How might one analyze the poem titled "Western Civilization," by Agostinho Neto?

The poem
Western Civilisation, by Agostinho Neto, presents a grimly ironic depiction of a life lived in
crushing poverty and hard work €“ a depiction that contrasts satirically with the poems title.
That title suggests lofty cultural development, an achievement of high standards of culture and
of social development.  The conditions depicted in the poem, however, suggest quite the
opposite.  The title suggests that western civilization is in some way connected with, and
perhaps even responsible for, the conditions the poem describes. The title suggests that the
people who live civilized lives in the western countries (especially in Europe and North
America) benefit materially from the exploitation of the kind of people the poem depicts.  Such
exploitation contradicts the ideal of civilization.

The poem opens by
describing appalling living conditions. The opening presents a house that hardly even deserves
to be called a shack:

Sheets of tin nailed to
posts

driven in the ground

make up the house.

Some rags complete the intimate

landscape.    (1-5)

The tin, the posts, and the rags all suggest the flimsiness of this
structure. The word intimate is especially ironic, since intimacy is usually associated with
privacy and comfort. The word house is carefully postponed until the very end of the third
line, so that it comes as a kind of shock to think that people actually live in such conditions
and consider this kind of habitation a home. Obviously this kind of house can offer little
comfort and little protection from the weather. The word landscape is a bit surprising; a word
such as abode might have seemed more appropriate. Perhaps, however, the word landscape was
chosen to suggest that this shack is just one of many like it and surrounding it.

The next section of the poem presents the return of the houses inhabitant:

The sun slanting through cracks

welcomes the
owner

after twelve hours of slave

labour.  (6-9)

Since the sun is shining when the laborer returns, and since he has
been laboring for twelve hours, perhaps he works partly in the night. Working in darkness would
be symbolically appropriate to his situation. In any case, the reference to the shining sun
seems ironic here; normally the bright sun is associated with life and vitality, but here the
reference merely implies once more how flimsy this mans house is.

The next
several lines are especially effective poetically:

breaking rock

shifting rock

breaking
rock

shifting rock

fair weather

wet
weather

breaking rock

shifting rock  (10-17)

These lines, with their short lengths, strong accents, heavily
emphasized verbs, and highly repetitious phrasing, suggest the sheer monotony of the laborers
life.  His breaks rocks, but his own soul and spirit are surely being broken as well. The
rhythms of the line mimic the strong physical labor involved.

In the final
lines, the speaker once more emphasizes theof the mans life, including the irony of being
grateful to die of hunger. The man has grown old in a kind of literal and symbolic darkness. The
word hunger may also be both literal and metaphorical. He has been hungry for food, but
perhaps he has also been hungry for a better kind of life as well.  We cannot know of the latter
kind of hunger, since the mans situation is presented objectively, from a distance, so that the
poem avoids sentimentality and does not become a piece of overt political propaganda.