AESTHETICISM AND DIDACTICISM IN AFEJUKU’S LITERARY WORK A SPRING OF SWEETS

Abstract

Tony E. Afejuku, an Itsekiri from the oil-rich Niger Delta in Southern Nigeria, is a teacher, rights activist, and journalist with extensive travel experience across Nigeria, Africa, Asia, and the United States. His third poetry collection, A Spring of Sweets, has received limited scholarly attention despite its accessibility and richness in themes such as life, love, death, religion, politics, and advocacy. This paper examines the collection through three critical lenses: diversification, didacticism, and aestheticism. Diversification highlights the thematic variety in his poetry; didacticism emphasizes the transformative lessons imparted to readers; and aestheticism assesses the poems’ musicality, visual beauty, and overall literary impact. The study concludes that Afejuku succeeds in producing poetry that is meaningful, engaging, and socially relevant.