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Question 56: Meaning of "a song of Africa"?

Q. What book did this quote come from, and could you discuss it a little?  "I sing a song of Africa, but does Africa sing a song of me?"

A. Here is the quote you asked about:

From OUT OF AFRICA by Isak Dinesen (1885-1962), chapter titled "Kamante and Lulu," page 83:
 

"If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?"

I think Isak Dinesen's idea for this came from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" although what she says does not resemble his poem much. Denys Finch Hatton is said to have liked the poetry of Whitman (so Beryl Markham claims in her memoir West with the Night).

The expression "song of Africa" refers to her poetic description of Africa's beautiful qualities. You notice how Isak Dinesen mentions "the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers" in the way that Whitman mentions several groups of workers in his poem.

She is saying that she remembers Africa with all its beauty and she hopes that Africa will remember something of her own beautiful qualities. This is very much a Scandinavian sentiment, because the ancient Scandinavian philosophy--handed down through the myths and sagas of the Vikings--states that a person is remembered for his reputation, and immortality is achieved by being remembered.

Copyright © 2002 by Linda Donelson. All rights reserved.