VANITY - BBY BIRAGO DIOP
BACKGROUND OF THE POET
Birago Diop (11 December 1906 – 25 November 1989) was a Senegalese poet and storyteller whose work restored general interest in African folktales and promoted him to one of the most outstanding African francophone writers.[A renowned veterinarian, diplomat and leading voice of the Négritude literary movement,Diop exemplified the "African renaissance man".
Son of Ismael and Sokhna Diop, Birago Diop was born on 11 December 1906 in Ouakam, a neighborhood in Dakar, Senegal. His mother raised him with his two older brothers, Massyla and Youssoupha; his father, for unknown reasons, disappeared two months before Diop was born. Diop's childhood exposed him to many folktales, which he later used in his literary work.[1]
In 1920, Diop earned a scholarship to attend the French-speaking school Lycée Faidherbe in Saint-Louis, which was then Senegal's capital. During this time, he became fascinated with the poems and style of writing of Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, Edgar Allan Poeand several others and began writing his own. In the late 1920s, he served as a nurse in a military hospital and later went on to study veterinary medicine at the University of Toulouse in France, graduating in 1933.
Although he was mostly recognized for his poems and folktales, Diop also worked as a veterinary surgeon for the French colonial government in several West African countries, spending 1937–39 in the French Sudan (now Mali), 1940 in the Ivory Coast and French Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), and 1950 in Mauritania.[5] Throughout his civil service career in 1934, he collected and reworked Wolof folktales, and also wrote poetry, memoirs, and a play. He also served as the first Senegalese ambassador to Tunisia from 1960 to 1965.
During his time in France as a veterinary student, Diop met numerous African, African-American and Caribbean students, among them Léopold Sédar Senghor, who later went on to become Senegal's first president after its independence. Inspired by these young black intellectuals, artists and poets, Diop drafted his earliest poems in L'étudiant noir ("the black student") - a student review that established the idea of the Négritude movement, which protested against the assimilation theory in favour of African cultural values
During his work as the head of the government's cattle-inspection service for several regions in Senegal and Mali, he was introduced to traditional folktales, most of which he committed to memory. These served as the main inspiration for much of his literary work. Indeed, most of his poems and tales have their roots in oral African traditions. Generally recited to a group at night by a professional storyteller, called a griot, folktales were repeated in different places by the people who heard them. These ceremonies commonly consisted of songs and dances in addition to these folktales. Although the tales served as entertainment, they also had the greater purpose of teaching younger generations about the beliefs and values of their ancestors.By combining his mastery of the French language with his experience with African folktakes, Diop was able to spread the values and beliefs of his ancestors throughout the world.
In the early 1940s, during World War II, Diop was forced to return to France for two years.Homesick, he began writing down adaptions of folktales as advised by his fellow Negritude writers.The following excerpt illustrating his homesickness can be found in "The Humps":
"Here, far from my home in Senegal, my eyes are surrounded by closed horizons. When the greens of summer and the russets of autumn have passed, I seek the vast expanses of the Savannah, and find only bare mountains, sombre as ancient prostrate giants that the snow refuses to bury because of their misdeed...." (from "The Humps").
When Diop finally returned to Africa, he served as a director of zoological technical services in Ivory Coast and Upper Volta (modern day Burkina Faso). His first literary piece Les Contes d'Amadou Koumba was published in 1947. The work, totaling three volumes, managed to earn him the Grand prix littéraire award. Each volume contained a collection of short stories: animal-centred tales he directly transcribed from the griot Amadou Koumba's accounts. These tales provided a combination of humor, fantasy and realism where people, supernatural beings, and animals interacted.
As soon as Senegal gained its independence, Diop was nominated as the first Senegalese ambassador in Tunisia. Upon accepting this position, he claimed to have "broken his pen," suggesting that he was ready to give up writing altogether and focus on his diplomatic career. It was not until the mid-1970s, towards the end of his life, that his "pen was mended." He published La plume raboutée in 1978, followed by À rebrousse-temps (1982), À rebrousse-gens (1982), and Senegal du temps de...(1986)
Birago Diop died on 25 November 1989 in Dakar at the age of 83. He was survived by his wife of many years, Marie-Louise Pradére, and two children, Renée and Andrée.His legacy includes the titles of novelist, diplomat, a founder of the Negritude movement and veterinarian. Even now, decades after his death, his stories and poems remain, sharing African values and culture.
Birago Diop - VANITY
If we tell, gently, gently
All that we shall one day have to tell,
Who then will hear our voices without laughter,
Sad complaining voices of beggars
Who indeed will hear them without laughter? 5
If we roughly of our torments
Ever increasing from the start of things
What eyes will watch our large mouths
Shaped by the laughter of big children
What eyes will watch our large mouth? 10
What hearts will listen to our clamoring?
What ear to our pitiful anger
Which grows in us like a tumor
In the black depth of our plaintive throats?
When our Dead comes with their Dead 15
When they have spoken to us in their clumsy voices;
Just as our ears were deaf
To their cries, to their wild appeals
Just as our ears were deaf
They have left on the earth their cries, 20
In the air, on the water, where they have traced their signs
For us blind deaf and unworthy Sons
Who see nothing of what they have made
In the air, on the water, where they have traced their signs
And since we did not understand the dead 25
Since we have never listen to their cries
If we weep, gently, gently
If we cry roughly to our torments
What heart will listen to our clamoring, 30
What ear to our sobbing hearts?
Background the Poem
With the colonization of Africa and the subsequent introduction of Western values and ways of life, many Africans, especially those educated in the Western way, consciously distanced themselves from the traditional beliefs, practices and general ways of life of their people. They saw them in the light their white masters would have them do. They saw them as primitive, retrogressive and even barbaric. In the French West Africa from where the poet comes, the Assimilation Policy introduced as a system of administration by the imperial France actually set out to achieve this in the name of making Frenchmen out of the natives and granting them equality, liberty and fostering fraternity among all. The discovery of the contrary by Africans who later visited or went to school in France and the consequent realization that African values and ways of life are not inherently inferior provided the background to the poem.
The title, “Vanity”, literary means having immense interest in one’s appearance, achievement or material things. But, as the title of this poem, it figuratively refers to Africans’ penchant attitude towards material things often imported from the western world at the expense of African culture, value and identity.
From his biography, one will understand that Birago Diop has travelled wide and has had a lot of encounters and experiences with other Africans apart his fellow Senegalese. Thus, he composed the poem based on his experience on the current prevailing and inimical African way of life.
At the advent of White men on the coast of Africa, the ancestors saw their motives and its futuristic effects on African identity, abhorred it and advised the coming generation to do same. Contrary, the subsequent generations held deaf ears to the advice.
Then, at the dawn of independence in some African countries, it appeared that Africans, especially those who worked with white government officials, have adopted the ways of the colonial masters. They have become so materialistic and cruel that they would do anything to remain affluent and in power. Turmoil, political chaos and mismanagement everywhere. The rich are getting richer and the poor poorer; no sense of value for the beauty in African way of life. It is against this backdrop that Diop penned this poem of lamentation. He recalled that the ancestors hard early warned of it, but Africans snubbed their pleas.
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE POEM
What is Subject Matter?
In poetry and other genres of literature, the phrase "subject matter" has always been confusing. To break it down, other words to represent subject are topic, major, main, controlling, specific, overall, dominating, etc.
It can be referred to as the cause of further explanation and messages of a poem or any other literary work which can be compressed into a sentence to make a subject matter of such poem or literary work.
The poem: Vanity has "negligence and injustice" as its subject matter. The calls and the cries of the poet and his people were not reckoned with and such led to the increment in their ruins.
In poetry and other genres of literature, the phrase "subject matter" has always been confusing. To break it down, other words to represent subject are topic, major, main, controlling, specific, overall, dominating, etc.
It can be referred to as the cause of further explanation and messages of a poem or any other literary work which can be compressed into a sentence to make a subject matter of such poem or literary work.
The poem: Vanity has "negligence and injustice" as its subject matter. The calls and the cries of the poet and his people were not reckoned with and such led to the increment in their ruins.
SUMMARY OF THE POEM
LINE BY LINE ANALYSIS
The first three lines of the poem evoke the life of anguish which the people are going through. The lines introduce us to the painful nature of human experiences. It is a kind of suffering which demands sympathy, not laughter. The speaker opens our thought to the feelings of the people thus:
If we tell, gently, gently,
All that we shall one day have to tell,
Who then will hear our voices without laughter (lines 1 – 3).
In line four, the poetic voice describes the people’s complaints as being sad and that they are the wretched of the earth: “sad complaining voices of beggars” (line 4).
From lines five to fourteen, the persona rhetorically asks questions bothering on the state of the poor masses. He calls them names to depict their state of penury. He goes ahead to note ironically that anyone who hears their sad complain will laugh at them instead of pitying them:
Who indeed will hear them without laughter?
What eyes will watch our large mouths
Shaped by the laughter of big children
What eyes will watch our large mouth?
What hearts will listen to our clamoring?
What ear to our pitiful anger?
Which grows in us like tumor
In the black depth of our plaintive throats?
(Lines 1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 & 14).
In lines fifteen to twenty-one, the speaker blames the masses for their suffering because they fail to listen to their forebears:
When they have spoken to us in their clumsy voices;
Just as our ears were deaf
To their cries, to their wild appeals
They have left on the earth their cries
In the air, on water, where they have traced their signs
(Lines 16, 17, 18, 20, 21).
The poet persona asks nature: “air and water” to bear witness for the ancestors because their warnings are not taken by the “Unworthy Sons” (line 22) and daughters who “see nothing of what they have made” (line 23). This expression goes further to indicate that these “Unworthy Sons” and daughters not only disobey their forebears but also destroy their social values.
The last lines of the poem recapitulate the points in the beginning of the poem. In these (lines 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 & 30), the speaker asks the people not to blame anybody for their misfortune in life since they did not pay heed to the “appeals and clumsy voices” of their ancestors:
Since we have never listen to their cries
If we weep, gently, gently
What ear to our sobbing hearts? (line 26, 27 & 30).
STANZA BY STANZA ANALYSIS
Stanza 1
The poem opens with rhetorical questions asking, if Africans complain and explain their predicament, who will hear them without laughing. The poem presupposes the notion that Africa is already impoverished, and is swimming in a state of squalor, hence, the poetic persona metaphorically compares them with beggars.
Stanza 2
Here, the poetic persona laments that if the prevailing negative condition of Africans get worst, he wonders who will look at us as we open our mouth widely to cry and plead for help.
Stanza 3
“What hearts will listen to our clamouring?” This first line of stanza 3 is a rhetorical question that harbours the word “heart” which symbolizes emotion, love and care. The poetic persona is trying to tell us that he can’t even pinpoint any person that is full of love and care, who is emotional enough to pity Africans. Indirectly, the poetic persona is saying that no emotional person will pity Africans because, they are the cause of their problem having, ignored the advice of their ancestors.
Stanza 4
“Our dead” and “their dead” in line one of this stanza refers to African ancestors and colonial nationalists (our dead) and European ancestors and past leaders (their dead) respectively, who have met each other, probably through Trans Saharan/Atlantic trade and slavery. As a result of this contact, African ancestors saw the inimical consequences of aligning with the white men and cried out to them – the then and future generations – to reject the white men’s way of life. But, Africans gave “blind deaf’ ears to their pleas.
Stanza 5
Having ignored the voice of the ancestors, Africa’s economic and political decadence will persist. When we – the Africans – cry for help, no heart or ear will pay attention to us.
Concisely, the poem emphasizes that the suffering of Africans is their hand made. They have ignored the advice of their forebears, rejected their ancestral ways and embraced the tradition of the western world at the expense of African culture. Unless we return home, things will remain the same and will soon get worse, prophesizes the poetic persona.
ANALYTICAL SUMMARY
The poem, “Vanity” explores the experiences of the poor Africans whose cry for freedom are not heard. The experiences have two parts: the first one is the physical and the second one is the spiritual. The physical is all about the generality of the poor Africans whose suffering and anguish are neglected by the African leaders. The level of suffering of these people is so grave that when people hear them, they would laugh at them. The poet-persona asks several questions which tell us more about the suffering of the people. The persona makes it known to us that because of the way those in authority treat these poor Africans, they decide not to complain anymore and allow their anger to die with them. Finally, the poet observes that when people die in their anger, no amount of wailing will make up the lost grounds, for the dead are no longer alive to human experiences.
The spiritual experience of the poor is anchored through our ancestors who “left on the earth their cries.” This shows that African people did not listen to the message of the ancestors to always do the right thing. In this spiritual experience, the persona reminds us that our travails are as a result negligence to the traditional ways of life and disregard to the ancestral voices.
POETIC DEVICE/FIGURES OF SPEECH
- Rhetorical question — the poem itself is a rhetorical question. Each stanza harbours not less than two of this. E.g. – “who indeed will hear then with laughter?” what ear to our sobbing hearts”
- Metaphor – The word “beggar” is used to compare Africans to people who are impoverished and are seeking for aid, especially that of food.
- Symbolism — “heart” in line 11 symbolizes love, emotion and care.
- Synecdoche – The “ear” as used severally in the poem is a part used to represent a whole – humans. It is also symbolic as explained above.
- Personification – more so, “heart” in line 11 is personified in that it does not have an ear to hear, but, it is portrayed as having the ability to listen.
- Sarcasm – this is a humorous statement that mocks someone. This technique is used in line 4: “sad complaining voices of beggars”
- Hyperbole — This is overstatement or exaggeration. It is deployed in line 13 “pitiful anger… which grows in us like a tumor”.
- Simile – this is the comparing of two things using the word “as”’ or “like”. This techniques is evident in line 13: ‘”which grows in us like a tumour”. Anger is compared to the brain ailment called tumour.
- Enjambment – this is when ideas flow from one line to another in a poem without any punctuation mark. This is evident from line 17-24 (stanza 4).
- Repetition – This is the continuous mentioning of a word or group of words in a poem. This technique is used in almost all the stanza of the poem. E.g. – line 7 and 9 is of the same idea.
- Anaphora – this is the repetition of the same word or words in two or more lines that follow each other. E.g. – lines 11 and 12, 15 and 16, 27 and 28, 29 and 30.
- Imagery — This refers to a word or words that create an image in the mind of the reader. There are many of them in this poem. E.g. – “sad complaining voices of beggars” – audio imagery; “large mouth”. “Heart” in line 11 also creates an image of tumour”, “black depth of our plaintive throat” “clumsy voices”. Others are, “their cries”, “on the earth”, “on the water”
- Irony – it is ironical to means to lament over the bad condition of African and at the same time mocking her sarcastically. This is evident in all the stanzas of the poem.
MOOD AND TONE
The mood of the poetic persona is that of sadness and worry. The tone is filled with concern, and at the same time sarcastic.
FORM AND STRUCTURE
It is a poem of 30 lines divided into 5 stanzas. It is also a free verse. Diop’s “Vanity” has thirty lines of unequal length. It is divided into two parts. The first part assesses the physical experiences of the people on earth while the second part dwells essentially on the spiritual part of the poor masses when they leave the physical realm.
DICTION
The language is simple straight to the point, and easy to understand.
THEMES
- Loss of value – The poem portrays the high rate of decadence in African cultural value which is being taken over by that of America and the western world.
- Backwardness – The backwardness in politics and administration, education, health and economy of Africa is bitterly expressed in the poem by the poetic persona when he refers to Africans as beggars with large open mouths. The idea of the beggars portrays a vivid picture of someone who is tattered, wearing rags and have no option but to take whatever is given to him or her. It creates a pitiful sight. It also highlights the level of poverty in Africa.
- Helplessness – the poetic persona opines that no one will look, or listen to the impoverished Africa. Not even a heart will come to their rescue. Although, the situation was created by the western world, they will not rescue Africa if called upon. This is exemplified by the current status quo in international relationship between Africa and the developed countries. Hardly will they come to your aid without taking something of value.
- Inconsistency – the poem hammers on the inability of Africans to follow the blueprint footstep of their ancestors. This attitude of inconsistency has led them to poverty and economic downpour.
- Stubbornness – Most times we are advised to follow a path that is secured which will lead us to success, but adamantly, we will not heed to that advice. Africans refused, out of sheer stubbornness and negligence of the wisdom of the ancestors, to heed the advice of their forebears. See where is has landed them to.
- Negative effects of acculturation – Acculturation is when a cultural group intentionally or unintentionally assimilates the culture of other people. In terms of African, materialistic and affluent lifestyle is borrowed from the western world. And to this borrowing, there is no control.
REVISION QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the ancestral theme as the major theme of the poem, “vanity”.
2. Discuss the poetic effects of rhetorical questions in the poem.
3. How effective is the use of imagery in the poem?
4. Discuss the structure of the poem.
5. Discuss “vanity” as a poem about nothingness of man.
Vanity By Birago Diop (Salient Points)
· Vanity is a poem by Birago Diop
· Birago Diop is a cultural inclined poet
· The following poems of his_ Vanity, Breath, etc. are prove of his love for African customs and norms. He was a Senegalese poet of African folktales and folklores who lived between 11 December 1906 and 25 November 1989. Till this day, his name has never been undermined when mentioning the pioneer figures of the Négritude literary movement.
· We have the theme of African cultural decadence. The message of the poet shows that African are no longer following the valuable paths of their ancestral living which happens to be the only way African culture can remain intact.
· The theme of irreversibility: The title and the chosen words of the poet through his pessimist tone, show that the deed is done and will never be undone. He claimed that even his lamentation will go in vain because their "ears were deaf" and they were also "blind deaf and unworthy Sons".
· The theme of death and punishment: In the poem Vanity by Birago Diop, the word "Dead" appeared more than once and in the forth stanza it was used as a symbol to symbolise the ancestors. It shows the importance of ancestral believe in Africa. Dead in the poem, if keenly examined symbolized punishment. Other signs of punishment in the poem are the mentioned act of crying and clamouring seen in the poem which shows the unwholesomeness that exists within the African society.
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