ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Africa (Angelou) 1375 Views
Share It!
Description:
In Maya Angelou's poem "Africa," she compares Africa's pain and struggles to a woman being brutalized. Why does she do this? Is it to draw sympathy to Africa? And why doesn't she say outright that Africa is struggling? Why use a metaphor?
Transcript
- 00:00
Africa, a la Shmoop. If Maya Angelou's poem weren't titled Africa...
- 00:06
...we might be pretty lost.
- 00:08
Like we would be if we wandered too far away from our safari vehicle.
- 00:13
However, she tells us right up front that she's talking about a continent...
- 00:18
...and not a person.
Full Transcript
- 00:20
Throughout the poem, Angelou compares Africa and its struggles... to a woman being brutalized.
- 00:25
But if she has so much to say about this continent that clearly affects her so deeply...
- 00:30
...why mask it? Why not just tell it like it is, rather than discussing her ancestors'
- 00:34
homeland via metaphor? Did she think her readers would be able to
- 00:38
relate more easily this way?
- 00:40
There's an entire ocean between us and Africa...
- 00:44
...so it might be tough for an unfamiliar reader to imagine the oppression and tragedy
- 00:49
it has suffered.
- 00:50
But comparing it to the plight of a woman who is being ravaged or injured...
- 00:54
...well, that paints a more vivid picture.
- 00:57
A picture we see on the news pretty much every evening...
- 00:59
...and one we may even be able to imagine happening to us.
- 01:04
By drawing that parallel, Angelou causes us to feel sympathy for Africa.
- 01:09
But what if this wasn't Angelou's purpose in turning Africa human?
- 01:14
Maybe instead she wanted to communicate the idea that the land itself was alive...
- 01:19
...that it wasn't just a mass of dirt and trees, but that it had a heart of its own...
- 01:24
...pumping life throughout its many regions. Otherwise, she's only musing about an inanimate
- 01:32
object...
- 01:33
...and who cares about inanimate objects?
- 01:35
Except for our car. Man, we love that thing. Or is she saying that Africa is the people?
- 01:44
While she initially starts by comparing some physical landmarks to human anatomy...
- 01:48
... the later stanzas seem to refer to the people who live on the land, rather than the
- 01:52
land itself.
- 01:58
Her "young daughters" and "strong sons"...
- 02:00
..."bled her with guns"...
- 02:01
..."now she is striding"...
- 02:04
It sure seems like she's more preoccupied with the continent's inhabitants, and not
- 02:08
so much where they happen to hang their hats... So why the metaphor?
- 02:13
Was Angelou trying to make her poem more relatable to people, since it would be mostly... people...
- 02:17
reading it?
- 02:18
Was she saying that Africa is every bit as alive as its residents?
- 02:23
Or that its people are Africa?
- 02:28
Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
