This blog is written as a task given by Megha Ma’am, in this particular blog i am going to analyse two poems from the paper ‘ The African Literature’, first poem is ‘The Piano and The Drums’ by Gabriel Okara and Second one is ‘To The Negro-American Soldiers’ By Leopold Sedar Sengho.
THE PIANO AND THE DRUMS BY GABRIEL OKARA
In the poem, the piano and the drums, the poetic persona shows the difference between the normal lifestyle of Africans and that of the modern world. The setting of the poem, as is seen in the poem, dates from the advent of civilization to the modern time. The central theme of the poem hinges on the effect of foreign culture to Africans. This theme he elaborates using the effect of music on the poetic persona as an analogy. The poem tries to emphasize the purity of African content before the interference of civilization.
In essence, Gabriel Okara perceives the desecration of the African way of life from the musical perspective, and comes out to lament about it through the instrument of poetry.
THE POEM, THE PIANO AND THE DRUMS
When at break of day at a riverside
I hear jungle drums telegraphing
the mystic rhythm, urgent, raw
like bleeding flesh, speaking of
primal youth and the beginning,
I see the panther ready to pounce,
the leopard snarling about to leap
and the hunters crouch with spears poised.
And my blood ripples, turns torrent,
topples the years and at once I’m
in my mother’s laps a suckling;
at once I’m walking simple
paths with no innovations
rugged, fashioned with the naked
warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts
in green leaves and wild flowers pulsing.
Then I hear a wailing piano
solo speaking of complex ways
in tear- furrowed concerto;
of far away lands
and new horizons with
coaxing diminuendo, counterpoint,
crescendo, but lost in the labyrinth of its complexities, it ends in the middle of a phrase at a daggerpoint
And I lost in the morning mist
of an age at a riverside keep
wandering in the mystic rhythm
of jungle drums and concerto.
ANALYSIS OF THE POEM, THE PIANO AND THE DRUMS
STANZA ONE
In this stanza, the poetic persona speaks of the sound of the jungle drum. This sound of drum he feels is mystical, that is, there are so many supernatural things that comes with it. The sound of the drum to him, creates agility, strength and quickness of action. This can be seen from lines 3 to 4 as he runs into imagination to the primordial time picturing what this sound would do to the jungle residents:
“… Speaking of
Primal youth and the beginning
I see the panther ready to pounce
The leopard snarling about to leap
And the hunters crouch with spears poised”
All is action and natural. The poetic persona with a straight use of imagery and comprehensible words draws the readers’ attention to the fact that everything about this sound is in their natural states using words like, “riverside, jungle, raw, fresh,” names of animal in the jungle – natural habitat, and the last line of the stanza speaking of a hunter with spear ready to strike and hunt.
Everything about this stanza depicts the freshness of nature and life as of the old.
STANZA TWO
Once again, the poetic persona remembers of years back when he was still an infant in his mother’s laps suckling her breast (lines 9 to 11). Suddenly, he is walking the paths of the village with no new ideas of a way of life different from the one he is born into:
“At once I’m walking simple
Paths with no innovations,
Rugged, fashioned with the naked
Warmth of hurrying feet and groping hearts
In green leaves and wild flowers pulsing.”
STANZA THREE
Then, here in stanza three, reality changed as the poetic persona came in contact with a different sound from a faraway land:
“Then I hear a wailing piano
Solo speaking of complex ways in
Tear-furrowed concerto;
Of far-away lands”
The change in the sound came with a different instrument other than African native drum, and it also produces a sound that is different with so many musical technicalitieswhich the poetic persona expresses with musical dictions in words like, “concerto, diminuendo, crescendo.” He deploys them to emphasize the difficulty in understanding this new sound
“… but lost in the labyrinth
Of its complexities…”
Consequently, in the last four lines, the poetic persona laments on the level of confusion the new sound brings when it mixes with the drums:
“And I lost in the morning mist
Of an age at a riverside keep
Wandering in the mystic rhythm
Of jungle drums and the concerto”
On a general note, the poet discusses the confusion that is created when western culture mixes with African culture. Any attempt to unify the two results to confusion and disorder. Therefore, one is keenly advised to abhor such style of life. If you want to be African, be it, otherwise, live like the white man.
The poetic persona is not against choosing any of the cultures, but don’t mix them together. Indirectly, he warns us against becoming whiter than the white themselves or more civilized than civilization.
THEMES OF THE POEM, PIANO AND THE DRUMS
Celebration of nature – In stanza one, the way the poetic persona expresses the details of the jungle drum depicts his appreciation of the normal natural environment of things.
No place like home – Although, this theme cannot be identified on a surface level in the poem, but, when the poetic persona laments over the confusion that emanates from the contact of the two instruments: piano and drum (African lifestyle and western lifestyle), he shows how comfortable one can be at home with the things and way of life that he is familiar with. There was no confuse when it was all African and their drums until civilization came.
Living a double standard lifestyle – By emphasizing the confusion that comes out from the marriage of the piano and drum sounds, the poetic persona tells us that living two contracting lives can only breed confusion and complexities.
Acculturation – The notion of acculturation is brought into the poem with the contact of the piano and the drums. Acculturation is when two distinct cultures meet and start to adopt and absorb each other’s norms.
Cultural conflicts. – The poem also shows that two distinct cultures cannot stay together as any such attempt will result to conflict of norms, traditions and believes. For instance, as many analyst has proposed, the conflicts in Nigeria that appear in the forms of ethnicity(tribalism), favoritism, nepotism, nonchalant attitude to public work and so on, is as a result of the incompatibility of the three major tribes in Nigeria and the many others. However, irrespective of these abnormalities, Nigeria still calls for unity in diversity.
STRUCTURE OF THE POEM, PIANO AND THE DRUMS
It is a poem of three stanzas with 29 lines. It has no consistent rhyming scheme, hence one can say that it is mainly a free verse.
DICTION OF THE POEM, PIANO AND THE DRUMS
The language of the poem is simple, visual and intelligible.
MOOD/TONE OF THE POEM, PIANO AND THE DRUMS
The mood of the poem is that of dilemma, mixed feelings and confusion, and the tone is that of lamentation.
FIGURES OF SPEECH IN THE POEM, PIANO AND THE DRUMS
Imagery – the poetic persona deploys visual words that create vivid image in the mind of the readers. Some of the words and phrases are: riverside, jungle drum, bleeding flesh, leopard snarling, blood ripples, mother’s laps, hurrying feet, groping hearts wandering etc.
Repetition – Repetition, they say, is for emphasizes. The words, “lost and complexity” is used in two places each in the poem. This is not for normal usage of words, but, to emphasize the incompatibility and confuse that comes with the mixture of the two cultures.
Enjambment – the poem has so many run-on-lines as the poetic persona tends to express his mind.
Synecdoche – “hurrying feet” and “groping hearts” are used to refer to Africans. The feet and hearts are parts that represent a whole.
Metaphor – the kind of metaphor used in the poem is similar to what is called start metaphor.
Lines 2 and 3 of the first stanza, “I hear the jungle drums telegraphing/ the mystic rhythm,” compares the rhythm of the drum to that of a mystic rhythm.
Lines 2 and 3 of the second stanza, “… in my mother’s lap a suckling,” compares the poetic persona to an infant.
The last line of the third stanza, “but lost in the labyrinth of its complexities,” compares the complexity of the piano to that of a maze.
Simile – this can be seen in lines 3 and 4 of stanza one, “…raw like bleeding flesh…”
Reminiscence – in stanza one the poetic persona remembers the primordial era and its freshness of nature. Likewise, in stanza two, he recollects of his childhood as a suckling.
Allusion – the poetic persona also made a historical allusion to the primordial age which is also referred to above as a reminiscence.
Symbolism – the drum and piano in the poem symbolize African and western culture respectively.
Personification – While lines 2 and 3 in stanza one shows the drum telegraphing like a human being, lines 17 and 18 also depicts the piano speaking like a human being.
‘To The Negro-American Soldiers’ By Leopold Sedar Sengho
Léopold Senghor
Léopold Senghor was a poet, teacher, and politician who became the first president of the African nation of Senegal after it gained independence from France. He was born in 1906 in Senegal when it was a French colony. As a young man, Senghor went to study in Paris, where he became passionate about promoting African art and culture on the world stage. He coined the term "Negritude" to celebrate Black African identity and experience through literature and art.
During World War II, Senghor was captured and spent time in a Nazi concentration camp, where he wrote some of his famous poetry. After the war, he entered politics, becoming a member of the French parliament representing Senegal. As Senegal and other French colonies pushed for independence in the late 1950s, Senghor helped negotiate Senegal becoming an independent nation in 1960. He was elected as Senegal's first president and served until retiring voluntarily in 1980.
As president, Senghor promoted African socialist and democratic values while modernizing Senegal's agriculture and economy. He advocated for better trade terms for African nations on the global stage. Senghor remained deeply committed to preserving and promoting Negritude philosophy and African arts and literature throughout his life. He was inducted into the prestigious French Academy and published volumes of his acclaimed poetry until his death in 2001 at age 95. (Britannica) (To know more about Léopold Sédar Senghor visit this website titled The Senghor myth.
Poem
For Mercer Cook
I did not recognize you in prison under your
sad-colored uniform
I did not recognize you under the calabash helmet
without style
I did not recognize the whining sound of your
iron horses, who drink but do not eat.
And it is no longer the nobility of elephants, it is the
the barbaric weight of the prehistoric
monsters of the world.
Under your closed face, I did not recognize you.
I only touched the warmth of your brown hand,
I called myself “Afrika! ”
And I found once again the lost laughter, I hailed the ancient voices
and the roar of Congo waterfalls.
Brothers, I do not know whether you bombed the
cathedrals, the pride of Europe,
If you are the lightning of God’s hand that burned
Sodom and Gomorrah.
No, you are the messengers of his mercy, the
Spring after Winter.
To those who had forgotten how to laugh-only
smile obliquely
Who knew nothing but the savory flavor of
tears and the vexing stench of blood
You bring the Season of Peace and hope to
end of the delay.
And their night is filled with milky sweetness, the blue
fields of the sky are covered with flowers, silence sings
soothingly.
You bring them the sun. The air beats with whispers
liquids and crystalline chirping and beating
silky wings
The aerial cities are tepid with nests.
Through the streets joy streamed, the boys play with
their dreams
Men dance before of their machines and
surprised themselves singing.
Schoolgirl's eyelids are rose petals, and
fruits ripen in the virgins’ breasts
And the women’s hips-Oh, sweetness-
grow generously heavy.
Black brothers, warriors whose mouths are flowers that
sing
-Oh! the delight to live after Winter-I salute you
like messengers of peace.
Explanation of the poem
Senghor's poem is a powerful tribute to Mercer Cook, a French-American diplomat who served as the Ambassador to Senegal and Gambia. Despite Cook's French ancestry, Senghor embraces him as a kindred spirit and messenger of peace, recognizing his solidarity with the African soldiers and their shared struggle.
The poem opens with a striking contrast, as the speaker initially fails to recognize Cook in his "sad-colored uniform" and "calabash helmet" - symbols of the oppression and lack of individuality faced by the African soldiers. However, upon touching Cook's "brown hand," the speaker experiences a profound moment of connection, exclaiming "Afrika!" and rediscovering the lost laughter and ancient voices of his homeland, represented by the powerful "roar of Congo waterfalls."
Senghor then questions whether Cook and his compatriots are the ones who "bombed the cathedrals" and brought destruction, likening them to the "lightning of God's hand that burned Sodom and Gomorrah." But the speaker quickly dismisses this notion, proclaiming them instead as "messengers of his mercy" and the "Spring after Winter," bringing hope and peace to those who had forgotten how to laugh and had known only the bitterness of tears and the stench of blood.
The poem vividly depicts the transformative power of Cook's presence, as the night is filled with "milky sweetness," the sky adorned with flowers, and silence sings soothingly. Senghor portrays Cook and his comrades as bringers of the sun, filling the air with whispers, liquid sounds, and the beating of silky wings - creating an atmosphere of warmth, rejuvenation, and a newfound sense of belonging.
This transformative energy extends to the people, as the poem describes joy streaming through the streets, boys playing with their dreams, and men dancing before their machines, surprised by their own singing. The schoolgirls' eyelids are likened to rose petals, and fruits ripen in the virgins' breasts, symbolizing the fertility and abundance that accompanies the return of peace.
In the final stanza, Senghor directly addresses Cook and his "Black brothers" as "warriors whose mouths are flowers that sing," expressing his delight in living after the metaphorical Winter and saluting them as messengers of peace. The poem celebrates Cook's empathy and understanding of the African soldiers' pain, transcending racial boundaries and embracing him as a brother in the pursuit of renewal and reconciliation.
Through its vivid imagery and powerful themes of connection, transformation, and the shared humanity between African and African-American soldiers, Senghor's poem pays tribute to Mercer Cook as a symbol of hope, solidarity, and the possibility of a more just and peaceful world.
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