Hybridisation in the poetry of Christopher Okigbo: A study of Labyrinths

Abstract

Christopher Okigbo is a hybrid creature (this claim may sound adventurous and outlandish), but who is not. This applies to both his personality and creative efforts. This phenomenon is not unique to Okigbo but extends to all colonial subjects.  The African continent has passed through crucibles of re-orientation geared towards adjusting the mentality and psychology of Africans towards hating everything African and loving and adoring everything Western. This has created in Africans a dual kind of personality, which in the present circumstance has manifested as a hybrid subject. Hybridity in the African manifests in the overall disposition of the African. Hybridisation/Hybridity is carefully and profusely demonstrated by Okigbo in his poetry. This paper examines the origin and nature of the concepts of hybridisation and hybridity. Then, their deployment in Labyrinths was investigated. The paper demonstrates that Christopher Okigbo deployed hybridisation in the crafting of Labyrinths. The paper concludes that Okigbo employed hybridisation as a stylistic device in his poetry for the advancement of the treatment of his themes, especially those of dual personality, culture conflict, disorientation as a result of inability to identify and deal with one's personality, and lack of confidence in the African..