During the Negritude Movement. poets had many different ways to show what they thought about faith and races. These poets used their verse forms to show how they felt about these subjects. Guy Tirolien and Bernard Dadie used their poesy to show their religion in the Lord and what they thought he could make to impact lives. This is shown in the verse forms “A Little Black Boy’s Prayer” and “I Thank You. Lord. ”
In both Negritude verse form. the chief character is speaking to the same individual and besides giving recognition to that individual for doing their lives the manner they are. In both Tirolien’s and Dadie’s verse forms. the character is speaking to the Lord. In “A Little Black Boy’s Prayer. ” the male child says. “Lord. I don’t want to travel to their school any longer. ” ( Tirolien lines 5. 20 ) This is of import to the verse form because it shows that he non merely believes in God. but he besides communicates to the Lord. He is speaking to the Lord and stating him about everything he does non wish about the new school he is go toing. Likewise. in “I Thank You. Lord. ” the chief character is besides talking to the Lord. We know this non merely from the rubric of the verse form. but besides when he says. in the gap line. “I thank you. Lord. for doing me Black. ” ( Dadie line 1 ) . In both of these verse forms. the Lord is recognized for being responsible for what the characters have and besides being capable of altering what they have.
In “A Little Black Boy’s Prayer. ” the male child knows that the Lord is responsible for what he has and when he wants to alter it that is why he prays to God. He says to the Lord. “Fix it. delight. so I don’t have to. ” ( Tirolien 6. 21 ) . He believes that the Lord is able to repair his jobs so he prays to him in hopes that his jobs will be solved. Like the male child in that verse form. the male child in “I Thank You. Lord” besides recognizes what the Godhead does. He is able to recognize that what he has is because of the Lord. The male child says. “For holding made me the amount of all heartaches. for holding put upon my caput the World. ” ( Dadie 2-5 ) . He recognizes that the Lord gave him everything that he has and made him who he is. He does non desire anything to alter so he is non inquiring for a hole. but he knows that he is lucky to hold what he wants because of the Lord. Both of these similarities have to make with the Lord and faith which was of import to the Negritude poesy.
Although there are similarities between these two verse forms. there are many differences every bit good. The biggest difference between these two is the attitude and tone of the male childs. In “A Little Black Boy’s Prayer. ” the male child is non happy with his life and what is traveling on in it. The whole verse form is him inquiring the Lord to alter what he has. Multiple times throughout the verse form he says “I want…” ( Tirolien 7. 10. 12 ) . This shows he is non happy with what he has. He wants a alteration in his life and he wants that alteration to come from the Lord. Tirolien ends the verse form with “Lord. I don’t want no more school. ” ( Tirolien 49 ) . The alteration that the male child is looking for from the Lord is to non hold to travel to school. He wants the alteration in his life to be that he gets to be back with the black people and non be in school with the white childs any longer. The male child from “I Thank You. Lord. ” nevertheless. has a different sentiment on his ain life. Not merely does he thank the Lord multiple times for holding made him black. he besides uses words like “content” ( Dadie 11 ) “satisfied” ( Dadie 14 ) and “pleased” ( Dadie 17 ) to depict how he feels about his life. He uses these words to demo what he is all right with on his organic structure and what each thing is made for. He has a much difference attitude about his life. Unlike the other male child. this boy likes everything that God has given him and he does non wish to alter it. or to hold god “fix it. ”
Both Tirolien and Dadie were able to show how they felt about the things discussed during the Negritude Movement. They used poesy to explicate their positions on the ideas of people during this motion.
