An analysis of semantic oddities and phonological manipulation in Jason Kap-Kirwok's poetry

Abstract

This study focused on semantic oddities and manipulation of sound aspects in two of Kap-kirwok's poetry collections namely: Heartbeats of the Mind and Loud Monologues Silent Dialogues. The study was premised on the knowledge that style is an important element especially as far as delivering the message of a literary writer is concerned. The study thus sought to investigate the rationale behind Kap-kirwok's employment of the above mentioned devices in his poetry. In an environment where people only seem to enjoy listening to recited poetry and with very little critical work on the same, we endeavoured to critique these two collections as a way of opening up the field for more critical work. The study was motivated by the wide gap we saw in our Kenyan literary scene where researchers were seen to have shied away from poetry, only focusing on such areas as the novel and oral literature. Our first objective was to identify and analyze examples of semantic oddities and phonological manipulation in the poems. Secondly, we sought to establish the significance of using these features as communicative devices. Finally, we also attempted to establish the poet's social vision. The study employed the sociological literary theory as well as the stylistics theory. The sociological literary theory was found to be useful in unveiling the message of the writer to the society. The stylistics theory also helped us analyse the relationship between form and content. The study adopted a qualitative approach. It utilized library research, which involves textual analysis of primary texts and use of secondary data. Purposive sampling was used to select poems seen to be rich in the above named aspects for analysis. The findings of the study show that Kap-kirwok has used both semantic oddities and phonological gymnastics as powerful tools to both embellish his work and also communicate his message to the society.