THE AFRICAN POET AND AFRICAN AESTHETICS: A STUDY OF SELECTED POEMS FROM MOSES TSENONGU’S SUN THE MALE AND MOON THE FEMALE

This research examines African Aesthetics in selected poems from Moses Tsenongu’s Sun the Male Born and Moon the Female Born. Aesthetics in African Literature embraces a rich variety of creative forms and styles peculiar to people of African origin that incorporate their practical, physical, material, temporal, and spiritual worlds. This is borne out of the social roles of African literature to the society. To determine the extent to which Tsenongu deploys African Aesthetics in his poetry, the study uses the sociological critical approach which proceeds on the assumption that socio-cultural, geographical environment, race and customs, and political conditions in particular areas are responsible for the emergence and development of literature. Using the content research method, the study undertook an analysis of the poems in the selected anthology, and discovered that Tsenongu draws largely from his African and Tiv socio-cultural backgrounds to furnish his poetry to promote these often marginalized cultures and traditions.