Dramatic Situation of Far Cry from Africa

The dramatic situation of the poem is the Mau Mau rebellion against the British in Kenya in the 1950s. Kenya is a country on the east coast of Africa. Kenya was a British colony.(Mau Mau was a secret society, which led the revolt of the Kikuyu tribesmen of Kenya against the British.  The  colonialists had acquired the greater part of the country's land for themselves and left only a small portion of it for the natives. The main local tribe was known as Kikuyu. The tribe under the leadership of the secret society called Mau Mau organized itself and launched a rebellion against the British settlers in 1952. the rebellion continued till 1960. During the rebellion harsh things were committed. Most of the white and black people are killed in brutal manner. The killing of a child of six with its white parents is very brutal. It shows in third stanza.        

Beginning with a dramatic setting the poem opens a horrible scene of bloodshed in African territory. Bloodstreams, scattered corpses, worm show ghastly sight of battle. Native blacks are being exterminated like Jews in holocaust following the killing of a white child in its bed by blacks.

The main conflict of the poem is Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya., a guerilla war fought by native Kenyans  Against British colonists from 1952-1960. 

The mood or tone of the poem is a combination of confusion, anger ,and lament. ''The violence of beast on beast is red/ As  natural law, but upright man/ Seeks his divinity by inflicting pain.''

The symbols  in the poem are the flies represents the desperate, violent Kikuyu and the worm  that represents the unsympathetic, cruel colonial forces. The poem reveals the conflict of identity which he encounters because of his intercourse. Throughout the poem he begins his quest to obtain his own identity, but in the end his attempt remains vein, as he eventually confesses his love for both the English and his heritage.

Walcott's inner conflicts recorded in this poem are he confused and outraged because of the cruelty of colonialism Before the Mau- Mau uprising, Walcott has viewed the British colony as cruel and arrogant, but then the African themselves turned to be cruel, and this has made him torn and could  not side with neither of them.

This poem using metaphors such as'' colonel of carrion' 'and ironic statements such as  ''corpses are scattered through a paradise'' to describe the death and destruction and inhumanity that has occurred in both Africa and Europe. Poet discusses the conflict between his loyalties to Africa and to Britain.