The form of rhetoric in Igbo traditional literature: An inquiry into the meaning of life

Abstract

Igbo traditional poetry is remarkably different from the literary poetry. Both the traditional and oral literary poetry originated from the oral literature. While the traditional poetry is purely indigenous, the oral literary poetry possesses creative innovations or embellishment added by the writer. Essentially, most Igbo traditional poetry are anchored in either aesthetics value or in religion. This calls for a study of the poet’s work as an inquiry into the meaning of life. The study of the form of the rhetorics of Igbo traditional poetry embraces both the external nature and features like chants, invocations, magical spells, divination, and prayer, as well as repetitions, paradox, proverbs, and other figurative expressions. Emphasis is on how the traditional Igbo poet has used his art as inquiry into the meaning of life and what he makes out of this inquiry.