An Analysis of Africa, by Revolutionary African Poet, David Mandessi Diop
Africa, by David Diop
David Mandessi Diop (19271960) was a revolutionary African poet born in France but with parents of West African descent. His poems highlighted problems of Africa brought about by colonialism and gave a message to Africans to bring about change and freedom. He was known for his involvement in the negritude movement in France, a movement started by Black writers and artists protesting against French colonialism and its effects of African culture and values. His views and feelings were published in "Presence Africaine" and in his book of poems "Coups de pillon" which was published in 1956. Diop died at the age of 33 in a plane crash.
Africa my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs
Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river
The poem starts by Diop reminiscing about Africa, a land he has not seen but only heard about from his grandmother's songs. His choice of words like "distant" symbolise how far he is from his country, a feeling based on his real life as he lived in France throughout his childhood and only visited Africa in the 1950s. Despite this, he paints a vivid scene of Africa and the proud warriors who walk on its "ancestral savannahs" You can sense how much he misses his homeland by his stress on the word Africa, and he continues to call it "My Africa" to emphasise it is his land and his feelings of patriotism towards it.
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
He continues to say that he has never known Africa, but despite the distance he cannot deny how much it is a part of him. The "beautiful black blood" which flows in his veins describes his African descent and shows how much Africa is a part of him and his love for it and its people. The next verses are angry and accusatory as he stresses that it is the blood and sweat of his
David Mandessi Diop (19271960) was a revolutionary African poet born in France but with parents of West African descent. His poems highlighted problems of Africa brought about by colonialism and gave a message to Africans to bring about change and freedom. He was known for his involvement in the negritude movement in France, a movement started by Black writers and artists protesting against French colonialism and its effects of African culture and values. His views and feelings were published in "Presence Africaine" and in his book of poems "Coups de pillon" which was published in 1956. Diop died at the age of 33 in a plane crash.
Africa my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral savannahs
Africa of whom my grandmother sings
On the banks of the distant river
The poem starts by Diop reminiscing about Africa, a land he has not seen but only heard about from his grandmother's songs. His choice of words like "distant" symbolise how far he is from his country, a feeling based on his real life as he lived in France throughout his childhood and only visited Africa in the 1950s. Despite this, he paints a vivid scene of Africa and the proud warriors who walk on its "ancestral savannahs" You can sense how much he misses his homeland by his stress on the word Africa, and he continues to call it "My Africa" to emphasise it is his land and his feelings of patriotism towards it.
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
He continues to say that he has never known Africa, but despite the distance he cannot deny how much it is a part of him. The "beautiful black blood" which flows in his veins describes his African descent and shows how much Africa is a part of him and his love for it and its people. The next verses are angry and accusatory as he stresses that it is the blood and sweat of his