Music Semiotics in Tanure Ojaide and Niyi Osundare’s Poetry: a Piercean Interpretation

Abstract

A critical semiotic exploration of patterns of semiosis in Niyi Osundare and Tanure Ojaide‟s poetry would reveal the representation of music as a core ingredient of signification; one that underlies the aesthetic and ideological foundations of their works. Specifically, the paper appraises the engagement of music as an instrument of art in selected poems of Osundare and Ojaide, with focus on how semiotic connotations constitute a complex framework of significations and project diverse implications of creativity, thoughts and ideas. Essentially, the paper, in line with the Peircean triadic principles, analyses the semiotisation of music in the poets‟ works and reveals how music semiosis functions as a signature device of the poets‟ art; and how through it they philosophise and engage meaning. The analysis also points out how musical elements, features, attributes, influences, and even connotations activate poetic profundity in the works. From the perspective of general semiosis - representation and ideation– music tends to act as a preeminent device for cultivating message and essence. In other words, music, in addition to being a core component of semiosis, significantly enunciates distinction in style.