33 pages • 1 hour read
A Far Cry from Africa
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
"Love after Love" by Derek Walcott (1971)
Tackling a totally different aspect of conflicted identity, Walcott’s “Love after Love” addresses a kind of self-worth that can only be attained by quiet reflection and a full belly. One of Walcott’s most uplifting and endearing poems, “Love after Love” is a stark contrast to the unanswerable questions pertaining to identity that can be found in “A Far Cry from Africa.” The poem addresses learning to love oneself after the ending of a relationship and finding the kind of self-confidence that can only come from within.
"Bread" by Kamau Brathwaite (2005)
Kamau Brathwaite, a contemporary Caribbean author from Barbados, tackles the subject of the slow breakdown of the dreams and aspirations of Black people in his poem “Bread.” The subject of the gathering of ingredients for the baking and producing of bread works as an extended metaphor to better understand the way Black people have been routinely denied agency in their own lives. As the poem progresses, it slowly breaks down in form with increasing enjambment and chaotic punctuation. This breakdown of form is making a statement about the struggle to find identity as a Black person after colonization.
"America" by Claude McKay (1921)
Written 40 years before “A Far Cry from Africa,” Claude McKay’s “America” grapples with conflicting identity as well, in this case from the perspective of a Black American. McKay, a Jamaican American poet, works through his feelings of love and resentment toward the United States in order to resolve his mixed feelings toward the nation that enables his oppression. A sonnet written during the Harlem Renaissance, “America” takes a very controversial stance on the might and enduring force that is the United States, and ultimately predicts with delight its unavoidable fall from power.
Further Literary Resources
"Caribbean Literature: A critical analysis of the issues raised in texts by Mais, Lamming, Naipaul and Walcott" by Mathias Mwinzi (2016)
This essay by Mathias Mwinzi looks at the works of Caribbean poets and authors, specifically Roger Mais, George Lamming, V. S. Naipaul, and Derek Walcott, to trace the similar themes and topics these writers address throughout the work in order to better understand the issues they face as Black Caribbean writers. Mwinzi discusses the issues that are raised in literary texts by the Caribbean authors, varying from discrimination, women’s roles, violence, weak family units, disillusionment, and alienation.
"Omeros" by Derek Walcott (1990)
Often considered Walcott’s magnum opus, the epic poem Omeros is a twist on Homer’s classic tale The Iliad, recontextualized as a Caribbean fisherman’s fight. Tackling the colonial experience of both Black and Indigenous people in the Americas, the characters seek to find a place or an identity that they can call their own. The poem, like “A Far Cry from Africa,” seeks to reconcile the dispossession of colonized Indigenous and enslaved African people with the legacy of European tradition.
Brother Man by Roger Mais (1954)
Published in 1954, Jamaican author and poet Roger Mais’s novella Brother Man, has acclaim around the world as a classic work of Caribbean fiction. The tragic story follows a Rastafarian healer who becomes entangled in a web of intrigue and betrayal in Jamaica’s West Kingston slums. The main character, John Power, known as Brother Man, is a cobbler with a mystical ability to heal the sick and injured and becomes known locally as a prophet. The work paints a moving picture of an impoverished saint chosen by a greater power to uplift and enlighten the poor and oppressed people of his community.
Listen to Poem
St. Lucian poet Derek Walcott reads aloud his own 1962 poem “A Far Cry from Africa.”
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By Derek Walcott
