Rhetoric and Style in Leopold Sedar Senghor’s “New York”

Although the nature, provenance, or function of rhetoric has been a subject of much interest and criticisms for centuries, there is no doubt that Senghor’s life experience has taught him the value of rhetoric in any persuasive discourse. Furthermore, Senghor employs classical1 and modern rhetoric in order to meet his personal and poetic objectives. In this essay, we shall discuss the poem “New York”, not only because it addresses racial issues and other injustices which are pertinent to Negritude, but because the poem illustrates Senghor’s remarkable ability to employ classical and modern rhetoric in his discourse