Selected poem no.1

5:55 AM |

Module 8: AFRICA by David Diop

Posted by: Cleofe G. Coquilla

Source:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/622
http://poefrika.blogspot.com/2007/04/africa-by-david-diop.html

This module intends to let the students:

ü 1. Give the general notion of the poem.

ü 2..Appreciate the poem and relate it to their own experiences.

ü 3. Draw an interpretation about the poem.

AFRICA

BY:David Diop

Africa, my Africa

Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs

Africa of whom my grandmother sings

On the banks of the distant river

I have never known you

But your blood flows in my veins

Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields

The blood of your sweat

The sweat of your work

The work of your slavery

Africa, tell me Africa

Is this really you?, This back which is bent

This back that breaks

Under the weight of humiliation

This back trembling with red scars

And saying “yes’’ to the whip under the midday sun

But a grave voice answers me

Impetuous child that tree, young and strong

That tree over there

Splendidly alone amidst white and faded flowers

That is your Africa springing up anew

Springing up patiently, obstinately

Whose fruit bit by bit acquires

The bitter taste of liberty.

BIOGRAPHY of the author:

On July 9, 1927, David Mandessi Diop was born in Bordeaux, France, to a Cameroonean mother and a Sengalese father. Although he grew up in France and lived most of his life there, Diop spent significant time living and teaching in Africa, which helped reinforce his opposition to European society. Consequently, many of his poems discuss his empathy with Africa and the movement for independence from French Colonialists.

Influenced by Aimé Césaire, his verse first appeared in the journal Présence Africaine and in Léopold Senghor's Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie négre et malgache. Diop's poems in Coups de pilon (1956; "Pounding"), his only surviving collection, are angry protestations and depictions of the evils of slavery and colonialism.

In 1960, Diop was killed in an airplane crash traveling home to France from Dakar, Senegal. Diop had only published one volume of poems and a number of reviews and essays, but at the age of thirty-three, he had already established himself as an important writer in the Negritude movement and one of the most highly regarded men of letters in West Africa.

Assessment:

1.What do you feel upon reading the poem?

2.Describe the persona in the poem.

3.Point out some striking lines in the poem and explain.

4.In your own little way how can you help ameliorate the sad plight of the Africans?

5. What is the theme of the poem?
6. Draw your own interpretation of the poem.