The poem “Vanity” by Birago Diop seem oral like the poem “Breath” by Birago Diop. Rhetorical questions and repetitions are never missing in Africa oral poetry.
None can boldly say what Birago Diop was complaining about but I guess he was trying to prove than admonish that their attempts will be as futile as that of their ancestors “our Dead”. I guess
Birago Diop was trying to say that as human beings, as bound to changes, they can’t continue to live in their forefathers’ shoes. In the poem “Breath”, Diop spoke about his forefathers and used the word “dead” to represent his forefathers in line 6, 9, 15, 22, 23; in this poem “Vanity” he used the phrase “our Dead” in line 15 and 25.
There are many rhetorical questions in this poem such as “who indeed will hear them without laughter?” (line 5), “What eyes will watch our large mouths?” (line 10), “What heart will listen to our clamouring?” (line 11), “In the black depth of our plaintive throats?” (line 14). All the above questions and more just to prove the poet’s adamance. It must also be added that the use of first person plural pronoun “we” in many lines of the poem made the setting of the poem seemed like a gathering or meeting where cultural matter was discussed.
Birago Diop was born 1906 and remains one of the well known African poets. He was a Senegalese who promoted African culture through poetry and folktales. Birago Diop metamorphosed to immortality when death took him from earth in the month of November 1989.
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