Scholars International Journal of Linguistics and Literature (SIJLL)
Volume-7 | Issue-11 | 320-328
Original Research Article
Psychosocial Disorders and Escapism in Nigerian Poetry: A Study of Lara Owoeye’s Time to Sing and Other Poems
Kolawole Dennis Olaniyan
Published : Nov. 15, 2024
Abstract
Nigerian poetry has consistently responded to issues affecting the country and the people since the pioneer stage to contemporary time. In this instance, the burden of societal failings has propelled the level of social commitment and ideological postures identified in the poetry. However, recent experiences in the socio-political and economic landscape of the Nigerian society seems to have shaped the mentation and emotional condition of contemporary Nigerian poets in a way that calls for a psychological approach to the study of the poets’ creative nuances. Therefore, adopting a descriptive research method and employing relevant psychoanalytic theoretical framework, the study explores how Lara Owoeye's collection, Time to Sing and Other Poems, represents psychosocial disorders and escapism. Through a close reading of the selected poems from the collection, it is discovered that Owoeye employs the resources of language and music like imagery, metaphor, parody, allusion, enjambment, rhyme, tone and other literary devices vis-à-vis the motif of a distressed singer to convey her psychosocial condition. The study also shows that the psychosocial disorders represented in the collection are triggered by memories of bad leadership and harsh socio-economic conditions. In this instance, the poet finds an escape into the world of imagination and emotional recovery through poetic expression. This way, Owoeye's poetry does not only reflect the cultural, historical, and social contexts of the Nigerian society but also offers an understanding of the complex interplay between psychosocial disorders and poetry as an escape mechanism.