Backcountry Twilight

Backcountry Twilight

In the short poem Backcountry Twilight by Castro Alves a long afternoon in the sad city of Arapongas, Brazil comes to an end. The city of Arapongas is also considered the state of Paraná located in southern Brazil bordering the infamous São Paulo. During the poem an African virgin travels by canoe downstream while the suspicious actions of nature take place around her turning into the night. She passes through the jungle in the muddy water beside broken trees, loud gusts of wind, birds flying scared and hiding their own heads. The flock screaming and flying over the canoe leads into Night. The natural African virgin and Night cover their faces while the stars come down and the canoe rolls under. In the end they both envision Precipice (a very steep rock face or cliff) and Paradise. Alves uses the African virgin’s adventurous experience to illustrate how slavery can become dark at times, but also possible to become free in the end (briefly envisioning Paradise or freedom).

Throughout the poem Alves points out the flaws of nature during what can be a very enjoyable experience or an adventure gone wrong into the unsettling night. He sets the mood and tone of the poem within the first three stanzas, “The afternoon died!..One hears the sad cry of Arapongas” or “The afternoon died! Shadows crawl over the earth like snakes on their bellies”(65). He exposes his thoughts and ideas through vivid imagery that makes the reader even get chills. He describes the odd actions of the wildlife around the young African virgin such as broken trees and branches, the sound of the cutting wind passing by, screaming birds like marrecas who hide their beaks and herons that fly timidly in circles over her canoe, roaring ocean water and silence turning into as loud as an orchestra. Dead nature, deep movements of the ocean and wicked gusts of wind symbolized the transition into nightfall. The signs and actions of nature in Alves’ poem deliver messages to the African...