Abstract

This paper presents a stylistic analysis of Jared Angira’s “No Coffin No Grave.” The analysis will be done by using only three of Widdowson’s stylistic patterns of analysing speech or writing, which include phonology, imagery, and graphology. The linguistic description of these three items foregrounds the poet’s intended message and lends credence to its aesthetic literary value. The analysis is done using Marxism as the fundamental theoretical framework, with the meanings and thoughts of the poet expressed in the text through such patterns of usage. The method of sampling is purposive and draws from the secondary source of Jared Angira’s poem “No Coffin No Grave.” Based on Widdowson’s stylistic patterns, the study finds alliteration, assonance, and onomatopoeia under the phonological patterns. It also reveals that imagery was achieved through literary devices such as personification, metaphor, irony, allusion, and rhetorical questions. The study further finds that the use of a disjointed, unpunctuated writing style foregrounds a graphological deviation. The study therefore recommends the inclusion of “No Coffin No Grave” in the school curriculum and its use by civic organizations as a pedagogical tool to educate students and the populace on governance, corruption, and power.

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