ENGL 1F97 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Nursery Rhyme, Dudley Randall, Maya Angelou
9 Mar 2016
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Africa troped as a woman embodying the continents history. 3 parts: pre white intervention, during imperialism and its aftermath, now. Each line 4 syllables long with emphasis on the final syllable, alternative lines. Begins with past perfect tense: thus she had lain". Past perfect usually used to describe a state or action in the past tense is measured. Lain" here suggests not dormancy or passivity- but endurance of conditions. This is not unequivocally an idyll- the sweetness of the sugar cane is counterbalanced by the tears of the nile. Contests idea of africa as uninhabted": an empty space awaiting european arrival. Thus she has lain" suggests not only that these conditions had existed in the past, but that they continue in the present. Final line, black through the years lays claim to a specific history which takes pride in a common black african heritage. Change is suggested here, and reinforced by the introduction of active verbs.
