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Paper short abstract:

The issue of African poets/writers contributing to global environmental justice through literary expressions is not new. Poems in aid of environmental activism will be in focus. The broad question would be framed as, ‘should African Poets bother writing beautiful lines about environmental issues?’

Paper long abstract:

Any discerning reader cannot miss the urgency in Niyi Osundare’s words. What can be missed and is missing however is the usual debate about the effectiveness of environmental themes in poems written by Africans.

“In literature, ecology illustrates the relation between nature and human nature. In ecological writing, nature has been granted the status of the great Mother by indigenous communities. Literature and nature are interlinked; nature is the outer world often portrayed in literature”(Aswin Prasanth, June 2016). To write creatively about nature means to possess an uncommon ability to reflect on how humanity constantly affects nature and how nature conditions humanity. On that premise Prasanth (ibid) states further “African writers are in a “state of nature,” in perfect harmony with environment. Their literature has therefore a rural orientation on the one hand, and despise of urban background on the other. There is an inherent longing for lost rustic serenity in African literatures.” No wonder one of the African bards identifies himself as “Farmer-Born, Peasant-bred.”

In this presentation, poems in aid of environmental activism will be in focus. The broad question would be framed as, ‘should African Poets bother writing beautiful lines about environmental issues?’