BLACK WOMAN
("femme noire")
Leopold Sedar Senghor
Naked woman, black woman
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.
