Hassiba Ben Bouali University of Chlef

Faculty of Foreign Languages

Department of English
Level : Master II (Comp. Lit) Date : 19/03/ 2021
African poetry Assignment

Full name : ZANE Atika

Teacher in charge: Ms.ELKATEB

I GIVE YOU THANKS MY GOD

African people are the people who suffered the most during history, being an African means to
live the struggle. the African identity was always under the risk of being erased, starting from the
slavery period moving to the colonial period and ending by the contemporary period of racism,
however, Africans succeeded in keeping their heritage, identity, and their belongings alive, they never
gave up and kept fighting with different arms, and poetry is one of the most effective weapons they
used. African poetry witnessed different periods including the modern one which tackles different
subjects like slavery, colonialism, and racism. Bernard Dadie, an Ivoirian modern poet wrote various
poems to defend his black identity and belongings, and “I give you thanks my god” is one of them.

First of all, I give you thanks my god is a direct message to the racist white people who hate
and underestimate the black race, in this poem, Dadie shows his pride and his happiness for being a
black person and having a black skin, the central idea of the whole poem is the expression , “ I give
you thanks my God for having created me black” and it is repeated three times to remind the reader
that although life can be unbearable, he is still glad to be who he is moreover to emphasize the main
theme of appreciation , thankfulness and pride., which flows in a free verse poem of thirty six lines,
that expresses the tone of happiness and satisfaction.

Secondly, the poet uses the personal pronoun I to represent himself as the speaker, and to
represent the black race generally , as well as to show the amount of his pride, and as if he is
challenging the whole world with his black skin. Dadie also repeats the sentence “I carry the world”
three times in the poem to show the strength of black people’s bodies and their huge ability of
resistance of all the bad circumstances, and that white people are very fragile.

Moreover, to make the image of his pride even clearer , Dadie uses different poetic devices ,
first metaphor, which is to compare something in the poem to something familiar outside the poem :
“Thirty-six swords have pierced my heart, Thirty-six brands have burned my body.” here the poet
compared himself to the Christ on the day of Crucifixion . Second, contrast poets, which is to use
contrast to further show images: “White is a color improvised for an occasion .Black, the color of all
days.” The poet tries with this contrast to show that the black color is better than the white by being
the color of all days, he uses contrast also in : “ Content with my short arms”, “With my long legs,”
and this time the poet is showing that although he has shorter arms and longer legs he is still happy .
Third, imagery: “And my blood on all the calvaries has reddened the snow.” In addition , he uses
symbolism in: “for having made of me the total of all sorrows” which stands for all the suffering that
black people faced during their lives. Furthermore the poet uses enjambment in: “I am happy”, “with
the shape of my head”, to emphasize the word happy which reminds the reader again with his great
happiness.

In conclusion, “I give you thanks my god” is a deep poem in which Bernard Dadie shows his
gratitude and his pride for being a black person, Dadie uses various poetic devices to convey his
message in an artistic way, and to show his acceptance of the struggle he witnessed during his life
because he deeply believes that god loves him this is why he chose this life for him.