Abstract
Corruption has been one of the main challenges bedeviling the African society. Most artistic works in the form of writing and craft have dealt extensively with this canker of corruption. The poem ‘Ambassadors of Poverty’ is one of such works that touches on corruption in Africa. The present study seeks to examine the communicative implications underpinning the use of parallelism and semantic deviation in the poem. The study is situated within the linguistic and stylistic categories framework by Leech and Short (2007). The findings of the study identify forms of parallelism (noun phrases, prepositional phrases, simple and complex sentences) as well as forms of semantic deviation (metaphor, personification, irony, sarcasm, paradox, oxymoron and symbolism). The findings further unveil a preponderant use of varied shades of parallel structures to juxtapose the impoverished state of the ordinary African with the corrupt and luxurious lifestyle of African leaders while forms of semantic deviation are used to encode the unpatriotic attitudes of African leaders in figurative terms. The study concludes that literary works such as poems are potent instruments that are subtly used to expose and condemn the ills of society. The study has implications for research, theory and practice.
Highlights
Literature is generally said to be life
The poem Ambassadors of Poverty authored by Philip Obioma Chinedu Umeh details the various woes that have befallen the contemporary African society masterminded by African politicians or leaders
It is based on this premise that the present study seeks to analyse the use of parallelism and semantic deviation in the poem Ambassadors of Poverty from the stylistic perspective in order to find out the encoded linguistic and literary implications underlying the use of such devices
Summary
Literature is generally said to be life. This is very true because literature mirrors life in an artistic manner. 51) posits that poetry is the best medium for a holistic representation of the subtleties of shapeless minds and simultaneously ‘incants, invokes, suggests, moving towards emotional synthesis and an experience of wholeness of perception’ Poets express their personal viewpoints about various societal issues through the use of a myriad of figurative devices (Alobaidy & Halawachy, 2020). Philip Umeh is a famous writer in African Literature and poetry in particular whose prowess is demonstrated in his aesthetic use of language. His aesthetic use of language is made evident in his poem Ambassadors of Poverty which is linguistically stuffed with parallel structures and forms of semantic deviation. It is based on this premise that the present study seeks to analyse the use of parallelism and semantic deviation in the poem Ambassadors of Poverty from the stylistic perspective in order to find out the encoded linguistic and literary implications underlying the use of such devices
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