BAT

DAVID HERBERT

At evening, sitting on this terrace, 

When the sun from the west, beyond Pisa, beyond the mountains of Carrara 

Departs, and the world is taken by surprise ... 

When the tired flower of Florence is in gloom beneath the glowing 

Brown hills surrounding ... 

When under the arches of the Ponte Vecchio 

A green light enters against stream, flush from the west, 

Against the current of obscure Arno ... 

Look up, and you see things flying 

Between the day and the night; 

Swallows with spools of dark thread sewing the shadows together. 

A circle swoop, and a quick parabola under the bridge arches 

Where light pushes through; 

A sudden turning upon itself of a thing in the air. 

A dip to the water. 

And you think: 

'The swallows are flying so late!' 

Swallows? 

Dark air-life looping 

Yet missing the pure loop ... 

A twitch, a twitter, an elastic shudder in flight 

And serrated wings against the sky, 

Like a glove, a black glove thrown up at the light, 

And falling back. 

Never swallows! 

Bats! 

The swallows are gone. 

At a wavering instant the swallows gave way to bats 

By the Ponte Vecchio ... 

Changing guard. 

Bats, and an uneasy creeping in one's scalp 

As the bats swoop overhead! 

Flying madly. 

Pipistrello! 

Black piper on an infinitesimal pipe. 

Little lumps that fly in air and have voices indefinite, wildly vindictive; 

Wings like bits of umbrella. 

Bats! 

Creatures that hang themselves up like an old rag, to sleep; 

And disgustingly upside down. 

Hanging upside down like rows of disgusting old rags 

And grinning in their sleep. 

Bats! 

Not for me! 

    ABOUT THE POET

David Herbert Lawrence was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England in 1885. He was a novelist, 

Short-story writer, Poet and essayist.  His first published works were poems in 1909. His poetry on evocations of the natural world have influence on many poets. Lawrence died in 1930.

SUBJECT MATTER

“Bat” is a Lyric poem. The poem reveals the poet's deep aversion towards bat,  a nocturnal creature ( a bird that sees only in the night but blind during the day). Bat is called ‘Pipistrello' in Italy meaning little piper. Bat is jot the only mammal or bird that flies in the night. Swallows also fly in the night. A swallow is a small long-winged songbird noted for swift graceful flight and the regularity of its migrations. In his careful observation of the bat, the poet-speaker also observes swallows under the bridge arches. Even though the poet knows very well that swallows also fly late in the night, his awful attention does not direct to swallows but to bat as a result of his hatred and disdain towards bat. Although the poet finds bat disgusting and repulsive, bat is highly valued in China. In China, bat is a symbol of joy and good luck. It is a highly valued edible meat in China.

LINE ANALYSIS OF THE POEM

The poem begins by giving the readers a clue on the setting of the poem. The time is evening. The physical setting is Italy. Some ancient cities like Pisa,  Florence,  Mountains of Carrara,  Ponte Vecchio and River Arno all portray the setting as Italy. 

The poet, looking towards the Ponte Vecchio,  an old bridge built in arches over the Arno River in Florence,  experiences tranquil atmosphere. The poet admires the entire beauty of natures which are radiating from mountains of Carrara down to Ponte Vecchio and to the Rover Arno. Suddenly, he sees swallows as he looks up. Those creatures are swallows with spools of dark thread sewing the shadows .

Swallows are small birds with pointed wings and forked tail. The birds hover up and down the bridge. They move in any direction they see light under the bridge. The sight seems pleasing to the poet as they do not hover in the gross darkness unlike bat.

There is a huge contrast between swallows and bats. While swallow is endearing, bat is irritating. In these lines the poet expresses open hatred towards bats. Swallows fly at sunset but bats take deep pleasure in thick darkness. The poet bitterly expresses disdain against bats.

The poet continues with his contempt against bats. The poet says the swallows gave way for the bats by the Ponte Vecchio. The poet uses ‘changing guard’ a military term to describe how this birds change operation. In his further disdainful dispositions for bats, the poet reveals how the bat ‘swoop overhead madly‘. To swoop means to carry out a sudden raid. 

The poet describes bats using more harsh and unpleasant words. Bats are called Pipistrello in Italy. As tiny as bats are, they are expressing unreasonable desire for revenge. All about bat is disgusting to the poet. Bats ooze their disgusting voices from an infinitesimal pipe.

The poet describes hats with so many vilifying imageries. They hang themselves up like an old rag,  to sleep’ and disgustingly upside down. 

While bat us highly disgusting to the poet, it is warmly revered and widely accepted in China. Chinese people consume bat with great relish. Apart from serving as edible meat in China, it is a symbol of good luck and happiness. 

Notwithstanding that bat is highly welcomed in China,  the poet still maintain his resolute stance on detesting bat.

THEMES 

Beauty of Nature: The poet expresses the brimful beauty of nature. These include the sun that comes beyond Pisa, the Mountains of Carrara, the flower of Florence and the landscape of Pints Vecchio. All these geographical beauties constitute sources of joy, gaiety and fulfilment in the poet. The poet becomes highly elated as he sits on the terrace to watch and admire these beauties of nature. 

Realties of Human Consciousness: The way the poet sees bat reflects the realities of human consciousness. The bat evokes a sense of sadness and bitterness in the poet. The mere sight and thought of the bat spoils the poet’s happy mood. The bat represents the pain that humans encounter in the world.   At end, the poet exclaims, ‘Not for me’. This shows his level of     consciousness. A sudden shift in the light of the swallows that are gone and replaced with the pain and fear at the grinning of the bats.

Varieties of Human Choices: Bat is a source of bitterness and concern to the poet. While the poet Finds bat disgusting,  some other people- like the Chinese- hold bat at the highest esteem and consume it with relish. To the poet, bat is ‘wildly vindictive’ ‘Black piper on an infinitesimal pipe’ ‘disgusting old rags’ but on the contrary, bat is a symbol of happiness in China. This shows that shows vary among individuals and cultures. 

POETIC DEVICES FROM THE POEM

1. Language: The poem is written in simple prose-like form. It employs ellipsis to show that the poem is a personal emotional opinion of the poet. Language: Lawrence used violent words or expression to express his hatred for bats. Words like ‘’flying madly,’’ ‘’voices indefinite, ’’wildly vindictive,’’ ‘’old rags,’’ ‘’disgusting,’’ ‘’Black Piper.’’ The use of ‘’black’’ here connotes ‘’devil’’ or ‘’evil.’’ ‘’Disgusting’’ means something bad, unfair, inappropriate that you feel annoyed and angry.

2. Tone: The poet makes use of harsh and disdainful tone that reveals his strong hatred for bat.

4. Enjambment: Each line has its meaning flow into another. 

5. Allusion: It is making reference to something which is already known by a reader or listener. ‘’Ponte Vecchio’’ is a medieval stoned-a segmental arch bridge over the Arno River, in Florence, Italy. Another way is ‘’Mountain Carrara’’—Carrara marble is a type of white or blue-grey marble of high quality, popular for use in sculpture and building decoration.

6. Simile: This is when two things that share same features but are from different nature are compared. The poet compared the ugly appearance of bats with an umbrella. ‘’Wings like bits of umbrella.’’ Others are ‘’creatures that hang themselves up like an old rag’’, ‘’like a glove, a black glove thrown up at night.’’ The descriptions of bats indicated the poet’s hatred for the creature.

7. Personification: It is when inanimate objects are given human attributes. ‘’When the tired flower of Florence.’’ Line 5. Flowers can never be tired like human beings. Bats behave like an insane person in being ‘’flying madly’’ line 33. Swallows behave like tailors when they are ‘’sewing the shadows together’’ line 11.

8. Alliteration: The repetition of same sounds was employed in this poem. ‘’When the tired flower of Florence (f,f) line 4. ‘’ A twitch a twitter’’ line 21 (t, t) . ‘’little lumps that fly (L, L)

9. Rhetorical Questions: Questions that demand no answers. ‘’Swallows?, ‘’Never Swallows! Bats!’’ ‘’Bats. Not for me!’’ All these were used to emphasize the poet’s hatred for bats.

10. Repetition: It is when an expression or a word is used more than one tome. Words like ‘’upside down’’, ‘’old rags’’ and ‘’disgusting’’ shows the poet’s strong hatred for bats. Other repeated words are ‘’glove’’, ‘’swallows’’ and ‘’Bats’’.

11. Antithesis: It is the use of two contrasting words, phrases or sentences. Bats are the symbol of happiness and good fortune in China but the poet sees bats as disgusting and ill-omen creatures.

12. Metaphor: It is the direct comparison of two things that share same qualities but different nature. The poet compared bats: ‘’And serrated wings against the sky’’ line 22, ‘’Black Piper’’ line 35. ‘’Little lumps that fly in air’’ line 36. These comparisons are based on his hatred towards bats.

13. Imagery: The creation of mental picture in reader’s mind. We could see the image of the way bats fly, sleep upside down, their wings like a wretched umbrella.

 DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

ABOUT THE POET

A poem Dylan Thomas dedicated to his father, David John Thomas,  a militant man who had been strong in his youth, but who weakened with age and by his eighties had become blind. Dylan Thomas finished this poem, a villanelle, in 1951 and sent it off to an editor friend of a magazine, together with a note which read: “The only person I cant show the little enclosed poem to is, of course, my father, who doesn’t know he's dying.

He also remarked to his friend,  American Robert J. Gibson, that the spark for the poem was his father's approaching blindness. Thomas's father was to pass away a year later and the poet himself succumbed to illness and died in 1953. The poem urges older man not to give up and yield to the final “night” of death. It is one of the most famous Villanelles in the English language. The rigid for; two end rhymes,  a pattern of repeating lines and five three-lines stanzas with a four-line stanza at the end suggests the poet's attempts to control his passionate emotions. It was first published in 1951,  two years before the poet's own death at age 39.

SUBJECT MATTER

The poem is a son's plea to a dying father. His purpose is to show his father that all men face the same end, but they fight for life, nonetheless. The poet portrays the state of the old men when they have got old and are approaching death. He joins them to resist death as strongly as they can. In fact,  they should only leave this world kicking and screaming,  furious that they have to die at all. At the end of the poem, the reader is given a hint that the poet-speaker has a personal stake in this issue: his own father dying.

LINE ANALYSIS OF THE POEM 

     Wise men are the first group that Thomas describes. The first line in the stanza, “Though wise men at their end know dark is right,” suggests that they know that death is a natural part of life and they are wise enough to know they should accept it. However, the next line reasons that they fight against it because they feel they have not gained nearly enough repute or notoriety. “Because their words had forked no lighting” This is Thomas’ way of saying that they want to hold on to life to be able to leave their mark, thereby sustaining their memory in history as great scholars or philosophers.

     Thomas moves forward and describes the next group as good men. They reflect on their lives as the end approaches. “Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright,”  This line can be broken down into two parts. First’ good men are few now, as it says “the last wave by,” perhaps this is emphasis on the fact that Thomas believes his father to be a good man and that the world can still use him. Second, the line “crying how bright,” refers to men telling their stories in a limelight. They self-proclaim their works as good, but as Thomas goes on into the next line “their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,” it describes men knowing that their deeds will not be remembered regardless of their seemingly significant achievements. Green bay refers to an eternal sea, which marks their place in history. After reflecting on the past, they decide that they want to live if for nothing more than to leave their names written down in history.

     Wild men, however as the next group is revealed, have learned too late that they are mortal. They spent their lives in action and only realize as time has caught up with them that this is the end. “Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,” exaggerates their experiences and how they have wasted away their days chasing what they could not catch. Even more so “caught and sang the sun,” refers to how these wild men lived. They were daredevils who faced peril with blissful ignorance. They wasted away their lives on adventures and excitements. The next line, “And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,” refers to the realism of their own mortality. They grieve because they have caused much grief living their lives in folly. Even though the end is approaching, they will not give in because they want more time to hold on to the adventure of their youth and perhaps right a few wrongs that they have done.

    Grave men, are the last group of men Thomas describes. “Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight,” in this line his use of grave men has almost a double meaning, referring to men who are saddened as well as being physically near death. They feel the strains of a long life, and they know they are physically decaying. Their eyes are failing along with the rest of their body, however there is still a passion burning within their eyes for an existence, even if it is a frail state. “Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,”  is an expression that represent man’s struggle for survival. He is possibly offering that even in this frail state that his father could be happy living longer.

     Finally, in the last stanza the intent is presented, Thomas is showing that all men no matter their experiences or situations fight for more time. He urges his father to do the same. “Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray,” (17) describes his pain and passion that are causing him to beg his father not to die. Thomas is watching his father fade and is begging for his father no to give in. It appears that his father has either peacefully surrendered himself, or rather that he has resigned himself to his fate.

THEMES IN THE POEM

Anger: The poet advises its listener to rage against dying. By giving us the models of wise men, good men, wild men and grave men,  the poet is of the view that me who are vigorously pursuing something but meet frustrations and disappointments in their lives, would resort to anger in their lives. Although it could be said that these are admirable types of men, and that if they all reach the same conclusion having travelled there on different roads then it must be the correct one, they still do not achieve any comfort or satisfaction from raging; that is, not going gentle. The poem is expressed as advice to choose rage but these men do not find their rage by choice. Anger is therefore considered to be better than sadness in the poem.

Mortality and Transience: The poem laments the certainty or inevitability of death, encouraging the aged to rebel against their fate. The poem suggests that we should leave this world the way we came in – kicking and screaming., holding on to life for all we're worth. The thought of transience causes the speaker a lot of anxiety. It worries him that there are things people might have been able to do in the world if only they had been here longer but unfortunately, life is brief. It bothers him that the sun travels so quickly across the sky, making human beings quickly draw close to their graves. But even though transience is disturbing, it also creates opportunities for reflections.

Identity: The poem is an address to the poet's father. This helps the reader easily understand the poet's undertones. The angry attitude the poet asks the father is not necessarily suggested for all people,  but instead an emotional reaction to the imminent death of a figure. Thomas uses the formalized villanelle style to pass a message, not just about death but about standing by or identifying with a loved one when they face death. The poem reveals a strong emotional affinity and identity.

Morality: Though death is inevitable, the poet tells the listener to do something substantial, something grandiose before death snuffs out life. Throughout the poem, life is associated with passion, zeal and adventure. It is also associated with the pursuit of one’s potential and self-actualisation. Thomas’s urges the “wise men” and the good men” to resist death because they haven’t achieved anything significant to be remembered by. His “wild men” had lived passionately but had been ignorant of their own mortality all this while. 

Old age: Despite the inexorable nature of death, if a man lives his life with unwavering passion and zeal, and doesn’t submit to the frailties of old age, he can escape the regrets and tragedies that accompany death. In order to die with dignity, man must not let the limitations of old age hamper his intensity of life. 

POETIC DEVICES

Alliteration: The following underlined words are the examples of alliteration that feature in the poem.

Do not go gentle into that good night

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

..blinding sight/ Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay

When two or more words which begin with the same sound, are placed adjacent or close to each other in a text, it is called as alliteration.  Alliteration focuses readers’ attention on a particular section of text. Alliterative sounds create rhythm and mood and can have particular connotations.

Metaphor: In the entire poem, “night”, “dying of the light” and “close of day” has been used as metaphors for death. This could be because, while we are energetic and bursting with life at the beginning of the day, as the night closes in on us, we slowly lose the zeal to accomplish and wish to fade in and rest. Similarly, as man moves over from the period of youth to old age, he loses his vigour and ardour for life.

“Forked no lightning” literally refers to splitting a thunderbolt. This has been used as a metaphor for describing extraordinary tasks or accomplishments of men. The impact that the ideas of men has on the rest of the world has been referred to here.

Personification: “Frail deeds might have danced” is a phrase where deeds of men are given the human ability to dance, hence personified. The deeds have been given the attribute of a human being to bring in a more realistic or live image.

Simile: ‘Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay’ is an example of fine simile in the poem, ‘Do Not Go Gentle In to the Good Night’. Similes make descriptions vivid by comparing their subjects with known events or things. Effective similes help readers visualize what is being described. Hence, here blind eyes, which actually cannot see, are given the ability to blaze and shine by comparing them to meteors, which are incandescent bodies of mater from outer space.

Oxymoron: In the 5th stanza, “blinding sight” is an oxymoron. Also, in the final stanza, “Curse, bless me now..” can be termed as an oxymoron. Oxymoron is a figure of speech that juxtaposes images that appear to be contradictory. By combining two words or terms together that are inherently contradictory, the use of an effective oxymoron can create a phrase with lasting resonance and a more immediately evocative sensibility.

Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds to create an internal rhyming within phrases or sentences, Assonance is a rhyme, the identity of which depends on vowel sounds.

First stanza: Age, rave, day

Fifth stanza: Blaze, gay, rage

Repetition: there is a repetition of a certain sentence for the sake of emphasis “Do Not Go Gentle In to That Good Night” and “Rage, rage against the dying of the light” have been repeated four times throughout the poem to emphasize on the message of not accepting death submissively and fighting against it with fiery passion.

Parallelism: The poet draws a parallel between four kinds of men; wise men, good men, wild men and grave men. The objective of this is to say that though humans can be of different varied kinds, but at the end of the day, they all can and must fight against death and accomplish something indelible in their life

Imagery: The imagery that occurs throughout the poem is closing of day and the onset of night. The repeated usage of this image works to symbolise death, or the end. The “good night” is death, with a deliberate pun on saying good night and the idea that death is the right or “good” thing at the end of life. Death is characterised as “close of day”. The mention of words forking no lightning produces an image of a bizarre or extraordinary phenomenon occurring because of the deeds of these men. “Frail deeds might have danced in a green bay” projects a picture of life and vitality as green in the sea is symbolic of sea weed, plants and algae, hence, life. The mention of meteors in the 5th stanza produces an image of something that passes very quickly, yet leaves a blazing trail behind and a lasting effect in the atmosphere.

  “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” is a villanelle. Villanelles have nineteen lines divided into five three-line stanzas and a sixth stanza with four lines. In English, villanelles tend to be written in the common metrical pattern called iambic pentameter, which means ten syllables per line, with every other syllable stressed, starting with the second syllable. The rhyme scheme is ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA, so there are only two rhymes that end all the lines. In addition, the first line and third line, the refrains, are repeated four times each – the first line appears at the end of stanzas 2 and 4 and as the second-to-last line in stanza 6. The poem’s third line appears again at the end of stanzas 3, 5, and 6.

 BLACK WOMAN
("femme noire")

Leopold Sedar Senghor 

Clothed with your colour which is life,

with your form which is beauty!

In your shadow I have grown up; the

gentleness of your hands was laid over my eyes.

And now, high up on the sun-baked

pass, at the heart of summer, at the heart of noon,

I come upon you, my Promised Land,

And your beauty strikes me to the heart

like the flash of an eagle.

Naked woman, dark woman

Firm-fleshed ripe fruit, sombre raptures

of black wine, mouth making lyrical my mouth

Savannah stretching to clear horizons,

savannah shuddering beneath the East Wind's

eager caresses

Carved tom-tom, taut tom-tom, muttering

under the Conqueror's fingers

Your solemn contralto voice is the

spiritual song of the Beloved.

Naked woman, dark woman

Oil that no breath ruffles, calm oil on the

athlete's flanks, on the flanks of the Princes of Mali

Gazelle limbed in Paradise, pearls are stars on the

night of your skin

Delights of the mind, the glinting of red

gold against your watered skin

Under the shadow of your hair, my care

is lightened by the neighbouring suns of your eyes.

Naked woman, black woman,

I sing your beauty that passes, the form

that I fix in the Eternal,

Before jealous fate turn you to ashes to

feed the roots of life

ABOUT THE POET

Leopold Senghor is the greatest of the Francophone African poets . He was born in Senegal, in 1906, and schooled both in Dakar and in Paris, France. He was the first West African to graduate from the Sorbonne (a part of the University of Paris, founded in 1253 that contains the faculties of science and literature) and teach in a French university. He is acclaimed as the father of Negritude (from Negro), a philosophy that affirms the black identity and touts the black man’s values as something to celebrate and be proud of. His poetry shows it in abundance.

Leopold Senghor was a catholic who planned to become a priest, but later became a statesman. He fought with the French in the Second World War and became a prisoner of war in then Nazi Germany. He became the Deputy for Senegal in the French Constituent Assembly, President of the Council of the Republic and Counselling Minister at the office of the President of the French Community. In 1960, he became the President of the Federal Republic of Mali and later in the same year, the President of an Independent Republic of Senegal. He was president of Senegal  until 1980.

BACKGROUND TO THE POEM

The poem “Black Woman” was written by Leopold Senghor and published in “Chants d’Ombre” in 1945. It was initially written in French as “Femme Noir” and then translated to English. Senghor was a Senegalese poet who was instrumental in starting the emotional, intellectual and political and literary movement called “negritude” along with other writers of African origin- like Aime Cesaire- in Paris. This movement was born as a result of Senghor going to Part. The negritude movement is essentially focused on making the value of the African people manifest. Negritude philosophy believed that despite the diversity and plurality of the African culture, and the African Diasporas, African people all over the world still had shared experiences of racial brutality and oppression. Hence, the negritude writers essentially tried to convey through their works, the pride they felt in being African and the pride they felt in African culture itself.

In the poem “Black Woman”, Senghor reinforces the ideas of negritude. He personifies Africa- the nation- as an African woman. He praises her and compliments her, comparing her to a goddess. Throughout the poem, Senghor equates the African woman to everything beautiful and graceful. For instance, in the last stanza, he compares her skin to the well oiled, beautiful skin of an athlete, or the Princes of Mali. He goes on to say that the African woman is as elegant and graceful as a gazelle. Senghor ends his poem on a philosophical note by saying that he will keep alive the African woman’s beauty eternally in his poetry.

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE POEM 

“Black woman is an ode or eulogy to a black woman,  sister or daughter and mist importantly Africa and the poet’s motherland,  Senegal which could be love and be loved just like a woman,  mother or a lover.  The meaning of this poem revolves around Senghor’s contemplation, description and glorification of the black woman.  In the poem “Black Woman”,  Senghor reinforces the idea of negritude. The poet treats the traditional themes of love, death, solitude,  suffering, the beauty of nature,  the beauty of woman and longing for his homeland. In this poem,  Senghor reaffirms his committed love for Africa,  his homeland,  his mother country by personifying Africa as every woman he loves.  He praises the African culture by finding beauty in the colour of the African skin, which had been the main cause for brutality and discrimination during the British rule in Africa. In this poem, he showers praises on the “black woman” thus implying the greatness of the African culture and the African people. He takes immense pride in being African- and this itself is the main idea behind the negritude. 

LINE ANALYSIS OF THE POEM [STRUCTURE]

In the first stanza, the poet emphasizes the thematic statement that the colour of the natural black woman itself is life and her form is beauty. Senghor has grown up under her shadow and his spirit has been nourished by her. Now that he has grown up and matured, he returns to her as if he were coming upon the promised land. He sees her through a mountain pass at noon in the midst of summer, and her beautiful form goes to his heart directly.

In the second stanza, she is seen as a lover, a woman whose flesh is like that of a ripened fruit. The poet compares her to the infinite savanna that shudders beneath the caresses of the east wind. She is like a tight, well-sculpted drum that resounds under the fingers of a valiant  conqueror; a woman whose resonant  contralto voice becomes the spiritual anthem of the loved one.

In the third stanza, she becomes almost a goddess, with her skin as smooth as the oiled skin of an athlete or a prince. She is like an elegant gazelle adorned with heavenly ornaments.

In the final stanza, Senghor concludes philosophically that he is perpetuating her transient beauty permanently in his poetry. His language thus reveals the black woman as an embodiment of sensuality and as a place for comfort and warmth for men.   He is  aware that nothing is bound to endure forever and so soon, the ‘black woman’ may have to make way and give up all her qualities in order for there to be a new beginning as expressed in, “…Before jealous fate turn you to ashes to

feed the roots of life”

THEMES IN THE POEM

1. The beauty of the African woman

In this poem, Senghor celebrates the essence of womanhood, especially black womanhood. When he writes of Africa in his poetry,  it is frequently in terns of a woman.  The black woman of this poem is more than an individual person; she is also the progenitor of his race and as a result,  a symbol of Africa itself and an embodiment of African heritage. He uses her very colour as part of his praise and seems to abstract her characteristics into an idea of a black woman in order to praise her. The poet portrays black woman as an embodiment of sensuality and as a place to find comfort and warmth. 

2. The beauty of Africa

The poem explores the riches and splendour of African beauty. He passionately likes and cherishes his indigenous African background.  Africa's tropical settings,  the beauty and structural configurations of its land and people greatly fascinated his mental and physical well-being and soul.  He celebrates the beauty of the African topographical settings. The pleasant atmosphere of the African continent is brought vividly before the eyes of the reader 

3. Nostalgia 

This poem was written when Senghor was away from his homeland.  Nostalgia is reflected in the poem as the speaker longs to return to an Africa that was almost unspoiled by  the ways of the western world and that was for him a sort if paradise where all seemed to be in harmony and at peace. In this Africa of his childhood,  the was a sense of life spent in common with family,  his village, clan,  his tribe and even his ancestors.  Leopold Senghor remembers details of his early childhood with great fondness and striking clarity and then wishes to go back to his root. 

POETIC DEVICES

1) Diction: the poet uses choice of words to symbolize the beauty of the black woman. He deliberately uses words like nakedness, black and darkness which are seen as negative attributes to praise the natural beauty of the black woman. The poet is also challenging the African woman to appreciate her natural beauty. And to bleach the dark skin in the name of sophisticated culture of the western world.

mood: the mode of the poem is that of Adoration. The poet adores the awesome beauty of the black woman. He describes everything about the African woman as naturally beautiful. Senghor sees Africa as the black woman he loves to celebrate. He seeks to adore that state of natural beauty before it is taken away by death.

2) Tone: the poet’s tone of the appreciation of natural beauty of the black woman pervades the poem. He praises the African woman not only for her natural smooth dark skin, but also for the way and manner she brings up her children.

3) Ode: the poem is a hymn of praise to the black woman, an African mother, daughter or sister and indeed mother Africa which deserves to be treated like a woman, the poet praise the natural beauty of the African woman, and stresses the need to accord her the rightful place in the society.

4) Metaphor: the figure of speech prominently used in the poem is that of metaphor. The black woman is compared to the promised land, ripe fruit, Savannah, oil and gazelle in lines 4,7,12, and 13.

5) Simile: the literary device is used by the poet in line 5 “your beauty strikes me to the heart like the flash of an eagle, ” the comparism brings to mind the beauty and nobility of an eagle.

6) Repetition: line 1 “naked woman, black woman” and. Line 6 “naked woman, dark woman ” are repeated in lines 11 and 16 respectively to emphasize the natural beauty of the African woman.

7) Symbolism: Senghor uses symbolic words like: the promised land, ripe fruit, Savannah, oil and gazelle to symbolize the natural beauty of the black woman as a person, as well as a symbol of African woman and mother Africa.

8) Apostrophe: it is a literary device that poet employs to address the black woman, the object of praise as though she were physically present with him.

9) Personification: the black woman is figuratively used to personified the African continent and Senghor’s country, Senegal. The poet uses beauty of colour of the African woman skin to personified the rich African culture before western influence and colonization.

10) Imagery: the poet natural imagery to link the Beauty of the black woman to nature, and by the same token to his homeland of Senegal. Natural images like: wind, sun, noon, night, and stars are presented as attributes of the darkness of the African woman’s skin.

11) Alliteration: the poet uses alliteration to buttress the beauty of the black woman in lines 1,2,3,6,7,9 etc.

12) Simile: The following expression portrays a simile: “Your beauty strikes me to the heart like the flash of an eagle

13) Apostrophe: The poet addresses the object of praise ( black woman)  as though she were present.

14) Symbols: several symbolic words are used to evoke emotions,  beauty and perfection.  All the sensual words used in the poem are very symbolic.  They show the fact that the beauty of womanhood is not only situated in her physical attractiveness, but it accommodates other virtuous attributes like loyalty,  faithfulness, obedience to marital and cultural codes. 

15) Form and Structure : The poem is written in four stanzas.  It is written in a free verse,  without regard for metrics pattern or rhyme scheme. Its sentences are long and wordy. While the first stanza presents black woman as  mother,  the last stanza showcases her love and portrays her as the nourisher.