The primary purpose of this thesis is to analyze major transformation features of the GujirnOromo folk poetry (weedduu, qeexala and geerarsa) i.e. investigating how the folk poemsrnrespond to the various social factors which have left their imprints in one way or another.rnThe contextual study approach is employed to undertake the investigation. This approachrnfocuses on looking at the folk poems through the glass of the dynamic socio-cultural andrnhistorical realities which are the fertile grounds for the mushrooming of the folk poems.rnThrough it the researcher attempted to explore the change and continuity in the mainrn.. concerns and the performance contexts of the oral poems. To this end, intensive collection ofrnthe poems together with their contextual explanations has been undertaken through fieldrnwork. Intensive recordings of the poems, informal interview and focus group discussionsrnwere used as the main tools to collect the data from the Guji informants in Abbayyaa woreda.rnThe data was transcribed, translated into English and finally analyzed qualitatively. Therndescriptive analysis of the folk poems: weedduu, qeexala and geerarsa, is presented in thernthird chapter and the major transformation features of these genres are presented in the fourthrnchapter.rnThe thesis provides the thematic variations observed in the folk poems across the history ofrnthe Guji, the change and continuities in the context of their performance and the mainrninducing social factors for the changes. The field work coupled with the library research hasrnhelped the researcher to arrive at some conclusions regarding the three genres. The lyric folkrnpoems of the Guji, particularly, the geerarsa, qeexala and weedduu have undergone arn',rn. significant transformation in content and context of performance. The three genres portrayrnthe life experiences of the society at different points in time. The investigation indicates thatrnsome of the major factors which have led to such transformation include the conquest of thernGuji by forces of Mer.elik coupled with the declining of the gadaa system, the introductionrnand spread of Christianity, and the forces of modernity which is championed by the youth