Africa

by David Diop,
TONE
There are several tone used in the peon Africa. The first is PROUD. The tone used
is proud because the persona of the poem has been calling out the name of his
motherland. He called it several times to give emphasis to the word and he even
claimed it using the word my even though he never been there and only heard about
it from the song of his grandmother. He described it as the land of proud warriors of
ancestral savannahs.
Second, the persona is GRIEVEING. Hes feeling a poignant grief because of what
happened to his motherland he mentioned in his poem that the people in Africa had
been colonized, slaved, humiliated and tortured for a long period of time by the ruthless
and merciless colonizers.
Lastly, the third tone used in the poem HOPEFUL. The persona is hopeful that
someday Africa will bit by bit emancipate from the control of other people. That
someday they will triumph in acquiring the bitter taste of liberty.
THEME
The theme of the poem is the hope of emancipation of Africans and acquiring
the bitter taste of liberty. The poem revealed all the injustices done to the Africans. However,
because of the love of the people to their country, that nevertheless of the humiliation and
sufferings they have come to experience, they will raise up patiently and obstinately.
SPEAKER
The speaker or the persona of the poem is the writer itself, Mr. David Diop. He is
an African poet and known for his Involvement in the negritude movement in France. In his
poem Africa, his motive is to give a message of hope resistance to the people of the continent.
He also used the first person point of view to show his support and patriotism to his beloved
country.