2nd term Grade 10 Free Lessons. Literature in English plan Notes for SS1. Basic Ecology Concept, Ecological Management and conservation, Ecosystem.

LITERATURE IN ENGLISH SCHEME OF WORK SSS1 SECOND TERM

WEEK      TOPIC

1.        Revision of last term’s work. Background study, the author’s biography, plot and setting of Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel.

2.        Subject matter, themes, characterization and characters in the text, The Lion and the Jewel

3.        Literary devices, language and style of the author of the text, The Lion and the Jewel.

4.        Introduction to the poem “The Journey of the Magi” by T.S Eliot. The author’s background, plot, subject matter.

5.        Themes, poetic devices, language and style in the poem “The Journey of the Magi” by T.S Eliot.

6.        The biography of Buchi Emecheta; the background study and the plot of the text-    Second Class Citizen. The setting, subject matter and the themes of the text Faceless

7. MID-TERM BREAK

8.        The characters, characterization, literary devices, language and style used in Second Class Citizen.

9.        Introduction to the poem ‘Black Woman’ by Leopold Sedar Senghor: The author’s   background, plot, subject matter, themes, poetic devices, language and style in the poem.

10.      Revision

11.      Examination

WEEK 1:

TOPIC –

Background of the playwright, Wole Soyinka, setting of The Lion and the Jewel and plot of the drama book.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:

By the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

1. Identify the writer of The Lion and the Jewel.
2. State the setting of the drama book.
3. Narrate the story in the drama book. 

PLAYWRIGHT’S BACKGROUND:

Wole Soynika is a Nigerian dramatist. He wrote other books like A Dance of the forests, The Road, Kongi’s Harvest. He is born in July 13, 1934 in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He wrote three short plays:The trial of Brother Jero, Jero’s metamorphosis, You Must Set Forth At Dawn etc. He is also a political activist. He received noble prize for literature in 1986.

SETTING

It is set in Nigeria geographically especially in the Yoruba village called Ilunjinle. Physically, it is set at the village centre, where the school headed by Lakunle is located, at a road by the village market, behind the Odan tree, Baroka’s bedroom, at the market where night trading is taking place in the village of Ilunjinle.

The time frame of the drama is morning, noon and night. Socially,it is set when there is partial acceptance of modernity and all that come with it. Sidi like lakunle and his modernity but prefers Baroka the old and experienced in the culture the people and who can pay her bride price unlike Lakunle who prefers marrying her without bride price payment. It is set when Africans believe in polygamy as seen in Baroka the Lion. It is also set when Africa and its culture is seen by few modernized Africans as primitive, barbaric and uncivilized. This is seen in the life of the school teacher, Lakunle. The time setting indicates a traditional society undergoing some changes between tradition and modernity.  

PLOT:

The lion and Jewel is a comedy play. The play started as Sidi, the village belle of Ilujinle enters the square with a pail of water. She meets with the village school teacher who takes her pail and berates her for carrying load on her head and dressing immodestly. Sidi informs him that he is a madman of the village and gets angry with him demanding her pail of water. Lakunle refuses telling her that soon machine will do all the hard work.  Lakunle tells Sidi to agree marrying him without pride price before he gives her the pail. He confess his love for her grabs Side and pecks her to her disgust and anger.

Later several young girls run up to Side to tell her that the stranger is back with a magazine that contains. The pictures of the village and villages especially that of Side is proud of her beautiful image in the magazine. Eventually, Sidi and the girls act as the stranger is forcefully acted by Lakunle.

Eventfully, the head of the village Baroka enters and joined to play the Chief. Later, he admires Sidi in the magazine and decides to get a new wife for himself as a polygamous man. Sadiku, the senior wife to Baroka sends his intention to marry Sidi but Sidi rejects him.  Lakunle listens jealously. Sadiku tells her husband that Sidi rejects his proposal. Cunningly,  Baroka tells her of his impotence which she reveals to Sidi later. Sidi then visits Baroka to make a jest of him but finds out that Baroka is not impotent but strong. She realizes his plan to make a stamp machine with her image and hat of the village Baroka, the Lion convinced her of his love to progress Ilujinle with the teacher.

Meanwhile Sadiku celebrates the downfall of Baroka as a man with mummers Immediately, Sidi comes in sobbing that the Lion tricked Sadiku about his impotency. He is strong man and disvirgined her. Lakunle still confesses his love for Sidi and wants to marry her. Confused, Sidi starts preparing for her marriage and Lakunle claims he is not ready for the marriage. But, Sidi laughed at him and tells him she is getting married to Baroka. Sadiku blesses her and asked the gods for fertility on Sidi.

Finally, the festivities for the marriage began and Lakunle was invited by Sidi to attend.

EVALUATION

1. Identify the author of The Lion and the Jewel.
2. State the setting of the drama book
3. Narrate the story in the drama book

ASSIGNMENT

1. Relate the story in the lion and jewel to your life experience

WEEK 2

Subject matter, themes, characterization and characters in the text, The Lion and the Jewel.

By the end of lesson the students should be able to
1. Identify the themes in the drama book
2. Discuss each of the themes
HOW TO DISCUSS A THEME: To do this you have to state the meaning of the idea as a theme. Then, give instances from the drama book to prove the theme. Enough instances of events is needed here.
THEMES IN THE DRAMA BOOK

Tradition versus Modernization

The village of Ilujinle is stuck in the past. The villagers adhere to traditional roles and beliefs despite the fact that larger cities, such as the capital of Lagos, have modernized. Lakunle represents the desire for modernization. He has been educated in a British school in Lagos and admires Western modern life, including railroads, “civilized” dining, and gender equality. In contrast, Baroka, the village Bale (chief), represents cultural tradition. On the surface he seems averse to modernization, but as the play progresses, it becomes clear that Baroka is only interested in modernization that directly benefits him. He embraces the stamp machine because it will make him money, for example, but rejects the railroad because it would benefit everyone.

The push and pull between tradition and modernization can clearly be seen in the dueling marriage proposals. Both Baroka and Lakunle want to marry Sidi, but for different reasons. Lakunle hopes Sidi will be his marital equal. He wants a wife to “walk beside you in the street, / Side by side and arm in arm.” He wants a European-style wife with “stretched” hair and “red paint on her lips,” who kisses him passionately on the mouth. In short, Lakunle wants a wife who symbolizes his modernization, and as such, he refuses to pay Sidi’s traditional bride-price. Baroka, on the other hand, wants to marry Sidi because she’s beautiful and popular. As village Bale, he longs to add to his harem of wives and concubines, proving his masculine strength by “taming” beautiful, elusive women just as he hunts dangerous wild animals in the jungle. At the end of the play Sidi, the “jewel” who symbolizes Nigeria’s innate beauty, chooses Baroka over Lakunle. If audiences view The Lion and the Jewel as a fable for 1960s Nigeria, Baroka represents traditional village control, and Lakunle represents British colonial control. In choosing Baroka, Soyinka appears to be making a clear argument for preserving cultural tradition. Yet when audiences remember that Baroka raped Sidi before her choice, it becomes clear that neither tradition nor modernization is a better choice when the Nigerian people cannot choose for themselves. For Soyinka and Sidi, being forced one way or the other tarnishes the country’s natural beauty and resilience.

Gender Roles, Marriage, and Power

In Ilujinle characters adhere to strict gender roles. Women are expected to fulfill domestic roles, and men work traditional jobs and make most of the decisions. The gender roles depicted in The Lion and The Jewel are representative of gender roles in Nigeria, particularly during the 1960s. On the surface it appears that Soyinka makes an argument for equality through modernization. Lakunle describes a modern marriage as one where the husband and wife are equal, walking side by side in the street. No wife of Lakunle will fetch, carry, cook, or scrub. In his proposal Lakunle presents gender roles as “savage” and “ignoble” in contrast to his modern, “respectful” marriage. Yet while he criticizes traditional roles, he maintains the view that women are inferior by mocking and shaming Sidi. He calls her “ignorant” and “uncivilized,” at one point suggesting that she couldn’t possibly understand his offer because “as a woman, you have a smaller brain than mine.” He also uses physical dominance to kiss Sidi against her wishes, not asking for consent or apologizing when she recoils in disgust.

In this way Lakunle’s presentation of marriage differs little from Baroka’s traditional view, which is purely functional and completely devoid of romance. In Baroka’s view marriage is a contract that primarily benefits the man: he marries the wife of his choosing. She bears him children, maintains his house, grooms him, and cooks for him. The woman has very little agency—she remains subservient to the man, who makes most of the household decisions. Men are free to pursue education and jobs, but women are not. When Sidi tries to assert agency in her own decisions (rejecting Baroka, demanding a bride-price), men try to take her by force. Baroka rapes Sidi, and Lakunle offers to marry her without a bride-price (suggesting that no one else would marry her now that she’s “spoiled.”) If The Lion and the Jewel is meant to be read as a fable about colonization, Baroka represents traditional village culture, and Lakunle represents colonial culture. Postcolonial literature often deals with themes of hybridity and otherness as decolonized people struggle to identify their culture. The push and pull between Baroka and Lakunle represents the dangers of forcing people to identify. Rather, Soyinka sends the message that to be powerful, people should be allowed to choose their own fate.

Trickery and Manipulation

Most of the characters in this play decide to trick and manipulate others in order to achieve their ends. This is perceived to be a much more effective method than being forthright, as the things characters want come at the expense of others’ feelings and wishes. Sidi and Sadiku try to fool the Bale so they can feel a sense of triumph at his humbling, and the Bale fools Sadiku and Sidi so he can subdue Sidi and acquire her as one of his wives. Even though Soyinka carries this out with a light touch and a great deal of witty repartee, the fact remains that there is a lot of lying and manipulation in the play.

Legacies of Colonialism

Even though Soyinka does not deal with this as explicitly as he does in some of his other works, colonialism and imperialism in Nigeria exist below the play’s surface. Lakunle represents the West: his clothing, his words, his learning, and his callous foolishness are all indicative of Britain’s impact on Nigeria. The Bale is a traditional African figure who knows he cannot bury his head in the sand. The mid-20th-century Nigerian village he rules has been affected by British rule, and even though the country is on the road to independence (1960), it will never be able to go back in time. It is part of a modern world and must start to change, whether it wants to or not.

Words

Words in this text are often associated with foolishness, pride, and tendentiousness. Lakunle is the wielder of words, but even though he spews them out, they rarely accomplish their aim. His words do not win Sidi, nor do they dissuade her and Sadiku from tricking the Bale. They do not inure the village to Lakunle but rather make him look like a proud fool. The Bale is much more sparing with words, although he does use them to his advantage when he manipulates and woos Sidi.

Vanity

At the beginning of the play, Sidi is established as a headstrong and beautiful young woman. Sidi appears confident from the start, but after observing herself from the point of view of an outsider to her village, her confidence transforms into conceit.

When Sidi sees her photographs in the outsider’s magazine, she becomes fixated on her appearance and her potential power as the jewel of Ilujinle. Sidi grows reckless, distracted by her deepening vanity and blinded by hubris. At first, Sidi tests her newfound superiority on Lakunle, but she is not satisfied by her emotional victory over the hapless schoolteacher; to prove herself as a powerful force, she seeks to dominate Baroka, the Bale of the village, after learning of his desire to marry her.

Sidi’s excessive pride becomes her downfall when she challenges Baroka and attempts to play a humiliating trick on him. When Sidi’s attempt to disrespect Baroka backfires, he teaches her a lesson by violent means, reinforcing to Sidi that her place in a traditionally patriarchal society is one of a submissive wife rather than an outspoken and opinionated young woman. Baroka rapes her as punishment for her transgression, and her decision to marry him afterward suggests that she accepts him as her superior.

Sadiku also becomes arrogant when Baroka lies to her about his impotence. Baroka flatters Sadiku, implying to her that she is the most important and respected of all his wives. Baroka’s craftiness gives Sadiku more confidence in her position as first wife. She becomes so self-assured in her role that she seeks to take advantage of her position and use the secret of Baroka’s allegedly lost manhood to mock him. Sadiku, like Sidi, is punished for her arrogance when her true nature is exposed; both women fall from elevated positions, learning by the end of the play that any attempt to outsmart the Bale will prove futile.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: By the end of the lesson, the students should be able to

1. Mention the characters in the drama book.

2. Characterize the characters in the drama book.

Characters in the drama book are

1. Sidi

2. Lakunle

3. Sadiku

4. Baroka, the Lion.

5. School boys

6. Village girls

7. Stranger

8. Attendants to Baroka

9. Traders.

10. Wrestler

11. Mummers

Characters

Character	Characterization
Sidi	Sidi is the most beautiful girl in the village. Her vanity gets the best of her when a foreigner publishes her pictures in a magazine, and she makes a tragic mistake when attempting to mock the village chief.
Baroka	Baroka is the village Bale, or chief. Known as “The Lion” for his ferocity and strength, most villagers think he hates change. In reality he loves power and changes only to benefit himself.
Lakunle	Lakunle is a British-educated schoolteacher who longs to leave Nigerian tradition behind and encourage his village to embrace modernity.
Sadiku	Sadiku is Baroka’s eldest wife. She acts as matchmaker for Baroka, finding him beautiful, young wives such as Sidi to satiate his sexual appetite.
The favorite	The favorite is Baroka’s last wife. She’s young, beautiful, and jealous—tasked with plucking Baroka’s armpit hairs.
The stranger	Sometimes referred to as the Lagos man, the lost traveler, the surveyor, and the foreigner, the stranger is a Western man who visits Ilujinle after his car breaks down. He takes photographs of village life, including beautiful photographs of Sidi.
The wrestler	The wrestler is hired by Baroka to challenge him physically. He will only retain his job as long as he bests Baroka and provides a challenge.

WEEK 3

Literary devices, language and style of the author of the text, The Lion and the Jewel.

Genre: Drama

Language: English

Setting and Context

Nigerian village of Ilujinle, 1950s

Narrator and Point of View: 3rd person (Play)

Tone and Mood: Sarcastic; playful; lively; witty

Protagonist: Sidi. Antagonists: Baroka and Lakunle.

Climax

When Sidi runs out sobbing and announces to Lakunle and Sadiku that Baroka fooled them all, and that she is no longer a maid.

Foreshadowing

-When Baroka muses to himself at the end of the first act that it has been five months since he took a wife, it foreshadows his plot to have Sidi as a wife.
-When Sadiku sees the wrestler leaving the Bale’s place, “some significance of this breaks on Sadiku and she begins to look a little puzzled” (55). This foreshadows the Bale’s virility.

Use of Dramatic Devices

-There are a few soliloquies: Lakunle talking about progress, and Baroka also talking about his views on progress.
-Denouement is observable in Sidi’s decision to marry Baroka and Lakunle’s shifting his attention to another girl.
-Soyinka uses a flashback to depict the white surveyor accepting Baroka’s bribe to desist putting the railway through Ilujinle.
-Soyinka satirizes pompous, self-interested, and prideful individuals.

Simile: Lakunle’s love

Lakunle says to Sidi, “my love will open your mind / Like the chaste lead in the morning, when / the sun first touches it” (6). This is an example of Lakunle’s verbose, faux-poetic type of rhetoric. He thinks flowery words will impress Sidi, but she is merely annoyed and tells him that he tires her. In his comparison of love to a “chaste” flower, Lakunle is also indicating how he sees Sidi.

Sidi scoffs about Baroka, “But he—his face is like a leather piece / Torn rudely from the saddle of his horse” (22). She contrasts him with herself—a light, lovely, sparkling creature, whose fame is beginning to rise. These words about Baroka prove to be ironic since he ends up winning her.

 

Metaphor: Lakunle’s heart

Lakunle whines to Sidi, “my heart / Bursts into flowers with my love. / But you, you and the dead of this village / Trample it with the feet of ignorance” (6). He uses the metaphor of a flower blooming due to the power of his love, but then depicts that flower being trampled into oblivion by the callous village. It is an extreme metaphor and one that bespeaks Lakunle’s hyperbolic tendencies. He depicts his heart as being delicate and fragile, which ironically is proven not to be the case: when he thinks he is to marry Sidi, the putative love of his life, he thinks it is too scary and too soon; then, he forgets her almost immediately by chasing after another village girl.

Baroka tells Sidi, “I see you dip your hand / into the pockets of the school teacher / And retrieve it bulging with knowledge” (50). This metaphor depicts Sidi as a child reaching into an older person’s pocket in hopes of finding knowledge, which effectively diminishes her stature. It also depicts the school teacher as rather haphazard and informal in his possession of knowledge: why is this knowledge just stuffed willy-nilly into his pocket? In this metaphor Baroka subtly and slyly undermines both Sidi and Lakunle.

Baroka tells Sidi, “old wine thrives best / within a new bottle” (54). This metaphor works on two levels. The first is the surface-level metaphor that Sidi is supposed to pick up: traditions and old ways of doing things will seem fuller and sweeter if they are housed and filtered within modernity and progress. However, the more debauched meaning that Baroka amuses himself with is that he will pour his old wine—his semen—into her new body, and thus create a child. Old men do well with young women, he thinks.

Understatement

“A woman spoke to me this afternoon” (Sidi, 43).

Allusions

-Lakunle quotes Genesis when he talks of the man and the woman being one flesh (8).
-The Yoruba gods are alluded to throughout the play.
-Lakunle references biblical women such as Ruth, Esther, and Bathsheba when talking about Sidi (20).

Personification

“The harder part…to break the jungle’s back” (24).

Imagery

The performances

Soyinka spends a good deal of time describing the elaborate performances undertaken by Ilujinle. They are loud, vibrant, compelling affairs with music, song, and acting. These vivid images impart on the audience the value and color of Yoruba culture. They reveal the ways in which the Nigerian people create and emphasize meaning. And aesthetically, they make for very good stage drama.

The opening scene

The opening scene of the play features the lovely Sidi carrying water on her head, a task that seems very primitive in the mid-20th century. Then there is the schoolhouse where students recite arithmetic, a task that is indicative of Westernization and modernity. This juxtaposition helps to establish the play’s central concern of the conflict between tradition and modernity.

Wrestling

The image of the Bale and his wrestler fighting while Sidi watches is intended to impress her—and the audience—with the Bale’s strength, composure, and cleverness.

The magazine

Perhaps the most important image of the play, the image of Sidi in the magazine in all her “bush-girl” glory is supposed to be incredibly powerful and alluring. We can image her beautiful face and why it inspired the stranger and the Bale. It also captures a prominent aspect of modernity: the capturing of an image for perpetuity.

Irony

It is ironic that the old Baroka, a man who did not want the railway to come through Ilujinle, decides that he must embrace modernity by having a stamp machine. This is also ironic given the fact that he was treated poorly by images (his photo was next to the latrines in the magazine).

WEEK 4

Introduction to the poem “The Journey of the Magi” by T.S Eliot. The author’s background, plot, subject matter.

Author’s Background

Thomas Stearns Eliot OM (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. Considered one of the 20th century’s major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a prominent Boston Brahmin family, he moved to England in 1914 at the age of 25 and went on to settle, work and marry there. He became a British subject in 1927 at the age of 39, subsequently renouncing his American citizenship.

Eliot first attracted widespread attention for his poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” in 1915, which was received as a modernist masterpiece. It was followed by some of the best-known poems in the English language, including “The Waste Land” (1922), “The Hollow Men” (1925), “Ash Wednesday” (1930), and Four Quartets (1943). He was also known for his seven plays, particularly Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and The Cocktail Party (1949). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948, “for his outstanding, and pioneer contribution to present-day poetry.

Background Information: Journey of the Magi

T.S. Eliot wrote this poem in 1927

1927 was the year in which T.S Eliot gained both British Citizenship and conversion to the Anglican Church.

Thus the poem was inspired by Eliot’s spiritual life in the Church as well as other significant events in his life.

T.S. Eliot took the poem’s opening lines from a sermon delivered by one Bishop Lancelot Andrews in 1622 – more than 300 years before.

PLOT SUMMARY

“Journey of the Magi” opens with a quote about a journey, and it’s a cold and difficult one. From the title of the poem, we can guess that this is the journey of the Three Kings (or Three Wise Men, or Magi) to the birthplace of Jesus. After the opening quote, the poem elaborates on the difficulties of travel, including grumpy camels, wishing for home (home being warm, palatial, and full of girls and servants), fires going out, unfriendly and expensive towns, and a distinct lack of places to sleep. The speaker notes that the Magi preferred to just travel all night for these reasons, and that through their travels, a little voice in their heads kept suggesting that maybe this whole thing was all for nothing.

Then, the narrator goes on to tell of the Magi’s arrival in Bethlehem, a place he describes as “a temperate valley” (21). They still can’t find any info about where they were supposed to go from the villagers, however, so they eventually have to find the stable in which they were to witness the birth of the baby Jesus. The trio arrives just in time.

The last part of the poem is more blatantly the Magus reminiscing about the story (“all this was a long time ago, I remember” [32]), and in his recollection he seems to be doubtful about whether or not the birth was a good or a bad thing, replacing as it would his own religion and culture. In fact, at the end of the poem he seems to regard it as a bad thing indeed, with the Magus wishing for his own death alongside the death of his peoples’ old religion and ways.

Literary Devices – Biblical Allusions – Symbolism in Journey of the Magi

Journey of the Magi is a free verse poem of 43 lines, made up of 3 stanzas. There is no set rhyme scheme or meter (metre in British English) and the lines are of varied length.

Alliteration

When words are close together in a line and start with the same consonant they’re said to be alliterative. This adds sound texture and interest for the reader:

cold coming…ways deep and the weather…camel men cursing…Sleeping in snatches…singing in our ears, saying…That this…dawn we came down…snow line, smelling…And an…door dicing…And arriving at…say satisfactory…were we…thought they…

Allusion

There are several examples in the second stanza – references to the life of Christ and the Bible, looking into the future:

line 23 where the running stream is living water (John 4.10)

line 24 has three trees which relate to the three crosses (Luke 23.32)

line 25 has an old white horse which relates to the horse of the Apocalypse (Revelation 6.2)

line 26 with vine-leaves which represent the true vine, Christ (Mark 2.22/23-28)

line 27 has dicing for pieces of silver which relates to both Judas the traitor and the roman soldiers casting for lots at the crucifixion (John 19.23/24 and Matthew 26.14/15)

line 28 has empty wine-skins which relates to the parable of the wine-skins (Mark 2.22)

Anaphora

The repeated use of a word or phrase to reinforce meaning:

Stanzas 1 and 2 – And the…

Assonance

When words are close together in a line and have similar sounding vowels:

very dead…And the camels…galled, sore footed…There were…silken girls bringing…Then/men…With/singing in… below the snow…stream/beating…three trees…And an/galloped…hands at…may say…time ago, I…

Enjambment

When a line continues on into the next without punctuation and the sense is maintained. The reader is encouraged to flow into the next line with hardly a hint of a pause.

So look for lines 2, 8, 11, 14,19 in the first stanza; lines 29, 30 in the second and lines 33, 34, 35 and 38 in the third. In particular, lines 33-35 are syntactically challenging and the enjambment plays a major role in how those lines are read.

WEEK 5

Themes, poetic devices, language and style in the poem “The Journey of the Magi” by T.S Eliot.

THEMES

Suffering

Tradition and Customs

Fear

Death

Religion

Suffering

As journey’s go, the “Journey of the Magi” really blows. It begins and ends with suffering, and the Magi suffer a whole lot during the journey, too, what with all the bad weather and even worse people. But there’s a bigger suffering going on here, too. There’s the psychological suffering of the dying culture of the Magi, plus the physical and mental anguish we know this kid, Jesus, will experience as he grows up to become Christ. So what do we make of all this? We think Eliot’s reminding us that a whole lot about spirituality and religion revolves around suffering, and that suffering often comes with religious transformation.

Tradition and Customs

The “Journey of the Magi” is chock full of traditions being challenged left and right. There’s this strange sense of impending doom about the birth of Jesus, and the dawning knowledge that the old way of life for these Magi is long gone. You’d think that a poem about the birth of Jesus would be all kinds of happy about ushering in a new era of religious exaltation, but mostly this poem is moping about a long-dead past. Hey, it’s Eliot. His glass was almost always half-empty. If not shattered altogether.

Questions About Tradition and Customs

1. Can you piece together what kinds of traditions and customs the Magi had before beginning their journey to Bethlehem? What were their lives like? What do they stand to lose at the birth of Jesus?
2. How do you imagine those customs changed after the birth, life, and death of Jesus?
3. How do you think the Magus’s reaction to losing his culture is related to his position of power?
4. What do you think this poem says about Eliot’s relationship to religious tradition? How can you tell?

Fear

There are two distinct layers of fear in “Journey of the Magi.” First, there’s the Magus-as-character fear – the kind that’s pretty easy to identify by the end of the poem. And then there’s the kind of fear that first kind implies. Let me explain better by making the Magus a character that’s super wary of spiritual change, Eliot’s secretly telling us about his own fears surrounding his recent religious conversion. After all, Eliot grew up with no real spiritual upbringing, and even though his conversion to Anglicanism was certainly his choice, that doesn’t necessarily mean it was an easy one. Which is maybe why fear comes out with guns a-blazin’ in this poem.

Questions About Fear

1. Why do you think the Magi are so afraid of the birth of Jesus?
2. Beyond fear of losing power, what other kinds of fear are present in this poem? How do they work together?
3. When Eliot positions the Magi as scared of change, what effect does this characterization have on the poem?
4. Who else do you think might be frightened by the coming of Jesus?

1. Does the beginning of the poem make you sympathize with the Magi? If so, how? If not, how come?
2. Can you make a list of all of the things that could cause suffering in this poem? Is it a long list?
3. Do you think the Magis’ suffering is related to Jesus’s suffering? How so, or why not?
4. Why do you think the Magus says that he would “do it again” towards the end of the poem? Does that mean he’s a man of faith, and that’s why he’s willing to endure all this hardship?

Death

To the Magi, the loss of their traditions to impending Christianity is like staring both death and defeat in the face at once. Death doesn’t make its real entrance until the end of “Journey of the Magi,” but when it finally does sashay onto the scene, it puts all too fine a point on what the coming of Jesus means to the Magi and their people.

Questions About Death

1. How does the poem build up to explicit talk of death in the third stanza?
2. Answer the Magus’s question: do you think they were led all that way for Birth or for Death?
3. How are birth and death conflated (i.e., made similar, or combined) in this poem?
4. How are spiritual and literal death intertwined in this poem? Where in the poem do they seem particularly linked?

The Theme of Spiritual Rebirth and Renewal

The poem explores the process of the inner struggles and physical challenges that one has to go through in order to achieve spiritual rebirth.

For the persona, there can be no renewal and strengthening of one’s faith without going through this painful process. But like everything worthwhile, the end justifies the means.

The Theme of Change

Change only happens when the old order gives way to the new. And this transformation hardly takes place without struggle and pain. This applies in all facets of man’s existence.

For the narrator, the spiritual transformation he and the others have experienced is worth the effort.

The Theme of the Effects of Historical Events on Society

Journey of the Magi goes beyond the level of the individual. Apart from being an exploration of the individual’s spiritual journey in search of renewal of faith, it also addresses the profound effects of historical events on whole societies and cultures.

One such effect is the change in the identity of a people anytime an event of great importance occurs.

Thus, the birth of the Christ child not only changed the lives of these three wise men. It also resulted in an irrevocable change in the cultures and religions of societies across the world.

Religion

The birth of Jesus, the three kings, and Biblical allusions galore. “Journey of the Magi” has religion written all over it, and that’s just the obvious stuff. Since the whole poem is about the coming of Christianity, every word is packed with religious meaning that can be picked apart with a fine-toothed comb

Question About Death

1. Do you think this poem is symbolic of Eliot’s own conversion? How can you tell?
2. Why does the religion of the Magis’ people suddenly seem “alien” to them? Who’s to blame? Could this maybe be a good thing?
3. What do you think is the purpose of all the Biblically symbolic language in the second stanza? Why pack in so many allusions in such a tiny space?

POETIC DEVICES

The poem is a monologue

Journey of the Magi is a narrative poem.

Metaphor

The poet takes the biblical story of the journey to Bethlehem by the three wise men at the birth of Christ Jesus and uses it to explore his personal spiritual journey toward an acknowledgement and renewal of faith.

Contrast

The structure of the poem, Journey of the Magi, is built around the literary device known as contrast.

For instance, the deep feeling of satisfaction that the Magi experienced at the end of the last stanza was unlike the pains and tortures they initially went through in the first stanza.

Diction and Imagery

Through a careful selection of words and phrases, the poet succeeds in evoking images that are appropriate to the major themes he explores.

Here are some examples for you.

Images of suffering and hardship

• Cold coming
• Worst time
• Long journey
• Weather sharp
• Dead of winter
• Sore-footed
• Lack of shelters
• Night fires going out
• Cities hostile

Images of hope and respite, freshness and renewal

These contrast sharply with the previous references (in the first stanza) to the hardship and pain they had to endure at the early stages of the journey.

• Dawn
• Valley
• Vegetation
• Running stream
• Water-mill
• Beating the darkness
• White horse
• Galloped
• Meadow
• Tavern
• Vine-leaves

Sound Devices

These make the poem sound more pleasurable. They also reinforce the themes and meaning. They include alliteration, repetition and assonance.

• Alliteration
• Cold coming
• Camel men cursing
• Sleeping in snatches
• Door dicing
• Assonance
• Cursing and grumbling
• Running away and wanting

Repetition

An example of repetition in Journey and the Magi is the use of “and the” several times in the first stanza. Its effect is to emphasize the theme of suffering as an integral part of the journey of faith.

Allusion

There are many references to the life of Christ Jesus especially in the second stanza of the poem.

Look at these examples

Running stream – living water

Vine leaves – Christ as the vine

Dicing for pieces of silver – betrayal and Crucifixion of Jesus

Empty wine-skin – parable of the wine skin

Kingdoms – earthly pleasures and attractions in the Temptation story

Liquor, women, cities hostile, and towns unfriendly – these clearly allude to the story found in John Bunyan’s book, The Pilgrim’s Progress.

Paradox

I should be glad of another death

This is the very last line in the poem. It underlines the profoundly satisfying effect of this spiritual rebirth on the persona.

So satisfying it is that, if need be, he would gladly go through the difficult journey all over again.

LANGUAGE AND STYLE

Style

“Journey of the Magi” is a dramatic monologue that is written in free verse, which means that it does not use a regular meter or rhyme scheme. Eliot once said, however, that no verse was free for the man who wanted to do a good job. Rather than use a set metric pattern, the poem’s rhythm is established by the quotation from Lancelot Andrewes. The natural pattern of speech is referred to as a cadence, and it is frequently used to create the sense of rhythm in free verse. In fact, Eliot’s friend and mentor Ezra Pound urged that cadence be substituted for the more complicated metrical designations.

Notice the use of alliteration in those first lines: “cold coming,” “ways,” “weather,” and “winter.” This helps to create the poem’s cadence or rhythm. Andrewes’s sermon also builds by an accumulation of short phrases, often joined by the word “and.” Eliot continues this cadence, particularly in the first section. There is frequent alliteration—“summer … slopes” “silken … sherbet,” “camel … cursing”—and this section also contains the word “and” 14 times. Another device that helps create the poem’s cadence is the use of parallel structure, such as the verbs in lines 11 and 12 (“cursing,” “grumbling,” “running,” “wanting”) and the similarity of the phrases in lines 14 and 15 (“And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly / And the villages dirty and charging high prices”).

In the second section, the tone shifts; both the cadence and the images are softer and more flowing. Although the lines become longer and looser, they still build with an accumulation of detail. The imagery in this section is highly symbolic, such as the three trees that foreshadow the crucifixion. The tone shifts again in the final section, as the speaker’s voice becomes weary. Line breaks interrupt the continuity of thought in a way they do not in the first two sections. The final word in many lines consists of a single syllable, which creates a harsher and more abrupt attitude. The final word in three separate lines, including the last, is “death.” Like the Magus, the lines themselves are no longer at ease.

WEEK 6

The biography of Buchi Emecheta; the background study and the plot of the text- Second Class Citizen. The setting, subject matter and the themes of the text Faceless.

Novelist’s Background

Buchi Emecheta is one of Nigeria’s most well-known writers. She graduated from the University of London, wrote over twenty novels, plays and short stories, and independently raised her five children.

Buchi Emecheta was born on July 21, 1944, in Lagos, Nigeria. Her parents were Igbos who had left the Igbo town of Ibusa (Igbuzo in Igbo), located in what is now called Delta State. She joined the husband in London (in 1962) where she worked as a librarian.

Second Class Citizen, her first published novel in 1974, is semi-autobiographical. It is based on her childhood in Lagos and early life in London with her husband before she divorced him. It also depicts the struggle for women in receiving their education and surviving in a European white society while adapting to different religious beliefs and still following the beliefs of their people.

Plot Summary

Second Class Citizen, which tells the story of Adah Ofili from childhood to her early years in London, opens with a discussion of dreams. The eight-year-old Adah, who was born in Lagos during World War 2, only dreams of going to school since she is not allowed to attend school because she is not a boy.  One day, when her mother is distracted, Adah goes to the Methodist School where her neighbour teaches, and he allows her to learn with them for the day. She returns home meeting a group of policemen in their compound. Her mother is being punished for child neglect, yet Adah is allowed to continue attending school.

Months later, Adah father goes to the hospital but does not return. His demise makes his nuclear family to separate. His wife, Adah’s mother, is inherited by his brother. His son, Adah’s brother, goes to live with one of his (Adah father’s) cousins whereas Adah is sent to live with one of her mother’s brothers.

Adah is allowed to remain in school only because she could bring a higher bride price if educated. Suitors come; however, she is not interested in any of them. Instead, fascinated with the possibility of winning a scholarship to secondary school, Adah steals the money for the sitting fee, passes the examination, and wins the scholarship. She attends the Methodist Girls’ School and completes the four-year course.

Knowing full well that she will not be allowed to live on her own in the university, Adah marries a student named Francis Obi (who is too poor to pay the bride price) with the hope of being able to attend school and study at her own pace. She births a daughter and begins working for the American Consulate Library. Having had the dream of going to the United Kingdom, she shares it with her husband. They decide to go, but his family, who depends upon her income, approves of his leaving but insists that Adah remain at home and continue to support the family. Her husband’s father does not approve of women going to England. At first, Adah is filled with rage, but she controls her anger and comes up with a plan – “Be as cunning as a serpent but as harmless as a dove,” she quoted to herself. Once again, she uses her cleverness to get what she wants. She sends Francis (her husband) off to England to study while she works and sends him money in the meantime.

Adah is known for her perseverance; she does not give up. When her husband writes to her a few months later that he is going to be in England for at least four or five years, she decides it is time to make her move. She convinces her in-laws that it is necessary for her to be in England with her husband, stating that her husband wants her there, which he did say to her in the letter. She soon books herself and her two children first class tickets on a ship to England. As a foreshadowing of all that is to come for her, Adah arrives England, welcomed by cold, rainy and cloudy skies. She is shocked by the greyness but will not give up on her dreams. Adah has arrived in the United Kingdom where she becomes a second class citizen. She is only a first class citizen in Nigeria.

Some of the main points of struggle for Adah are being a black woman in a predominantly white society, learning of the women’s right movement during the seventies, the fact that there is birth control available to her, and the struggle to pursue her goal in becoming a writer between four children and a lazy abusive husband.

The novel deals with many different issues and movements and how they all interconnect and relate to one another and also one woman. Just as the reader starts to find hope for Adah, another circumstance arises. And as the story progresses, one wonders how one woman can put up with so much, yet be so strong not only for herself, but also for her children. She neither gives up on them nor her dreams, not even when her first piece of work was burnt by her husband.

Themes in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen

1. The Theme of Determination

The determination to succeed against all odds is Adah’s watchword. This inbuilt virtue of the protagonist is portrayed right from her childhood in Nigeria to her early life in London. Adah breaks several protocols which seem to stand as barriers between her and her dreams. Even though the society she finds herself makes her believe that it is wrong for the girl child to be well educated, Adah, on several occasions, sneaks into the class of her neighbour (who is a teacher) in order to be lettered. Fascinated with the possibility of winning a scholarship to secondary school, Adah steals the money for the sitting fee, passes the examination and wins the scholarship. She eventually attends the Methodist Girls’ School and completes the four-year course. This can be achieved only when one is determined to succeed.

Again, Adah never lets the decision of her in-laws, especially her father-in-law who does not approve of women travelling abroad, stop her from achieving her dream of going to the United Kingdom. She uses her cleverness to calm the situation and do everything possible for herself and two children to meet her husband in London. Even when meets a husband who has changed from good to worst in London, she never hesitates to sign a divorce because she does not want anyone or anything to truncate her chances of surviving in London. This is the spirit of a determined soul. From the beginning of the story to the end, Adah is clad with determination.

2. Gender Inequality

One cannot adequately dissect Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen without paying a courtesy visit to the corridors of gender inequality. Gender inequality is a theme that is loudly projected in the novel. This is not done for a mere fanciful purpose; it is done to show how a typical African society gives too many privileges to men than women. Adah, the protagonist, is not allowed to go school because she is not a boy. At a point, she is allowed to go to school only because she could bring a higher bride price. As a married woman, her in-laws, especially her father-in-law, insist that her husband, Francis Obi, travel to the United Kingdom instead of her. According to them, a woman cannot travel abroad, leaving her husband behind.

3. Frustration

The same society that gives too many privileges to men also adorns them with a taxing responsibility – the responsibility of being the bread winners of their homes. Most men become frustrated when they fail in this task. This is the fate of Francis Obi, Adah’s husband, in the novel. Financially, Francis Obi is no match for his wife. But he never allows this to affect his sanity during his stay in Nigeria. However, after waiting for a number of years in the UK without getting a job, he becomes frustrated. His frustration grows into anger, which he always pours on his loving wife through physical abuse.

Although she signs a divorce, Adah understands how demanding her society is and the reactions of those who cannot really cope with its ever increasing demands. In her words: “Francis was not a bad man, just a man who could no longer cope with the over demanding society he found himself” (p. 110). This is a sad reality for most immigrant men or any man who does not have the ability to cope with the failure and setbacks of life. She divorces Francis because he becomes uncontrollably abusive and she does not want anyone or anything to truncate her stay in London. She is a goal getter.

4. Discrimination

Discrimination is the distinct treatment of someone because of their race, sex, culture, attitude etc. Upon moving to the UK with the hope of having a better life, Adah, who is successful and a first class citizen in Nigeria, is instantly demoted to the status of second class. Adah is discriminated by the political superstructure that is tainted by racial prejudices in the UK. Gender discrimination/inequality can as well be discussed under this theme.

WEEK 8

The characters, characterization, literary devices, language and style used in Second Class Citizen.

Characters and Characterization

1. Adah 

She is the protagonist of the novel as the story is centered on her experiences and her determination to succeed against all odds. She is a good child, daughter-in-law and loving and caring wife.

2. Francis Obi

He is Adah’s caring and loving husband in Nigeria but an abusive husband in the UK due to his inability of the get a job after several years of searching for a job in the UK.

3. Mrs Ofili

She is Adah’s mother, the wife of Mr Ofili and a mother-in-law to Francis Obi. She is an Igbo woman.

4. Mr Ofili

Mr Ofili is Adah’s father, the husband of Mrs Ofili and a father-in-law to Francis Obi. He is also an Igbo man.

5. Victor

Victor is Adah’s sickly son. His mom provides him with the best doctors (from China and India) for him to be medically fine.

6. Mr Cole

Mr Cole is Adah’s neighbour who works as a teacher in a Methodist Primary School. Adah always sneaks out of the house to his class just to be lettered. He gives Adah the privilege of learning with his students despite the fact that she does not pay necessary fees.

7. Pa

Pa is Francis Obi’s father and Adah’s father-in-law.

8. Ma

She is the mother of Francis Obi and a mother-in-law to Adah.

LANGUAGE AND STYLE USED IN SECOND CLASS CITIZEN.

Style in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen

Style is a particular way, pattern, or design in which a work is written. It comprises the language/diction, tone, structure, narrative technique or point of view etc. Some elements of style used in Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen are:

1. Language/Diction

The language of the novel is simple and easy to understand. The sentences and words used are not very complicated. The reader can read the story with ease and understand every bit of it.

2. Point of View/Narrative Technique

The story is told from the third person point of view. The narrator is not presented as a character within the narrative; he is primarily omniscient, internally focalizing on Adah’s subjective experiences, emotions and interpretations. As a result, the thoughts and emotions of the other characters are not divulged to the reader. Instead, only their external actions and reactions are described from Adah’s subjective point of view.

LITERARY DEVICES

Euphemism

Emecheta has used different euphemistic expressions to cover the harshness of sexual activities in the novel. Below are some examples:

i. “As soon as her husband touches her, she gets a swollen tummy…” (22).

By “touch” here, the writer means “sex”, and by “swollen tummy”, she means pregnancy.

ii. “Is it too much for a man to want his wife?” (88). Here, “want” refers to sexual urge.

Simile

There is a profuse use of similes in the text. In fact, this figure of speech is used more than any other in the text, the following are adequate examples: a. “Adah, from the day of her registry marriage, had seen the romantic side of her life being shattered like broken glass, about her”. (25) Here, Adah‟s „romantic life‟ is compared with „broken glass‟. This statement portrays the sad and joyless life of shattered dreams the protagonist faces in her marriage. b. “Her mouth started to water like that of a starving dog, so she turned away” (57). The above comparison depicts hunger and consequently, poverty. This also shows the state of life of the protagonist, Adah.

 Metaphor

The writer has also used metaphoric language in the text. Examples are below. “These women were so proud of this new lawyer, because to them it meant the arrival of their very own Messiah.” (2) Here, the new lawyer is compared to a Messiah. “…with what type of soap was Adah to wash herself clean of dirty accusation?” (28) In the above, a comparison is drawn between „soap‟ and absolution. Apparently, soap cannot be used to cleanse one of an accusation because, accusations are not tangible. “…but Francis‟s mind was a fertile ground in which such attitudes could grow and thrive” (57) Here, Francis‟s mind is described as a fertile ground. “You‟ll be telling the world soon that you‟re carrying another Jesus.” (79) In this statement, Adah‟s unborn child is compared to Jesus. “To the other women in the ward, she was Caesar… To the night nurses, she was the mother of Mohammed Ali” (118) in the above metaphor, Adah is compared to Caesar and her child is described as Mohammed Ali. “Then she said to Francis…‟Bill called that story my brainchild.” (181) Here, the protagonist‟s story is described as her brainchild. Metaphors have been used in the text as a way of developing meaning. This is done by drawing comparison with items that are familiar to the reader. The metaphors give the reader a better understanding of the concept or character being described. Also, they sometimes add humour to the story.

Irony

“…Adah scribbled away, enjoying the smell of craw-craw and dried sweat.” (6) The smell of „craw-craw‟ (rashes) and „dried sweat‟ obviously are not appealing, so they cannot be enjoyed. “It was going to be all right, the silent passengers seemed to be saying to her with their eyes, not their mouths.” (75) Irony, as used in the text stimulates the mind of the reader to think deeper, since the meanings of the statements are not got from the literal meaning of the words. Also, because ironies are dryly humorous, they add a kind of hilarity to the text.

Biblical allusions

 “It was alright for Mary to have hers in the stable in Bethlehem…” (88). This refers to the Biblical Mary, the mother of Jesus and the birth of her son, Jesus in the manger. b. “…listening to her husband preaching to her about the diligence of the virtuous woman whose price was above rubies” (102). This refers to the biblical description of a virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:10.

Tone

The tone of the story is melancholic, depicting Adah’s struggle within the patriarchal and colonial hegemonic structure. However, the story contains a tinge of hope because of the character of Adah who is determined and optimistic in the face of conflict.

 The use of Imagery

The novel depicts vivid yet fast-paced description of Adah’s experiences through the use of certain words which create such pictures in the minds of readers. Adah’s childhood in Nigeria is reflected in the architecture of the house, the setting and the city of Lagos. The imagery of UK such as the ghetto in which Adah stays and its architecture such as the claustrophobic spacing of the house and lack of basic amenities projects a sharp dichotomy to Nigeria, and visually depict her demotion to a second class citizen.

QUESTIONS

This question is based on Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen.
1. In Adah’s view, the white society in the novel is one in which

A) There is communal feeling
B) neighbourliness is lacking
C) neighbours live happily
D) members are unfriendly

2. To raise the reader’s anxiety about the story, the author sometimes
A) stops the main story to narrate other events
B) creates a lot of funny episodes
C) puts too many difficulties in Adan’s way
D) shows that Francis is weak

3. Who is the protagonist of the novel?
A. Francis Obi
B. Mr Ofili
C. Pa
D. Ada

4. Who is the antagonist of the novel?
A. Francis Obi
B. Mr Ofili
C. Pa
D. Ada

5. The author of the novel is —-.
A. Wole Soyinka
B. Enerst westwood
C. Buchi Emecheta
D. Nweze of Ibuza

Theory Question.
In not more than three sentences, summarize chapter one of “Second Class Citizen”

WEEK 9

Introduction to the poem ‘Black Woman’ by Leopold Sedar Senghor: The author’s   background, plot, subject matter, themes, poetic devices, language and style in the poem.

1. Recite the poem ” The Black Woman”
2. Narrate the background of the poet,
3. State the subject matter of the poem,
4. Identify and describe the themes used in the poem,
5. State the structure of the poem,
6. Mention and explain the styles in the poem,
7. Evaluate and place judgement on the poem.

AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND

Leopold Senghor was born in Joal, Senegal in 1906, he was Educated in Dakar, Senegal and Paris, France. Leopold was the first West African to graduate at the Sorbonne (a part the University of Paris). He was regarded as the Father of negritude (Negro). It is based on the philosophy that promotes the consciousness and pride in the African heritage, it cherishes the state of being a black man, and his cultural values.
As a Catholic, he wanted to be a priest, but later got involved in the cultural and political activities of his country. During the Second World War, he fought on the side of the French and was taken as a prisoner of war in the then Nazi Germany. He rose to the position of deputy of Senegal in the French constituent Assembly. In 1960, he became the first president of an independent Republic of Senegal of Senegal. He retired from active politics in 1980.

PLOT SUMMARY

“Black Woman” is an ode or eulogy to a black woman or daughter and most importantly African, the poet’s continent which could love and be loved just like a woman. This natural black woman is highly esteemed in the poet’s life. The poet treats the traditional themes of love, death, solitude, suffering, the beauty of nature, of woman, longing for the homeland. Senghor posits his passionate love for Africa, his native land. This is why he dignifies it, praises it’s culture and eulogizing the black colour of its skin which has been the main cause of its brutality by the colonial masters during the British rule. As a typical Negritude writer, he shows in abundance, the philosophy of Africans. Despite the plurality and diversity of African culture, they still share the same experience of racial prejudice and brutality.

In the first stanza, the poet emphasizes the thematic statement that the color 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 reifies black woman as an embodiment of sensuality and as a place for comfort and warmth for men.  At the end, death appears as a metaphor of entombment of Africa’s mythical past, as well as a source of sustenance for future.

SUBJECT MATTER

This poem was originally written in French as “femme notr”, and later translated to English. It is a hymn of praise to the African black woman as a person and symbol of the richness of African culture. The black woman is seen as a mother, daughter, sister and indeed the poet’s home country, Senegal. Senghor’s experiences while living abroad influenced his writing of this ode to the black woman, whose beauty is natural and perfect. He also uses the poem to, stress the need to accord the black woman her rightful place in the scheme of things in the African society.

Themes from the poem

1. The beauty of the black woman
2. The beauty of Africa
3. The nurturing role of mother Africa
4. Celebration of Africa and African Culture
5. Nostalgia/Homesick.

The Beauty of the black woman

“Clothed with your colour which is life,

with your form which is beauty!”

Throughout the poem, Senghor elevates physical beauty to spiritual heights and explores the beauty of the titular black woman from many different (though equally celebratory) perspectives. The black woman is seen as an embodiment of the African continent whose beauty is raw, unadulterated and perfect. He goes to compare the beauty to a ripe fruit.

The Beauty of Africa

The poet personifies Africa as the black woman, who’s ever beautiful. He is proud of the undiluted culture and physical features that make the African heritage unique. Senghor presents mother Africa a paragon of beauty and complete perfection without any western influence before the colonization. It is important to note that the poem uses word like: nakedness, blackness, darkness to describe the perfect beauty of Africa. These words are normally used to Connor the “uncivilized peoples” of Africa. The poet sees nothing negative or evil about Africa, but rather a “promised land” that flows with milk and honey.

The nurturing role of mother Africa

The poet reflects on his childhood experience in Africa. He feels extremely proud in being an African and attributes all that he is today to the black woman for sharing her knowledge with him. His reflection is necessitated by the experiences in France. Which made him to remember where he was brought up as a child. He recollects his childhood days, and regards the period as a form of paradise. Besides, he refers to the black woman as the “promised land” in the poem. He describes how the African woman nurtures her child in the African continent. In the light of this nurturing role, he sees the black woman not only as an individual but by extension the symbol of African heritage.

Celebration of Africa and African Culture

Beyond just praising the beauty of blackness, the poem also celebrates and reflects upon Africa and African culture. Senghor mentions the Princes of Mali, Gazelles, and savannahs, as well as tom-tom drums “muttering / under the Conqueror’s fingers.” This line is likely a reference to colonialism in Senegal (or even Africa at large). It acknowledges and empowers the ways that Africans were able to use African culture to subvert European imperialism.

Mortality

The end of the poem turns to ideas of mortality and the natural progression of life into death. Senghor writes that he fixes the titular woman “in the Eternal” before she is turned “to ashes to / feed the roots of life.” Here, he acknowledges that, despite the beauty (of women, of the culture, of the land, of everything), all must eventually turn to dust and help build other things. This is a sort of spiritual “circle of life,” and he uses his poem to freeze a moment of beauty before it must give way to something else.

POETIC DEVICES

1. Allusion

Allusion is a figure of speech that refers to a famous story, event, personality, or object in history to make a comparison for the readers. It can be a historical, mythological, literary, or religious (biblical). In this poem, the poet used biblical allusion in Line 8.
‘I come upon you my Promise Land.’

2. Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound or sounds, especially consonant at the beginning of several words that are close together in a line of poetry. Examples in this poem:
Line 12 – Firm-fleshed ripe fruit, somber raptures
Line 14 – Savannah stretching to clear horizons
Line 15 – Savanah shuddering beneath the East Wind’s

3. Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two unrelated things by stating that one thing is another. This is used in the poem in the following lines:
Line 7 – Pass at the heart of summer, at the heart of noon.
Line 23 – Gazelle limbed on Paradise, pearls are stars on the night of your skin.

4. Onomatopeia
Onomatopoeia is a poetic device in which a word imitates the natural sounds of a thing. It used mainly to create sound effects in poetry. This is another poetic device used in the poem. Line 16.
‘Carved tom-tom, taut tom-tom muttering.’

5. Simile

A simile is a poetic device that involves comparing two unlike things through the use of the words ‘as’ or ‘like.’ Example in the poem is in line 10 ‘Like the flash of an eagle.’

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. Alliteration: the poet uses alliteration to buttress the beauty of the black woman in lines 1,2,3,6,7,9 etc.

Line 1,6,11 and 16 naked woman black woman
Line 2 “clothed with your colour which is life, with your form which is beaut”
Line 3 “…grown up; the gentleness….”
Line 7 ” firm-fleshed ripe fruit….. Mouth making lyrical my mouth ”
Line 9 “carved tom-tom, taut tom- tom…”
Line 12 “…flanks, on the flanks…”

STYLE

Diction: the poet uses choice of words to symbolized 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.
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.

Study question
1. Discuss the poet’s diction in “black woman”.
2. Discuss the effective use of imagery in the poem.
3. Comment on the use of metaphor to portray the beauty of the black woman in the poem.
4. Discuss the theme of the beauty of the “Black woman “.
5. Examine the poet’s mood in the poem.
6. What is the poet’s attitude towards the “black woman” In the Poem?
7. Examine Senghor’s use of symbolism in the poem.
8.How does the “Black woman” reveals the poet’s childhood and love for mother Africa.
9. How does the poet’s tone portray the beauty of an African woman?
10. How does the poet depict “Black woman” as a nourisher in the poem.