A contemporary of Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, who is commonly cited as the first African poet to write according to Western conventions, Ramanantoanina was highly critical of the French colonial authority.

[2] Ramanantoanina was born in 1891 in Ambatofotsy, a suburb of Antananarivo in central Madagascar,[3] to a family that belonged to the former Merina aristocracy that had been dissolved upon French colonization in 1896.

[4] After completing his education in a private Protestant school, Ramanantoanina began writing and publishing his work in several local literary journals at the age of 16 under the pen name Ny Avana (rainbow).

[4] His work drew upon the traditional Malagasy poetic form of hainteny, integrating standard characteristics of the form such as embona (nostalgia) and hanina (longing) into his poems as a means to promote the unity of the Malagasy people and encourage a return to traditional values.

[5] After returning from exile in Comoros[1] in 1922,[4] he was excluded from opportunities for a lucrative career with the colonial government, and instead earned a modest living as a clerk in a book shop in the capital city.