Mythic Convergences between Ogun and Abiku in Soyinka's Poetry

Abstract This paper is an attempt at rethinking the socio-political engagement of Wole Soyinka. It explores segments of his poetic presentation of the myth of Ogun in his micro-epic “Idanre” and Abikuin “Abiku”. This is to gain a better and more profound knowledge of the personalities of Ogun and Abiku, as conceived in Yoruba mythology and religious beliefs. It specifically analyses the remarkable metaphysical affinities, convergences and complementarities of both mythic personalities as portrayed in the selected poems. This is discussed from philosophical and literary deconstructive perspectives. The paper discovers that the embassy of both supernatural beings is evil and that the poet’s imagination is enmeshed in the abyss of despair, at the root of tragedy in its personal and social expression. Ultimately, it reveals that Soyinka poetically situates meaning in the realm of the material and the metaphysical and that the sources and strategies of his narratives are both immediate and esoteric. The paper concludes that the poetry of Soyinka proposes re-directions in the character of African literature by envisioning the origin of evil in human society in its relatedness to divinity, to the spirit forces within and outside the soul of man.