1.     Presentation reflection

In my presentation, there were a few things that I wished that I had done a little bit better. The first aspect of my presentation that I wished I had done differently was that I would have chosen a different topic. While I did enjoy the Democratic Republic of the Congo's poetry, I found the poems hard to analyze in a ten-minute session. For the most part, the poems did not deal as heavily with poetic devices such as similes, personification, and Voltas as the other poems we saw in class. I did my best to discuss everything that I read in the poems, however I felt that the limited collection of poems did not work well in the ten minute lecture setting. In my presentation, I could have spoken with more confidence as well, which would have helped. In terms of what I did well, I think that my analysis of “Incantations of the Sea: Moando Coast” by Makula Kadima-Nzuji was effective. I was also happy with my recitation of the poem and how that went. One thing that I enjoyed about the assignment was how specific we were able to get relative to a single country or poet. I found the process of making connections amongst a work of poetry both informative and effective. One thing that I did not like was the style of the presentation: I found the time constraint to be counter-productive, and I wish the assignment was more of a lead-discussion than a presentation. In my opinion, this would have enhanced the experience for both the listeners and the presenter.

2.     Fully Develop Thesis

My conclusion on the poem I read essentially was that in the poem, Kadima-Nzuji uses no punctuation, and the flow is relatively choppy and unrefined. This coupled with the themes of the ocean, dread and depression form for me a sort of stream of consciousness type narrative. I view the speaker of the poem as being someone suffering from sever depression, using the “savage cries of the sea” as a metaphor for his unhappy mood. I then extrapolated this conclusion of the singular poem to the greater collective work of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to conclude that I find that these poems largely deal with the similar themes of loneliness and depression. Certainly none of these poems are positive. Through the same devices, most of these poems form into a stream of consciousness dealing with depression and loneliness. Upon further reflection of my conclusion, I can specifically sight certain tones and words directly from the text that continue to support my thesis. Looking at the diction from each poem specifically, one can see the darkness that accompanies these poems. These are some significant words from the collection:

            “Portrait” by Antione-Roger Bolamba: “Limbs” (5), “heart” (6), “silence” (9), “shipwreck” (13), “nothingness” (15), “follies” (17), “villains” (21), “anger” (24), “mask” (25), and “blood” (25). “A Fistful of News” by Antione-Roger Bolamba: “Treason” (5), “swords” (6), “blood” (8), “monsters” (11), “night” (13), “bats” (14), “stone” (16), “horror” (17), “galleys” (21), “quarrels” (23), “fangs” (25), “fire” (25), “lightening” (26), “scorn” (27), “flesh” (27), and “vengeance” (28). “Love in the Plural”: “Ocean” (1), “ vapor” (3), “flood” (5), “shadow” (6), “solitude” (8), “seaweeds” (9), “mirrors” (15).

            It is clear from this collection of words from the poems that the poems deal largely with unpleasant themes and motifs. This, along with the choppy flow and lack of punctuation continue to lead me to believe that the connection between my poems is that they all are “stream of consciousness” poems. This could possibly be a result of the "civil war" going on at the time in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. One of the more interesting things about my collection, however, was that my two poets were both relatively involved in the government. This is very different from most of the other poets who tended to be at odds with their respective governments. This didn't seem to affect the negative tone, so I'm not sure how much it actually affected it.

3.     Comparison

I would like to compare the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s poetry with that of the Cameroonian poet Mbella Sonne Dipoko. Similar to many of the poems in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dipoko makes frequent reference to nature. In the poem “Our Life”, he uses “bird” (1), “desert” (1), “air” (2), “oasis” (3), “water” (4), and “winged” (6). The focus on nature is a commonality between both works. Secondly, both poets rely heavily on a negative, pessimistic diction. Again in “Our Life” Dipoko uses words such as “ailing” (1), “agony” (1), “black hood” (7), “same prayers” (8), “frustration” (10), “morality” (10), and “flattering” (12). The combination of nature with the harsh, sharp, angry words is a significant connection between the two sets of works.

In contrast, there are some differences. Dipoko makes use of poetic devices such as personification and metaphors. I had trouble finding any of these in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s collection. Dipoko also makes use of repetition in his poems. Dipko also frequently uses voltas in his poem, changing the tone or mood part of the way through. This contrasts with the poems in my work, as they always stay in one tone or mood throughout.

            As demonstrated, there are many similarities between the two collections of works. This could possibly be a result of the similarities of the two poets positions. Both were relatively famous in their respective countries and shared similar positions and almost the exact same time. The differences that arise, however, show the two different styles that were developing simultaneously in both Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.