Negritude
French Négritude was a literary movement of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s that began among French-speaking African and Caribbean writers living in Paris. It began as a protest against French colonial rule and the policy of assimilation. Its leading figure was Léopold Sédar Senghor who, along with Aimé Césaire from Martinique and Léon Damas from French Guiana, began to analyze Western values and to rethink African culture. The Negritude movement was influenced by the Harlem Renaissance, a literary movement previously discussed on my website. The button below will take you to a website where you will be able to read a poem written by Negritude poet Yambo Ouologuem. You may have to scroll down the page until you reach the poem, entitled Dear Husband. The misspellings and grammatical errors may be a result of the poem translation from French to English.
Poem Analysis
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In the poem Dear Husband, poet Yambo Ouologuem writes from the perspective of a wife begging her husband to realize the error of his ways. Ouologuem's poem encompasses many of the central themes of the French Négritude literary movement. The most evident theme in Ouologuem's poem is the loss of traditional African culture because of it's assimilation into Western civilization. In lines 5 and 6 the narrator states, "I used to be your wife. No your call me spouse." This quote signifies the transformations that come along with the acceptance of a new culture and the forsaking of ones own culture. It seems as if the wife felt as though her marriage was becoming less intimate; the husband no longer refers to his wife as his "wife" instead he calls her "spouse", this makes their relationship seem less like a marriage and more like a partnership. In lines 7 and 8 I thought the wife felt as though she and her husband were suffering from lack of communication since they became "civilized." In lines 7 and 8 it is established that this couple used to sit side by side and enjoy a meal together, this more than likely made it easier to have a conversation; but now since they eat at opposite ends of the table there is a division between them, a division that makes it difficult for the wife to feel close to her husband. The overall structure of the poem suggest that this poem is a discussion between a wife and her husband, but the themes presented throughout Dear Husband suggest this poem is a discussion many Africans had with themselves during this time period. Take the last three lines for instance, these lines suggest that Ouologuem is saying that western thoughts and ideals have led the people of Africa to believe that they were "underdeveloped", by believing in this western perception many Africans accepted the ideals and culture of the west, thus leaving them physically and culturally "undernourished."
Literary Devices
- In line 32 of his poem Yambo Ouologuem uses the literary device allusion. Ouologuem alludes to the well known philanthropist John D. Rockefeller. This is an allusion because it is a direct reference to Rockefeller, more specifically to his wealth. The allusion to Rockefeller is used when the wife is expressing her anger at the man her husband has become. The allusion was used to compare the husband's actions to those of Rockefeller's, Ouologuem probably wanted to give the reader an image of the type of the husband wanted to imitate.