derek walcott presents african roots in his poem “a far cry from africa”. the opening images of the poem are drawn from accounts of the mau mau uprising, an extended and bloody battle during the 1950s between european. derek walcott’s “a far cry from africa,” published in 1962, is a painful and jarring depiction of ethnic conflict and divided loyalties. A study of derek walcott’s poem 'a far cry from africa'. Study material on the poem "a far cry from africa" by derek walcott, cc 11, 5th semester, english honours author biography derek walcott(1930–2017) born on the island of saint lucia, a former british colony in the west indies, poet and playwright derek walcott was trained as a painter but turned to writing as a young man. the poem abounds in post colonial elements. a far cry from africa is published in 1962. he won the noble prize in literature in 1992 as the first carribean. derek walcott is a prominent literary figure of west indies and an aristocrat member of world literature. Post colonial impact on “a far cry from africa” by derek walcotte. derek walcott’s poem “a far cry from africa” (1962) is set during the mau mau uprising in kenya, when native kenyans fought.
In a sentence, I say that the poet is in dilemma whether to accept him as the African or the transmission of British.A modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, supersummary offers high quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. In the nutshell, the poet is in search of existence which I have described as Diaspora sentiment, and he also talks about the nature of the British people and how they transformed the British culture to those Africans.
The lines, “I who am poisoned with the blood of both, Where shall I turn, divided to the vein?”, also tells he could leave neither his African nationality nor English tongue. Even in him, there is an amalgamation of blood and culture which couldn’t be discarded. The cultural transmission couldn’t be avoided. Later on, he tells that things had been changed. Then, he presented the British as a superman, most powerful country of that time and the African as a gorilla who is one of the most powerful animals, and even though, the African tried to fight with the British, their practice for their own existence went to vain. He tried to clarify that he only wanted to be an African but he loved the English tongue as well which he couldn’t disseminate from him. As line says, “Threshed out by beaters, the long rushes break, In a white dust of ibises whose cries”, it means the British were the materials like who were composed out of complex machine and they possessed beast like quality.įrom the second stanza, he talks more about the Diaspora sentiment, which means love for the nation and nationality. Therefore, people were victimized by the colonizer and even killed when their purpose were not fulfilled.Īgain in the same stanza, he talks about the nature of the colonizer and their traits. Also, he adds that the colonel of carrion, the worm, which symbolises the British, had no sympathy towards the dead people. People were being killed and their dead bodies were scattered like cattle on the beautiful land of Africa. He starts the poem with the scenario how the disaster came like hurricane and destroyed everything as quick as possible.
The very first stanza mainly talks about the problems that arose after the Africa was colonized by British. This information helped me to make some assumption about writing this poem and I read and understood in my way. As I read about the poet, Derek Walcott, I came to know that he is an African Poet.