| dc.description.abstract | This is a study that compares the poetry of Michael Echeruo in Mortality with that of
Christopher Okigbo in Labyrinths with a view to establishing the extent to which
religious views have shaped these poets' overall vision.
It employs library research as its methodology and it is guided by the theoretical
framework as advanced by F.R. Leavis. This approach foregrounds textual criticism
through a close reading of the literary text and ultimately links the text to society. This is
done through seeking to find out how the text makes a complex statement about human
experience.
More specifically, the study examines the centrality of religious abstraction in the poet protagonist's
attempt to locate himself within a cultural-religious sphere he can identify as
indigenous to him. It traces the poet-protagonist's conscious struggle and movement to
relocate himself from the strictures and imprisoning experience of Christianity. In this
way, the study also analyses the alienation that comes with Christianity and appraises the
poet-protagonist's denial of this (alienation) in his acceptance of homecoming.
The study also examines ritual enactment in the way it sanctions and gives impetus to the
movement away from Christianity. Further it discusses how homecoming, as a "ritual
return", is achieved through the poet-protagonist's reconstitution of his lost self and his
acknowledgement of the realities of the ancestral religion and culture.
Finally, the conclusion reveals that the poet-protagonist finds fulfillment in the totality of
his ancestral heritage. lt is also concluded that every religious tradition is essential to that
community that evolves it. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that through the poetic
use of elements from traditional African religion, the poet-protagonist manages to validly
portray and explain his experience of existence while retaining and expressing the totality
or his consciousness and worldview. | en |
