Africa

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 your back that is unbent

This back that never breaks under the weight of humiliation

This back trembling with red scars

And saying no 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.

David Diop, a Senegalese poet, uses his poem entitled “Africa”, to lament the state of the African
continent and also valorize it despite its long-suffering experiences with colonialism and neo-colonialism.
Following in the footsteps of the well-known African writer and former president of Senegal in his first
twenty years (Léopold Sédar Senghor), Diop utilizes the trope of Africa as woman. This poetic male
tradition is upheld through allegorical means where Africa is conceptualized as a mother to the Black
populace born from her landscaped body. Although the Mother Africa trope has its shortcomings, David
Diop’s poetic vision comes through: He is able to communicate the plight of the colonized/postcolonial
continent through the skillful use of language and structure. His metaphorical body of work offers a
depth of meaning and concludes with a message of hope, reminding Africans that they can rise above
the colonial system.

Within “Africa”, the poet addresses the land as if it is a real person, and this denotes the use of
apostrophe. Apostrophe allows for an interesting dramatization which holds the readers’ attention and
allows them to identify with Mother Africa’s human experiences. It almost gives us the sense that the
earth itself is not a lifeless thing but is somehow alive. The representation of Africa as an animate female
is a long standing colonial tradition; however, the damaging image is subverted (to some extent) in the
poem. Africa is epitomized as a strong and beautiful nurturer who endures and reproves her ‘impetuous’
children with warm proverbial advice. The poem begins with the poet’s possession of Africa through the
designatory diction of ‘my’. The placing of the word ‘Africa’ at the beginning and end of the phrase ‘Africa
my Africa’ is also repeated in lines 12 and 21, creating the poem’s refrain which not only emphasizes the
persona’s supposed ownership[1] and control of Africa [2] but balances the rhythm of the piece. This
choral effect is also typical of apostrophic poetry which is usually a kind of invocation. The musical
quality of the poem is additionally increased through assonance which is essential in a free verse poem.
Within this loose form, similar to “And If You Should Leave Me” by Ben Okri, an external pattern is
imposed and this allows the poets to appeal to the “human instinct for design [and] our love of the
shapely” (Perrine, 771). For Diop, the repetition of vowel sounds enable him to make the beginning lines
sound hoisted and spiritual. It is in tune with Africa who has reared ‘proud warriors’ that are a testament
to her pre-colonial glory in the time of ‘ancestral savannahs’ (2). It is an Africa with a tradition of orality
where the praise-singing grandmother tells the tale of the land’s greatness to her grandson, supposedly
the poet. These lines refute the “assumption underlying the French policy of ‘assimilation’ that Africa
was a deprived land possessing neither culture nor history” (Britannica.com). Perhaps the distant river
bank the grandmother sings on suggests the far-removed location of the African generation from its
hallowed cultural source where it can never go back to. Or the poet could simply be remembering his
dead grandmother who he believes extols Africa from the distant, mystical land of the ancestors, only
linked to the real world through a river journey. One might even draw another conclusion by examining
the poet’s background: Diop, has ‘never known [Africa]’ and her struggles firsthand in the way that his
predecessors did since he was born in France and lived there for most of his life. Nonetheless, his father
and mother were Africans, their ‘blood flows in [his] veins’ which is why he spent significant time living
and teaching in Africa. The blood is not only representative of his familial ties to Africa but the cause of
the people which pulses within him. He then goes on to line 7 which utilizes alliteration to add
forcefulness to his conviction that Mother Africa’s ‘beautiful Black blood…irrigates the fields’. It is
through the struggle and hard work of black people that the encountering nations like France were able
to reap the harvest (financial, infrastructural profits) and build domains. Thus, Mother Africa is
represented as a slave that was physically abused and exploited economically. Her oppression is
continuous and exemplified through parallelism with the run-on lines from 8-11 which keeps the reader
anticipating what comes next:
…The blood of your sweat

The sweat of your work

The work of your slavery

The slavery of your children…

The lines become memorable and emphatic as they give off a sonic effect and signify the buildup of
colonialism in African history. Even the organization of speech sounds reinforce meaning as the lines
move from monosyllables (sweat, work) to trisyllables (slavery) and disyllables (children). The tempo of
the lines eventually become slower as articulation becomes as leaden as the colonial transition of the
African people.

The poem shifts from a praise and observation of Africa’s situation to a questioning of her decision to
yield to colonialism. The speaker demands that Africa tell him if this is her, ‘…this back that is bent/ This
back that breaks under the weight of humiliation…(13,14). These lines utilize alliteration which conveys
the enquirer’s forceful presumptuousness. This interrogation is additionally buttressed by the insistent
repetition of ‘this back’ and the internal rhyming of ‘break’ and ‘weight’ which calls our attention to
Africa’s subjugation. Here, Diop’s anthropomorphic inclination is greatly expressed when Mother Africa’s
back is ‘trembling with red scars [as she says] yes to the whip under the midday sun’ (15, 16). The
personal suffering of the mother is symbolic of the trepidation of the African continent, traumatized by
colonial experiences. The lines could even foretell the disastrous and exploitative consequences which
arose from the 1958 Referendum when Senegal became a neo-colonial territory, that is, maintained
cultural and economic ties with France, under the leadership of the nation’s first president, Léopold
Senghor. Some may argue that the persona addressing Mother Africa is displeased with her character
which was once proud and resistant to western culture. Many feminists might argue that through his
male gaze, she embodies the speaker’s “honour and glory or his degradation as a citizen” (Stratton, 51).
Even more unfortunate is that women’s persecution becomes a metaphorical medium through which
poets cast their vision. This adversely gives license to the stereotype of women as compliant towards
domination. However, in a similar reading, I could add that Diop does not romanticize Mother Africa
which would contradict the actual struggling, marginalized position of women in Africa. Also, Africa’s
true condition may not have been distorted as she corrects the male’s assumptions about her
experience. She replies in a ‘grave voice’ which could be the feminized conscience of the poet himself.
Regardless, the speaker is labeled as ‘impetuous’, he makes rash assumptions without thought or care.
She additionally alters the way he envisions her, she assigns the image of redemption to a pomological
entity where Africans are symbolic fruits that develop, adapt, diversify and evolve even while faced with
threats to their ecosystem:
untssssitled

The lines may indicate that the poet does not truly perceive what Africa is; the constant use of
demonstratives tells the reader that Africa (Tree of Life) is far removed from the female speaker. The
answering female suggests that Mother Africa is not a burdened or super woman but a flourishing being,
or rather, an ever-growing metaphysical tree which slowly renews itself, with the aid of a resourceful
generation, after being hacked by colonial forces. The parasitic flowering plant of white domination will
see its end and the continent of Africa will rise, unwavering, to bursting greatness.

The poem ends with interlaced rhymes and a rising cadence which gives a pleasing effect, indicating that
the poem has finally arrived at a thoughtful and substantial conclusion. The ending lines are paradoxical
as you would not associate liberty with bitterness, yet, a deeper truth is implied through the contrast:
Independence is often a goal achieved through sacrifice, coups, chaos and hard work. Nonetheless, the
poem ultimately communicates that the fight is worth it; the African mind must exercise both
continental and state optimism and turn away from colonial resignation in the walk towards socio-
cultural and economic freedom.

[1] That is Africa, your Africa

[2] Africa tell me Africa