The Ironic Vision in Musa Idris Okpanachi’s The Eaters of the Living

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study examines the ironic vision in Musa Idris Okpanachi’s debut volume of poetry titled The Eaters of the Living . The study argues that owing to pervasive disillusionment of third world writers with the appalling sociopolitical and economic conditions of their societies, African writers, in their quest for social renaissance, tend to evolve different artistic media to historicize society. In this context, this exploration of Okpanachi’s artistic vision is anchored on the poetics of irony through which the poet offers important sociopolitical commentaries on postcolonial Nigeria. Specifically, the study examines how the representations of the themes of leadership and marriage, respectively, animate Okpanachi’s ironic vision in the text. The conclusion is that, through the use of this aesthetic medium, the poet is contributing to the discourse of nation-formation by critiquing the gross contradictions of postcolonial Nigerian experience.