Abstract: In reading the cantor of Negritude, the exegetes focused mainly on Claudel
or Saint-John Perse; maybe it's time to look at discreet references. The poet of the
Nocturnes is obviously inspired by the "Marine Cemetery" (Valéry's most famous
poem) but he rewrites it and adapts it to his perspectives and orientations. With a
subtlety that is up to him, Senghor rethinks, in a happy confusion of ideas and images,
"The Marine Cemetery" through a process whose modalities, forms and functions will
be analyzed in this article.
Keywords: Marine Cemeteries – Death - Origin – Life – Meditation – Water – Mirror
– Star – Sky - Universe.