Limbo (Brathwaite poem)

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"Limbo" is a poem by Edward Kamau Brathwaite.

It describes the similarity between a limbo dance and the transportation of African slaves into the West Indies and America. There is a strong sense of position throughout the play. The limbo stick is "in front of me", then "over me", "down down down", then "coming up...up up up". This is how a slave would have moved on a ship to the plantations, he would have seen the ship "in front" of him, then "down down down" into the lower decks, then "coming up...and the dumb gods are raising me".

The poem starts with a conjunction and has no punctuation until the very end, much like a limbo dance keeps flowing until the end, and the endless flow of slaves into the Caribbean, mainly Barbados.

This poem is encouraging you to feel for the slaves and their plight.

Roman Catholics believe that limbo is a place between heaven and hell where unbaptized babies become stuck forever. This is also like slavery, and the poem works conveying all the three different types at one time. It talks about darkness, which could be translated as the future being unknown and hidden in the slave ship. It could be the slavery in which you can get trapped.

The chorus: 'limbo, limbo like me' This can be translated as many different things. The line 'limbo like me' is also very ambiguous. It could mean 'like me limbo', almost begging the stick to favour him and get him under it. It could also mean the limbo is like me, as in how the slaves are stuck in slavery, unable to get freedom or it could mean limbo like me, do the limbo like I am doing the limbo.

It was intended to be read by Caribbean people.

About the Author Edward Kamau Brathwaite was born in Barbado in the West Indies. He's a poet and a historian, and he's interested in links between slave nations and their African origins. The poem has been included in the AQA Anthology for study at GCSE, in Cluster 1, Poems From Other Cultures.

[edit] Language

Sounds used: alliteration "dark deck"

Assonance:Vowel sound A,E,I,O,U is used e.g. "OPEN, OCEAN, OVER, BOARD

Onomatopoeia: "hash", "crash"

The poem uses "music is saving me" and "the drummer is calling me" to show how the home traditions of the slave are getting them through the journey "knees spread wide" is used to show how a whole nation is being forced into something they dont want to do. It could also be interpreted as a woman getting raped as this was common on slave ships as the whites abused them. Brathwaite also uses " the dumb gods" effectively to show how the white people have the power of gods over them by making them do whatever they want The words "dark" symbolises their despair.