SOURCE: "Politics and Poetry—The Subjects of Senghor," in African Culture and Integration, Oriental Institute in Academia, 1976, pp. 46-81.

In the following excerpt, Klima examines how Senghor's poetry is informed by his politics and the political situation in West Africa

Léopold Sédar Senghor's activities have been examined from various points of view. For the last thirty years he has kept his reputation of one of the major poets in Black Africa. As a leading representative of Négritude, whose evaluation has not yet been completed he has affected the political and ideological life of West Africa. Outside Africa, he has been widely recognized as a champion of African cultural values. His Négritude has become a kind of official doctrine in Senegalese culture. Dakar, the capital of the country, was often a meeting place of black artists; the World Festival of Negro Art and Culture was...