WAEC Literature Poetry: Summary & Analysis

By Ralph Nyadzi

WAEC Literature Poetry Summary and Analysis is designed to be a dependable study guide for persons studying Elective Literature for their WAEC/WASSCE Literature paper. The book contains a detailed analysis of each of the twelve prescribed poems (African and Non-African Poetry) for Senior High School students. It covers the period 2021-2025. Major sections under each poem include subject matter, themes, diction and imagery as well as other poetic devices. You will find very likely essay questions at the end of every analysis. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cegast
• Release date: Feb 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215817636

Ralph Nyadzi

Ralph Nyadzi is one writer who loves to entertain, educate and inspire his readers all at the same time. He writes as much fiction as he produces non-fiction. His reputation for exploring the human condition, for interrogating the motives behind the actions of everyday people and for inspiring the disadvantaged to reach out for the prize has been well established in his books and on his blog. He is the founder and site editor at CegastAcademy.com and also his indie publishing platform, RN Digital Media Ent. On a typical day, he is either online, busy writing, reading and researching or busier cooking or gardening. Ralph Nyadzi lives with four cats and a partridge couple in the Central Region of his native country, Ghana.

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PART ONE: African Poetry

Black Woman

Raider of the Treasure Trove

The Leader and the Led

Song of the Women of My Land

The Grieved Lands

A Government Driver on His Retirement

Black Woman

Here are the major areas we shall cover in our analysis of Black Woman.

Background information

Subject matter

Themes

Poetic Devices

Background Information

SEE ALSO:

A Government Driver on His Retirement Analyzed: Subject Matter, Themes and Poetic Devices

All Six African Poems for WASSCE 2021-2025 (PDF -FREE)

Leopold Senghor’s poem, Black Woman, belongs to the negritude tradition in African Literature. The poet himself was a leading figure in the Negritude movement. It was a period that stretched from the 1930s to the 1950s.

So what is Negritude about? The term was coined to describe African Literature which concerns itself with the rediscovery and affirmation of the African identity. It was very much about the revival of black consciousness.

The Negritude movement started when Leopold Senghor and his compatriots in Europe at the time began to realize that it was a mistake to continue to hold European culture as superior to African ways. Many of them wrote poetry in particular to celebrate Africa and her black race.

Important Elements of Negritude Literature

Below are the recurring themes and features of Negritude literature in general, and poetry in particular (especially those coming from the writings of Leopold Senghor). You will be seeing a lot of these in the analysis of this poem, Black Woman, too.

Glorification of blackness

An idealized African culture and people

Personification of the African continent as a beautiful black woman

Extensive praise singing about the beauty of the black woman

Lopsided comparison between Europe and Africa - Africa is often portrayed as an ideal environment. Europe is made to look pale in the shadow of Africa.

A longing for Africa and her past glory

Descriptive diction

Hyperbolic (exaggerated) figures of speech and imagery

Sensual or romantic allusions

Expression of deep love and attachment to the object of admiration

A tone that affirms the profoundness of the African cultural heritage and identity

Nature imagery

Imagery of Africa and Europe

The use of the figure of speech known as apostrophe

Major themes are: beauty, love and attachment, nostalgia, admiration

In most cases, the poet writes from Europe where he imagines Africa in her beauty, splendour and glory.

Subject Matter

Next in this analysis of Black Woman is the subject matter of the poem. I’m about to show you the meaning of Black Woman by Leopold Senghor, the renowned Senegalese poet, academic and politician.

In Black Woman, the poet employs a combination of the descriptive and narrative techniques. He also reveals to us the various identities of the black woman that make her almost complete.

Different Identities of the Black Woman

The poet shifts between different identities of the beloved. She is, at one time, simply a woman of startling physical beauty. Then she becomes the African woman of motherly qualities. After this, we return to the beautiful image of the beloved. Next, we see her as an object of romantic love surrendering under the power of her admirer, the conqueror. Her beauty then comes to the fore once more and, at the end of it all, she is a mortal being. Her beauty is not going to last forever. It is destined for destruction by death.

Beautiful Woman (Lines 1 - 3)

The poem Black Woman opens with the persona describing the striking physical beauty of the black woman. He imagines her right in front of him. This object of admiration is

A woman

Black

Naked

The persona goes on to compare this black woman’s colour to life itself. Then, quickly, he speaks of the shape of her body (form) as an embodiment of beauty. This black woman, in effect, is extremely good-looking.

Mother (Lines 4 - 10)

The descriptive diction in the previous opening lines has changed to a narrative one.

In the lines that follow, the poet recollects his childhood spent under the motherly care of the black woman. He speaks in glowing terms about how the care and affection she showered on him played a vital role in his growth.

In your shadow I have grown up the

gentleness of your hands was laid over my eyes

Europe: Beautiful Image of the Black Woman Appears

The narrative style continues as we are speedily transported to Europe. The time is midday in the Summer season, at heart of noon.

Africa, in the image of a beautiful black woman, appears like a vision before the persona. He beholds her stunning beauty. So powerful is this beauty that the poet feels as if he has been stricken.

And your beauty strikes me to the heart

like the flash of an eagle

Romantic Lover (Lines 11 - 20)

We return to the description of the black woman. The poet portrays her as a lover. There are strong suggestions of romantic love from line 11 onwards. You can also not fail to notice the strong sexual undertones that keep coming up in the imagery evoked in these lines.

Firm-fleshed ripe fruit, sombre raptures

of black wine, mouth making lyrical my mouth

Savannah stretching to clear horizons

Her flesh is firm, smooth and attractive

She is like a ripe fruit, ready for consumption

The liquid inside this fruit of the naked black woman is compared to black wine. She is tasty and has had an intoxicating effect on the persona.

mouth making lyrical my mouth

Now the woman’s image is like the whole stretch of the Savannah grasslands of Africa. In effect, she is whole, expansive, beautiful and natural.

Then there is the east wind that blows across the Savannah. The east wind is cast in the image of a male lover. It can also be seen as a metaphor for the contact between Africa and the European colonialist.

The meeting between the Savannah and the east wind describes the embrace between the persona and the beloved.

There follows an eager caress between the two. The Savannah (black woman) shakes with emotion at the touch of the east wind (the masculine, more powerful conqueror)

Savannah shuddering beneath the East wind’s

eager caresses

The poet then moves away from the imagery of the Savannah to that of a carved tom tom.

The beloved black woman is thus like a cute traditional musical instrument - a drum. And as she feels the touch of the conqueror, her muscles and nerves grow tense (taut). Her emotions get stronger and, like the tom-tom, she makes very feeble and low moaning sounds (muttering) at the touch of the conqueror.

Carved tom tom, taut tom tom, muttering

under the Conqueror's fingers

The sound she makes in this moment of ecstasy is solemn and deeply spiritual.

Beautiful Woman (Lines 21 - 29)

Leaving the imagery of romance behind, the poet gets back to continue his admiration for the beauty of his beloved.

She is dark and naked

The woman looks like the gazelle in its graceful appearance and movements

She is like the calm oil

Her stunning shiny beauty suggests only one thing. She could only have been formed in Paradise.

The perfect darkness of her skin will make precious stones shine on it. Droplets of water on that dark skin will shine the same way.

The beloved’s beauty has the power to make the persona forget about his worries. Because, her hair alone resembles the leaves on a tree while her eyes are like many suns. They will provide a shadow under which he will find comfort.

Under the shadow of your hair my care

is lightened by the neighbouring suns of your eyes

These comparisons are all exaggerations. They are meant to portray this black woman as whole, larger than life and perfect.

Physical Beauty is Temporary (Lines 30 - 34)

Finally, the poet expresses disquiet over one disturbing reality. It is the mortality of the beloved woman and the impermanence of her beauty. In desperation, he intends to turn his praises of her beauty into a song (possibly this poem) so that unavoidable death will never be able to destroy it completely.

Naked woman, black woman

I sing your beauty that passes, the form

that fix in the Eternal

Before jealous fate turn you to ashes to

feed the roots of life.

Analysis of Black Woman

We are through with the meaning and subject matter of Black Woman. So let's move straight ahead to analyze the poem. This is where you will get to know much about the themes and poetic devices or literary techniques in Leopold Senghor's poem, Black Woman. And they include all the figures of speech in the poem.

So click on the NEXT PAGE BUTTON below to read the analysis of the themes and poetic techniques present in Black Woman.

The Themes in Black Woman

There are several themes in the poem, Black Woman. These themes are closely related to the overall focus of the poem. It is a celebration of the beauty and uniqueness of Africa and black people.

As stated early on, this is the central subject of Negritude Literature. All the other themes you will see discussed in this analysis of Black Woman are, therefore, connected to the call for us to see Africa in a fresh and more positive light.

Again, remember that the poet speaks of Africa as an attractive black woman. One reason for this is to make us appreiciate his strong attachment to the continent.

Theme of Beauty

Physical beauty is the most prominent of the human qualities the poet celebrates in Black Woman. Aspects of this beauty of the woman that the persona admires greatly include her bright eyes, the dark skin colour, her naked form and her graceful movements.

The poet uses the beauty of the beloved as a metaphor for the positive qualities of Africa and her people. This reminds us of I WILL PRONOUNCE YOUR NAME, NAET another Leopold Senghor poem with similar elements.

In highly exaggerated terms, the poet paints a picture of a continent that is whole and perfect in all its ways. Indeed, the nudity of the black woman can be seen as the innocence and natural beauty of Africa as compared to the sun-baked passes of Europe. It therefore represents the unblemished natural state of Africa before the advent of foreign colonial domination.

Poetry, once again, has been used as an instrument of instruction. The poet is apparently calling on Africans who have failed to appreciate the beauty in their blackness to wake up and behold the huge potential in the continent. The images of the Savannah grasslands and precious stones carry a simple but direct message to those Africans who still have doubts about their identity and abilities. The natural resources, the cultural practices and the spiritual life of the people are worthy of praise and must be treasured for posterity.

The Theme of Reaffirmation or Idealization of Blackness

The poem is titled Black Woman for a reason. It is supposed to extol the awesomeness of being black. It is a poem that rejects, in very strong terms, the prevailing idea at the time that white is superior to black.

To properly reaffirm the virtues of black Africa, the poet makes use of such literary devices as metaphor and repetition.

For instance, he compares the beloved black woman to such objects of great value as gold and pearls. The frequent use of the words black and dark emphasize the great value the poet wants Africans to attach to their colour and culture.

Theme