Geographical features (motif)
The geographical features represent the lush beauty of the African content and its natural resources. The sugar canes are a form of nourishment and a prized resource. The deserts and mountains are majestic. The Nile River is the longest in the world and a famous symbol of the continent. The comparison of the geographical features to a woman’s figure relays the message that the land is as sacred and beautiful as a woman.
Lying down/rising (motif)
The line, “Thus she had/has lain” is repeated several times throughout the poem. Initially, the continent is depicted in peaceful repose. By the second stanza, Africa has been battered by violence and slavery. The African people have been knocked down to the ground, lying down in pain. However, at the poem’s conclusion, Africa begins to rise again, ready to overcome the suffering of its past. The use of the word “rise” is reminiscent of Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise”—another verse with the theme of African empowerment.
The female figure (symbol)
As in many of Angelou’s poems, the female figure is a symbol of both suffering and strength. In “Africa,” the continent itself is personified as such a woman. The continent suffers at the hands of white oppressors, knocked down to the ground by violence and despair. However, the woman is eventually triumphant, standing up again and resisting her oppressors. In this poem, the female figure also represents a mother, as Africa is a motherland to Africans and their descendants.
Jesus (symbol)
In the second stanza, the reference to “Jesus” is a metonym or symbol for the Christian practices of the slave traders. On one hand, Christianity already existed on the continent and had been embraced by many natives for generations. However, the slave traders used Christianity as a way to guilt the slaves into being obedient and justify slavery itself. In the Bible, darkness was associated with evil, and slavery was the direct result of sinful actions. The slave traders thus used such ideology to justify the idea that the Africans were heathens who needed to be reformed through Christian teachings and deserved to be enslaved.
