Aspects of Textual Cohesion in Selected Poems of J.P. Clark-Bekederemo

Abstract

Previous studies on J.P. Clark-Bekederemo’s poetry have concentrated on literary and some linguistic features, highlighting the relation of theme and figuration in the works. However, such studies have not paid attention to the discourse and pragmatic aspects of the texts, which are crucial for a thorough description and interpretation of the writer’s idiolect. This study, therefore, examines aspects of textual cohesion in the poems, using the methods and insights of discourse analysis. With Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) cohesive devices viz: ellipsis, references, and conjunction, as the analytical platform, the study shows some linguistic strategies used by the poet to achieve inter-sentence connection in the poetry. It also shows the network of interdependencies among linguistic and non-linguistic features, which give the poetry a thoroughly cohesive structure. The aim is to demonstrate that cohesive ties have the potentials to combine with other elements of language to unify different parts of a text. The study enriches our perspectives not only on the language of J. P. Clark-Bekederemo’s poetry, but also on the language of poetic discourse in general.