Chants d'ombre suivi de Hosties noires

by Léopold Sédar Senghor

Ces deux premiers recueils du poète s'inscrivent déjà dans le mouvement de la négritude qui entendait représenter l'identité noire et sa culture.

Genres: Poetry, Senegal, Africa

153 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

Léopold Sédar Senghor was a Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist who served as the first president of Senegal (1960–1980). Senghor was the first African to sit as a member of the Académie française. He was also the founder of the political party called the Senegalese Democratic Bloc. He is regarded by many as one of the most important African intellectuals of the 20th century.

Reviews

[Basel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Senegalese Léopold Sédor Senghor is one of the most African figures of the 20th century. Besides becoming the first president of an independent Senegal, as a poet and cultural theorist, he is one of the main founders and driving forces of the Négritude movement. His work, whether it be poetry or essays, still hold a profound impact to this day. In these collections of poems written between the late 1930s and early 1940s, we see the development of such movement and its major impact on many black African figures in the decades to come. To Senghor, “Blackness”, whether it is cultural, aesthetical, or historical, was portrayed as a mark of shame. Under the rule of the white European colonizers, the only hope for a black to rise up in society was to put on the white mask, yet since that person is black, the white legitimized all of the colonial consequences. So Blackness to Senghor should be a mark of honor, even if the person wears it as a scar. Nevertheless, the one thing that blacks should not do is hate the white. If the whites hated the blacks, then the blacks would rise up above this hate. Of course you can be filled with anger at your situation, of course you might choose to revolt, but never hate. Hate is beneath you.

There several figures that I loved in Senghor’s poetry, but the two recurrent figures that really affected me as a reader are those of the mother and the ancestors. On the one hand, the mother figure is very prominent in Senghor’s poems. Not only does use the figure of human mothers and their relations to their sons, but also the “mother” transforms itself to become the African continent. It is a call for a grand unity between all the blacks. The mother has suffered for centuries, but its progeny will bring peace to her and heal her. On the hand, this leads us to the other recurrent figure, the ancestors. The black experience to Senghor isn’t just a single instance in time. Even though many of the poems here are autobiographical, he draws inspiration from the spirits of all the Africans who came before him, and not just his Senegalese compatriots. They help him in the hardest of times, and the ancestors will be there for all the Africans.

The main goal is peace after suffering. We cannot just pretend that the scars of the past don’t exist. We will use them for motivation. But our motivation is peace. These messages really inspire. They inspire me. Above all, Senghor reminds us not to forget the past, not to pretend that all the brutality of injustices doesn’t exist. Yet it us for us to choose what kind of world we want to live in, what kind of world is worth fighting for.

[Sandrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recueil de poemes lu sur les conseils de mon fils qui a choisi cette œuvre pour son bac
J ai trouve les poesies liees a la guerre magnifiques - la souffrance du soldat, la vision du combattant africains, le rapport a la mere. Riches et musicaux.

[Gilles Fabien Dogbo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Personally, after 30 years on planet Earth, there has not been a single outer "flame" to illuminate my nights like a dove or like a palm, either through the eternal summer, or through four (4) fading winters. I have been - and still am - my own greatest light through solitary nights and positive days. And I have been - and still am - much MORE for myself and oft by myself. To make a long story very short : I could not relate to Senghor's poetry, on almost all levels, even when I tried hard to.

[Lerato]

I can't rate it yet. Read it out loud as part of French practise but understood very little of it. Planning to re-read as my French improves 😀

[Lucía Rivera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recueil de poèmes très beau qui evoque l'Afrique, les femmes noires, les chants, la culture, l'enfance...

[Lila Chamussy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Les fibres de mon coeur vert 💚