Orality in African Literary Works: An Interaction of Oromo Oral Literature with Written Poetry

ABSTRACT: This article deals with the interaction of Oromo's oral literature with written poetry. The main objective is to indicate the way different types of oral literature elements are adapted to written poetry. Data were collected through qualitative methods such as document analysis, interviews, and group discussions and were analyzed qualitatively. Types of Oromo oral literature like a proverb, oral narrative, oral poetry, and riddles are adapted into written poetry by different authors. The interaction forms a bridge between the oral literary culture and written literature enabling both to complimentarily develop Oromo literature. As Richard M. Dorson states, "Oral literature can and frequently does enter into written literature. A new generation of African novelists … strews the proverbs of their native languages throughout their fiction" (2). The intermixing of African orality and written literary works makes literature closer to culture and societal life. These connections sustain the life of oral literature in written literature, on the one hand, and enable written literature to aesthetically communicate the culture, history, norms, and beliefs of a group of people who share it.