Alternating pattern of organization
Throughout the United States and most of the world, it is no secret that Africans have received harsh mistreatment by people throughout the course of history. When this kind of gross negligence is geared towards one culture for such a long period of time, the feelings that build up from this discrimination will manifest themselves in one way or another. This manifestation that came out of all the hatred of the past was the Negritude movement. Making African people aware of their culture and instilling a sense of pride in them about their homeland were the major focuses of the Negritude philosophy, and these ideas translated beautifully into the literary world. Even though several literary pieces came to the forefront as defining works of the Negritude movement, David Diop’s “Africa” and Bernard Dadie’s “Dry Your Tears, Africa” did a superb job of exemplifying the primary ideas of the Negritude philosophy.
Since both Diop and Dadie focus on furthering the Negritude movement throughout each of their poems, they both use some very similar techniques to try to express what they want to say. Throughout each of the poems, the author attempts to convey the beauty and splendor that inhabits the great continent from which they came. In “Dry Your Tears, Africa,” Dadie says: “And our senses are now opened / to the splendour of your beauty / to the smell of your forests / to the charm of your waters / to the clearness of your skies / to the caress of your sun / And to the charm of your foliage pearled by the dew” (lines 16-22). Dadie overwhelmingly succeeds in giving his readers a sense of the natural beauty that Africa possesses. He utilizes very descriptive words that might even persuade people who have no interest in Africa to want to make a journey to this continent.
Although Diop does not use the same kind of descriptive language in “Africa” that Dadie uses, he attempts to get across to the reader that Africa is a place of beauty by stating: “Africa of whom my grandmother sings” (line 4). This still conveys to a certain extent the appeal that Africa possesses, because it makes people sing about what a great place it is. The statement expresses the same point without having to say too much. Diop also says: “But your blood flows in my veins / Your beautiful black blood” (lines 7-8). Once again, Diop still tries to convey the exact point as Dadie about Africa’s beauty, but he just attempts to do it in a more simplistic manner.
In addition to this, both authors try to inform about the travesties that Africans had to endure while being held down by the chains of slavery. In “Dry Your Tears, Africa,” Dadie uses the phrase: “We have drunk / From all the springs / of ill fortune / and of glory” (lines 12-15) to display the difficult times that Africans had to endure while being bonded by servitude. He does not go into much detail about the ill fortunes that Africans had, but it is obvious that they were made to endure many difficult times. In “Africa,” Diop responds to the harshness of slavery by saying: “This back trembling with red scars / Saying yes to the whip under the midday sun” (lines 17-18). Diop’s statement about the brutality exuded on Africans by slave owners paints a very real portrait of the horrors that Africans were exposed to when they came over as slaves. He succeeds wholeheartedly in contrasting what Africans faced when they traveled out of their home continent to what they had when they were actually in Africa.
Even though both Dadie and Diop took advantage of some of the same techniques in their poetry to try to further the Negritude movement, they both also utilized some different methods to attempt to get their points across. In “Africa,” Diop comes across as having more of an angry tone about the persecution that Africans have faced. He provides the reader with lines like: “The work of your slavery / The slavery of your children / Africa, tell me, Africa / Is this you, this back that is bent / This back that breaks / Under the weight of humiliation” (lines 11-16). Diop also says: “That is Africa, your Africa / That grows again, patiently, obstinately / As its fruit gradually acquires / The bitter taste of liberty” (lines 23-26). He expresses anger at the fact that the heart and soul of Africa have been made slaves by people who should not control them. Though the enslaving of his people has come this far, he still conveys a sense of hope that Africa will one day be back to what it once was as its people gradually gain their freedom back.
In “Dry Your Tears, Africa,” Dadie says: “Dry your tears, Africa! / Your children come back to you / their hands full of playthings / and their hearts full of love / They return to clothe you / in their dreams and their hopes” (lines 23-28). Unlike Diop, Dadie says that the people of Africa have been oppressed, but they need more than anything to try to move on at this point. The African people cannot dwell on feelings of anger toward the other people of the world who enslaved them. They must get past it in order to become again the free people that they once were. If the people of Africa do not get past the anger that their enslaving might bring, their anger will reciprocate into a new anger that will contradict the very idea of getting past the injustices that are already done. The idea now is to take pride in Africa and start over on a brand new way of life.
Bernard Dadie and David Diop did an exemplary job of furthering the philosophies of the Negritude movement through their poems. They each brought into view the atrocities that Africans were put through as slaves as well as the beauty of the continent from which they came. Even though both expressed some conflicting attitudes about the actions of the past, they both did their best at trying to convey a sense of hope about what is in store for Africa in the future. Although these were not the only catalysts in starting the civil rights movements of the future, they played an integral part in shaping the attitudes that Africans have today about their freedom and their role in this world.