The Untold Story of Warriors: Integrity, Bravery and Affection

Abstract

Purpose: Oral art is the wheel that propels the turbine of human interactions. A person employs oral poetry texts to express emotions, sentiments, experiences, opinions and affections. The aim of this study was to explore the themes, the figures of speech and the point of views of Anlo poets in selected Anlo war song texts. Methodology: Qualitative approach and thematic analysis were employed. Natives of Anlo constituted the population under study. Primary data was collected through interviews and observations in Ketu South Municipality of the Volta Region of Ghana. Ten respondents, whose age was between seventy and eighty were selected through snowballing. Findings: The study found out that Anlo war song texts consist of themes such as love, command, vow, unity, praise, patriotism and inspirations. In order to hide their intensions and thoughts from their enemies, they intentionally sing in figures of speech since it is difficult to be understood by non-native speakers. Aside the themes and point of view, devices such as idioms, proverbs, repetitions, assonance, alliteration, parallelism and synecdoche were discovered by the study as literary devices used in singing these war song texts. It was also revealed that the poets use the first person and the third person’s point of view to deliver their messages. Literary devices are employed in Anlo war songs as a mean of establishing and reinforcing the relationships between the warriors and their ancestors who were warriors. Conclusion: The persistent and regular use of literary devices in Anlo war songs suggest that literary device is the language of the warriors of the Anlos when singing war songs. Recommendations: The study suggested that Anlo war song texts should be published in local and foreign languages to preserve the culture of the people. Also, the study of these songs in Senior High Schools as part of oral literature is recommended as it would be of great value to appreciate and preserve the genre.