Osundare's Poetry and the Yoruba Worldview

In his article "Osundare's Poetry and the Yoruba Worldview" Christopher Anyokwu analyses the use of Indegienous Yoruba concepts found in Niyi Osundare's texts. Anyokwu postulates that Osundare appears to combine in his work concepts and traditions of Yoruba culture and Marxist ideology which, as Anyokwu argues, locates Osundare with other revolutionary-minded radical poets such as Pablo Neruda, Octovio Paz, Nicolas Guillén, Agostinho Neto, or Okot P'Biteke. Further, Anyokwu argues that a major aspect of the sources of Osundare's work, this perspective has either been under-theorized or examined only superficially in the critical corpus of Osundare's texts. Anyokwu both analyzes and assesses Osundare's immersion in and deployment of his native Yoruba oral poetics and mythological concepts which underline the poet's commitment to fight against social injustice as common human task.