Analysis and Summary of THE GRIEVED LANDS - Agostinho Neto

 

The grieved lands

 Agostinho Neto

The grieved lands of Africa
In the tearful woes of ancient and modern slave
In the degrading sweat of impure dance
Of other seas
grieved

The grieved lands of Africa
In the infamous sensation of the stunning perfume of the Flower

Crushed in the forest

By the wickedness of the iron and the fire
The grieved land

The grieved land of Africa
In the dream soon undone in jingling of gaolers keys
And in the stifled laughter and victorious voice of laments

 And in the unconscious brilliance of hidden sensations
Of the grieved lands of Africa

 

Alive
In themselves and with us alive
They bubble up in dreams
Decked with dances by baobabs over balances
By the antelope
In the perpetual alliance of everything that lives

They shout out the sound of life

Shout it
Even the corpses thrown up by the Atlantic
In putrid offering of incoherence

And death in the clearness
Of river

 

They live
Thee grieved land of Africa
In the harmonious sound of conscience
Contained in the honest blood of men
In the strong desire of men
In the sincerity
In the pure and simple rightness of the star’s existence

They live
The grieved land Africa
Because we are living
And are imperishable particles
Of the grieved land of Africa.

 

About the poet

Agostinho Neto was born on September 17, 1922 in the Angolan town of Kaxikane. He had his early education at Luanda Secondary school before proceeding to the University of Combra, where he obtained his medical degree. He was imprisoned repeatedly for his political activism with the people’s Movement for the for the Liberation of Angola. Neto became the newly independent nation’s first president in 1975. His bitter experience with the Portuguese colonial policy in Angola hardened his hatred of European colonialism in general. He died on September, 1979 in Moscow while undergoing treatment for cancer.

Background to the poem

The poem has its background from the Berlin conference of 1884 when, in the guise of Christianity and civilization, the major European powers partitioned Africa for colonialization among themselves. The poet serves as a voice of reason and moderation, or a voice of protest against unfairness and injustice. He is the seer who sees the past and the future, agitating for fairness, unity and cooperation in order to cure society of its ills in the body politic. “The grieved lands” is rooted in human rights, personal struggle and self-survival, and a celebration of mother Africa who is presented to be grieved.

Analysis of the poem

“The grieved lands”, is a poem that laments the corrupt political system of Portuguese imperialism in Africa, which has led to tearful woes. The poet is hopeful that the resilience and determination of his people will triumph over every obstacle. The victims of the grieved lands are the Africans themselves. The poet reminds the readers that the predicament of the black man can be traced to the ancient when he was enslaved not by any innate fault of his, but apparently because of the uncertain nature of his slave masters. The poet-speaker’s ethical perspective is one of frankness and integrity; he stands for the truth and would not condone nor compromise evil.

 Grieved Lands alludes to the oppressed peoples of Africa who have witness or seen their lives, their assets, their culture and their humanity vanish or destroyed on the altar of western colonialism. They are perpetually in the tearful woes of ancient and modern. The woes comes from the colonizers, the people the poet speaker referred to as the people of other seas.

The poet continues in his description of the various plagues meted to Africans. He employs several visual imagery such  as flower that is crushed in the forest, which is certainly the African continent and wickedness of iron and fire is the heinous act of destruction that is known with the western colonizers. And all these caused the lands to grieve. 

Like other Africans, the Angolans were subjected to intensive exploitation by their colonial masters, the Portuguese. The poet employs a tone of hope knowing certainly that they must rejoice someday. Despite the expression of stifled laughter which means that every source of joy they have have been restricted and stifled, yet the poet speaker can still hear victorious voice of laments and hidden sensations.

The poet speaker expresses his hatred over colonial masters. The colonists came to Africa pretending to spread Christianity and bring civilization to Africans, many had hopes of witnessing a civilized Africa from civilized Europeans but it turned out to be oppression and slavery. The colonizers work round the clocks to see that they keep the blacks in perpetual bondage and annihilate them. They use every means to oppress the blacks and keep them in bloody anguish.

The poet-speaker speaks of the corpses thrown up into the Atlantic in putrid offering of incoherence and death. This suggests the punishment meted out to the African slaves who were beaten or starved or killed and their bodies thrown into the sea. The Poet creates a harsh, bloody and violent description that will make Africans achieve the independence of their country. Through the use of violent images, the poet makes an appeal to all Angolans and by extension to all Africans by saying that their union and their physical force are essential if they are to regain their country in a full sense.

The poet continues to show how the Africans are abused, imprisoned, and dehumanized. In the concluding lines, the poet speaker repeated the Black man's will innate will and desire to conquer all odds and survive. The doggedness of Africans in the midst of oppression and suppression is unwavering.

 Themes in the poem

1. The agony of colonialism: the colonization of Africa largely brought so much pain and agony to the indigenous people African people; the plagues of the colonizing powers subjected Africa to penury. The policies and practices of the colonizers revealed evidence of appalling, gruesome and atrocious tales. “In the grieved lands”, the poet laments bitterly the rigours which the Angolans passed through in the hands of the colonial masters in the hands of the colonial masters. They are killed and maimed.

2. Colonial imperialism: imperialism connotes the policy extending a nation’s authority by territorial gain, or by the establishment of economic and political dominance over other nations. The partitioning of the continent into nation states demonstrated little or no respect for the language, customs and traditions of the African people. “The grieved lands” grieved over the corrupt political system of Portuguese imperialism in Africa which has led to “tearful woes”, “the wickedness of iron and fire”.

3. doggedness of Africans: despite all the levels of oppression and inhuman treatments the Africans are subjected to, they still remain courageous to the end, hopeful that through resilience and determination they will triumph over every obstacle. The poet makes a direct appeal to all Angolans by openly saying that their union and their physical force are indispensable if they are to regain their country in a fil sense.

Disillusionment in Africa: when the White man came to Africa to Christianity and bring civilization to Africans, many had hopes of seeing a civilized Africa from civilized Europeans. When they had taken control of the colonies, it was proved otherwise, that the European were much more uncivilized than Africans because they imposed harsh treatments with lack of humanity and then raided the rich African resources with impunity. They came for the natural resources with which Africa is endowed.

 

Poetic Devices

Language: the poet’s language is highly connotative. He employs extensive use of third person pronoun ‘they’, ‘we’ to drive home the narrative tone of the poem.

Structure: the poem is written in forty-one lines of six stanzas. The poem’s structure and its development clearly suggest that the victims of oppression and injustice are the Africans themselves. The poet employs free verse style that enables him to discuss and pour out his emotions freely.

Tone: the poetic tone is harsh and highly embittered. The poet-speaker serves as a voice of reason and moderation, a voice of protest against unfairness and injustice.

Metaphor: the entire poem is built on metaphor. All the words and imagery used in the poem have metaphorical interpretations.

Repetition: the poem derives much of its effectiveness from the employment of repetition which contributes significantly to its dramatic and emotive intensity.

Irony: the expressions ‘stifled laughter’ and victorious voice of laments’ are ironical. It is ironical for the oppressed who is stifled (restricted) to be in laughter also, for a stifled voice in anguish to have a victorious voice. 

Hyperbole: an instance of hyperbole is seen in line 22 ‘in the perpetual alliance of everything that lives’. It is a deliberate exaggeration for the oppressors to align with every living creatures to oppress the Africans.

Personification: in the expression ‘dances by baobabs’, there is transfer of human attributes to non-human, the baobab.

Anaphora: the repetition of a pattern of expression for effect is seen in the poem: 

In the harmonious sound of consciences

In the strong desire of men

In the society

In the pure and simple rightness of the stars’