African Literature

Literary Forms

O rature
Orature is the tradition of African oral literature, which
includes praise, poems, love poems, tales, ritual
dramas, and moral instructions in the form of proverbs
and fables.
It also includes epics and poems and narratives.
Examples:
Epic of Sundiata composed in medieval Mali in the West
Africa

 Griots, the keepers of oral literature in West Africa, may

be a professional storyteller, singer, or entertainer and
were skilled at creating and transmitting the many
forms of African oral literature. Bards, storytellers, town
criers, and oral historians also preserved and continued
the oral tradition.

African Literature
Features of African Oral Literature

1. Repetition and ParallelStructure

It served foremost as memory aids for griots and other

storytellers. Repetition also creates rhythm, builds
suspense, and adds emphasis to parts of the poem or
narrative.
Repeated lines or refrains often mark places where an
audience can join in the oral performance.

by Kunene (Zulu O ralTradition)

The great eagle lifts its
Wings from the dream
And the shells of childhood are scattered
Letting the fierce eyes focus on the morning
The beautiful bird builds its nest with old leaves
The once proud planet shrieks in terror
Opening a vast space for
The mysterious young bird
For the merciless talons of the new generation

They are the children of iron

They are the fearless bees of the night

They are the abiding anger

Of the Ancestral Forefathers

2. Repeat- and- vary Technique

In which lines or phrases are repeated with slight
variations, sometimes by changing a single word.

Son of the Beautifulones The D ancer by

Kunene (Zulu O ralTradition)
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

thrust into the movement of the eastern wind

thrust into the movement of the cloud
thrust into the movement of the southern wind
thrust into the movement of the ocean
am all movements, I am caterpillar
am the twisted horns of the sacred ram
am the sound of ecstasy returning
am the cluster of white cranes in flight