Spiritual Manifestations in J. P. Clark-Bekederemo's Song of a Goat

Abstract

In other studies, Song of a Goat might have been scrutinized or analysed with either Aristotelian or other European theories. However, in this study, an African conceptual approach is employed in the exploration of the spiritual manifestation and connotation in Song of a Goat. In this exercise, structural analysis, based on Dennis Duro Aiyejina's (1995) characteristics of metaphysical world in African plays and other concepts on African/Izon world view, is deployed as theoretical framework.

Structurally, the study succinctly relates the synopsis/plot in Song of a Goat while using identified gauges on spiritual manifestations in the African drama. The critical analysis in this exercise identifies and illustrates those various spiritual manifestations and connotations. At the end of this critical examination, the study uncovers the spiritual codes buried in the plot, the characters, the language and other metaphoric symbols creatively used in the dramaturgy of this text and concludes that the spiritual forces in the drama are creatively deployed as catalysts which bring about the repercussion(s) on each erring soul in Song of a Goat.