Exploring History, Migration and Social Experience in Select Poems of Edward Kamau Brathwaite

Abstract

This study examines Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s exploration of migration and social experience in his poetry as a vehicle of appraising Caribbean realities. Brathwaite’s poems will be interpreted using New Historicism as literary tool with a view to highlighting migration/journey motif as fundamental in exploring social realities as well as the human condition in the Caribbean society. This paper is a qualitative and library-based study of Brathwaite’s poems as literary art, focussing specifically on interpretation of their content which explores migration and social experience in the Caribbean world. Four selected poems are engaged in the study for their distinction in reflecting core concerns of the Caribbean enclave specifically dealing with social conditions and migration. These four poems are also used to highlight Brathwaite’s style to enhance the forcefulness of his message in them.