Prayer to the Masks

Prayer to the Masks” is composed of 32 lines with no strict syllabic structure or rhyme scheme. The entire poem is also written in a single stanza, but varying line breaks help create distinct moments throughout. Punctuation, too, is employed regularly. Periods offer moments to pause and reflect, and exclamation points give the poem a dramatic tone and urgency. Senghor uses these literary tools to develop his thematic messages about his people’s history, shining light on the beauty, and darkness, of the past, while also looking toward the future and ending the poem on an optimistic note of strength.

The opening of the poem establishes a dramatic tone and introduces the titular masks. The first line is only three words, and three syllables, but Senghor uses exclamation points to lengthen the duration of the line and create a loud, dramatic introduction: “Masks! Oh Masks!” (Line 1). Lines 2-3 give the masks more detail, enhancing their imagery and giving them more significance. The masks come in various colors, and it is through the masks that spirits breathe: “Rectangular masks through whom the spirit breathes,” (Line 3). Masks have been used throughout African history across various nations, at times being used to honor or symbolize the dead. Senghor gives the masks further significance by describing the breathing spirits within them. The spirits are lively, breathing, making Senghor’s address to the past feel more vivid and dynamic. Next, the narrator greats the masks, and an exclamation point maintains the dramatic mood set in the opening line: “I greet you in silence!” (Line 4). The narrator might welcome the masks and spirits in silence, but the statement is also exclamatory, contradictory, increasing the tension of the poem. The narrator screams, but the cries are silent.

The following lines expand Senghor’s examination of the past. The narrator looks to more ancestors, who guard a setting where joy is vacant: “And you too, my panterheaded ancestor. / You guard this place, that is closed to any feminine laughter, to any / mortal smile.” (Lines 5-7). The panterheaded ancestor could refer to additional masks of African history; animal heads are another type of mask seen in African cultures. By referencing more ancestors, Senghor addresses more of Africa’s history, making the poem’s content feel far-reaching and expansive. As the narrator looks to their ancestors, they see the afterlife the spirits dwell in as sterile, devoid of laughter and mortal smiles, maintaining the poem’s dramatic tone and imagery. But eternity is also cleansing, connecting the narrator to the past and their lineage: “You purify the air of eternity, here where I breathe the air of my / fathers.” (Lines 8-9). Eternity lacks mortal laughter and joy, but instead it offers connection to members of the community that are gone, showing Senghor’s deep appreciation of his history and culture, which he and other writers in the Négritude movement emphasized and practiced.

Lines 10-13 continue to strengthen the connection the narrator feels to the past and reiterates the urgency established in the beginning of the poem. The narrator sees the masks and the spirits they contain as ageless in their eternity, and without them, the narrator wouldn’t exist: “Masks of maskless faces, free from dimples and wrinkles. / You have composed this image, this my face that bends / over the altar of white paper.” (Lines 10-12). Here, the narrator honors the past again and explains how they wouldn’t exist without the actions of their ancestors. The writing process is also praised. The narrator bends over an altar of white paper, making the blank page a holy object, showing Senghor’s admiration for both reflection and writing. With the past and present even more enmeshed now, the narrator pleads again for the spirits to listen: “In the name of your image, listen to me!” (Line 13). Moving into the second half of the poem, the past and present are portrayed as a connected tissue of people and objects—faces and masks—and the dramatic tone is maintained.

The poem shifts its focus to the present, commenting on Africa’s relationship to Europe and employing line breaks to build impactful statements. The narrator describes an Africa that was ruled by a few powerful people, but they are dying out, and Europe is changing too: “Now while the Africa of despotism is dying—it is the agony of a / pitiable princess, / Just like Europe to whom she is connected through the / naval” (Lines 14-17). “Prayer to the Masks” was published in 1945, as World War II was ending, and the narrator pities the damaged state of the world, adding a sense of grief and melancholy to the poem’s tone. Europe is described as connected to Africa like a developing fetus to a mother, creating a vivid image of Europe’s dependence on Africa for resources, appropriate given Senghor’s lifelong critique of Western colonialism and exploitation of Africa. Line breaks add further emphasis, cutting sentences and allowing “pitiable princess” and “naval” to stand on their own lines, giving the words more impact and significance.

Now firmly in the present, “Prayer to the Masks” looks to the people living in Africa, and suggests that, as the world changes, Africans will help it flourish. The narrator asks the ancestral spirits to look at their offspring, to consider their sacrifices and envision a world where Africa is at the center of a new age: “Now turn your immobile eyes towards your children who / have been called / And who sacrifice their lives like the poor man his last garment / So that hereafter we may cry ‘here’ at the rebirth of the world being / the leaven that the white flour needs.” (Lines 18-22). Africans are depicted as poor, but still they sacrifice, and in a reborn world they will be the leaven (a type of yeast) to help flour become bread. They have sacrificed, but going forward they will prosper, which aligns with Senghor’s artistic and political goals of creating a prosperous African nation. A period at the end of Line 22 connects the proceeding lines, making them one prolonged thought, and line breaks continue to be used for additional emphasis. For example, “have been called” is a single line, increasing the significance of African people’s mission to bring prosperity in a changing world.

Senghor concludes the poem by further imbuing his people with strength and shifting the tone to an optimistic note. The world might be dying, changing, but the narrator sees no one better to bring back joy than African people: “For who else would teach rhythm to the world that has / died of machines and cannons? / For who else should ejaculate the cry of joy, that arouses the dead / and the wise in a new dawn? / Say, who else could return the memory of life to men with a torn / hope?” (Lines 23-28). In these lines, “for who else” becomes a refrain, a repeated phrase that builds in significance, emphasizing how Africans, and their culture, can bring rhythm and joy back into the world. With the Négritude movement, Senghor wanted to promote pride in African culture and identity, and in “Prayer to the Masks,” he shows African culture can be the spark that helps reignite the world and transform it into a better place. The narrator acknowledges they will face persecution and resistance, as they have throughout history, but that won’t stop them from dancing and prospering: “They call us cotton heads, and coffee men, and oily men. / They call us men of death. / But we are the men of the dance whose feet only gain / power when they beat the hard soil.” (Lines 29-32). Despite slurs and prejudices, as the narrator’s people dance and work, they gain power. Senghor thereby ends the poem on an image of resilience and strength. By honoring their history and ancestry, African people can heal the world.