Negritude Essay

During the Negritude Movement, poets had many different ways to express what they thought about religion and races. These poets used their poems to express how they felt about these topics. Guy Tirolien and Bernard Dadie used their poetry to express their faith in the Lord and what they thought he could do to impact lives. This is shown in the poems "A Little Black Boy's Prayer" and "I Thank You, Lord." In both Negritude poems, the main character is talking to the same person and also giving credit to that person for making their lives the way they are. In both Tirolien's and Dadie's poems, the character is talking to the Lord. In "A Little Black Boy's Prayer," the boy says, "Lord, I don't want to go to their school anymore." (Tirolien lines 5, 20) This is important to the poem because it shows that he not only believes in God, but he also communicates to the Lord. He is talking to the Lord and telling him about everything he does not like about the new school he is attending. Likewise, in "I Thank You, Lord," the main character is also speaking to the Lord. We know this not only from the title of the poem, but also when he says, in the opening line, "I thank you, Lord, for making me Black." (Dadie line 1). In both of these poems, the Lord is recognized for being responsible for what the characters have and also being capable of changing what they have. In "A Little Black Boy's Prayer," the boy knows that the Lord is responsible for what he has and when he wants to change it that is why he prays to God. He says to the Lord, "Fix it, please, so I don't have to." (Tirolien 6, 21). He believes that the Lord is able to fix his problems so he prays to him in hopes that his problems will be solved. Like the boy in that poem, the boy in "I Thank You, Lord" also recognizes what the Lord does. He is able to realize that what he has is because of the Lord. The boy says, "For having made me the sum of all griefs, for having put upon my head the World." (Dadie 2-5). He