Comparative Studies in African Dirge Poetry is an important contribution to research in African literature by Nigerian scholar GMT Emezue. Emezue sets out to portray the role and function of African dirge. Moving from the general (African milieu) to the specific (Igbo heritage) she explores written and oral modes of poetic expressions. Emezue also posits a theory of the African dirge with features comparatively distinctive from the formalised structures of western art. GMT Emezue's interest in traditional African dirge songs and modern poetry is borne from her conviction that nowhere in the corpus of oral poetry have there been more works of heightened creativity than the dirge forms.