In Senghor's Black Woman, the dominant literary device is

Analyze the question: It asks for the dominant literary device in Léopold Sédar Senghor's poem "Black Woman" (also called "Femme noire"). The key word is "dominant", meaning the device that runs through the whole poem.

Explain the concept:

• Metaphor is a direct comparison without "like" or "as" (e.g., "You are my sunshine").
• Simile compares using "like" or "as".
• Personification gives human qualities to non-human things.
• Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration.

Work through the poem: Senghor addresses the black woman directly and equates her with many things:

• "Naked woman, black woman, clothed with your colour which is life..."
• "...with your form which is beauty!"
• "Naked woman, dark woman, firm-fleshed ripe fruit, sombre raptures of black wine..."
• "Savannah stretching to clear horizons..."
• "Tom-tom carved, stretched tight drum, groaning under the hands of the conqueror."
• "Your deep contralto voice is the spiritual song of the Beloved."

She is directly called a ripe fruit, a savannah, a tom-tom, and the Promised Land. None of these use "like" or "as". The woman is these things, and she stands as a symbol of Africa itself. This is sustained metaphor throughout the poem.

Simile does appear a few times (for example, "...like the gazelle's..." type comparisons in the later stanzas), but it is occasional. Personification and hyperbole are not the main devices.

Answer: Metaphor is the dominant device, which is option D.

Exam tip: For poetry questions on "dominant device", look at how the poet makes comparisons. If the poet says "X is Y" repeatedly, it's metaphor. If the poet says "X is like Y", it's simile. In "Black Woman", the woman is Africa, so think "woman = Africa = metaphor".