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Gwendolyn Brooks, "To the Diaspora"

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Re-Reading Questions

Text on p. 1236 of the full Ninth Edition

5 10 15 20

When you set out for Afrika you did not know you were going. Because you did not know you were Afrika. You did not know the Black continent that had to be reached was you. I could not have told you then that some sun would come, somewhere over the road, would come evoking the diamonds of you, the Black continent— somewhere over the road. You would not have believed my mouth. When I told you, meeting you somewhere close to the heat and youth of the road, liking my loyalty, liking belief, you smiled and you thanked me but very little believed me. Here is some sun. Some. Now off into the places rough to reach. Though dry, though drowsy, all unwillingly a-wobble, into the dissonant and dangerous crescendo. Your work, that was done, to be done to be done to be done.

Re-Reading Questions

Note: Some of these questions require extensive answers to explore them fully. Therefore, you may either use some as brief prompts for your own thinking about the piece after reading the study materials or explore them in a paper.

1. Re-read the poem slowly, paying special attention to the italicized words and phrases. Notice the repetitions ("did not know," "to be done," "sun," "Afrika," etc.), and think about what they add to the poem. Look carefully at the verb tenses, which move from past to present to future.

2. "Diaspora" literally means "people of one country scattered into other countries." The word is generally applied to the Jewish people. In the 1960s, the black solidarity movement began using the term to describe all people in the world of African descent. The dictionary presents "exile" and "isolation from community" as possible synonyms. What does the diaspora represent in this poem? Why does the poet write "Afrika" instead of "Africa"? Why is the person being addressed identified with the continent of Afrika and what it represents?

3. Why does the poet offer "some sun" which evokes "diamonds"? What might these images represent? The nature of "Your work" is not specified; what do you think it might be? In what way could this be an empowering poem for some readers?

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