The Mood, the Residue and Speech Functions in J.P. Clark's Poems

Abstract

The paper focuses on Mood and the Residue as they relate speech functions in the works of John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, especially "Abiku" and "Night Rain". While many scholars have engaged and interrogated the works of the persona from different literary and linguistic approaches, it may be hard to affirm if the works have analyzed using these concepts of Halliday, especially the two selected poems in this work. The objectives of the paper, therefore, is to examine how the choice of Mood elements and the occurrence of Residue contribute to the realization of various speech functions as attitudes, negotiating meanings and establishing social relationships in Clark's bid to explicate his experience of the world through poetry. The findings reveal that Clark employed Mood elements of indicative (declarative and interrogative) and imperative to represent and convey information; express and transmit social relationships and; express attitudes and negotiate meanings in communicating the world around him to the world outside him. These are related to the situation in Nigeria as the two poems are metaphorically apt as a political discourse. Finally, Clark, through poetry, reflects the emotional stance, subjectivity and interpersonal involvement of his message.