“Song from the Soil”: The Role of Nature in Yusef Komunyakaa’s Poetry

Abstract

ABSTRACTRaised in the American South during the political and social upheavals of the Civil Rights era, poet Yusef Komunyakaa came of age at a time when his identity as an African American cast him constantly and self-consciously as a second-class citizen. Throughout his poetry, which is deeply informed by personal experiences of racial prejudice, Komunyakaa sheds light on the many ways that racial oppression in the US has been internalized by African Americans and how this oppression has affected all aspects of African American life. Komunyakaa’s poetry, however, does not stop at the level of examination; it engages instead, in the act of recovery. This essay argues that through his poetic contemplations on nature and the supreme indifference of nature’s processes, Komunyakaa discovers an ideal foil to racist constructions of African American identity. By utilizing the insights of postcolonial and critical race theorists in general, as well as engaging with the emerging conversation concerning African American poetry and eco-criticism, this essay identifies the obstacles to Komunyakaa’s aims and the poetic strategies he uses to overcome these obstacles.