The structure and style of the Dagbamba dirge

Abstract

This thesis discusses the structure and style of Dagbamba dirges, (a Gur-language spoken in the northern part of Ghana). It examines the significance of these songs to the Dagbamba as part of their social events which seek to usher the dead into eternal life. The study outlines sample Dagbamba dirges (9 dirges in all), examines the logical divisions as well as some literary devices used in these dirges. The study shows that these devices play a vital role in the appreciation of these dirges, and that the most commonly used devices in these dirges include; repetition, proverbs, personifications, rhetorical questions, exaggeration /hyperboles among others. The study again tries to examine each dirge by the number of lines or stanzas in which it is written or sung. It discovers that the lines in these dirges range from ten (10) to twenty five (25) usually in one stanza with about five (5) to seven (7) words making up a line.