AFRICA BY DAVID DIOP

David Diop was born in July 9,1927 in Bordeaux. He was a French West African poet,to a Cameroonian
mother and Senegalese father. Anti-colonial touch is reflected in his creations. He was an essential part
of negritude movement. The poet wrote a small collection of poetry that was called "Coups de pillion"
in 1956. He dreamt of a free Africa. He became the voice of lots of Africans. In 1960 on August 29th,Diop
died in a plane crash. He was 33 years old then.

Analysis of Africa

The poem "Africa" being a prominent poem in Diop's poetry collection portrays the philosophy of the
negritude movement. In the opening lines,the poet persona identifies himself in Africa and affirms the
peaceful coexistence of the black people before the colonial invasion. The poet's use of possessive
pronoun in the appositive phrase to the word/ noun "Africa" confirms this identification. The noun
"warrior" symbolises valour, strength and virility of the black man prior to the slave trade and
colonialization periods.

The peace,happiness,strength and valour of the Africans vanished with the advent of the slave trade.
Africans were dehumanized and made to work out their bones on the white men's plantation. "...the
line blood irrigates the fields..."(line 7) buttresses this. The agricultural imagery"irrigation" means to
supply land or crops with water. The poet change of water to blood suggests the inhuman treatments
and humiliation suffered by the blacks under slavery and colonization.

Nevertheless,the poet persona I optimistic about Africa's future. He believes that despite the
sufferings,Africa still has a bright future. The poet's use of the expression"... springing up anew..."(line
20) significantly means to develop or grow again in a typically positive way.

In conclusion,the poet captures a panoramic overview of the history of Africa,taking care of the three
basic periods_ the cherished pre colonial period,the horrible colonial period (coupled with slave trade)
and the hopeful post colonial period. The poem deos not only celebrate the Africans but the poem
castigates the Whites for the Injustice meted out on Africans during the slave trade/ colonial period.

Poetic Devices in the poem

 Apostrophe: This is when a poet or narrator addresses an abstract idea as if it was really there.
It starts with the first line "Africa my Africa". Diop's talking to Africa as if it was sitting with him
or as if they are having a conversation. Anaphora is also found in lines 5 and 13 respectively "I
have never known you" and "is this you,this back that is bent?".
 Personification: Diop uses this device in which non-human things are given the human
characteristics. "Africa" is anthromorphized and treated as if it was human. Not only did Diop
attributed human traits to Africa (like an unbent back, blood and sweat) but also he gives it a
"grave voice" capable of responding to him, calling him (Aftica) an impetuous child.
 Alliteration: This is found in line 7 "... your beautiful black blood that irrigates the field..." and
line 17"...this back that breaks...".
  Imagery: Agricultural imagery "fields" in line 7. This is used to create a mental picture of the
developed Colonial countries which became developed as a result of the use of African slaves.
 Symbolism: This can be found in line 19 "...That Tree...". The tree symbolises the poet's
optimism that Africa will rise again positively like a tree that sprouts. Also "...Fields" in line 7
symbolises the colonial government.
Thematic Expressions in "Africa"

TELEPHONE CONVERSATION BY WOLE SOYINKA

Analysis of the Poem

"Telephone Conversation" is a 1963 poem by the Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka that satires racism. The
poem describes a phone call between a landlady and the speaker, who is black, about renting an
apartment. The landlady is pleasant until she learns that the speaker is "African," at which point she
demands to know how "light" or "dark" the speaker's skin is. In response, the speaker cleverly mocks the
landlady’s ignorance and prejudice, demonstrating that characterizing people by their skin color
diminishes their humanity.The poem begins with the speaker talking on the phone with a potential
landlady, hoping to rent some sort of housing—likely an apartment or a room in a boarding house. The
accommodation seems fine: it’s not too expensive, the location isn’t bad, and the landlady doesn’t live
on the premises. There’s just one problem: the speaker is “African.”

The speaker refers to this moment as a “self-confession,” with the speaker's blackness being something
that the landlady must be "warned" about. This language makes it sound as if there's something
shameful or wrong about being “African,” but the speaker is being deliberately tongue-in-cheek here.
The speaker isn’t personally ashamed of being “African”; rather, the speaker seems fully aware of
society's racial prejudices and worries about what the landlady will think. The speaker confesses to
being “African” to avoid taking a trip to see the rental only to be turned down simply for being black.
These opening lines also establish the poem's form. It's written in a distinctly casual tone, with many
caesuras breaking up lines of various lengths. The form is free verse, meaning there isn't any overarching
rhyme scheme or meter; instead, the poem flows along like a conversation–which, in a way, is exactly
what it is. It's also worth noting that until line 4, all the lines are enjambed. That gives the poem a kind
of anxious speed, as though the speaker were rushing through the preliminaries, trying to get straight to
the most difficult and essential point. Line 5 is then strongly end-stopped. This end-stop conveys
certainty and self-assurance, especially after all the enjambed lines that precede it.

THEME FOUND IN THE POEM

 Racism and Complexity of Identity: “Telephone Conversation” is a poem that satirizes racism.
The speaker, who is black, makes fun of a white landlady who won’t rent to the speaker until
she knows whether the speaker’s skin is “dark” or “light.” In contrast to the landlady’s simple,
reductive ideas about race, the speaker suggests that race and identity are complicated and
multi-faceted. Judging a person based on their skin color, the poem argues, is thus ignorant,
illogical, and dehumanizing. At first the landlady seems ready to move forward with renting to
the speaker, even “swearing” that “she lived / Off premises.” She can’t detect the speaker’s race
through the phone, a fact that emphasizes a) that the speaker’s identity is comprised of more
than his or her race and b) that skin color is irrelevant to the speaker’s suitability as a tenant.But
when the speaker then makes a “self-confession” about being “African,” the conversation
abruptly shifts to a discussion of skin tone. Clearly, the speaker understands how black people’s
housing prospects are unfairly limited by a racist society.
Indeed, in response to this “confession” the landlady asks whether the speaker’s skin is “light”
or dark”—a question so absurd that the speaker briefly wonders if he or she has “misheard.”
The landlady is playing into the ignorant idea that black people with lighter skin (and, as such,
whose skin is closer in appearance to that of white people) are superior to those with darker
skin. The key thing that matters to her, then, is how black the speaker looks. Instead of asking
what the speaker does professionally, what the speaker's habits are—that is, instead of treating
the speaker like an actual human being and potential tenant—the landlady reduces the speaker
to a single attribute: skin color. Racism, the poem thus makes clear, is inherently reductive and
dehumanizing.
As such, the speaker refuses to answer the landlady’s question directly, instead offering a series
of clever replies that reveal the landlady’s question to be not just offensive but also utterly
illogical. For instance, the speaker describes him or herself as “West African sepia” (a kind of
reddish-brown hue seen in old monochromatic photos) in the speaker's passport, a joke that
 goes right over the slow-witted landlady’s head; essentially this is like saying, “Well, in a black
and white photograph my skin is gray.”
The speaker also notes that the human body isn’t just one color: the speaker's face is
“brunette,” but the speaker's palms and foot soles are “peroxide blonde.” The speaker is being
deliberately tongue-in-cheek in the comparisons here, but the point is that race and identity are
far too complex to be reduced to a simple, binary choice between “dark” or “light,” between
“Button B” or “Button A.
The speaker doesn’t just criticize the landlady’s blatant racism, then, but also critiques the way
she thinks about race itself. In doing so, the speaker refuses to let the complexity of human
identity be reduced by the ignorant choice that the landlady offers. For all the speaker’s
ingenuity, however, the poem does not end on a triumphant note. As the poem closes, the
landlady is about to hang up on the speaker—suggesting that, as a white person, she still holds
the power in society to effectively silence the black speaker.

THE SEA EATS THE LAND AT HOME BY KOFI AWOONOR

Kofi Awoonor's Poem "The Sea eats the Land at Home" was published in 1964 in his collection,
rediscovering and other poems. An elegaic poem written in free verse full of vivid imagery. The Sea in
the poem is personified throughout taking on greater metaphorical meaning inorder to convey not just
the all-consuming power of nature,but also the horrible devastation of colonialization and the tragic loss
of home and identity as a result of the colonialists consumption and exploitation of the African
resources and materials.

However,the poem has been frequently understood as an extended metaphor for colonialism( the
subjugation of one nation by another in which both the people and the.land are exploited by a foreign
power). Much of the way The Sea in the poem "eats the Land" by destroying people's property and
livelihoods so did.the European colonial forces devasted and consumed the country of Ghana where the
poet Kofi Awoonor was born and raised,as well as many other African nation's. When read in this
light,the poem's personification of "The sea" becomes a sharp critique of the European countries that
wrecked cultural and economic devastation on the land that was Awoonor's home.

The first clue that the poem should be read as something greater than literary ocean is it's persistent
personification. For example,the first 10 lines describe the sea pouring into the town, devastating it's
structures and dragging along firewoods and other household utensils out into the ocean. Verbs like
"eating", "running", "collecting" and "carrying" all suggests that the sea should be read as metaphor
for human being since it's only people not ocean who commonly performs those actions so too does the
description of the sea as being "in the town" like a visitor or an occupier.

The Imagery with descriptions of the tide running back and forth and gathering up the town's belongings
is reminiscent of a colonial power occupying a foreign land and extracting it's natural resources.
Likewise,the metaphor of "eating the land" suggests consumption of colonized territories. The
descriptions of the sea and the natural disaster can be read as characterizations of the colonizers
themselves with reference to the "storm raging", "the sea as angry and cruel" are all coming from the
perspective of the colonized. Though the poem does not name a specific location for the town, details
such as "outdoor cooking hearths" and the names of the women in the poem- AKU and ADENA all
point towards an African village most likely Ghana where the poet probably lived.Thus this
personification of the sea might be interpreted more specifically as characterizations of the Portuguese
and other European countries who established slave trade along Ghana's gold coast in the 1600s and of
the British colonizers who colonized Ghana from 1827-1957.

Ultimately,when the poem concludes that the sea " has taken away their belongings",the line stands
out as an explicit condemnation of the economic devastation of colonization. Similarly,the final two
lines:

" In the sea that eats the land at home

Eats the whole land at home"

These lines reiterate the personal and cultural loss faced by the people whose cultural heritage has been
raided, razed and ruined.

Poetic Devices in the Poem

 Symbolism: "Aku" symbolises Africans who lost their sense of identity as a result of colonialism.
When Aku's Ancestors and gods abandoned her,the implication is that both her personal and
cultural identity as she's destabilized because her home was washed away. This really led to the
destabilization of African traditions and cultures. This loss is also connected to the idea of
"Emmigration" as many Africans were migrated to Europe to help the whites industrial world.
* Examine the use of imagery in "The Sea eats the Land at Home"
Kofi Awoonor effectively uses the aquatic (sea) imagery to create a vivid picture of the
destructive effects of colonialism. The Sea in line two of the first stanza is personified as
"Running in and out of the cooking places" to create the mental picture of how the sea
(colonialists) explored the nook and cranny of the African continent extracting and exhuming
the natural and human resources for the development of Europe. Line 4 "And sending it back at
night" is an indication that the materials that were primarily discovered in Africa were
manufactured in Europe and brought back to Africa to be sold at exorbitant fees for the
betterment of their economy at the expense of Africa's economy.