Interconnectedness Between Culture and Nature: Ecopoetics in Niyi Osundare's The Eye of the Earth

Abstract

In the spate of global warming that is causing toxic climate changes as a result of the industrial revolution and urbanization that have influenced man’s culture (lifestyle), many scholars and ecologists have invigorated the need to preserve nature via scientific books, journals/articles, movies, novels, etc. However owing to the widely believed complexities in poetry, many do not still realize that poets all over the world (and Nigeria to be specific) have also responded to ecological issues by using poetry to create ecological consciousness. It is on this basis that this paper explores the poetic opus of Niyi Osundare, The Eye of the Earth, as it regurgitates the ecopoetic principle of interconnectedness between man and nature. The study aims to add to the existing knowledge of literary discourses in general. The study adopts a qualitative methodology by collecting data from books, journals, articles in libraries, and cyberspace. The study finds that the collection largely amplifies the degradational state of the earth, precisely in the Southwestern region of Nigeria. It also discovers that the collection shows the interconnectedness between humanity as a microcosm and nature as a macrocosm.