by the content. In

sentence 11 the words that are readily implied words are “I am”. Sentence 13’s

already implied words are “I saw your jealous eye”. In Sentences 14, 15, 16 and

17 the already implied words are “Her accent was”.., “Let no man speak of ..”,

“knit me webs of winter”, “let us love” respectively.

They avoid unnecessarily repetition and create brevity, emphasis or

ambiguity in words or even sentences.

25
Asyndeton

Examples are:

18. “Your hand is heavy. Night, upon my brow. I bear no heart mercuric like

the clouds, to dare Exacerbation from your subtle plough”. (Night).

19. “Of the waves. And I stood, drained submitting like the sand, blood and

brine, coursing to the roots. Night,. You rained (Night).

20.”I think it rains that tongues may loosen from the parch uncleave roof-tops of

the mouth, hang heavy with knowledge” (I think it rains).

Sentences 18-20 are examples of asyndeton, there are deliberate omissions of

conjunctions in the sentences, they tend to produce a hurried rhythm.

Epizeuxis

21. “Let us love all things of grey’, grey slabs (Post mortem).

Sentence 21 is an example of epizeuxis, the repetition of the same word without

any break at all, it is used to maintain a permanent effect on the reader/hearer and

also for emphasis.

Anaphora

Examples

22. “…Button B. Button A.” (Telephone Conversation)

23 “Red booth Red Pillar box. Red double-tiered”(Telephone Conversation)

24. “…Weave then, weave o quickly, weave..” ( To my first white hairs).

26
 In the above examples, there is the repetition of the same word at the

beginning of each sentence. In ‘22’ above ‘Button’ is repeated, in ‘23’ above

‘Red’ is repeated and in ‘24’ ‘Weave’ is repeated. The poet might have employed

this to create musicality.

LEXICO-SYNTACTIC CHOICES

Simile

Examples of simile are

25. “I bear no bear no heart mercuric like the clouds” (Night).

26. “Women as a clam on the sea’s cresent” (Night).

27. “Submitting like the sand, blood and brine” (Night).

28. “Sensations pained me, faceless, silent as night thieves” (Night).

29. “Sudden spring as corn stalk after rain…”(To my first white hairs)

30. “As lightning shrink to ant’s antenna” (To my first white hairs).

31. “Withdraw as all the living world”( Procession 1- hanging day).

Metaphor

Examples of Metaphor are:

32. “Your hand is heavy” (Night).

33. “Night, you rained-serrated shadows through dank leaves” (Night).

34. “I‘ll be the suppliant snake coiled on the doorstep” (Abiku).

27
 Both the metaphor and the simile are related to the topic of similarity for

although the comparison is made between two words of unlike nature there is

some respect in which they are similar. The poet compares his heart to the cloud

in Sentence 25, in sentence 26 he sees Night as a woman and he compares her to a

calm on the sea’s cresent, also in 27 above. In sentence 28, he compares his

sensations as night thieves, In sentence 29, he compares the springing up of his

first white hairs to the sudden springing up of corn stalk after rain, so also in 30

to an ant’s antenna. In sentence 30, he compares hanging to the withdrawal as all

the living world. They are used by the poet to give clearness and liveliness to

words. Simile uses ‘as’ or ‘like’ in its comparison while metaphor is a direct

comparison.

Anthimeria

Example

36. “Yams do not sprout amulets

To earth Abiku is limbs”(Abiku).

In the above sentence, the word ‘earth’ which is a noun is used as a verb

by the poet. He uses it to communicate effectively with its readers and the

meaning of the word as it is used in the poem is easily understood.

Periphrasis (antonomasia)

Example
28
37. The god’s swollen foot” (Abiku).

The above sentence is used and substituted as a descriptive phrase for

‘land’ or ‘earth’. The writer has used this to show the similar quality present in

them and it is also a mild way of referring to and describing it.

Hyperbole

Examples are

38. “The ground is wet with mourning” (Abiku).

39. “I saw your jealous eye quench the sea’s Fluorescence, dance on the

pulse incessant” (Night).

40. “And I stood, drained submitting like the sand,

Blood and brine coursing to the roots” (Night).

41. “Palm of my hand,… are a peroxide blonde…”( Telephone Conversation).

In sentences 38-41 above, the underlined groups of words show

exaggeration. In sentence 38 for instance “wet with mourning” is exaggerated in

the sense that tears that will roll down the eyes when mourning cannot wet the

ground. The poet has used these groups of words to show emphasis and to

produce humour. He has also done this to give the readers’ hint on the extent to

which the events have happened.

Litotes

Examples
29
42. “In the cold hand of death”(Post mortem)

43. “His flesh confesses what has stilled”(Post mortem)

44. “In a peace of blindness” ( Procession 1- hanging day).

45. “What may I tell you of the fire Bell-ringers on the ropes to climes of

silence?”(Procession 1-hanging day).

The above sentences are understatements because in sentence 42 for

instance ‘cold hand of death’. Death is not believed to be a thing of joy that will

now have a cold hand. The poet has only made use of those words to show

modesty or politeness, he might have also used them to enhance impressiveness

of discourse.

Onomatopoeia

Examples

46. “Omnibus squelching tar..”

The above sentence is onomatopoeia, it describes the crushing sound of the tyres

of the buses on the tarred street, it echoes the sense of the event that has just

happened.

Pun

Examples

47. “Tread. Drop, Dread Drop. Dead” (Procession 1- hanging day).

48. “…BEER… BIERS”(Post mortem).

30
 A writer may play on two or more semantically different but

orthographically or phonologically similar words to construct a thought-

provoking statement. The poet might have employed these words to display

linguistic prowess or verbal dexterity. They are also often used to entertain the

audience.

Paradox

Examples

49. “The ripest fruit was saddest”(Abiku).

The sentence above is paradoxical, the poet used the metaphor of a fruit,

because a ripe fruit is nature but it is also strangely ready to be plucked. The poet

has left the reader to give the statement a deeper thought.

Personification (prosopoeia)

50. “White dew suckles flesh-birds” (Abiku).

51. “Evening befriends the spider, trapping” (Abiku)

52. “In silence of webs, Abiku moans, shaping”(Abiku).

53. “I saw your jealous eye quench of the sea’s”(Night).

54. “His flesh confesses what has stilled his tongue”(Post mortem).

55. “Masked fingers think from him to learn” (Post mortem).

In the above sentences, the poet invested abstractions and inanimate

objects with human qualities, he did this to stir the emotions of his readers.
31
Synecdoche

Examples

56. “Libations, each finger points me ‘near’ (Abiku)

57. “Masked fingers thin from him … not to die”(Post mortem).

58. “… in a feel of eyes” ( Procession 1- hanging day).

The underlined words are parts of referents to stand for the whole. In sentence 56

for example the ‘finger’ is used to represent a person in the poem while in the

next sentence ‘masked fingers’ is used in the poem to represent doctors on duty

when they are performing a post-mortem operation. In the last sentence eyes is

used to represent the whole face, how a person feels will be seen on the face even

if it is not uttered, it shows the level of creativity of the poet.

Oxymoron

Examples

59. “…, and the fungoid sequins of a crown” (To my first white hairs).

The sentence above yokes two terms which are contradictory. The yoking

of the words “fungoid and sequins suggests the speakers ambivalent attitude to the

grey hairs according to the poem as both signals of ‘decay’ and ‘wisdom’. The

poet seems to render the expression preposterous.

Antonyms

60. “Are you light or very dark?”(Telephone Conversation)

32
Synonyms

61. “bangles” and “amulets”(Abiku).

Hypernyms/hyponyms

62. Hypernym – ‘body

Hyponyms – ‘hand feet, ear (Telephone Conversation).

63. hypernym – ‘body’

Hyponyms – ‘brow’, ‘heart’, ‘blood’ (Night).

64. Hypernym – ‘Animal’

Hyponyms – ‘goat’, ‘snail’, squirrel’, ‘flesh-birds’, ‘snake’, ‘spider’

(Abiku).

65. ‘Weep’, ‘mourning’, ‘moans’ are also co-hyponyms (Abiku).

66. hypernym – ‘colour’

Hyponyms – ‘black’, ‘gold’, ‘red’, ‘sepia’ etc ( Telephone Conversation).

The poet has used these words as synonyms, antonyms, hypernyms and

hyponyms, so also co-hyponyms as a means of unifying the discourse. They are

part of lexical. Means of achieving cohesion in discourse.

Parts of Speech

Adjectives

Examples

67. ”… Ill-mannered silence” (Telephone Conversation)

33
68. “… seemed reasonable” (Telephone Conversation).

69. “… charmed circles” (Abiku).

70. “Heated fragment”(Abiku).

71. “Your hand is heavy” (Night).

72. “Serrated shadows” (Night).

73. “Sudden cloud”(I think it rains).

74. “Strange dispairs” (I think it rains).

75. “Fretful limbs” (Procession 1- hanging day)

76. “Vibrant coiled” (To my first white hairs).

77. “Masked fingers” ( Post mortem)

Adverbs

78. “Deeply” (Abiku).

Preposition

79. ‘it’ (Telephone conversation).

80. ‘by’ (Telephone Conversation).

81. ‘on’ (I think it rains).

82. ‘in’ (To my first white hairs).

83. ‘to’ (Post mortem).

84. ‘of’ (Night).

34
 The poet has made use of a deliberate choice of particular parts of speech.

Adjective and preposition to give precise and accurate descriptions and also

adverbs to seek precision and to intensify meaning.

PHONOLOGICAL DEVICES

Rhyme

85. In ‘Night’ – the first and the third lines of each stanza rhymes.

Out of the seven poem it is only in ‘Night’ that we have thyme patterns.

Alliteration (Initial rhyme)

86. “Lipstick coated, Long gold-rolled” /l/

87. “Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered” /r/

88. “… clinical, crushing in its light” /k/

89. “,,, dig me deeper still into” /d/

90. “Though I puke, and when you pour” /p/

91. “Submitting like the sand, blood and brine” /s/, /b/

92. “Hide me now, when night children haunt the earth” /h/, /n/

93. “Rain-reeds…” /r/

94. “From watchtowers … walls” /w/

95. “That I or that I” /δ/

Consonance

96. “Woman as a clam, on the sea’s cresent” /n/

97. “Of the waves, And I stood, drained /d/

35
98. “Of rancid… hide-and speak” /d/

99. “My bottom… madam !-sensing” /m/

100. “…with my earth” /θ/

101. “Bell ringers on the ropes to chimes /z/

102. “… fossil beyond fingers of light – until /l/

Assonance

Examples

103. “… and sprinkled ask?” /æ/

104. “… fragment, brand me” /a:/

105. “This, and dig me deeper still into” /i/

106. “His flesh confesses…” /e/

107. “Hirsute hell chimney – spouts /i/

The poet has been dole to use the repetition of rounds of word in linking

related words to reinforce meaning. They provide tone and musical colour and

they aid memorability.

MORPHOLOGICAL DEVICES

Coinages and Nounce formation

125. “I bear no heart mercuric like…” (Night).

126. “Coursing to the roots” (Night).

127. “Till, bathed in warm suffusion…” (Night).

36
 The writer has created these underlined words from existing one. E.g.

“Mercuric” from mercury, “Coursing” from the word “course” and “Suffusion”

from “suffuse” and their meaning can only be decoded in the specific context of

use. The words are only invented for a particular occasion and this shows the

power of creativity of the poet.

Affixation (Suffix)

128. reasonable - reason + able ( Telephone Conversation).

129. African - Africa + n (Telephone Conversation).

130. Foolishly - foolish + ly (Telephone Conversation).

131. Truthfulness - truth + ful + ness (Telephone Conversation).

132. Charmed - charm + ed (Abiku).

133. Coursing - cours (e) + ing (Night).

134. Children - child + s (Night)

135. Sadness - sad + ness (Procession 1- hanging day).

136. Recessive - recess + ive (Procession 1- hanging day).

137. Magnifying - magnify +ing ( To my first white hairs).

138. Confesses - confess + es (Post mortem).

Prefix

139. Indifferent - in + different (Telephone conversation).

140. Undo - un + do (Night).

37
141. Afar - a + far (I think it rains).

142. Unbending - un + bending ( I think it rains).

143. Untrodden - un + trodden (Procession 1- hanging day).

144. Subsoil - sub + soil (Post mortem).

GRAPHOLOGICAL DEVICES

Foregrounding

Capitalization

Examples

145. “HOW DARK?” ( Telephone conversation).

146. “ARE YOU LIGHT? OR VERY DARK?” (Telephone Conversation).

147. “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” (Telephone Conversation).

148. “WHAT’S THAT?” (Telephone Conversation).

149. “DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS” (Telephone Conversation).

150. “THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” (Telephone Conversation).

151. “THREE WHITE HAIRS!” – (To my first white hairs).

The poet has made use of unusual capitalization in ‘telephone

conversation’ to emphasize mainly on the skin colour. It gives the insight of the

dilemma and frustration in England. It also show the distinctions made between

shades of black.

38
Lower case letters

In ‘post mortem’ the poet makes use of lower case letters, from the very

first letter to the last one to show the humorous attitude of the poet to death.

The contracted forms

152. “WHAT’S THAT” (Telephone Conversation).

153. “DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS”(Telephone Conversation)

154. “THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” (Telephone Conversation).

155. “WOULDN’T you rather…” (Telephone Converrsation).

156. “… I’II be the” (Abiku).

The poet employed the above contracted forms to create an illusion of

speech. He also uses it to show the occasion that usually betrays the bottled up

colour prejudice of many white landladies who are generally reluctant to rent out

their apartment to Africans.

Sentence 156 is found in ‘Abiku’ to show the hallmark of Abiku.

Bold print

The titles of the poems are written in bold prints to draw special attention

to them.

Spacing

The poem ‘Night’ is written in stanzas and there is a double-line spacing

in between each stanza. “I think it rains”; ‘Abiku’, ‘To my first white hairs, ‘Post

39
Mortem’ are also written in stanzas and double-line spacing are also employed in

between each stanza. ‘Telephone conversation is not written in stanza. Procession

1-hanging day is also written in stanza but with different number of lines in each

stanza, line 23 –the end are not written in stanzas.

Repetition

In ‘Telephone conversation’, there is the repetition of ‘Dark’ and ‘light’.

‘Dark’ is repeated about 4 times, all written in capital letters, ‘Light’ is also

written in capital letters and repeated twice. They are used by the poet to show

emphasis, and they can also produce an effect on the reader.

The poet also repeated ‘I’ eight times in ‘Abiku’, then ‘The’ is also

repeated many times. The ‘I’ in the poem shows singularity and the pride of the

‘Abiku’. ‘The’ is used to begin a new line in the poem and also used in the

sentences to refer to something for easy understanding.

Punctuation marks – Full-stop (.)

In “Telephone conversation” – the poet uses full-stop up to about 26

times.

In ‘Night’ – There is the use of 6 full-stops.

In “I think it rains – the poet employs only 5 full-stops, a full-stop for each

stanza.

In ‘Procession ‘1 – hanging day’ only 11 full-stops were employed.

40
 The poet employs 11 full-stops in ‘Abiku’

He uses 4 full-stops in ‘To my first white hairs’ and 2 full-stops in ‘Post

mortem’

Full-stop is used to end a complete thought not necessarily the end of a

stanza; it is also used to end the whole poem.

Comma (,)

The poet employs

20 commas in the ‘telephone conversation’

18 in ‘Night’

9 commas in ‘I think it rains’

9 also in ‘Procession 1-hanging day’

13 commas in ‘Abiku’

10 in ‘To my first white hairs’ and

5 in ‘Post mortem’

The poet employs comma for very short pause and to separate sentential

elements in the poems.

Semi-colon (;)

In ‘Night’ only 1 semi-colon is used, 1 semi-colon is also used in ‘I think

it rains’. It appears twice in ‘Abiku’, it appears once in ‘To my first white hairs’

and 3 times in ‘post mortem’.

41
 It has been used by the poet for a longer pause than that of a comma but

not as long as that of the full-stop.

Hyphen (-)

The poet makes use of hyphen in the poems to join two independent words

to obtain compound words of strong lexical quality. There are 2 hyphens

employed in ‘I think it rains’ 4 in ‘Procession 1-hanging day’, 2 in ‘Abiku’, 2 in

‘To my first white hairs’ and 2 in ‘Post mortem’.

Question mark (?)

It is employed more in these poems to end rhetorical questions which

provide an emphasis stronger than a direct statement. In ‘Abiku’ – It is used to

end a question asked by Abiku and it is used once in the poem. He used it 6 times

in “Procession ‘1-hanging day’ to show the restlessness and torment of the poet in

a solitary confinement. It appears 8 times in ‘Telephone conversation’.

Exclamation marks (!)

Exclamation mark is used once in ‘Abiku’ and it is used at the end of the

sentence to express the emotion of Abiku. It is also used once on ‘post mortem’

and 3 times in ‘To my first white hairs’ to express the surprise of the poet. He

uses it 2 times too in ‘Telephone conversation’ to express the speaker’s surprise.

42
Apostrophe (’ )

He employs 5 apostrophes in ‘Telephone conversation’ and they are all

used to form the contracted forms of word, to show that some letters have been

omitted. In Night it is used three times. In ‘Abiku’, it also appears three times, in

‘To my first white hairs’ it appears once. They are either used to show or indicate

that a thing or person belongs to somebody or in short forms to indicate that some

letter have been omitted.

Dash (_--)

The poet has successfully use dashes in the poem to separate a comment

or an after thought from the rest of the sentence. There is the employment of 9

dashes in ‘Telephone conversation’, 1 dash in ‘Procession 1-hanging day’, 1 in

‘Abiku’, 4 in ‘To my first white hairs and 3 in ‘Post mortem’.

Quotation mark (“ ”)

The poet excessively use quotation mark in ‘Telephone conversation’ they

are employed like 14 times to demarcate direct utterances to report the speech of

the speaker directly.

Ellipses period (…)

Ellipses period is used 2 times in ‘Telephone conversation’ to show

omission. It shows in the poem that there are some things left unsaid or

deliberately omitted.
43
 The poet employs 1 ellipses period in ‘To my first white hairs’ and it is

used to show that the poet is either short of words or does not want to say it

intentionally. In ‘Post-mortem’ the poet employs just 1 ellipses period to indicate

that something has been omitted in the sentence.

3.2 DISCUSSION

The table gives a breakdown of analysis of the selected poems of Wole

Soyinka. It shows different occurrences of elements under each levels of analysis.

At the end of the analysis, it was discovered that at the lexico-syntactic patterns

level, there are 6 elements. At the end of the lexico-syntactic choices level, we

have 14 elements. We have 4 elements under the phonological devices. There are

2 elements under the morphological devices and the graphological devices also

have 2 elements.

Under these levels, we have elements that have the highest number of

entries. Each of these leading elements is for varying stylistic purposes, while the

regular elements may be for stylistic identity. In summary, all the identified

elements have different roles they play which are for varying unique stylistic

effects, the poet has used the examples to showcase and the stylistic

characteristics of combining both literal and linguistics elements in it. This has

44
really shown to us that stylistics cut across and also combines both linguistics and

literature in itself as a discipline.

3.3 CONCLUSION

This chapter has discussed the elements under lexico-syntactic patterns

and choices, phonological, morphological and graphological devices. It has shown

the way they are deliberately employed for stylistic effects, their functions in the

poems and in the discourse are also given. This chapter also gives a breakdown of

the entries of elements under each level of analysis.

45
 CHAPTER FOUR

SUMMARY, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

4.1 SUMMARY

This work has to some extent been able to use the elements of stylistics

under lexico-syntactic patterns and choices, phonological, morphological and

graphological devices to analyse a selection of Wole Soyinka’s poems – data

gotten from “A selection of African Poetry . The display of stylistics in the

poems, their functions and their effects in the poems, their functions and their

effects in the poems have been the major focus of this research work.

The first chapter is the introductory aspect where the general

introduction/background to the study, Research problem, Aims and

objectives/statement of purpose, scope of the study, The justification, Research

Methodology, Data description and the Biography of the poet – Wole Soyinka are

briefly given.

Chapter two comprises a review of related literature, a theoretical

framework on which the analysis is based; the elements upon which the data are

analysed are explained briefly.

46
 A statistical analysis of data is done in Chapter three. Seven (7) poems of

Wole Soyinka collected from a Selection are analysed using the above mentioned

levels of stylistic analysis.

In conclusion, this work reveals that the choice of words in any piece of

writing is very important, it is capable of expressing effectively the thoughts,

feelings and passing across the intended message of the writer to the hearer/reader

of the work. It also reveals that putting all these into consideration can thus make

any piece of writing to be efficient and fulfilled.

4.2 FINDINGS

To make a striking impression on one’s readers and stir up their emotions,

nothing else could be done to achieve this purpose than employing the right and

appropriate use of language. This work of research into the stylistic use in the

seven(7) collected poems of Wole Soyinka reveals that there is more to texts in

terms of message and content than what obtains when a piece of writing is merely

being written and read by the writer and the reader respectively.

It is found out the writer makes use of unusual or inverted word order in

the form of Anastrophe and Parenthesis in a way that interrupts the normal

syntactical flow of the sentence to secure emphasis and focus the readers’/

47
hearers’ attention. There is also the use of word omission, which the instances are

Ellipsis and asyndeton; they entail the deliberate omission of a word or words,

which are readily implied by the content. Asyndeton is the deliberate omission of

conjunctions between a series of related clause. These are used to create brevity,

emphasis or ambiguity. There are also cause of repetition found Epizeuxis and

Anaphora. Generally repetition is for emphasis. It helps to produce a permanent

effect on the hearer/ reader.

Under the lexico-syntactic choices, we have the simile and metaphor

which are both related to the topic of similarity to give clearness and liveliness to

words. Also Anthimeria, where one part of speech is substituted for another.

Periphrasis also substitutes a descriptive word or a phrase is substituted for a

proper name for a quality associated with the name. Instances of hyperbole,

litotes, Onomatopoeia, pun, paradox, synecdoche, oxymoron, antonym,

synonyms, hypernyms /hyponyms, parts of speech are found in the poems.

Under the phonological devices- rhyming scheme, consonance, assonance

are found and they have been used in linking words to reinforce meaning. They

also provide tone and musical colour and they aid memorability.

48
 Coinages and nounce formation is found under morphological devices

where new words have been created by the poet for a particular occasion and this

shows the power of creativity of the poet.

Under graphological devices we find the foregrounded elements used in

the poems like Capitalization, lowercase letters, the contracted forms, bold print,

spacing. Repetition and punctuation marks are also found and all these have been

used to play different roles to achieve cohesion in discourse and they play

different roles which are for varying stylistic effects. All of these things found out

have worked together in attaining and ensuring effective meaning and

communication.

4.3 CONCLUSION

The choice of words by the writer or the poet plays a very important in

meaning making. It helps the reader or the hearer to understand the intention and

the message the poet is trying to pass across. Stylistics, by this analysis has shown

that there is a distinction between poetic and non- poetic language as a means of

defining literature, language manipulated in ways that signal it as different from

‘ordinary’ language.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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