Specifics of development of traditional Swahili poetic genre utendi: from the formation to transformation

The Swahili poetic tradition can be called one of the oldest in Tropical Africa. Over the centuries, the main canonical poetic genre of utendi have been formed in the Swahili-speaking region. The history of its development can be conditionally divided into four stages: 1) the formation and development of the utendi genre based on foreign plots, 2) the adaptation of utendi form and style to national specifics in the 19th century, 3) an attempt by poets of the 1940-70s to adapt utendi genre to the context of national liberation struggle; and 4) the transformation of the Swahili poetic canon and the emergence of modernist poetry. At the same time, it is important to understand that at the fourth, modern, stage, the utendi genre ceases to exist in its functional and typological meaning, and some isolated attempts to revive it look more like an exception. In addition, against the background of the rapidly developing modernist poetry in Swahili, the traditional genre began to serve as a source of linguistic experiment, which led to the emergence of a unique hybrid form containing signs of canon and innovation. This unique form, as an example of the conscious transformation of the canon in the framework of the formation of a new Swahili poetics, deserves close attention from the researcher and serious linguistic preparation. The article discusses the main stages of the development of classical poetry in the Swahili language, the formal and stylistic features of classical Swahili poetry and the evolution of its development on the example of the most significant works, cultural continuity and divergence.