MARIA AJIMA'S SOFT WINDS: A POETRY OF BITTERSWEET IMAGERY

Iorwuese Gogo

Abstract


Imagery provides a text with aesthetic depth and impresses the mind with critical judgement and the taste for artistic values. Through imagery, the motifs of a text are logically ascertained. The aim of interpreting Maria Ajima's collection of poetry, Soft Winds, through its web of imagery is to project its literary beauty and the critical message borne by its content and made incisive by its techniques. The paper is built on the formalist theory that believes that form and technique are part of content, and their approach provides objective reading. It applies the descriptive analytical method through which imagery in the poetry is paradoxically conceptualised as bittersweet imagery. In the poetry, the sweet imagery celebrates nature and passions of life while the bitter imagery decry bad leadership, corruption and social anomalies in Africa that are ravaging the continent. They also reveal the lamentation for the catastrophe of death and anger. The sweet imagery triggers feelings of mellowness, excitement and inspiration, while the bitter imagery elicits provocation and soberness and implores human redemption. The imagery overall provides the poetry with aesthetic beauty and impels critical thoughts on the nature of human existence.

 

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Keywords


imagery, poetry, Soft Winds, Maria Ajima, formalism

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejls.v6i1.594

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