Poetry from Lusophone Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Poetry from Lusophone Africa - Essay Example The writers of Lusophone poetry were persecuted, exiled, or imprisoned. Moreover, they were rejected by Portuguese because of their portrayal of Portuguese rule and the existing war situation. This poetry agitated Africans to rise up for their rights and aimed to eliminate the suffering and supported the rise of reactionary forces (da Silva, 1999). Most writers wrote in their native languages. In the poem Lisbon-1971 by Armenio Vieira, the writer starts off by taking the reader to Portugal. Lisbon is the capital city of Portugal, as well as an alpha city, and the largest airport is Portela. Armenio uses imagery to vividly depict the air that was around the airport that day. During colonial times, Cape Verde was a major trading centre for African slaves. The writer creates an image of the heavy police presence and planes at the airport. His group was the most miserable among all the groups from Africa. He uses symbolism as he refers to the slaves as cattle. Cattle live in poor conditions as they sleep with their dung. Their colour betrayed their racial background and they had been shipped as slaves from Cape Verde. The use a truck and crates symbolize the dirty environment in which the slaves were subjected to and the poor conditions they had to live in (Moser, 33). Moreover, the cold weather added to their suffering, and the inhabitants of Portela were not sympathetic to