USE OF LITERARY STYLES TO SHOW THE POSITION OF WOMEN IN SELECTED SOMALIAN POEMS FROM THREE ANTHOLOGIES
Abstract
Purpose of Study: The study aimed at examining how different stylistic devices depict the place of Somali woman in the selected poems from the three anthologies.
Problem Statement: Initially, Somali poetry depicted work songs that reflected rural activities involving camels. Recent poetry, however, portrays the role of Somali women throughout the twentieth century in modern Somalia's history. Somali poetry serves as a medium that illustrates the historical disenfranchisement of women, often prioritizing men over women. Women in Somali artistic works until now have continued to be treated as the inferior gender through ways such as being allocated inferior roles. Hence, there is need for an authoritative voice on the place of women characters in Somali poetry.
Methodology: A qualitative research design was applied. Textual analysis was used as the method of analyzing the selected texts. The poems that were analyzed were from three selected diaspora Somali female anthologies; The Kitchen-Dweller’s Testimony, Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth and An Anthology of Grief. The study employed purposive sampling to select the texts that constitute the target population. Data collection was conducted through the use of notes and checklists.
Result: In the poem “Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth” Warsan Shire uses sensory images to presents an intellectual and emotional complex as in the poem ―Things We Had Lost in the Summer where Shire exploits the use of images to describe the summer season and FGM. Shire uses irony in the title ‗Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth‟ to show the relationship between mothers and daughters and the dissimilarities as in the poem titled Fire. Metaphors have used in Shire poems to portray the plight of women as in the poem “My Foreign Wife is Dying and Does Not Want to Be Touched” and ugly.
Recommendation: There is need for further scholarly attention be devoted to documenting and analyzing Somali poetry, with a particular focus on themes related to the struggles of refugees and the impacts of civil war.
Keywords: Stylistic Devices, Somali Women, Poetry Analysis, Anthologies, Literary Representation
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