Short summary:
This
poem is an expression of longing for home, which is the community of the
blacks.
Summary
The
poem is a fragment from the native land and spent life like unknown for the
black people. His forefathers were brought into America form Africa as slaves
hundreds of years ago and in America he is not properly treated. Only history
books and their songs remind him of their past. He can’t speak even their language.
He has to speak the un-Negro tongue, that is, English. The rhythm of their
music has lost its strength in course of time. But this song has been inspired
by collective unconscious of his race. He longs for his ancestral home, which
he thinks is impossible to live in. He feels that he is neither an American nor
an African. He is only a part detached from both Africa and America. That is
why he feels that he has been dislocated and Africa is the unknown place for
them.
The
black are like the mist, millions of African people living in America formerly
as slaves and later as free citizens and they have tried to preserve their
ancestral heritage in the form of folksongs. They have forgotten the African
language, but the tradition has been retained in the un-Negro tongue. 'So long,
So far away Is Africa' is a refrain, which has added to the intensity of
feeling, and their future is like their complexion as dark and vague. 'This
song of atavistic land' in the poem means that the song was originated in
Africa. It had been unseen for many generations, but it has reappeared in the
poet’s mind. This song sings the glorious past of the Afro-American people in
their native land Africa. When the black people sing this song they remember
their spirituals and they feel very proud of their happy past and their free
life. Fellow Americans treated them as non-human, and they can’t go to their
ancestral home Africa. So he expresses that Africa is not only far away, but
also very difficult to understand because of its dark fate. That's why blacks
have been lost without a place.
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