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Afro-American Fragment Summary
Africa is described as long and far away. The memories of African-Americans are dead, except for those that are created by history books or beaten into the blood by songs sung in a tongue that is not the native tongue of these displaced peoples.
Afro-American Fragment Analysis
The fragment of the title refers not only to the poem itself but to the fragmented histories of black Americans. Their connection to Africa is severed for all practical purposes, so that blacks can recover a semblance of a connection only through the fictions and approximations of history books or through the sentiment hard-won through the Gospel and blues music of black Americans. This music beats memory back into the blood, and the process is described as a painful one. This poem is itself a kind of dirge for a homeland lost.
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This section contains 146 words (approx. 1 page at 400 words per page) |
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