Poets

Leopold Sédar Senghor (Joal, 9 October 1906 – Paris, 20 December 2001) – Senegalese poet and statesman. He wrote in French. From 1960 till 1980 he was a President of Senegal. With his poetry collections he thoroughly advocated the dignity of the Black man, their rights and freedom. His poetry is sensual, elegiac, and nostalgic under the influence of Paul Claudel and Sen-John Pers and of the troubadoure poetry. He attaches a great importance to the musicality of the verse, the monotonous rhythm, similar to the African melody, and he gives an exqisite authentic sound to his verses. He is the complier of An Anthology of the New Black and Madagascan Poetry written in French, for which Jean-Paul Sartre wrote an introduction entitled “Orphée noire” (“Black Orpheus”, 1948. Works: Chants d’ombre (1945), Hosties noires (1948), Nocturnes (1961), Lettres de d’hivernage (1972).