The undisputed masterpiece of ngritude and a poetic milestone of anticolonialism GuardianWe shall speak. We shall sing. We shall shout.This blazing autobiographical poem by the founder of the ngritude movement became a rallying cry for decolonisation when it appeared in 1939. Following one mans return from Europe to his homeland of Martinique it is a reckoning with the trauma of slavery and exploitation and a triumphant anthem for Black identity one which reclaims and remakes language itself.Nothing less than the greatest lyrical monument of this time Andr BretonA Csaire poem explodes and whirls about itself like a rocket suns burst forth whirling and exploding JeanPaul SartreThe most influential Francophone Caribbean writer of his generation IndependentTranslated by John Berger and Anna Bostock