Yoruba Language and Literature: Yoruba Poems

Explanation on the Ifa divinities on some specific gods that shows and explains the the orisa as an important entity when talking about the creation of the earth. Ori, the divinity of the head, is the embodiment of a mans past, present and future and the essence of his personality. Since one does not know what ori holds in store for the owner, it is the individuals responsibility to do everything he can to avert misfortune.

Laudatory poetry, Yoruba --History and criticism.
Laudatory poetry, Yoruba --Translations into English.
Yoruba poetry --History and criticism.
Yoruba poetry --Translations into English.
Oyo (African people) --Kings and rulers --Poetry.
Oyo Empire --Poetry.

It is traditionally believed that the correct performance of oriki in honour of a progenitor gladdens the progenitor in the world of the spirits and induces him to shower blessings on his offspring on earth. The reciting or chanting of the ap- propriate oriki in honour of the ancestors of a particular fam- ily causes members of that family who hear the performance to feel very proud of their pedigree, and if they are then away from home, they also feel exceedingly homes

This paper clarifies the sense in which ewi, a poetic practice that straddles written and oral media, constitutes a tradition among the YorUba. It underlines the fact that ewi exemplifies the dynamism of Yoruba culture in its openness, its innovative spirit and its capacity to appropriate facilities that define the modern.

The poetry includes prayers and praise of rulers, magical formulas, poems about death, and ballads, all of which Beier collected from mostly unidentified poets and translated with the help of Nigerian colleagues and friends. With the death of Ulli Beier on April 3, 2011, the Yorúbá originals cannot be retrieved. My concern in this piece is to translate Ulli Beier's English version of these lost poems2 back into Yorúbá, the original language of delivery of the poems.

The write up is a discussion of those factors, outside Yoruba culture, which were contributory to the emergence and growth of Yoruba written poetry. The second chapter gives an overview of the poetry under study, showing that it falls into three distinct periods and four main types with regard to aims and objectives and also gives a short biography of each of the poets concerned.

Proverbial expressions and aphorism are short witty lubricants of
communicative events which are essentially used in achieving farreaching effects of language use. In the African setting generally, and in the Yoruba culture in particular, the effectiveness of communicative mode is measured by the extent to which proverbs have been deployed to ‘oil the wheel’ of discourse. Hence, the foregrounding principle becomes relevant in the study of proverbs whose functional essence rises beyond the literal communicative function of language in the commonplace.

This paper examines and discusses themes in Yorùbá poems written by women, and contends that the poems are topical socio-political commentary that at the time of publication pre-occupied Yorùbá society and Nigeria at large. Thus discussion will feature the recurrent themes of women, men, and the state of the nation via health, morality and religion to present women as serious literary artists who reflect on what is happening in the wider society and vivisect issues on women objectively without feminine sentiments.

Yoruba poetry; an anthology of traditional poems compiled and edited by Ulli Beier. Illustrated by Susanne Wenger.

Ìbà (homage) is a quintessential mandatory ritualistic phenomenon in the traditional
programme structure of Yorùbá oral literature. Existing studies have established its compilation and its infrequent occurrences in written and oral poetry, prose and other genres. Most of these studies have hardly emphasized its major occurrences, or its place and purposes, which are capable of entrenching and maintaining orderliness incontemporary Yorùbá society.

This paper highlights the features of African traditional oral poetry. It is an exposition on what constitutes African oral poetry, its features, its composition, its classification, and the theories informing it. To achieve this, the paper re-examines earlier critics’ contributions and suggests a new approach to classification paradigm. It also takes a
different stance on the composition of oral poetry giving credit to unknown poets/composers though acknowledging that most oral poetry becomes communal properties over time. The paper also expounds the principles of the “alter-Native”
theories been proposed to critique indigenous African oral literatures.

What eludes postcolonial approaches that seek traces of African oral traditions and languages in literary writing as that which symbolizes the reemergence of silenced voices are the myriad cultural creativities in African languages that have not been silenced by colonial incursion, but coexist and thrive side by side with newly emerging genres of popular urban culture

This slight but delightful collection of forty-three Yoruba children's poems should not be overlooked by folklorists. It includes a sampling of game songs, songs of mockery and abuse, "praise names" (Yoruba Oriki), lullabies, nonsense rhymes, and riddles collected in Western Nigeria in recent years. Always vivid and imaginative, often amusing, sometimes beautiful, occasionally vulgar, these poems give us glimpses
of the lore and language of Yoruba children.