Stylistic and Rhetorical Practices in African Poetry

The study presented in this volume draws on the historical referent of "Africa," which it examines from both stylistic and rhetorical perspectives. This dual approach situates the reception of African poetry within a heuristic framework defined by linguistic seduction and discursive effectiveness. Upon analysis, linguistic seduction serves discursive effectiveness to reinforce its effects. The figure of historical allusion carried by the "Africa" referent thus establishes the predominance of discursive effectiveness and the African poetic text as an argumentative discourse of a particular kind. African poetry is an argumentative discourse with specific persuasive efficacy thanks to the figurative argument that allows the speaker-poet to share with the target reader values presented as common. It is within this interplay of influence that the persuasive power of the African poetic text, intended to accompany the continent's social transformations, is analyzed.