Text and Intertextuality in Modern Arabic Poetry of Yoruba Scholars

Objectives: This paper examines Arabic poetic texts produced by modern Yoruba scholars, to study how they inter-textualize with poetic texts of classical and early modern poets in Arabic. It does a critical reading of select poems from the corpus of Isa Abu-Bakre (b.1953), and Afis Ayinde Oladosu (b.1967). Whereas the former follows the traditional system in the composition of his poems, the latter writes his collections in free verse. Methods: The paper adopts a method of historicizing the annals of intertextuality, before proceeding to exposit, closely read, and analyze intertextuality cues in the poetry of Yoruba scholars. It hinges its discussions on the works of Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes, James Porter, Lev Vygotsky, Graham Allen, Ahmad Az-Zoubi, and Muhahammad Miftah among others. Conclusions: The study shows that Arabic poetical compositions of modern Yoruba scholars often intersect, not only with poetical texts of classical and early modern poets in Arabic, but also, they inter-textualize with texts from the primary sources of Arabic literary tradition- the Glorious Qur'an and Hadith.