THEMATIC AND STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF LEOPOLD SEDAR SENGHOR’S POEM

Leopold Sedar Senghor

Senghor born in Senegal is one of the oldest and most prominent of African poets.  A poet philosopher, scholar and statesman Senghor is also the greatest exponent of the philosophy of Negritude.  Negritude as an ideology was merely developed as a reaction to cultural deprivation that African poets experienced in Europe.  This led the educated elite to revive through literature, the cultural values, and identify the beauty of Africa by extolling their ancestral glories.  This led to the use of traditional imagery, symbols and rhythm,  Negritude has passed through a number of phases and was at times accused of over sentimentalism.  Nevertheless Senghor’s poetry gained great importance and won many international prizes for his contribution to African literature as a whole and African poetry in particular.

I WILL PRONOUNCE YOUR NAME

I will pronounce your name
I will pronounce your name, Naett, I will declaim you , Naett!
Naett, your name is mild like the cinnamon, it is the fragrance in which
the lemon grove sleeps,
Naett, your name is the sugared clarity of blooming coffee trees
And it resembles the savannah, that blooms forth under the
the masculine odour of the midday sun.
Name of dew, fresher shadows of tamarind,
Fresher even than short dusk, when the heat of the dusk is
silenced.
Naett, that is the dry tornado, the hard clap of lightning
Naett, coin of gold, shinning coal, you my night , my sun!—
I am your hero, and now I have become your sorcerer, in order to
pronounce your names.
Princess of Elisa, banished from *Futa on the fateful day.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

To Decipher the theme of the poem.
To analyse the main poetic device employed by the poet.