Leopold Sédar Senghor: The collected poetry

Abstract

Léopold Sédar Senghor was not only president of the Republic of Senegal from 1960 to 1981; he is also Africa’s most famous poet. A Confounder of the Negritude cultural movement, he is recognized as one of the most significant figures in African literature. This bilingual edition of Senghor’s complete poems made his work available for the first time to English-speaking audiences. His poetry, alive with sensual imagery, contrasts the lushness and wonder of Africa’s past with alienation and loss associated with assimilation into European culture. Translator Melvin Dixon places Senghor’s writing in historical perspective by relating it to both his political involvement and his intellectual development. Educated in France, Léopold Sédar Senghor was born in 1906 into Joal, Senegal, From 1960 to 1981 he was president of the Republic of Senegal, and in 1983 became the first and only black intellectual elected to the French Academy.