What Is The Tone Of To Know Ourselves

“[O]f a land of desire inflamed by a restlessness of branches of a shipwreck right against the very black sand having been forced fed with a peculiar silence” (Césaire 274). In this quote written by Aimé Césaire, a dark tone is displayed within the first few lines. This poem, and many others, were written in a French possession of the Caribbean islands. Caribbean literature has a combination of literary elements that allow the author's to thoroughly express themselves and their culture. Most noticeably, they used nature, dark atmosphere, and powerful diction to create an immensely dark tone.
Nature was used in Caribbean poetry to describe feelings and evoke emotion. Nature could express conflict, such as person versus self, in the form of loss
One of these connotations is person versus self conflict. In “To Know Ourselves”, when the author says “reflect to know ourselves … ourselves who dreamt … to know this heavy heart” it signifies a loss of self and the struggle of trying to find yourself after a tragic event(273). The words “reflect”, “know”, and “ourselves” connect to searching for yourself and “dreamt” and “heavy heart” connect to losing your dreams and ideas after a tragic event that caused one to have a heavy heart. Powerful diction is also used to develop depression, specifically being alone and helpless. These lines from “Merciless Great Blood” thoroughly use connotative diction, “Defeat Defeat vast desert … for which silential grief shall we choose to be the drum”(274). A “vast desert” connotates being alone and “”silential grief” signifies being so depressed that you feel as if you have no one to go to. Lastly, diction often has a connotation that connects to terror and anxiety. The powerful diction shown in the quote “from the depths of a land of silence of charred bones of burned vine shoots of storms of screams”, is a prime example of anxious diction (274). “Silence”, “charred”, and “burned” relate to past trauma that produced anxiety and “screams” represent being fearful of that anxiety and experiencing an attack. Powerful diction is very useful when developing a strong tone in