Singing my own dirge, by McPhillips Nwachukwu
The beauty of dirge or funeral poetry came to my consciousness in my last year at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, when I had to do my B.A, Thesis on the content and form of Igbo elegiac poetry for a degree in English. Since after that research attempt, I have come to the conclusion that the elegiac form, otherwise known as dirge offers the mind the most illuminating canvass for the expression of deep feelings.