Afro-American+Fragment

Gabriella Bobelis

 **Fact Sheet**
 * **Afro-American Fragment**

So far away Is Africa. Not even memories alive Save those that history books create, Save those that songs Beat back into the blood- Beat out of blood with words sad-sung In strange un-Negro tongue - So long, So far away Is Africa.
 * So long,

Subdued and time-lost Are the drums – and yet Through some vast mist of race There comes this song I do not understand This song of atavistic land, Of bitter yearning lost Without a place - So long, So far away Is Africa’s Dark face. // [|Langston Hughes] // ||

**Repetition: repetition is used throughout the poem is lines 1, 2, 11, 12, 22, with the so’s in “so long, so far away.” In lines 5 and 6 the poet uses repetition saying: “save those” in lines 5 and 6, and “beat” as seen in lines 7 and 8.**  **Imagery is used throughout the poem as the poet states: “beat back into the blood” as seen in line 7, or “this song of atavistic land” seen in line 19. Also, “So far away is Africa’s dark face” is imaginative as it represents the Black population to make up the country of Africa.**
 * **Author-Langston Hughes**
 * **Publication-First published in the July 1930 edition of the NAACP’S //The Crisis// magazine**
 * **During this time, Hughes was undergoing a “dramatic adjustment that his life as a black artist and intellectual underwent in the 1930s—when African American culture was again cast back into a long period of "invisibility"—had some obvious repercussions on Hughes's writings, and like the rest of his literary production of the thirties and forties, his poetry would also show a heavily political and social inclination. Particularly interesting, in this connection, is the case of "Afro-American Fragment”, a poem in which the opposition between memory and history is clearly central.”**
 * **Type of poem: Lyrical**
 * **The poems formal structure is consisted of two stanzas and tells a lyrical story. The first stanza has a lot of repetition as the speaker states “So long so far away is Africa” and the word “beat” while in the second stanza there really isn’t any repetition. It’s as if the speaker is beginning the verse of the poem, using rhymes, and then explains the true meaning of this poem in the second stanza as the speaker states: “This song of atavistic land, of bitter longings lost without a place” in lines 19-21.**
 * **Synopsis: In this poem, the poet is reminiscing about Africa and how much it is being missed.**
 * **Theme: This poem focuses on the theme of remembering Africa and historical figures of the past.**
 * **Literary devices:**
 * **Repetition**
 * **Imagery**
 * **Key statements: The key statements found in the poem are the repeating quotes of “so long, so far away is Africa.” The meaning of this line refers to the speakers purpose of preaching this poem about African Americans who came from a land thats far away, to be used as slaves and to be discriminated against.**


 * **Qualities evoking the reader: The qualities the poem evokes in the reader are the realities of racism and discriminations that the African Americans had to face at a certain period in time. The poet is really portraying the meaning of such aspects to be real and is telling this short lyrical poem to remember what once was. As said in line 5: “save those that history books create.”**


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">**Personal interpretation of the poem: My historical and cultural distance from the poem is the struggle to understanding racial discrimination and slavery. If I knew the feelings of those actions upon me, this poem would be significantly more important and meaningful. I can relate in a sense to this poem, by placing myself in the poets perspective and thinking or feeling what he or she might be from this racial impact, but I know that I will not be receiving the full effect. In our society today, racism still exists, but not to the point that it once used to. We have the opportunity to intermingle with races and so the impact of this poem in our world today, is just the reminiscence of how things used to be.**


 * <span style="font: normal normal normal 18px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">**Relevance to the world: The basic ideas about the world that are expressed in this poem, is the existence of the African country and its culture. The poet is expressing his emotions on the African populations that are so far away, as the poet describes in lines 23-25: “so far away is Africa’s dark face.” The poet also includes the thought of a “vast mist of race” as seen in line 16, to include that there are many different races, but emphasizes the way the African American race had been treated.**