Language and Style in Wumi Raji’s Poetry: A Stylistic Analysis of Selected Poems from Rolling Dreams

Abstract

Language is one of the vital means of communication, and poets employ it not only to convey meaning but also to express emotion, social criticism and ideas of change. This study examines language and style in selected poems by Wumi Raji. Ten poems are purposively selected from his anthology, Rolling Dreams: Poems, which contains thirty-one poems. The study adopts stylistics as its theoretical approach and uses a qualitative, descriptive analysis of the selected poems. Attention is given to graphological, literary, phonological, syntactic and lexico-semantic features, with particular emphasis on punctuation, figures of speech, sound patterns, repetition, sentence types, connotation, direct translation and loan words. The analysis shows that Raji’s stylistic choices are closely connected with the meanings and social concerns of his poems. His poems are generally direct and accessible, yet he uses punctuation, repetition, figurative language, sound patterning and lexical choices to foreground particular ideas. The study finds that these choices help to communicate experiences of suffering, exploitation and oppression while also encouraging reflection and resistance. The study concludes that language and style are central to the communicative and revolutionary force of Raji’s poetry.