Imagery and Tone throughout Poetry

While imagery and tone are crucial characteristics for any poem, “A Far Cry From Africa” by Derek Walcott centers around these two elements of poetic value. Imagery relies heavily on nature and can be compared to the imaginative qualities of the human mind. The images surrounding the setting of Africa build throughout the poem, changing the overall tone. The ending also demonstrates a significant change from the beginning, leaving the reader and the author with unanswered questions.

The imagery found within “A Far Cry From Africa” is rich but devastating in nature. The brutal bluntness of nature is evident in the beginning of the poem when Walcott describes the massacre of Africans. “Batten upon the bloodstreams of the veldt. Corpses are scattered through a paradise” (Walcott 3-4). The imagery of violence against Africans is also compared to violence against Jewish people, undoubtedly referencing the Holocaust of World War II. The imagery centered in nature is the cold-blooded murder of Africans by colonialists. Within the human mind this manifests in the next couple of lines where Walcott describes the justification behind the natural imagery. Walcott describes the explanation for the slaughter through the belief of the land being better utilized. “Statistics justify and scholars seize…” (Walcott 7). Within this line, the imagery of nature transitions into the imagery of the human mind. The human mind is able to replace the rawness contained inside the natural imagery of murder with the imagery of justification and defense of amoral actions. The imagery within the poem reinforces meaning and builds as it progresses, ultimately changing the tone.

The tone begins neutrally, describing the land of Africa. On line three, Walcott describes brutal imagery which inevitably gives way to a tone of violence. By the second stanza, Walcott is depicting the massacres as savage. “The violence of beast on beast is read as natural law, but upright man seeks his divinity by inflicting pain” (Walcott 15-17). These lines describe the natural and human imagery well. The natural imagery is described through the raw human nature of violence (which all “beasts” possess). The natural is then funneled into human imagery through reasoning in poetry. Humans, as depicted by Walcott, appear to claim a special cause for their brutality. In the human mind of imagery, there is a feeling of superiority when committing violent acts, dominating or wiping out a culture altogether. Walcott is attempting to portray this through comparing the method of human violence with that of ordinary wild beasts. While the natural imagery is disturbing, the addition of the human mind imagery builds a more devastating tone.

The tone is devastating on the obvious level of violence as well as the more subtle level of division. As the reader progresses through “A Far Cry From Africa,” a split within the author beings to emerge. In the last stanza, Walcott expresses a feeling of being torn between two worlds. “The gorilla wrestles with the superman. I who am poisoned with the blood of both, Where shall I turn, divided to the vein” (Walcott 25-27). The gorilla, represented by the colonized, while undeniably victimized, is believed by “civilized” cultures as deserving of shame and rejection. Superman, in terms of connotation, appears to be perceived as preferential in comparison to the gorilla. The author’s turmoil stems from his inability to choose between two seemingly incompatible cultures. Since self-identity is significantly dependent upon cultural association for many people, the author’s turmoil is well understood and felt throughout the poem.

The last lines of “A Far Cry From Africa” leaves the reader and author with unanswered questions and doubts regarding the future of those torn between cultures. The ending creates a tone of uncertainty and internal turmoil. “…how choose between this Africa and the English tongue I love? Betray them both, or give back what they give? How can I face such slaughter and be cool? How can I turn from Africa and live” (Walcott 29-33). These questions echo the clash of the past with the present. These questions also cause the tone to change throughout the poem from brutal violence to a feeling of division and isolation for the generations following the colonial era.

The end of the poem also leaves the reader with the opportunity to create their own ideas of how culture should be measured by individual people. Is it possible to be a member of two cultures or should a person claim one culture and reject the other because of past injustices and horrific events? Within the tone of division and isolation, the idea of culture is questioned. Walcott appears to be advocating, but not condoning, the culture of the British colonialists due to their more “civilized” nature. The pain endured by the African culture is not forgotten by Walcott, but it seems to be downplayed in order for him to accept his identity as a mixed culture man.

“A Far Cry From Africa” takes the natural imagery of the violence committed against the African culture by the British colonialists and explains it in the realm of human imagination through the comparison to wild beasts. The tone begins as neutral in the first couple lines but quickly becomes dark and violent. As the imagery builds regarding the brutal treatment of the African culture, the tone changes from dark and violent to a feeling of torn identity and the questioning of two cultures residing in one person. Walcott leaves the reader with questions about culture and identity, creating an unsettled ending to the poem.

Work Cited

Walcott, Derek. "A Far Cry From Africa." POETS.org. Academy of American Poets, 2007.