Reading Notes | Part B | Week 14
Leopold Sedar Senghor
Senghor was a poet, a founder of the Negritude movement, and the first president of independent Senegal. (676).
Senghor was born in Joal, a small fishing village in the Sine-Saloum basin in west-central Senegal.
The first African American student to pass the highly competitive examination for the agregation, he was qualified a pursue a career in the French educational system.
Was drafted into the French Army as an officer in 1939, he was taken as a prisoner by the Germans in 1940 and wasn't released until two years later on medical grounds that were confined to Paris. He continued to teach and in 1944 he was appointed professor of African languages at the Ecole Nationale de la france d'Outre-Mer. (676)
In 1946 was his first election with the French Constituent Assembly as a deputy for Senegal, Senghor had launched his political career.
In 1956, Senghor's collection Ethiopiques represented a new direction in his poetry, one less overtly related to the colonial experience.
Night in Sine
In this poem, Senghor is describing his love for Africa by using a women as an example. In a way he seems to be describing Africa as a mother, that has always taken care of him.
"Woman, place you soothing hands upon my brow,
your hands softer than fur" (679)
Soothing stands out to me here, soothing is like relaxing. Just by the touch of the soothing hand you know it will all be okay.
To New York
This poem is about Senghor talking about his hope for New York. He starts all with saying how excited and ambitious he was for New York.
"New York! At first I was bewildered by your beauty."(683)
He then goes on to say things like
"New York! I say New York, let black blood flow into your blood.
Let is wash the rust from your steel joints, like an oil of life." (685)
He is trying to say that New York shouldn't frown upon a black community, they should be welcoming it.
Senghor was a poet, a founder of the Negritude movement, and the first president of independent Senegal. (676).
Senghor was born in Joal, a small fishing village in the Sine-Saloum basin in west-central Senegal.
The first African American student to pass the highly competitive examination for the agregation, he was qualified a pursue a career in the French educational system.
Was drafted into the French Army as an officer in 1939, he was taken as a prisoner by the Germans in 1940 and wasn't released until two years later on medical grounds that were confined to Paris. He continued to teach and in 1944 he was appointed professor of African languages at the Ecole Nationale de la france d'Outre-Mer. (676)
In 1946 was his first election with the French Constituent Assembly as a deputy for Senegal, Senghor had launched his political career.
In 1956, Senghor's collection Ethiopiques represented a new direction in his poetry, one less overtly related to the colonial experience.
Night in Sine
In this poem, Senghor is describing his love for Africa by using a women as an example. In a way he seems to be describing Africa as a mother, that has always taken care of him.
"Woman, place you soothing hands upon my brow,
your hands softer than fur" (679)
Soothing stands out to me here, soothing is like relaxing. Just by the touch of the soothing hand you know it will all be okay.
To New York
This poem is about Senghor talking about his hope for New York. He starts all with saying how excited and ambitious he was for New York.
"New York! At first I was bewildered by your beauty."(683)
He then goes on to say things like
"New York! I say New York, let black blood flow into your blood.
Let is wash the rust from your steel joints, like an oil of life." (685)
He is trying to say that New York shouldn't frown upon a black community, they should be welcoming it.
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