SOURCE: Osuagwu, Ndubuisi C. “A Traditional Poet in Modern Garb: Okot p'Bitek.” Literary Criterion 23, nos. 1-2 (1988): 13-29.

In the following essay, Osuagwu discusses the influence of traditional African literary forms on p'Bitek's poetry.

A discussion of Okot p'Bitek as a traditional poet in modern garb calls for a definition of concepts. The concepts involved are the ‘traditional’ and the ‘modern’. For the purpose of this paper, traditional poetry refers to the poetry of the people in the African countryside. It could be written; it could be performed. When written, the form, theme, appeal, style, including language must be able to send spontaneous ripples of passion down the nervous system of the average countrysider.

On the other hand, the ‘modern’ refers to those experiences which have come as a result of urbanisation, colonialism, Western technology and education. It also includes the decadence which follows these factors.

A consideration of...