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Wole Soyinka's Introduction to Poems of Black Africa
Soyinka introduces the anthology as different than other anthologies because Poems of Black Africa is arranged by themes that go beyond what Soyinka calls the "customary settings" of other ways of organizing such as "regions, period, style, [and] authorship." Soyinka states that the purpose of this anthology was to put together poems that envelop the reality and sense of black Africa, both "modern and historic," through poetic expression.

Critical Reception
Poems of Black Africa was well received by Ursula A. Barnett declaring it a successful anthology, although it is acknowledged the work focuses on quality rather than comprehensiveness, despite being described as encompassing “most of the experience of the African world.” She notes in her review many of the works included were written by African statesmen. According to Barnett the works vary from expressions of passion, pain, beauty, betrayal, nostalgia, revolutionary fervor, death, wit, humor and satire. The works represent traditional writings from a wide array of groups including the Swahili, Yoruba, Zulu and other sources, including seven original poems from Soyinka himself. Barnett’s review first appeared in World Literature Today, Vol. 51, No. 1, Homage to Elizabeth Bishop, Our 1976 Laureate (Winter, 1977).

Themes

 * Alien Perspective
 * Ancestors and Gods
 * Animistic Phases
 * Black Thoughts
 * Captivity
 * Compatriot
 * Cosmopolis
 * Early Passage
 * Ethics, Mores, Abstractions: Man, the Philosopher
 * Exile
 * Indictment and Summons
 * Land and Liberty
 * Man in Nature
 * Mating Cry
 * Mortality
 * Poet's Passage
 * Praise-Singer and Critic
 * Prayers, Invocations
 * Miscellany