Prayer To The Mask Analysis

Remembrance and Recognition. As Camara Laye once said “all dancers have a cumulative tendency because each beat of the Tom-Tom has an almost irresistible appeal. Soon those who were just spectators would dance too.” People enjoy learning about others and even expressing what their own lives are like. All of the stories, which take place in Senegal and Guinea. Given the region, the writing is different than America’s poetry. The poems in question are “Prayer to the Mask, Letter to a Poet, Black Woman, and The Dark Child.” Furthermore, the authors use metaphor, imagery, and hyperbole to remember and recognize people and their jobs. Metaphor, used by the authors, explains people’s characteristics. In “Prayer to the Mask”, masks represent skin color. Reason being, masks cover our skin, like our skin covers our flesh. For example, “Black mask, red mask, you white-and-black masks (Senghor, 31).” Eventually, a lion mask, which can stand for pride and power, which the story explains. Metaphor explains those whom the character admires. …show more content…
For example, a friend that has passed, explained by imagery. However, this subject is his domineer not appearance. “A hive of silence, proud as peacocks (Senghor, 34).”Therefore, explaining that he had been silent yet proud. Imagery explains the way love changes one outlook on a person. The woman’s body explained this time and not her limbs. “Ripe fruit with firm flesh, dark raptures of black wine (Senghor, 34).” Both quotes work together to attempt to create a picture of this woman, but “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” On a completely different topic, imagery illustrates professions. Specifically the dangers in gold smelting. There’s danger while pouring the gold into a mold “A thick smoke that caught in the throat and stung the eyes, leaving us all weeping and coughing (Laye, 64). Other than that, authors don’t always need detail to get a point