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SS1: LITERATURE-IN-ENGLISH - 2ND TERM

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  1. African Prose

    African Prose: Second Class Citizen by Buchi Emecheta | Week 1
    5 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  2. Themes in Second Class Citizen | Week 2
    3 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  3. Characterization and Narrative Techniques in Second Class Citizen | Week 3
    2 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  4. Non-African Prose
    Non-African Prose: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison | Week 4
    4 Topics
  5. Themes in Invisible Man | Week 5
    3 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  6. Characterization and Narrative Technique in Invisible Man | Week 6
    2 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  7. African Poetry
    “Black Woman” by Leopold Sedar Senghor | Week 7
    6 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  8. Themes and Poetic Devices in “Black Woman” | Week 8
    2 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  9. Non-African Poetry
    "Bat" by D.H. Lawrence | Week 9
    5 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
  10. Themes and Poetic Devices in "Bat" by D.H. Lawrence | Week 10
    2 Topics
    |
    1 Quiz
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Topic Content:

  • Stanza Analyses | “Black Woman” by Leopold Sedar Senghor

The first stanza comprises just one line, “Naked woman, black woman” and this line, though with slight variation, is repeated three times throughout the poem, for emphasis. Africa is personified as a beautiful woman in her blackness and the fact that she stands “Naked” suggests that she is proudly her beauty.

In stanza two, the poet through hyperbole and metaphor says the black woman’s colour is “life” and the “form” of Africa is “beauty”. This points to the fact that Africa’s beauty is synonymous with its blackness.

In the third stanza, the speaker describes how he has “grown up” in the “shadow” of Africa and he remembers her gentle hand “laid over (his) eye”. Africa here is presented as a mother to the persona. The persona in turn is positioned as the son.

In the fourth stanza, the persona describes what seems like a sudden rediscovery of Africa. He stands “high up on the sun-baked pass, at the heart of summer, at the heart of noon”, and before him he sees his “Promise Land”, meaning Africa in its new 

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Question 1

Question:

How does Senghor use the poem “Black Woman” to pour encomium on the beauty of the African black woman?

Answer:

Senghor in a bid to defend the continent of Africa against racial discrimination, uses a black woman to achieve his aim. With the image of a black woman, he explores the theme of the beauty of black colour. He says black is beautiful, and he pours encomiums on the beauty of the African woman in order to make her enviable to the white race. He begins the poem by saying the African woman is made in black colour which is beauty. He likens the African woman to a “Promised Land”, whose beauty strikes the heart like the flash of an eagle.

He says the African (black) woman is “Firm-fleshed ripe fruit, sombre raptures/of black wine”. This “ripe fruit” connotes a beautiful bride in a black woman prepared and adorned to be given in wedlock to a befitting husband. She keeps herself undefiled until she becomes ripe enough to consummate marriage. 

Senghor again uses “gazelle” an animal that symbolizes beauty as he praises the beauty of the African woman. He declares; “Gazelle limbed in paradise…” 

Generally, Senghor employs imagery; particularly visual imagery to convey his thoughts on the subject of the beauty of the African black woman or the personality of the African black woman. He appeals to the reader’s sense of sight to project the beauty of the African black woman as well as his admiration of the black woman.

The repetition “Naked woman, black woman” at the beginning of most of the stanzas in the poem, puts before the reader an image of a naked black woman. Rather than being an image of profanity, the image of the naked black woman captures the true essence of the African personality in terms of skin colour, beauty and form. This “Naked woman” maintains her blackness which Senghor describes as the colour of life.

Question 2

Question:

The poem “Black Woman” is a negritude poem. Discuss.

Answer:

Senghor’s “Black Woman” is a Negritude poem. Negritude is the quality or fact of being of black African origin. Negritude is a literary movement of the 1930s to 1950s that began among French-speaking African and Caribbean writers living in Paris as a protest against French colonial rule and policy of assimilation which is aimed at turning Africans into “Frenchmen” through the process of education and also to make Africa culturally French. “Black Woman” therefore is an attack on the Assimilation Policy in order to restore black pride under the bondage of slavery and colonial rule.

Senghor is one of the foremost Negritude writers. His Negritude stand is revealed in several of the themes in his poem “Black Woman”. Some of such themes are; The Celebration of African Woman, Beauty of Black Colour, Affirmation of the African Heritage and Culture, and Ode to the African Continent, just to mention but a few.

Senghor presents his poem “Black Woman” as an ode to the African continent. He writes this negritude poem to praise his African continent in the midst of heated racial discrimination against the black race. Being an optimist and positive thinker, he does not dwell on the discriminations and excessive prejudices exhibited by the whites over the blacks. He revolts against it, he stands up to tell the whole world about the beauty of his continent. He refuses to be weighed down by the relegation that the African continent as a whole is subjected to. He calls Africa “The Promised Land”.

He reveals some mineral resources and endowments on African soil. “Oil that no breath ruffles:/”the glinting of red gold”/”pearls are stars”. 

One unique thing about Senghor’s effort to defend his continent against racism is that in “Black Woman”, he personifies Africa – the nation as an African woman. By this, he reinforces the ideas of negritude. He reveals his love for Africa, his homeland, and his mother country. He praises the African culture. By finding beauty in the colour of the African skin, reveals that this has been the main cause of brutality and discrimination during the British and French rule of Africa.

Through the Negritude poem, Senghor went to a great extent to uplift the standard of the African people, and the African’s perception of themselves and their culture.

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