THE POETICS OF SOCIAL DIALECTICS: ICONOCLASM OF JUVENAL AND THE SOCIAL REALISM OF DASYLVA'S SONGS OF ODAMOLUGBE

Abstract

Conflicts are a common feature of the governing class and the downtrodden masses. Since the mid-nineteenth century, this has been the preoccupation of social realism literature. But in antiquity, Roman poet satirists like Juvenal, portrayed the social conditions in their works. In their realism, they merely highlighted socio-political ills, but were unable to engender some action from their readers. However, poets of post-colonial Nigeria, such as Demola Dasylva, among many others. have shown vision in their poetry of resistance against the socio-economic and political contradictions in the country. It is against this backdrop that this article seeks to explore the reasons behind the paradox in the approach of both generations of poets, towards an apparently similar social situation.