African Literature

Literary Forms

Orature

▪ Orature is the tradition of African oral literature, which includes praise, poems, love poems, tales, ritual dramas, and moral instructions in the form of proverbs and fables.

▪ It also includes epics and poems and narratives.

▪ Examples:

▪ Epic of Sundiata composed in medieval Mali in the West Africa

▪ Griots, the keepers of oral literature in West Africa, may be a professional storyteller, singer, or entertainer and were skilled at creating and transmitting the many forms of African oral literature. Bards, storytellers, town criers, and oral historians also preserved and continued the oral tradition.

African Literature

Features of African Oral Literature

1. Repetition and Parallel Structure

▪ It served foremost as memory aids for griots and other storytellers. Repetition also creates rhythm, builds suspense, and adds emphasis to parts of the poem or narrative.

▪ Repeated lines or refrains often mark places where an audience can join in the oral performance.

by Kunene (Zulu Oral Tradition)

The great eagle lifts itsWings from the dreamAnd the shells of childhood are scatteredLetting the fierce eyes focus on the morning…The beautiful bird builds its nest with old leaves

The once proud planet shrieks in terror Opening a vast space for The mysterious young birdFor the merciless talons of the new generation

They are the children of iron

They are the fearless bees of the night

They are the abiding anger

Of the Ancestral Forefathers

2. Repeat- and- vary Technique

▪ In which lines or phrases are repeated with slight variations, sometimes by changing a single word.

Son of the Beautiful ones – The Dancer by Kunene (Zulu Oral Tradition)

I thrust into the movement of the eastern windI thrust into the movement of the cloudI thrust into the movement of the southern windI thrust into the movement of the oceanI am all movements, I am caterpillarI am the twisted horns of the sacred ramI am the sound of ecstasy returningI am the cluster of white cranes in flight