Africa

By: David Diop

 David Diop

 Born July 09 1927 died on August 29 1960

 French west African poet
 Started writing poems at the age of 16
 Died in a plane crash
 A small collection of his works was later recovered
AFRICA Africa tell me Africa
Is this you this back that is bent
BY David Diop (Senegal)
This back that breaks under the weight of
Africa my Africa humiliation
This back trembling with red scars
Africa of proud warriors in the ancestral savannahs
And saying yes to the whip under the midday su
Africa of whom my grandmother sings But a grave voice answers me
Impetuous son that tree young and strong
On the banks of the distant river
That tree there
I have never known you In splendid loneliness amidst white and faded
flowers
But your blood flows in my veins
That is Africa your Africa
Your beautiful black blood that irrigates the fields
That grows again patiently obstinately
And its fruit gradually acquires
The blood of your sweat
The bitter taste of liberty.
The sweat of your work
The work of your slavery
The slavery of your children
 Formalism
 Title: Africa
 Author: David Diop
 Type of poem: Free verse
 Image:  Image of taste. Bitter taste of liberty
 Symbols: Black bood – African identity
 Theme:Humiliation, Oppression
 Figures of Speech:
Personification.
The poet addresses Africa as though it is a human being and has blood that flows, and can
sweat 
 Anadiplosis; the repetition in which the last expression of one statement becomes the first
expression in the following statement  .
Alliteration- repetition of similar consonant sounds at the beginning of consecutive words
  You beautiful black blood
Anaphora
 Histo-Bio

 David had a good life in France, But is unable to mask off what was happening to
black people everywhere during that time.
 During his time he start taking the oppression as a topic for the pieces that he wrote.
 He wrote about the suffering of his race in the hands of the foreign takers.
 He also took part in the negritude movement . Whose main goal is to free the black
from the oppression and discrimination.
Marxism Approach
Past:
The lives of the black people then was filled with oppression, Discrimination,cruelty
and slavery.

They were sold and abused in the hands of the people that feed them.

Due to the legalization of slavery

They have no power , A slave cannot be someone in the society .

Present:

After their freedom the lives of the black people flourish. They are now can live peacefully,
some went on in different fields. They are healing and trying to forget the past that their
ancestors suffered.
Cultural Approach
 The blacks originated from Africa, They sailed on boats and some
ended up on America and other countries.
 Owning a slave was legal and was hugely a thing during that time.
 They were sold as part of the economy and some countries found
solution in this kind of resolution .
 However the oppression , Discrimination and Abuse soon followed.
They were brutalized by some of the wretched and sadistic people in
history
 This spiked attention from native black writers and revolutionist to
take part and to attain feredom where no more black people has to
suffer in the hands of the colonizers.
 A lot of black writers turned their weapon into words to succeed in
the freedom of the slaves. In which in the end they succeeded.
Structuralism Approach

 Sign : Tree

 Signifier: A plant that has branches stem and a trunk.

 Signified: Hope (never ending Hope)

The tree signifies as hope and Africa itself. The author tries to convey that be
still and by the time comes the waiting would be worth it . It will blossom into
something beautiful and that their suffering would not be in vain.
 Readers Response;
Realization