These differing attitudes come into clearer focus in their more autobiographical poems. Baraka's "Leroy" shows his yearning for the black heritage that he sees being passed down to him through his mother and through him to the next generation of African-Americans. The poem is far more intimate than "Fresh Zombies." The title, Baraka's given name, announces the poem as a self-study, and the use of the first person voice makes the reader feel as if he is privy to a private thought. Baraka sees his mother "carrying life from [his] ancestors" (4) and, with it, knowledge -- not just any knowledge, but "the strong nigger feeling" (5). He is not describing the human connection to the human past, but the black connection to the black past, one that has been infected with "bullshit rotten white parts" that need to be expunged (14).

Soyinka, on the other hand, offers in "Civilian...
[ View Full Essay]