What Is The Theme Of Violence In A Far Cry From Africa By Derek Dulcott And Lady Lazarus

Both “A Far Cry From Africa,” by Derek Walcott and “Lady Lazarus,” by Sylvia Plath convey the theme of violence throughout their lines. Violence being the main theme of these poems, in addition to the same period that the poems were written in, give the readers the opportunity to closely compare the differences of them, and obtain a clearer image of violence during the same era but through different sets of eyes. Both poems concentrate on intense internal and external violence with a sense of sympathy to their writers’ personal life experiences. Moreover, the vivid imagery of violence that both writers use in their poems immerses the readers into imagining the incidents pretty closely. Even though both of these poems express the theme of violence intensely, the reasons of it are different in each poem. Derek Walcott views his homes of Africa and England as enemies and the issue here seems that he loves them both. Walcott in “A Far Cry From Africa,” is trying to figure out his devotion, and to which home he would be loyal, the conquered Africa or the conqueror England. As we are reading through the poem, we …show more content…
These poems being written around the same era gave the readers the opportunity to closely compare and contrast the two kinds of violence at the time. External violence seems to be the central theme of Walcott’s poem, “A Far Cry From Africa” because of the foreign invasion to Africa from England, and Walcott was very hesitant in who to be loyal for, England the tongue he loves, or Africa his homeland. Nonetheless, in “Lady Lazarus,” Sylvia Plath concentrated more on the internal violence with herself and her life after committing suicide for a couple of times. Both writers excelled in using the theme of violence in their poems so that the readers get a full image of both characters in such violent and unique