Rex Marshall-Josephina Kim-Ciprian “Chip” Smith-Jade O’ConnorNoelle Grey
A general theme in the poem is yearning.
Yearning is wanting something that is gone. In
the poem, the poet wants the Africa of old; Africa
before the colonization. He emphasizes this
using the line “So long, so far away, is Africa.”
The poet used a lot of figurative language in his poem.
One of the types of figurative language was
personification; “atavistic land”, “not even memories
alive.” Land can’t have multiple generations, and
memories can’t really be alive. He also used a metaphor;
“subdued and time lost are the drums.” Drums can’t
really feel “time lost.”
The poet was very descriptive in using imagery. He says
dark face to describe the Africans faces. He also used
strange un-Negro tongue to describe the Africans
hearing the Europeans’ languages for the first time
The poem does not use many sound devices in it. It does
use, alliteration beat back into the blood, and some
rhyming race, face, place. Sung tongue is also
alliteration.
When I read this poem, I felt very ominous. I felt the
crimes that my European ancestors committed to the
African Continent. I also felt a poetic vibe from the
poem, like almost stating a little known truth not
found in textbooks.
The poet wanted his poem to resemble the rich history of
Africa. He wanted his poem to scream “Africa”. He
succeeded in this by using lines like In strange unNegro tongue and Subdued and time lost. These lines
describe the European colonization of Africa, an
important time in African history.
The poem connects to Jack London’s stories in many ways.
One of the major subjects they share is the topic of Atavism.
In the poem, Afro American Fragment, Atavism is shown in
the line, Of bitter yearnings lost. In that line, it claims that
the poet is yearning for something lost. Yearning is
wanting something from the past. Atavism is the idea of
long ago. In Jack London’s story, The Call of the Wild, the
main character, Buck, is faced with an immense challenge;
pull a sleigh across Alaska. As Buck starts his journey, he
has a dream. In his dream, all of his ancestors’ memories
came flooding back to him. He could now fight and traverse
the land just like them. This is a prime example of Atavism.
Atavism also is the spiritual knowledge gained by ancestors’
memories and traits. These passages share a common theme;
Atavism.