LITR / CRCL 5734: Colonial & Postcolonial Literature

Student Poetry Presentation, 2003

Reader:  Rebecca Stasney
Respondent:  Lisa James
Recorder:  Susie Gibson
2 June 2003

Walcott, “A Far Cry from Africa” 

In Walcott’s “A Far Cry from Africa,” the speaker is clearly divided.  The first two stanzas are divided between (1.) natural images of Africa and (2.) unnatural invasions/images of colonization and violence.  The third stanza ends the poem with a discussion of the consciousness of the inner conflict or division of the speaker that concerns both his African and English connections. There appears to be no resolution to the speaker’s conflict. 

Syliva Krzmarzick (website contribution) in relation to Walcott’s poem “The Divided Child” notes: “Walcott is a two-fold hybrid.  He has two parent cultures and is of two races.”

Brady Hutchison (website contribution) notes the painful nature of the entire poem which is obviously one result of the internal division or struggle.

Definitions

Kikuyu:  agricultural Bantu-speaking tribe, one of the largest groups in Kenya; racial and tribal tensions led to “Mau-Mau,” a Kikuyu nationalist uprising against European colonists in the late 1940s and 1950s.

batten:  secure

veldt:  any of the open grazing areas of South Africa

carrion:  dead and decaying flesh

salients:  projections/conspicuous nature

ibis:  wading bird with a long, downward curved bill

Stanza One

The stanza begins with an image of nature, but becomes increasingly grotesque and unnatural.  In this way, we find violence and a sort of darkness within the realms of nature or paradise/Eden (“corpses are scattered through a paradise”).  In Heart of Darkness, Marlow similarly immerses himself in an exotic new land (similar to paradise).  As he navigates the river, he notes “it was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings” (41), but is struck by the darkness of the death that surrounds him.  Also, there is a contrast between the natural images of the landscape (the “wind,” the “tawny pelt”) and the mention of statistics and “colonial policy” or unnatural law. 

Stanza Two

This stanza, like the first, similarly begins with an image of nature.  Quickly, however, the mood turns to violence.  The speaker differentiates between natural law (“the violence of beast on beast”) and unnatural law (“upright man seeks his divinity by inflicting pain”).  Kurtz in Heart of Darkness resembles this notion of divinity.  He made himself into a sort of imperialist tyrant or god for the natives to worship. 

Stanza Three

In this stanza, the speaker’s personal conflict is especially emphasized.  Here the first person “I” is introduced.  The speaker insists he is “poisoned” and “divided” since he has the “blood of both.”  The language, though increasingly powerful and emotional, seems to be simpler in this stanza, suggesting that it is, in fact, a very personal struggle. 

Title

The significance of the title likely relates to this inner conflict; in the poem, the speaker is literally crying out with pain (from Africa to England, perhaps (note the images of nature are African)) out of the confusion and frustration arising from his struggle.

Questions:  In the last stanza, the speaker asks if he should betray both the Africans and the English, or “give back what they give.”  What exactly is it that each group gives to the speaker?  (Does the English side of the speaker only give the “tongue” that he loves?)  Is the speaker elaborating on the fact that he’s a victim of colonialism, or is he relaying his guilt as a colonizer in association with his English roots? 

Discussion

Lisa – I got the same idea of conflict within the speaker.  How does he represent Africa?  A gorilla which is an irony of what?

Rebecca – You don’t know how he feels himself.  He is crying out because he does not know himself.

Natalie – I think there is an absolute. He doesn’t reject either culture.  He recognizes what is bad in each and he doesn’t want to choose.

Krisann – He’s got the best and worse of each culture.

Natalie – I’m not sure if it is completely comprehensible. Imagine coming from a war- torn country and being taken over.  The writers so far in this course are conflicted.  We can use this as a bridge to understanding whether we agree or disagree.

Dr. White – Hybridization to choose one side or another to get some distance.

Rebecca – One question on 1^st stanza – What is that child? Why did he put that in?  Is he talking about Africa?

Dr. White – Go back to Kikuyu uprising.  It was a grass roots movement. 

Kristy – That white child is caught up in it, like he is.  They didn’t ask to be there.

Dr. White – The book God of Small Things includes lots of images of bodies being hacked.

Rebecca – I think a far cry is the guy crying out to England where his roots are or Africa crying out.

Dr. White – In a second reading you hear a far cry from Africa.  The way I read it is to put Walcott in the Caribbean and hearing the far cry from Africa. Kenya is the most paid attention to of African nations, because they have made the most progress under black leaders. Kenya and Nigerian people are given the most attention because of the black leaders.  Nigeria has been having elections—which by our view things will eventually work out because they have a lot of oil.

Charley – The title is an interpretation.  Each stanza describes Africa as a paradise, and Africa as a place of violence.  He is taking Africa and making it a paradise, but now it’s just violence.

Rebecca – A nice image of landscape with the start of the second stanza.

Dr. White – A voice crying out in the wilderness, like John the Baptist in the Gospels—a new reality is coming for the Africans.