ANALYSIS OF THE POEM “BLACK WOMAN”

The Full Text 

THE POEM “BLACK WOMAN” BY LÉOPOLD SENGHOR

Naked woman, black woman

Clothed with your colour which is life, with your form which is beauty!

In your shadow I have grown up; the

gentleness of your hands was laid over my eyes.

And now, high up on the sun-baked

pass, at the heart of summer, at the heart of noon, I come upon you,

 my Promised Land,

And your beauty strikes me to the heart like the flash of

 an eagle.

Naked woman, dark woman

Firm-fleshed ripe fruit, sombre raptures of black wine, 

mouth making lyrical my mouth

Savannah stretching to clear horizons, 

savannah shuddering beneath the East Wind's eager caresses

Carved tom-tom, taut tom-tom, muttering

under the Conqueror's fingers

Your solemn contralto voice is the

spiritual song of the Beloved.

Naked woman, dark woman

Oil that no breath ruffles, calm oil on the

athlete's flanks, on the flanks of the Princes of Mali

Gazelle limbed in Paradise, pearls are stars on the

night of your skin

Delights of the mind, the glinting of red

gold against your watered skin

Under the shadow of your hair, my care

is lightened by the neighbouring suns of your eyes.

Naked woman, black woman,

I sing your beauty that passes, the form

that I fix in the Eternal,

Before jealous fate turn you to ashes to

feed the roots of life. 

 Background of the Poem 'Black Woman'

Black Woman" is a response to the countless number of years the white man had devoted to praising and chanting the beauty of the. white woman. Writers like Dante, Boccaccio, Spenser, Eluard and Yeats have devoted part of their writings to the elaborate description of the aesthetics of the white woman. her white and elegant hands, the face's whiteness, its radiance as that of the sun, its dazzling as the moon, etc. Over time, a woman's beauty was to be seen in terms of her whiteness, candour, glory and incandescence. However, Senghor's poem published in 1936 was the first time an African was devoting poems to the beauty of the African woman when this had never been thought about. Senghor derived the impetus from the Harlem Renaissance movement of African-American writers of the 1920s in vela York. He was to promote this self-assertion using the medium of negritude, a term first used by Aime Cesaire in a 1932 poem. "Black Woman" was thus a revolutionary poem, published at a time not too many people were ready for it. It thus became Senghor's most cited poem, largely because of its ideological content and because the black woman was for the first time eulogized. 

 Summary and Line to Line Analysis

 The Poem specifically devoted to a single black woman who is an epitome of beauty. Either tilt woman is actually "naked" or she has been undressed by the poetic persona's eyes. The black women is clothed" with her colour of black, with shapely beauty. When the poet says "in your shadow I %wet grown up-. our mind engages a mother who has looked after a child from infancy to adulthood din*, which `the gentleness of your hands was laid over my eyes." Every segment of the poem is addressed to "Naked woman, black woman." When it is not -black woman," it is "dark woman" which may be t shade of blackness. The black woman in question is "firm-fleshed ripe fruit" akin to the -raptures ot black wine," akin to "mouth making lyrical my mouth." That is a tasty wine. This "naked wornan-a "solemn contralto voice" just like a "spiritual song" rung by "the Beloved." The woman is a "gazelle limbed in paradise.- The poet sings of a "beauty that passes," the beauty can only be found in the wood beyond. Only -jealous Fate" will turn this beauty "to ashes to feed the roots of life" 

Lines 1-5

 The black woman is naked. This naked woman must be totally so because we are informed that she it -clothed with your colour" which is the colour of life with a beautiful shape. It is in the "shadow" dd . this %woman that the poetic persona grew up, "the gentleness of your hands" (I. 3) may have smothered his face as a child, evincing care and concern. 

Lines 6-10

 The poetic persona has turned !nature; it is "at the heart of summer/at the heart of noon" (II. 6-7). tit cones upon his "Promised Land" (Africa) (I. 8), at the climax of her beauty which strikes him "to eh heart like the flash of Pan eagle" (11.9-10). 

Limes 11-19 

 The poetic persona invokes "Naked woman, dark woman" (1. I I). The woman has moved from being "black" to being 'tint " Each colour is a shade of the other and thus mans the same. The "nako wormier is metaphorically a "firm-fleshed ripe fruit", akin to .he "somber raptures of black wine, it 12) epitomized by "mouth making lyrical my mouth" (1. 13). This is sensual, provocative, if au downright erotic. The image is that of a vast space of the "savannah stretching to clear horizon savannah/shuddering beneath the East Wind's eager caresses" (IL 14-15). It is a savannah village probably Serighol's Joal in Senegal where "carved tom-tom• taut tom-tom" (1.16) announces than bank has been won. Our attention is drawn once again to the black woman with her "solemn voice" which sings "the spiritual song of die/Beloved" (//. 18-19). 

Lines 20-24 

 naked woman's beauty is farther heightened by referring to "oil that no breath ruffles" (I. 21).The oil  the naked woman spots is compared to the type that issues from "the athlete's flanks" or from flanks of the Princes of Mali" . The 'flanks' refers to the meat located between the end of then and the hip. This portion is usually oily when cooked. The "dark woman" is "gazelle limit of created in "paradise" just as "pearls are stars on the night/of your skin" (II. 24-25). The "pearls" 0 be it:Caring to the ornaments on the body of the "naked woman, dark woman." 

 Themes in the poem 'Black Woman'

  African beauty

 As pointed out earlier, beauty had not been associated with the African woman. But as negritude had tried to establish, the black woman is beautiful ri. The entire poem is devoted to the beauty of the black female. To be able to do this, the woman had to be totally naked or metaphorically undressed by the poetic persona's eyes. The poet does not seem to be addressing this poem to a particular woman as those he devoted to Naett or the woman he makes reference to in the poem. "I Will Pronounce Your Name." With respect to "Black Woman," the reference to woman is in the generic sense of the word from the perspective of the African. The peel describes her colour, shape, shadow and the gentleness of her hands. Elements of beauty are evoked in -sun.baked pass", the "heart of summer" and "the hear of noon." The reference to "Promised Land" suggests the poet may also be talking about Africa herself as is common in negritude poetry. Other references to African beauty are "firm-fleshed ripe fruit"."somber raptures of black wine" "mouth making lyrical my mouth", "East Wind's eager caresses". "solemn contralto voice". "the Beloved", "calm oil on the athlete's flanks", "gazelle limbed in paradise". "peals are stars on the night/of your skin", "glinting of the red gold", "watered skin", "neighbouring suns of the eyes" etc. As already mentioned, these elements of beauty could be referring to the African land as well. However, what is obvious and direct are the nakedness and blackness of the African woman. 

The Theme of Praise

There is also the theme of praise in the poem. The poet uses choice word to praise the black woman, and the greatness of African woman. He showers praises on the natural black colour of the African womans skin, and everything about the black woman. Her smooth skin is compared to that of an athlete. He further praises the African woman as graceful and elegant as a gazelle. Is praises of the natural beauty of the black woman, also implies the richness of the African culture before the colonization. Childhood memory is another theme in this poem. The poet looks back to the period of his childhood, and remembers his place of birth, Senegal. “In your shadow I have grown up; the gentleness of your hands was laid over my eyes”. It is a memory lane down to his frowning days as a child, which he considers as living in paradise. He sets on a poetic journey to the ” promised land” of his home land, Senegal. He recalls the Caring attitude of his mother, which sustains him as a child. He appreciates the black woman as a wife and mother, who nourishes his childhood.

Mortality

The end of the poem turns to ideas of mortality and the natural progression of life into death. Senghor writes that he fixes the titular woman "in the Eternal" before she is turned "to ashes to / feed the roots of life." Here, he acknowledges that, despite the beauty (of women, of the culture, of the land, of everything), all must eventually turn to dust and help build other things. This is a sort of spiritual "circle of life," and he uses his poem to freeze a moment of beauty before it must give way to something else.

 Blackness as a subject of beauty

 Before Senghor's poem of the 1930s, blackness was not a subject of anything - be it aesthetics, psychology, humanism or even history. In Senghor's poetry, blackness for the first time became a subject of aesthetics because it (blackness) required to be rehabilitated. Many words and expressions which reflected blackness were for the first time given prominence. For instance, the naked woman is said to he "clothed with your colour which is life" (I. 2). In other words, blackness is here recognized as the 'colour of life.' Both the woman's colour and her shadow are also recognized; her beauty "strikes me to the heart like the flash of/an eagle" (it 9-10). Eagle is a bird of beauty and elegance. The 'wine" that has -raptures" is "black" and leaves the "mouth making lyrical my mouth" (1. 13). Savannah is an African landscape feature; because of its vastness, it stretches "to clear horizons" (1. 14) which enables "the East Wind's eager caresses" (/. 15) to roam freely. The beating of the "caned tom-tom, taut torn-torn" (1. 16) is let loose across the savannah area The tom-tom is a small drum often held under the armpit of its beater. Here it is "the Conqueror's fingers" that beat it, when a war is to be declared or 

when one has been won. Blackness is also noticeable in "Under the shadow of your hair (1. 27) and "the neighbouring suns of your eyes" (L28). After all Africans are known for good neighbourliness evinced by the nearness of the human eyes.  

Africa and African Culture

Beyond just praising the beauty of blackness, the poem also celebrates and reflects upon Africa and African culture. Senghor mentions the Princes of Mali, Gazelles, and savannahs, as well as tom-tom drums "muttering / under the Conqueror's fingers." This line is likely a reference to colonialism in Senegal (or even Africa at large). It acknowledges and empowers the ways that Africans were able to use African culture to subvert European imperialism. 

African land as a woman

 In the poem, the black woman could pass for the African land. it is naked and laid bare by many years of exploitation by colonization. It is a beautiful land whose soil is black as well. It is "clothed With your colour which is life, with your foam/which is beauty!" (IL 2-3) The protagonist grows up "in your shadow"possessing "the gentleness of your hands" (114-5). The sun is intense, "high up on the sun baked pass at the heart of/summer' (11. 6-7). The African land is the "Promised Land" whose beam, "strikes me to the heart like the flash oVan eagle" (11.9-10). The land bears "firm-fleshed ripe fruit, frog' which ``black wine" is brewed; some quantity of this "black wine" would "make my moutbeforeblyficther, with song or even speech. The poet's Severe tribal land is a "savannah stretching to clear horizons, savannah/shuddering beneath the East Wind's eager caresses" (//. 14-15). The "carved tom-tom, taut torn-tom" is no where known as in Africa, beaten by "the Conqueror's fingers" after or commencement of an internecine war. The "oil" and the "calm oil" issue from the land of intense sun, it is also the land of "gazelle limbed in paradise" (1. 23) whose stars are "pearls...yoonurtheainrig(t. 207f)yaz; skin' (A 23-24). The A fricanness of this land is accentuated "under the shadow of hair" " "the neighbouring suns of your eyes" (1. 28). The 'sun' in this poem pluralized, also recalls Africa, the home of intense tropical sun and heat. 

4. A successful 'anti-racist racism' 

A negritude poem is one in which everything African is praised so that Africa can attract respect. The reason for it is that before negritude, everything African was cajoled and criticized as unwholesome. In order to reverse what was then in vogue, there was a need to reverse the negative image of Africa. A French philosopher by name Jean-Paul Sartre called this effort 'anti-racist racism'. While a poem like "Black Woman" is anti-racist, it is also a promotion of racism, this time against the whites. However, Senghor must have felt well for his poem co have been effective and achieved the purpose it had sought to achieve. The poet centres his work on a black woman who is naked. Not on one that wears anything. This is to present her as she was created because adornments such as clothing could exaggerate a woman's beauty or even suppress it. Rather than be clothed with an apparel, this one is "clothed with your colour (black) which is life, with your form which is beauty!" (it 2-3) Form is the figure, the shape. The poet invokes her "shadow" which is also black. It was out of this shadow that "I have grown up" (I. 4). That is, the poet-protagonist was catered for by this shadow, probably the mother's. He further remarks that "the gentleness of your hands was laid over my eyes" (It 4-5). Both the "heart of summer" and "the heart of noon" (11. 6-7) are terms of beauty and credited to "naked woman, black woman." The poet praises the black woman's beauty as striking him "to the heart like the flash of/an eagle" (11.9-10}. This black woman is "firm-fleshed ripe fruit" akin to the "somber raptures of black wine' (I. 12). Not red wine or white wine! The poet goes on to . describe her environment — the savannah — which is cuddled by "the East Wind's eager caresses" (1. 15). The tom-tom issues African music throughout the "savannah stretching to clear horizons" (1. 14). The woman's voice issues in a "solemn contralto", (1. 149) in the well-known feminine voice. All other descriptions of the black woman as "oil that no breath ruffles" or "calm oil on the athlete's flanks" (11. 21-22); "gazelle limbed in paradise" (1. 23) "pearls"   

 African woman as the source and sustainer of the growing child

There is also the theme of the African woman as the source and sustainer of the growing child. The poet express his love and appreciation to his mother and indeed mother Africa, for the care, protection until he enters the “promised land” of adulthood. The ability of black woman to give birth and sustain the life of the infant child is commended in the poem. The role of the African woman as the first teacher of the child is exposed by the poet, as he remembers his mother’s tutelage at the various stages of childhood that sustained his growth into adulthood.

 Language and Style 

  Rejection of European standards of beauty

 Through the use of an impassioned language, Senghor rejects the European standards of beauty, and, instead creates his own. A beautiful woman has to be judged from her total nakedness when she has no clothes on. This appears an uncanny suggestion or a desire to be erotic! However, the fact is that Senghor's idea of beauty is to be realized most fully when the woman is assessed from nature. Black is the colour which should matter because it is tie colour of life; it is also the "form/which is beauty!" The poet promotes all attributes of the black woman and of Africa such as "shadow" (mentioned twice in the poem), "sun-baked pass' (Africa being the land of sunshine). The "heart of summer" and "the heart of noon", each points to what the sun can do at these times. The poet emphasizes ripeness and maturity as when he refers to "firm-fleshed ripe fruit", "somber raptures of black wine", "taut torn-tom", "contralto voice", "oil that no breath ruffles", "calm oil", "gazelle limbed in paradise", "the glinting of red gold", the "neighbouring suns" etc. These are some of the bases upon which an African woman's beauty is to be judged. Notice also that the poet makes reference to "naked woman, black (or dark) woman" several times which shows that he is not keen about be beauty of any other human species.  

 Sensual imagery 

The poem has images that evoke pleasurable and/or erotic sensations. Even the reference to "naked woman" already recalls sensuality; she is "clothed with your colour" which re-inforces the nakedness. There is "the gentleness of your hands" which smothers his eyes. One of the most effective uses of sensuality in the poem is for the poet to have remarked thus: "And your beauty strikes me to the heart like the flash of/an eagle". Other sensual images include, "firm-fleshed ripe fruit". "mouth making lyrical my mouth", "East Wind's eager caresses", "taut tom-tom", "contralto voice", "spiritual song of the/Beloved", "calm oil", "the athlete's/flanks", "gazelle limbed", "pearls are stars". "delights of the mind", 'the glinting of red gold against/you - watered skin" etc. The poet also refers to the woman`s beauty as having a shape ("form") which is of her-worldly and refers to `Tate" as being "jealous" as men could be if they share a woman with another man or know that she is available to their rival. 

Naked woman

 black woman 

dark woman

 Clothed with your colour which is life

 with your form which is beauty 

high up on the sun-baked pass

 at the heart of summer

 at the heart of noon

 I come upon you, my Promised Land 

Naked woman 

black woman 

dark woman 

Firm-fleshed ripe fruit

 Sombre raptures of black wine

 Mouth making lyrical my mouth... 

Diction 

 the poet uses choice of words to symbolized the beauty of the black woman. He deliberately uses words like nakedness, black and darkness which are seen as negative attributes to praise the natural beauty of the black woman. The poet is also challenging the African woman to appreciate her natural beauty. And to bleach the dark skin in the name of sophisticated culture of the western world.

Mood

the mode of the poem is that of Adoration. The poet adores the awesome beauty of the black woman. He describes everything about the African woman as naturally beautiful. Senghor sees Africa as the black woman he loves to celebrate. He seeks to adore that state of natural beauty before it is taken away by death.

Tone

 the poet’s tone of the appreciation of natural beauty of the black woman pervades the poem. He praises the African woman not only for her natural smooth dark skin, but also for the way and manner she brings up her children.

Ode

 the poem is a hymn of praise to the black woman, an African mother, daughter or sister and indeed mother Africa which deserves to be treated like a woman, the poet praise the natural beauty of the African woman, and stresses the need to accord her the rightful place in the society.

Metaphor

 the figure of speech prominently used in the poem is that of metaphor. The black woman is compared to the promised land, ripe fruit, Savannah, oil and gazelle in lines 4,7,12, and 13.

Simile 

The literary device is used by the poet in line 5 “your beauty strikes me to the heart like the flash of an eagle, ” the comparism brings to mind the beauty and nobility of an eagle.

Repetition 

 line 1 “naked woman, black woman”  

and. Line 6 “naked woman, dark woman ” are repeated in lines 11 and 16 respectively to emphasize the natural beauty of the African woman.

Symbolism 

Senghor uses symbolic words like: the promised land, ripe fruit, Savannah, oil and gazelle to symbolize the natural beauty of the black woman as a person, as well as a symbol of African woman and mother Africa.

Apostrophe

 it is a literary device that poet employs to address the black woman, the object of praise as though she were physically present with him.

Personification

 the black woman is figuratively used to personified the African continent and Senghor’s country, Senegal. The poet uses beauty of colour of the African woman skin to personified the rich African culture before western influence and colonization.

Imagery

 the poet natural imagery to link the Beauty of the black woman to nature, and by the same token to his homeland of Senegal. Natural images like: wind, sun, noon, night, and stars are presented as attributes of the darkness of the African woman’s skin.

Alliteration

 the poet uses alliteration to buttress the beauty of the black woman in lines 1,2,3,6,7,9 etc.

Line 1,6,11 and 16 naked woman black woman

Line 2 “clothed with your colour which is life, with your form which is beautt”

Line 3 “…grown up; the gentleness….”

Line 7 ” firm-fleshed ripe fruit….. Mouth making lyrical my mouth ”

Line 9 “carved tom-tom, taut tom- tom…”

Line 12 “…flanks, on the flanks…”