A critical discourse analysis of Niyi Osundare’s “Blues for the new Senate King”

Abstract

Numerous researches have been carried out on the writings of Niyi Osundare, ranging from drama to poetry and such works have focused on both literary and linguistic models as forms of criticisms. Most of Osundare‘s critical writings create fictional characters to depict the morally decadent nature of the African socio-political landscape using Nigeria as a paradigm. However, Osundare‘s most recent poem ―Blues for the New Senate King‖ did not adopt his usual style of ―fictionalism‖ in terms of characterization. The focus of this study therefore is to examine the choice of language in the poem with a view to taking out important pieces of information that are relevant to the African continent nay the Nigerian social life. The study is basically a qualitative interpretation of the poem in regard to its linguistic and tonal style by linking literary criticism to linguistics. This is an important aspect of textual analysis as it deals with the manipulation of words by a writer and creates a distinct style through which the writer reaches out to his readers. The study explicates
the poetic style of Osundare in the deployment of linguistic resources to achieve satirical effects by adopting linguistic-stylistics as the analytical approach. The study aims at explicating the issues raised in the poem to emphasize the crucial information about Nigerian leaders. The analysis divulges that the poem exposes certain national issues in Nigeria which are very germane to the development of the democratic process. It also reveals that Osundare‘s aim is to bring about social reformation in the society. The implication of this study is that it has contributed to the field of stylistics by illustrating the interface between literary and linguistic features in poetic forms that advocate a positive approach to the style of governance in the Nigerian society.

Key Words: Linguistic-Stylistics, Discourse, Modern-Day Governance, Osundare