Modern poetry of Northern Nigeria: experimental writing by I. B. Garba and Yu. Adamu

Abstract

The article analyses main features of the poetry and poetic thought by two poets — I. B. Garba and Yu. Adamu. Their writing represents an experimental stream within the poetic heritage of Northern Nigeria. Unlike the majority of authors in Northern Nigeria I. B. Garba and Yu. Adamu create their poems in English. Analysis of this material allows one to examine and to reveal main tendencies that this new English language literature exhibit. Such body of evidence as interviews are also brought into focus. The interviews with writers under discussion provide especially useful and reliable source for understanding the substance of experimental approaches, as well as writer’s self-perception and perception of his own writing. Refs 19.