Form and Feeling: A Formalist Reading of Some Selected Poems in Rasaq Malik Gbolahan's the Other Names of Grief

In literary studies, the question of how literature should be read—whether as an autonomous art form or a reflection of socio-political realities—has long sparked critical debate. Formalist critics, particularly those aligned with New Criticism, argue for the primacy of the text itself, contending that meaning is best derived through close attention to a work’s formal elements rather than its external contexts. This study situates itself within this intrinsic tradition by offering a formalist reading of Rasaq Malik Gbolahan’s The Other Names of Grief (2020). Through a qualitative analysis of three selected poems, the paper explores how poetic devices—such as imagery, repetition, tone, and structure—coalesce to portray the theme of violence. The study demonstrates that the internal architecture of the poems is not only central to their aesthetic appeal but also to their emotional resonance. Ultimately, the paper reaffirms the value of literature as a self-sufficient artistic creation and accentuates the critical potency of close reading in uncovering the layered meanings embedded within poetic language.