A Survey of African Poetry in the London Times, Sunday Times, Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement 1865-1985

"Praise poet in Paris", The Times Literary Supplement, 28 Apr 2000, p. 24 The Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive,, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EX1200499729/GDCS?u=linc74325&sid=GDCS&xid=d7b2f48f. Accessed 29 Jun 2019

Sheila Mason reviews a collection of poetry, translated by Melvin Dixon, of Leopold Sedar Senghor. Mason writes, "From Senegal's indpendence, in 1960, until 1980 when he relinquished the Presidency of his nation, Leopold Sedar Senghor dominated the West African political and cultural scene as Maecenas, political philosopher and literary theorist and, not least, as a practising poet. Since his elevation in retirement to the Academie Francaise in 1983 and his move to Paris, the turmoil of his continent's political fortunes have so dimmed this renown that reappraisals of his writing now seem overdue. Melvin Dixon's English rendition of the definitive body of his poetry will, it is to be hoped, encourage this process." Mason traces the history of the negritude movement and Senghor's involvement. She also criticizes some of the translation by Melvin Dixon, but ultimately praises the collection: "Thus, while inadvertent infelicities occasionally muffle the poetry's African voice, nevertheless Melvin Dixon achieves that rarest of feats in the translation of poetry: he recreates Leopold Senghor in our own tongue, exhibiting with unflagging good faith his universality as a poet of love, of nature, of war and, rarest of modern accomplishments, of praise.