Background
‘‘A Far Cry from Africa’’ delves into the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya during the early 1950s. In the mid-20th century, British colonialism was waning but still influential globally. In Kenya, British settlers had introduced European ideas such as money, taxation, and land ownership to the local populace. When the British inquired, ‘‘Who owns this land?’’ the tribal people replied, ‘‘We do,’’ which the British misinterpreted as referring to the tribal government, even though individual families owned the land. As the British replaced the tribal government with their own, they claimed all the land for the new British administration. Naturally, this infuriated the Kenyan people. They went from owning and farming their land to becoming laborers for British landowners. As workers, they were further humiliated by receiving only a fraction of the wages that British workers earned for the same tasks.

The Kikuyu tribe, the largest and most educated in Kenya, began showing violent resistance against the British in 1951. By 1952, a covert Kikuyu group known as the Mau Mau initiated a violent campaign against the British and any Africans loyal to them. By October 1952, the situation had escalated so severely that the British deployed troops to suppress the rebellion, resulting in a three-year conflict. During this period, 11,000 rebel fighters were killed, and 80,000 Kikuyu men, women, and children were detained in camps. Additionally, 100 Europeans and 2,000 loyal Africans lost their lives. Eventually, the rebellion's leader, Jomo Kenyatta, was elected prime minister when Kenya gained independence from Britain in 1963.

In the poem, Walcott presents vivid images of the conflict and grapples with the difficulty of choosing sides, as he has both African and European heritage. He cannot support British colonialism nor the Mau Mau's violence, as siding with either would mean rejecting a part of himself.

Lines 1-3:
The opening lines of the poem set the scene on the African plain, or veldt. The nation is metaphorically compared to an animal, possibly a lion, with a ‘‘tawny pelt.’’ Tawny, a light brown to brownish-orange color, is common in the African landscape. The term "Kikuyu" refers to a native tribe in Kenya. What starts as a serene depiction of the African plain quickly changes; the Kikuyu are likened to flies buzzing around the ‘‘animal’’ of Africa, feeding on blood that is abundant enough to form streams.

Lines 4-6:
Walcott dismantles the idyllic image many hold of Africa by portraying a landscape strewn with bodies. He intensifies the horror by introducing a worm or maggot that thrives amidst the decaying flesh. The worm's command to "Waste no compassion on these separate dead!" is perplexing, suggesting that the victims somehow deserved their fate.

Lines 7-10:
The terms "justify" and "colonial policy," when considered alongside the previous six lines, clarify that Walcott is referencing the Mau Mau Uprising against British colonists in Kenya during the 1950s. Initially, the speaker seems to blame the victims, but he shifts to accusing those who imposed the colonial system on Kenya, creating division. Their justifications are meaningless to the "white child" murdered purely because of his race in retaliation by Mau Mau fighters, or to the "savages," who, in a racist view akin to Nazi attitudes towards Jews, are seen as worthless or expendable. "Savages" is a contentious term, originating from the French word sauvage meaning wild, and is now highly derogatory in English. Walcott uses "savage" to illustrate the racist perspective of a British colonialist.

Lines 11-14:
Walcott shifts focus in these lines, returning to images of Africa's wildlife, reminding us that ibises (long-billed wading birds) and other animals inhabited this...