The theme for today is Africa. This article delves into an analysis of two powerful poems: "Africa, My Africa" by David Diop and "Africa" by Maya Angelou. These poems, though written by poets with different backgrounds and at different times, share a common thread of love, concern, and hope for the African continent.
"Africa, My Africa" by David Diop
David Diop, a promising French-born Senegalese poet, novelist, and writer, penned "Africa, My Africa," a lyrical poem that first appeared in 1961 in his collection, Coups De Pilon. The poem addresses the problems of Africa brought about by white colonialism and gives a message to Africans to bring about change and freedom.
It remains a very relevant poem to those of us who return to Africa after our sojourns in the West, those looking to define the “real Africa, and those seeking to understand the continent.
The poem can be thematically divided into three parts: pre-colonial Africa, colonial Africa, and post-colonial Africa.
Summary of "Africa my Africa"
"Africa my Africa" is a monologue where the speaker seems to be in conversation with Africa. The poem addresses the speaker’s love and concern for his native land. It begins when he addresses his dear homeland and informs the readers that once Africa was the place of proud warriors for whom the grandmothers sang on the river banks. Although he has never been there, yet his attachment with his native land can be felt through these words. While referring to his blood, he says that the black African blood runs in his veins. Therefore, he can feel the pain of his people. As the poem progresses, he highlights how Africans were tortured and made the center of cruelty by the whites. After talking about the pinching reality, he compares Africa with a tree and gives a message of hope that this land will bear fruit and flower once again.
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The popularity of the poem lies in the honest presentation of the African ills and their remedies.
Major Themes
Freedom versus slavery, patriotism, and the dark side of human nature are the major themes of the poem. The poem exhibits the writer’s love for his dear country, Africa. He recalls once this place had an average life span which the colonizers corroded. With their arrival in the state, Africa lost its originality. Africans were treated like animals; their land was taken, and so were their lives. Although he has not witnessed these cruelties, yet the problems his ancestors endured haunt him. He realizes that he can’t change the past, but he is hopeful for the future. He is optimistic that one day Africa will taste the fruit of liberty.
Analysis of Literary Devices
Literary devices give layers of meaning to a simple poem. Here's an analysis of some of the literary devices used in "Africa my Africa":
- Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /f/ in "faded flowers."
- Allusion: An indirect reference to a person, place, thing, or idea of historical, cultural, political, or literary significance. The poem alludes to the problems faced by Africans, such as slavery.
- Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /e/ and /o/ in "Impetuous child that tree, young and strong" and again the sound of /e/ in "The bitter taste of liberty."
- Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /r/ in "That is your Africa springing up anew" and the sound of /t/ in "Impetuous child that tree, young and strong."
- Enjambment: A thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line.
- Imagery: Used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. David Diop has used imagery in this poem such as “Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields”, “This back trembling with red scars,” and “That is your Africa springing up anew.”
- Metaphor: An implied comparison is made between objects that are different. The poet has used the extended metaphor of troubles and miseries just to show how Africans strive for their rights.
- Personification: Giving human qualities to inanimate objects. The poet has personified Africa in the poem such as "Africa, tell me Africa."
- Rhetorical Question: A question that is not asked to receive an answer; it is just posed to make the point clear. David has posed rhetorical questions in the poem to emphasize his point such as “And saying no to the whip under the midday sun?”
- Symbolism: Using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows symbols like pain, disappointment, and sadness to show the dark history of Africa.
- Synecdoche: A literary device in which a part of something represents the whole, or it may use a whole to represent a part. The poet has used this device in the final lines where the tree refers to the newly emerging Africa such as; “That tree over there.”
Analysis of Poetic Devices
Poetic devices are the same as literary devices, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction and Tone: The poem shows descriptive diction having rhetoric devices, symbolism, and impressive images. However, its tone is tragic, sorrowful as well as reassuring.
- Free Verse: This is a free verse poem with no strict rhyme or meter.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. The poem is divided into three stanzas and a total of twenty-five lines.
"Africa" by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou, a well-known American poet, writer, activist, and feminist, penned "Africa," a symbolic poetic piece that first appeared in 1975 in her collection, Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well. It shows how Africa went under the storm when the whites dominated it. It also explains how this beautiful land lost its original form. Beauty of the poem lies in its metaphorical presentation of African continent.
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By telling the story of Africa, Angelou was also describing herself to the public at the same time.
Summary of "Africa"
This poem is about the miserable plight of Africa. It begins when the speaker personifies Africa and talks about her unparalleled beauty, like golden deserts, beautiful rivers, and fields. The peaceful tone changes in the second stanza where the speaker says that the peace of Africa was disrupted with the arrival of some strangers. They were not gentle; instead, they robbed Africa and took her sons away. They tried to convert her natives into Christians. They left no stone unturned to strip the land of its resources, culture, and people. In the final stanza, the speaker dwells on the terrors of the past. Although Africa is still growing, yet she seems unable to forget the traumatic past.
The poem can be thematically divided into three parts; pre colonial Africa, colonial Africa and post colonial Africa.
Major Themes
The brutal side of humanity, history versus present, and the misery of Africa are the major themes of the poem. Using metaphor and personification as a central device, the poet has brilliantly described how the white men in power destroyed the beauty of Africa. They silently entered this land and ruthlessly robbed all her riches, leaving this fertile ground in a state of shock and pain. Although many years have passed since this invasion, yet the injustices, torture, and barbarism she faced in the past still haunt her inhabitants. In other words, the speaker tries to say that the world can never forget the dark history of Africa.
Analysis of Literary Devices
Literary devices are tools that the writers insert in their texts to create meanings and depth. Here's an analysis of some of the literary devices used in "Africa":
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- Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /s/ in “sugarcane sweet.”
- Allusion: An indirect reference to a person, place, thing or idea of a historical, cultural, political or literary significance. The poem alludes to Christianity such as; took her young daughters sold her strong sons churched her with Jesus
- Anaphora: It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses. Maya Angelou has repeated the word “remember” in the second stanza of the poem to emphasize the point such as; remember her pain remember the losses her screams loud and vain remember her riches
- Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /e/ and /o/ “took her young daughters” and again the sound of /e/ in “remember her riches.”
- Consonance: The repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the sound of /t/ in “took her young daughters” and the sound of /h/ in “although she has lain.”
- Enjambment: A thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line.
- Imagery: Used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Maya Angelou has used imagery in this poem such as “her screams loud and vain”, “Over the white seas/rime white and cold,” and “mountains her breasts.”
- Metaphor: An implied comparison is made between the objects that are different in nature. The poet has used the extended metaphor of beautiful woman just to show how the plight of her country.
- Personification: Giving human qualities to inanimate objects. The poet has personified Africa throughout the poem such as; Thus she had lain sugarcane sweet deserts her hair golden her feet mountains her breasts two Niles her tears.
- Symbolism: Using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols of black and white to point toward the effort of the Christianity to other the Africans and Africa.
Analysis of Poetic Devices
Poetic devices show the use of rhythm, harmony and appropriate mood in the poem. The analysis of the poetic devices used in this poem shows this fact as follows.
- Diction: The poem shows metaphorical diction with a serious as well as tragic tone.
- End Rhyme: End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. Although this is a free verse poem yet it has some rhyming words in this poem such as; “pain/vain”, “guns/sons” and “tears/years.”
- Octave: Octave is an eight lined stanza borrowed from Italian poetry. Here first and the last stanza are octaves.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines.
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"Africa, I love you" by Nicol
This poem, albeit long, is a testament to Nicol’s understanding of Africa. In the first stanza, he mentions how from afar on distant shores, from other continents, Africa was just to him a name for which they had screamed freedom. Born in 1924, he was in England in the days when most of the continent was still under colonial rule and he makes us understand that he was part of them that shouted freedom into ‘the silent listening microphone’ while ‘white perplexed faces’ looked on with ‘Imperialist guilt’.
While he vehemently defended and decreed the freedom of Africa, the continent appeared in his mind and those of all the other Africans in the diaspora, with all glorious appeal, euphemistic.
In the second stanza, he mentions how ‘the cold sky and continent’ of Europe will disappear from his mind and he’ll get on to dreaming about hibiscus blooms, bougainvillea, palm trees, and many African markers that brim his heart with ‘plenty of love and laughter’. These things make him weary of ‘the cold northern sun’ and the faces of white people he calls ‘anxious, ghost-like’ and how he bends over heatless fires in a lonely bedroom. He will only stay alight by the kindness of the few who were not afraid of his blackness.
So in his own words, he comes back down to Africa in stanza three, fascinated by the braveness of its new cities. He mentions in one breath Liberia, Freetown and Libreville. The first embodies Freedom, as it comes from the two words “Liberty Area”, the Land of the Free. Freetown is the English translation of the French Libreville, one in Sierra Leone, the other in Gabon. All these evoke passions of liberation and Nicol is immediately engrossed.
But in five, he is disappointed almost. The Africa he finds in the hinterlands is undeveloped, showing red road, thatch roofing falling off mud walls, if they be complicated, then the houses will have thin, white plastering and be covered with corrugated zinc roofs. He sees weary-looking people with patience written on their faces. He sees simple lives led by simple men, not worried by their seeming poverty and almost unmoved, uncaring and unaffected by all the emancipation noise that he and his brothers have been making on their behalf.
That line that sits hanging alone in the middle “The red dust settles down on the green leaves” is a dampened hope. The green is fertility, vibrancy and newness. The red coats it and covers it. The red dirties it and makes it worth nothing. For Nicol, his positive acclaim for an energetic Africa is met by apathetic-looking listlessness. He meets an anti-climax and he moans in the ensuing verse, asking God for forgiveness. He says that it is because “I have wanted so much” that he may have been disappointed that he didn’t see the glamour he thought Africa had.
Nicol ends philosophically, calling Africa a concept that dwells only in the mind and is better understood by the people who dwell in her. ‘We look across a vast continent/And blindly call it ours.’ It is not ours. It is a dream. It is a notion, a theory, a perception, an impression, a belief. And for what it means to us all separately, it makes us ‘dream our separate dreams’.
He concludes that Africa belongs more to those dwelling in her than those outside because her in-dwellers can look down at God’s providence ‘inside/Of the enamelled bowl of sky’ and say ‘This is my Africa’. And in their eyes, Nicol has found a new meaning to Africa he never knew before.
This poem is a brilliant statement of the affection of Africans for the continent. It goes beyond all saying that Africa is the only continent that was made to be loved and felt a part of. I have said in a place that America is to be honoured and defended, Europe is to be romanticised, Asia is to be spoken of with mystique but Africa is to be loved. This is where Nicol enforces the concept.
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