CHAPTER ONE
The Theme of Beauty in
Leopold Sedar Senghor’s Poetry
In his long and immensely successful
career,1 Leopold Sedar Senghor celebrates the beauty of three major
places or landmarks, namely, the African geographical landscape; the spirit and
essence of womanhood, especially black womanhood; and the ethos of the dead
ancestors.
This essay is organized into three
structural divisions each of which highlights how Senghor’s verse is enhanced
by the peculiar theme of beauty which defines it. Thus part one focuses on the
beauty of the African topological landscape; part two addresses the beauty of
womanhood; while part three celebrates the respective ways in which the dead
ancestors promote and protect the interests and the welfare of the living.
I
Leopold Sedar Senghor very much likes and cherishes his indigenous
African background. Africa’s tropical settings, the beauty and structural
configurations of its land and people greatly fascinated his mental and
physical well-being and soul. S. Okechukwu Mezu writes:
Sedar had a happy childhood, swimming with the other children, riding on
hocreback among the coconut plantations, and running around the sandy beaches
not far away. When he was not learning about village lore, about medicinal
plants and herbs, about birds and animals, about stars and constellations from
his maternal uncle Toke ‘Waly, he used to go to the sandy island of Fadiouth
near his native village Joal…Leopold Senghor remembers details of this early
childhood with great fondness and striking clarity2.
Among Senghor’s lyrics which celebrate
the beauty of the African flaura and fauna and its topographical settings are:
“What Dark Tempestuous Night,” “You Held the Black Face,” and “New York.” The
coordinates of the various beauties produced by these lyrics endow Senghor’s
work with authenticity that is unsurpassed in African poetics.
In “What Dark Tempestuous Night,”
Senghor compares and contrasts the alluring physical presence of Africa with the sharp contours of the frosty and austere
reaches of European winter: the one is happy and momentous, the other is eerie
and dreary. In thinking of Europe, he writes somberly: “I slip into the mudhole
of fear and my fear is suffocated in a watery rattle.” In thinking about his
African background connections, he writes with nostalgia and exultation: “But
when shall I hear your voice again, happy luminous morn?/When shall I recognize
myself again in the happy mirror of eyes, that are large like windows?”3
A similar note of contrast is developed
in “You Held the Black Face,” where Senghor recalls with vivid memory his
personal grief which “seizes you,” where there is “No smile of a child,” and
“no book where wisdom may be read,” in contrast to his idyllic African
background of “the most ancient times” which “seemed with fateful twilight
luminous.” Senghor refers here to the fact that some day, he will re-unite with
his kith and kin in order to “drink from the sources of other lips.”
The title of the poem has a connective
and illuminating touch. The image, “the black face,” is revealing: the “black
face” is unique and distinct, a phenomenon which cannot be substituted or
mistaken for another, hence it is one of immortal wonderment. Senghor’s
metaphor, “black,” may also be alluding to the Western European view of the
African continent which, for decades, was regarded Africa as the “dark
continent.” Whether “dark” or “black,” the image which both words conjur in the
mind of the sophisticated audience is one of celestial grace and beauty. In
this poem, Senghor is re-creating history: he sees beauty in what traditionally
has been viewed as ugly or deeply ominous of evil.
At the end of the poem, Senghor pays
glowing tributes to his ancestral homeland. He writes: “I shall mourn anew my
home, and the rain of your eyes over the thirsty Savannah
Senghor also explores here, for poetic
purposes, the Wordsworthian principle of simplicity of language and subject
matter, whereby “incidents and situations from common life” are examined or
highlighted, whereby “the peasant is more poetical than the aristocrat/…because
he sees in him a sort of emanation from the landscape.”4 In this
poem the beauty or charm or mystique of the African continent is brought
vividly before our eyes.
The beauty which Senghor discusses in
the poem, “New York,” can be viewed from diverse perspectives. Interestingly,
the poem begins with a note of exultant jubilation: “New York! At first I was
confused by your beauty, by those great/golden long-legged girls.”
Upon reading the poem further, the
reader is led to see the “mask,” the veil of hypocrisy which surrounds the
city, a place where “No smile of a child blooms,” a city where crash
materialism has not only distorted the truth but destroyed the fabrics of social
life. Senghor elaborates: “No tender word for there are no lips, only
artificial hearts paid for in hard cash.” The remaining sections of the poem is
a litany of the corruption and other social evils inherent in the city.
The ugliness which Senghor sees in New York city New York city
To the sophisticated reader, it is not
difficult to distinguish the superiority and beauty of the African geographical
contours over the one which he notices in New
York city New York city
II
Senghor’s celebration of the beauty of
womanhood -- indeed of all womanhood -- may be said to have originated from the
strong bond which existed between him and his mother. S. Okechukwu Mezu
describes it as follows:
…as is common in the serere matriarchal system, he was greatly attached
to his mother, and was known (and to quite a few people is still known) as
Sedar Nyilane, the latter being the name of his mother
Sedar Nyilane was
profoundly influenced by this matriarchal system. The mother belonged to the
Fulani ethnic group, and most of Senghor’s knowledge of local customs and
beliefs was imbibed during his frequent visits to his uncle Toko ‘Waly, the
eldest in the maternal line!6
Another factor which may have
contributed to Senghor’s celebration of womanhood was the need to define,
defend, and promote the concept of womanhood in the comity of nations. Thus
much as Negritude was a fight that the black elites engaged in in order to
enhance the black man’s ethos in the eyes of the “luckier race,”7 so
also may it be said that the celebration of womanhood derives from the need to
accord women their rightful place in society8.
Senghor’s poems which celebrate the
beauty and grace of womanhood include: “Night of Sine,” “I Will Pronounce Your
Name,” “Be Not Amazed,” and “Black Woman.” Collectively, they define the
beauty, the grace and the goodness which Senghor finds in the world of
womanhood. And he communicates this experience with lyrical intensity and
clarity.
In “Night of Sine,” a poem which
describes, with luminous details, Senghor’s vegetational background --
symbolized by “the palm trees swinging in the nightwind,” “the dark pulse of
Africa,” “the bards themselves/Dandle their heads like children on the backs of
their mothers” -- the poet highlights the comfort and care which motherhood
provides, especially during precarious and uncertain times.
The image of the “mother’s breast
glowing, like a kuskus ball smoking out of the fire” further strengthens the
beauty of motherhood. The image, “dark blood,” is effectively employed, as it
highlights the unique and distinctive nature of Senghor’s matriarchal cultural
origins. The exhortation towards the end of the poem, “Woman, light the lamp of
clear oil, and let the children in bed talk about their ancestors, like their
parents,” suggests the love and warmth of womanhood in the African
socio-cultural context.
It is instructive that the lamp, which
the poet urges the woman to light, is to be lighted with “clear oil.” This
suggests the unmistakable, unambiguous role of womanhood. In the indigenous
African society, the female species is enjoined to cultivate virtuous
attributes which would be imitated by all in order to promote cultural values.
This is the beauty of womanhood as exemplified in “Night of Sine.”
The didacticism of the poem is profound
and interesting. Even though it is night-time at Sine, the beauty of womanhood
-- symbol of night -- is illuminating: the “children,” the “ancestors,” and the
“parents” all have joy and their spirits uplifted.
It is remarkable that the colorful
pictures of womanhood presented in the first few lines of the poem --
symbolized by “your balsam hands, your hands gentler than fur” -- are echoed in
the last and concluding lines of the poem -- suggested by “let me live before I
sink, deeper than the diver, into the lofty depth of sleep.” The morale of the
poem, then, is that womanhood is the beginning and the end of all good and
beautiful things.
In “I Will Pronounce Your Name,” Senghor
discusses womanhood from several interesting perspectives: from the power-love-wisdom
syndrome; from the physical attractiveness of womanhood; and from the point of
view of womanhood as a natural phenomenon which affects our human
sensibilities.
The power-love-wisdom symbolism of the
poem’s narrative can be viewed as follows: First, Naet’s beauty is so
compelling that the poet must celebrate her (it “blossoms forth under the
masculine ardour of the midday sun”). Secondly, Naet’s love is so overpowering
that the poet must submit to it (“I am your hero, and now I have become your sorcerer
in order to pronounce your name”). Finally, the reversal of roles here suggests
the appropriateness in loving Naet since she seems to possess both primordial
love and beauty.
The physical attractiveness embodied in
Naet, and by implication, all womanhood, is suggested by the powerful and
colorful images which the poet employs to address her. They include: “my night,
my sun,” “coin of gold, shining coal.” That Naet possesses celestial beauty is
therefore not in doubt.
The name, Naet, is mentioned half a
dozen times in the poem: this suggests not only the poet’s familiarity with the
name of his beloved, but also the degree and extent to which he cherishes or
values that name. Moreover, that she appeals to all of our five senses suggests
the fact that her virtuous attributes are complete and impeccable.
For example: the expression, “the
sugared clarity of blooming coffee trees,” appeals both to our sense of taste
as well as of sight. The image, “the masculine ardour of the midday sun,”
appeals to our sense of smell. And the image, “the dry tornado, the hard clasp
of lightning,” appeals to our sense of hearing and that of touch.
The woman Naet has several names: for
instance, apart from being everything to the poet (my night, my sun”), she is
also the Princess of Elissa, banished from Futa on the fateful day.” All of the
above epithets and qualifiers certainly add grace and glamour to her beauty.
The title of the lyric, “Be Not Amazed,”
and the qualifying epithet “if,” which is repeated within the first two lines
of the poem, hints at the level of the profusion of praise which Senghor
intends to pour on the beauty of his beloved. Accordingly, the poet warns at
the outset of the poem that nobody should be amazed if the unexpected should
happen.
Neither the beloved, nor the general
audience, should be amazed, he warns, if the poet himself should pass away. The
occasion of his passing, he adds, will inevitably provide the beloved the
opportunity to weep for him, that is, the bard, who had hitherto proclaimed the
beauty of black womanhood. The images, “the purple voice of your bard,” “the
glorious voice that sang,” effectively underscore the degree to which blackness
-- as a concept -- seems to have been elevated to its crowning glory.
Then, in a series of swiftly moving
lines, Senghor goes on to proclaim the lady’s blackness, “the glowing voice
that sang your black beauty,” which, in the African cultural context, is never
so openly expressed. That Senghor should break this code of cultural norm for
the sake of love, testifies to the enormous and compelling beauty of womanhood.
Of Senghor’s poetry which celebrates the
beauty of black womanhood, no poem, in mood, tone and dramatic intensity so
effectively does it better than “Black Woman.”
Naked woman, black woman
Clothed with your colour which is life,
With your form which is beauty!
In your shadow I have grown up;
the gentleness of your hands
was laid over my eyes.
And now, high up on the sun-baked pass,
at the end of summer, at the heart of noon,
I come upon you, my Promised Land,
And your beauty strikes me
to the heart like the flash of an eagle9
III
In order to fully appreciate the reason
why Senghor sees so much beauty in the dead ancestors -- and consequently
celebrates them -- it is appropriate to understand the relationship between the
living and the dead in the African cultural matrix. Ulli Beier explains:
The ancestors are the guardians of morality among the living community;
they are guides and protectors. Through priests and masqueraders a constant
communication is maintained with the dead.10
On the difference between the way the Europeans view the dead in
contrast to the Africans, he elaborates:
The European has almost lost his belief in survival after death
altogether, but even where it still exists, the separation between the living
and the dead is final … In African, on the other hand, the idea of death is not
associated with horror. The living and the dead are in continuous contact and a
large part of the religious life of the African is devoted to establishing a
harmonious contact with the dead11.
Senghor celebrates the beauty of the dead ancestors because of their
protective powers; because of their ability to ward off ominous evils and other
dangerous phenomena; and because they are the source of all prosperity and
other worldly beneficence. Furthermore, the dead ancestors maintain a living
presence in the midst of the living.
In the poem, “In Memoriam,” for example,
while Senghor is in far away Paris, he invokes the spirit of the dead ancestors
for protection (“Protect my dreams as you have made your sons, wanderers on
delicate feet/oh Dead protect the roof of Paris in the Sunday fog”).
The image, “wanderers on delicate feet,”
alludes to the fact that Senghor himself and some other elements of the
Diaspora are exiles in Paris, threading on precarious circumstances, including
the inclement weather, the scourge of racism, loneliness and isolation, and
nostalgia. Through his identification with the spirit of the dead ancestors,
Senghor and his compatriots can hope for protection or salvation.
In the above poem, as in many of his
lyrics that celebrate the essence and beauty of the dead ancestors -- including
“Night of Sine,” “Visit,” and “Prayer to Masks” -- Senghor illuminates his work
with grace, authenticity, realism, and a sense of reverence not easily found in
African literature.
In this poem Senghor also praises the
gallantry and heroism of the dead ancestors, whose blood flows freely on a
restless earth. The dead ancestors participated in wars and, apparently, their
pain and suffering hit Senghor in passing. The dead ancestors are compared to
saints and holiness, not only through the employment of the image “Sunday,” but
also through the reference to “All Saints.”
The beauty which Senghor celebrates in
“Visit” centers on the ancestors’ magnanimity, not only because they bring “the
souvenirs of the decade” but because they commune with the living through their
“hidden presences.”
Under normal circumstances, in African
culture, the dead ancestors are expected to make their visit during the middle
of the night. However, the fact that their visit takes place during the
late-afternoon (“I dream in the intimate darkness of an afternoon/am visited by
the fatigues of the day”) is an indication of the necessity and the urgency of
their desire to commune with the living.
It is also important to understand the
fact that, in the African culture, the affection which a parent extends to the
child is often mutual and complementary. Thus the reciprocity between the dead
ancestors and Senghor is suggested by Senghor’s celebratory and extempore
declaration: “suddenly my dead draw near to me.”
In terms of style, there is the
effective employment of repetition, both for rhetorical effect as well as the
need to hasten the pace of the desired action or response:
It is the same sun….
The same sky unnerved….
The same sky feared….
(The Penguin Book, p. 177)
Of Senghor’s poetry the verse that best
illustrates the omnipresence of the dead ancestors in human affairs is “Prayer
to Masks.” It is the one poem that addresses all of the dead ancestors on a
universal scale: “Black mask,” “red mask,” “white masks,” and “Rectangular
masks.” And the reason for which they possess beauty that deserves universal
praise is two-fold: “You guard this place, that is closed to any feminine
laughter, to any mortal smile/You purify the air of eternity.”
The word, “masks,” operates at several
levels of meaning. For example, on the one hand it connotes the different
ancestors from all nationalities: black, white, red, rectangular, etc. For
Senghor, all the dead ancestors from all nations are wearing masks, as their
different skin colors symbolize nothing but a façade. He also realizes another
reality, that is, the different ancestors of the world provide support and
comfort to the living: “You guard this place.” Herein lies the beauty of this
poem.
On another level, the employment of the
word “mask” is designed to suggest the fact that humans of all stripes and
colors -- as suggested by their skins -- are the same: For example, when we die
and we are “liquefied and we mix with the elements,” we are permanently reduced
into skulls and bones. Consequently, death, as the universal leveler, reduces
our respective skin colors into oneness. Herein lies the moral didacticism of
the poem.
The above analyses tie into Senghor’s
universal theme of togetherness, brotherhood, reconciliation and the unity of
all mankind, inspite of the racism, wars, rancor, “machines and cannons” that
have tired to tear all of our humanity apart. Senghor believes in the innate
goodness of the dead ancestors. He also believes that all peoples are
“connected through the navel.” Further, we have the same “reckoning with
death.”
It is safe to conclude that Senghor finds beauty mostly in three
distinct places: in the African physical landscape, in womanhood, and in the
spirit and essence of the dead ancestors. From the African topographical
settings, Senghor celebrates both the animate and inanimate objects, including
the “home,” the “thirsty savannah,” and the ethos of “dark” and “black.”
From Senghor’s poetry we understand the
fact that the beauty of womanhood is not only situated in her physical
attractiveness, but it accommodates other virtuous attributes like loyalty,
faithfulness, obedience to marital and cultural codes, responsibility to
family, especially the husband and the children. Womanhood confers privileges
as well as demands responsibilities.
The beauty which Senghor finds in the
ancestral dead arises from their spiritual support of the living to their
ability to ward off ominous evils. Furthermore, the dead ancestors are the
agents of wellness as well as of economic progress and prosperity. That Senghor
is able to identify beauty from three distinct areas -- as illustrated above --
attests to his enormous imaginative vision and his fecund lyrical
virtuosity.
Notes
1.
As D.I. Nwoga describes him, “He is the foremost
thinker and writer on African Culture and the greatest African adovate of
Negritude”. See Weet African Verse: An
Anthology, chosen and annotated by Donatus Ibe Nwoga (London: Longman Group
Ltd, 1976), p. 223.
2.
S. Okechukwu Mezu, The Poetry of L.S. Senghor (London: Heinemann, 1973), pp. 1-2.
3.
Leopold Sedar Senghor, “What Dark Tempestous
Night,” in The Penguin Book of Modern
African Poetry eds. Gerald Moore and Ulli Beier (London: Penguin Group,
1998), p. 317. Most of the quotations from Senghor’s poetry will come from this
edition.
4.
See William Wordsworth, “The Observations Prefixed
to the Second Edition of Lyrical Ballads,” in The Great Critics: An Anthology of Literary Criticism, compiled and
edited by James Harry Smith and Edd Winfield Parks, Third Edition, revised and
enlarged (New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1951), p. 497. Wordsworth owes his
indebtedness to the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau.
5.
See Gerald Moore, “The Politics of Negritude,” in Protest and Conflict in African Literature,
edited by Cosmos Pieters and Donald Munro (London and Ibadan: Heinemann, 1978),
p. 36.
6.
S. Okechukwu Mezu, The Poetry of L.S. Senghor, p. 1.
7.
Cyprian Ekwensi explains the reason why it was
necessary for the black man to assert his individuality: “it was necessary for
the black man to reassure himself of his pride in being black because the
blackness had become a shameful thing, an undignified state. There was in fact
a ‘fight for blackness’ and with it a paradoxical yearning to become white.”
See Oladele Taiwo, “The Philosophy of Negride,” in An Introduction to West African Literature (London: Thomas Nelson
and Sons Ltd., 1967), p. 49. For more information on the philosophy of
Negritude, see Isaac I. Elimimian, Theme
and Style in African Poetry, Chapter 2, Three Negritude Poets: Leopold
Sedar Senghor, David Diop, and Birago Diop (New York: Edwin Mellon Press,
1991), pp. 23-51.
8.
As D.I. Nwoga, West
African Verse, p. 222, explains, “In Africa, woman occupies the first place
… Because she does not leave the family and is the giver of life, woman has
been made the source of the life-force and guardian of the house, that is to
say, the depository of the clan’s past and the guarantor of its future.”
9.
Leopold Sedar Senghor, “Black Woman,” West African Verse, p. 96.
10. Ulli Beier, Introduction to
African Literature, New Edition (London: Longman Group Ltd., 1982), p. 105.
11. Ulli Beier, Introduction to
African Literature, p. 105.
Works Cited
Beier, Ulli. Introduction
to African Literature. London
Mezu, S. Okechukwu. The Poetry of L.S. Senghor. London
Moore, Gerald. “The Politics of Negritude.” Protest and Conflict in African Literature,
eds. Cosmos Pieters and Donald Munro. London
Nwoga, D.I. West
African Verse: An Anthology London
Senghor, Leopold Sedar. “In Memoriam,” “Night of
Sine,” “Prayer to Masks,” “Visit,” “What Dark Tempetuous Night,” “New York London
Taiwo, Oladele. “The Philosophy of Negritude,” An Introduction to West African Literature.
London
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Wordsworth, William. “The Observations Prefixed to
the Second Edition of Lyrical Ballads.” The
Great Critics: An Anthology of Literary Criticism, compiled and edited by
James Harry Smith and Edd
Winefield Parks
It really teaches
ReplyDeleteThank you .
DeleteA typical negritude poet full of ways of eulogizing the Afrian beauty
ReplyDelete