Relevance and commitment in Ezenwa-Ohaeto’s pidgin poetry collections

Abstract

The question of relevance and commitment is a recurring one in African literature written in Standard English. This paper seeks to ask the same question with regards to poetry in Pidgin English. The question then becomes- is the poet who writes in pidgin English as committed to the social course of his society as his counterpart who writes in Standard English? If the above question is answered in the affirmative, a follow up question will be: Is there any relationship between his form, in this case, Pidgin English and the content of the message? If this question is also answered in the affirmative, the next question will be:- to what extent do form and content intertwine to give the reader a completely rewarding poetic experience. These questions are answered through the review of Ezenwa-Ohaeto’s pidgin poetry collections. The paper makes use of the Marxist critical theory.