"Prayer to the Masks"

Senegal was still a French colony when Leopold Senghor was born. Educated on two continents, he was a teacher and poet, before becoming the country's first freely elected president. This poem was likely written during World War II while he was in a German prison camp: it has dark lines about guns and death, but it emphasizes the hopeful image of Africans dancing to revive the world.

Here are all the word lists to support the reading of Grade 10 Unit 3's texts from SpringBoard's Common Core ELA series: Things Fall Apart, Prayer to the Masks, The Second Coming, Things Fall Apart (excerpts), An African Voice
10 words 15 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. salute
    recognize with a gesture prescribed by a military regulation
    Black mask red mask, you white-and-black masks
    Masks of the four points from which the spirit blows
    In silence I salute you!
  2. ancestor
    someone from whom you are descended
    Nor you the least, the Lion-Headed Ancestor
  3. forbidden
    excluded from use or mention
    You guard this place forbidden to all laughter of women, to all smiles that fade
  4. distill
    give off (a liquid)
    You distill this air of eternity in which I breathe the air of my Fathers.
  5. portrait
    any likeness of a person, in any medium
    You who have fashioned this portrait
  6. altar
    a raised structure on which sacrifices to a god are made
    this my face bent over the altar of
    white paper
  7. agony
    intense feelings of suffering; acute mental or physical pain
    The Africa of the empires is dying, see, the agony of a pitiful princess
  8. navel
    a scar where the umbilical cord was attached
    And Europe too where we are joined by the navel
  9. rhythm
    an interval during which a recurring sequence occurs
    For who would teach rhythm to a dead world of machines and guns?
  10. bereaved
    a person who has suffered the death of someone they loved
    Who would give the cry of joy to wake the dead and the bereaved at dawn?
Created on Mon Oct 13 15:34:53 EDT 2014 (updated Mon Oct 13 19:27:31 EDT 2014)

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