Abstract:
This
paper examines the metrical patterns in selected Nigerian poems to highlight
the stylistic features. In the paper, two models are simultaneously adopted:
Halle-Keyser’s stress maxima and the extension model of Beaver. These two
models are used in the analysis of the three poems selected from ‘A Special
Collection of African Poems’ (To the Women of New Africa by Dennis Osadebay;
The Stars Have Departed by Christopher Okigbo; and The Mesh by Kwesi Brew). The
lines in the poems are categorized based on their types to identify stress
maxima and describe them in relation to stress maxima identified in them and
the rhythmic effects they have. The stylistic analysis shows that the poets of
the selected poems, as a matter of style, did not allow the occurrence of
iambic lines to dominate their poems; however, the occurrence of stress maxima
is maintained in all the lines. A combination of different types of lines
dominates the poems. Therefore, stress maxima can be applied to different
metrical lines, not only to iambic lines.
Keywords: Metrical analysis, Metrical lines, Rhythmic pattern, Prosodic meter, Metrical phonology, Stress maxima
DOI: www.doi.org/10.36349/tjllc.2025.v04i02.009
author/Mustapha, A.B. & Hardawa, H.S.
journal/Tasambo JLLC 4(2) | July 2025 |
