33 pages • 1 hour read
Derek WalcottA Far Cry from Africa
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1962A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Literary Devices
Form and Meter
“A Far Cry from Africa” employs a very loose meter, and contains three stanzas of increasing length. The first stanza is 10 lines, the second is 11 lines, and the third is 12. This steady increase of the length of the stanzas points to a gradual expansion of an unfolding story. The more the speaker delves into this topic, the more he has to say with each given stanza. Although prioritizing iambic pentameter, the poem often slips in and out of other irregular forms of meter, creating a tone of experimentation and resistance to the classic forms. The loose meter and varying stanza lengths situate this poem as a free verse poem, which is a way to rebel against the traditions of English literature. While the speaker is using tools and styles that situate this work as conforming to canonical standards, this subtle play with form and meter allows for a kind of revolution against an oppressive colonial regime through the English language.
Rhyme
Like the form and meter, the rhyme scheme is also loose and relatively unstructured; however the rhymes are still present nonetheless. A few true rhymes stand out throughout the poem, like “pelt” (Line 1) and “veldt” (Line 3) in the first stanza, and “dread” (Line 20) and “dead” (Line 21) in the second stanza. Most of the poem utilizes slant rhymes, or rhymes that are almost perfect, but not quite. This can be seen with “flies” (Line 2) and “paradise” (Line 4). But the true rhymes seem to fade away completely by the end of the poem. The last stanza only has one true end rhyme with “Spain” (Line 24) and “vein” (Line 27). If the speaker is utilizing literary tools and forms as a way of rebelling against English colonization, then his avoidance of a purer kind of rhyme can be understood as an act of resistance. The last four lines of the poem contain no rhyme at all, possibly due to the waning importance of adhering to form and canon on behalf of the speaker, as the message becomes more imperative and personal by the end.
Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech in which a thing or concept is referred to by the name of something closely associated with that thing or concept. In the poem, the landscape of Africa comes to stand for the events that took place there. The Kikuyu are the flies swarming around the lion’s pelt that is Africa. The speaker uses Africa through extended metaphors and language play to better understand colonization and the consequential violence, as well as the brutal laws of nature. As a result, Africa as a whole begins to stand for violence. Whether it is the violence inflicted on Africans by European colonizers, the violence in retaliation to colonization on the behalf of the Africans, or the violent ways of mother nature. Africa becomes synonymous with this wild animalistic destructiveness.
Related Titles
By Derek Walcott
