ABSTRACT
This thesis titled "Modern Nigerian Poetry and the Environment: An
Ecocritical Study of Selected Poems of Tanure Ojaide, Niyi Osundare and
Nnimmo Bassey" examines the extent to which Nigerian poetry explores the
problematic interaction between man and environment at a period when
ecological problems pose a threat to the Nigerian ecology. To this end,
the thesis argues that the selected poets present the view that the
Nigerian people and resources are exploited by the Nigerian elite in
collusion with the corporate owners of technology and the controllers of
the global market economy for their economic interests, leaving behind
devastating ecological footprints on the Nigerian flora, fauna and
landscape. The study of the growing concern with the dysfunction of the
ecosystem in Nigerian Poetry necessitates the deployment of a
contemporary trans-disciplinary methodological approach called
Ecocriticism which links literary criticism with ecological issues in
order to evaluate selected Nigerian poetry. Taken together, this study
posits that although early Nigerian poets were concerned with
environmental deterioration, they did not explore it with the same
critical idiom, tenor and thrust of the poets of study who have
illuminated the precarious environmental concerns in the Niger Delta
region and Nigeria by extension. Therefore, the preoccupation of the
selected poets with environmental degradation and neglect of the welfare
of the people have given their poetry its aesthetic dimension. In view
of this, the poets‟ signification of the deliberate degradation of the
Nigerian landscape by Nigerian ruling classes in collaboration with
multinational companies point to a trend in postcolonial situations to
put power and authority at the service of the market and at the expense
of public good. In addition, the poets show that the neglect of the
people, poverty, alienation and despair that emanate from the
exploitation of natural resources have led to the upsurge of militants
who have become defiant in hostage taking and destruction of lives and
properties. Therefore, the selected texts illustrate that degradation of
the environment does not only impact on the vulnerability of the
Nigerian bionetwork, but also on the livelihood of the marginalised
communities and the stability of the country.