Return to My Native Land (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Aimé Césaire
- First Published: 1939
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: History, Africa or Africans, Racism, Blacks, Colonialism, France or French people, Slavery or slaves, Islands, Home, Morning
The Poem
Return to My Native Land is an extended lyric meditation (1,055 lines in the original French). Aimé Césaire wrote the first version in the late 1930’s, having completed his studies in France, upon his return to his native Martinique (revised versions appeared in 1947 and 1956). Although the general mode of the poem is lyric, it mixes modes frequently. It has some epic qualities, especially evidenced by the narrator who, as an epic hero should, is trying to embody in himself the best qualities of his race. Further, about half the poem is written in...
[The entire page is 2479 words long]
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