“The Trees Shake Their Heads in Defiance”: Ecocritical Inscriptions in Selected Ghanaian Poems
Authors:
Philomena
Yeboah
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology – Kumasi, Ghana
Philip
Freitas
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology – Kumasi, Ghana
Paul
Otoo
St. Hubert Seminary Senior High School – Kumasi, Ghana
James
Manu
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology – Kumasi, Ghana
Pages:
7-
19
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/OPLQ9956
Abstract:
Recently, environmental issues have taken central stage both in the literary and non-literary world due to human continuous neglect, exploitation and abuse of the environment. The present study examines how literature serves as a tool of caution and awareness to reveal human unfair treatment of the environment. Through eco-criticism and textual analysis, four Ghanaian poems – “Breaching the Silence Code,” “Modernity and its Reapings,” “Lone Maize” and “Amakom Flowers” – are examined to highlight the eco-critical issues raised in Ghanaian society and Africa at large. It becomes evident that the ecosystem is constantly under threat and if humans do not find ways to curb these threats, there is a high probability that the environment will be destroyed. The study concludes that ecocriticism as a theory not only offers a refreshing perspective into reading the poems but helps bring forth pertinent environmental issues that are detrimental to the safety and sanctity of the environment.
Keywords:
ecocriticism; eco-critical issues; environmental issues; exploitation and Ghanaian poems.
Download
540 downloads since 30.6.2023 г.
NA