POETIC DEVICES IN SALUTE TO THE ELEPHANT BY SOLOMON ADEBOYE BABALOLA
The poem Salute To The Elephant was a Yoruba oral poem translated to English by Professor Solomon Adeboye Babalola. He was a professor at the University Of Lagos and among other things, he was for his love for ìjálá (hunters’ song). Since this post aims at revealing the poetic devices in the poem: Salute To The Elephant; below are the poetic devices within the poem: 1.SIMILEY is the use of like or as to create comparison. In the poem, there’s “huge as a hill” in line 2, “like a garment” in line 7, ” like a person suffering from a sprained neck” in line 19, “as wide as palm-oil pits” in line 28, “like shafts” in line 29. 2. METAPHOR is a direct comparison that does not use as or like, the way simile does. “elephant’s head is his burden” in line 20 is an example of a metaphor because such statement can still be reframed as the elephant balances his head like a burden. “the elephant who is a veritable ferry-man” in line 23. “whose eyes are veritable water-jar” in line 26, “one toot...