This poem was written during the red summers in which the white people were brutally killing and attacking the African American. This was an extremely racist time and was not a good time for the African American community. This poem has some physical features. If you look back at the poem you can see that the last words in the first and third line rhyme, the same with the second and fourth, fifth and seventh, sixth and eighth, ninth and eleventh, tenth and twelfth and the thirteenth and fourteenth. Claude also uses similes e.g. “like men” and “like hogs”. He also uses metaphors e.g. “bark the mad and hungry dog” and also he uses rhetorical questions e.g. “what though before us lies the open grave?”. At the very start of this poem Claude McKay begins with a conditional statement (if we must die). With this he sets up the rest of his poem with the conflict between the antecedent (the black race) and the consequent (the racism that come with being black). He then asks that if we must die to reach our goals we must die with dignity. …show more content…
He refers to hogs as they are pigs that are brought up for no other purpose than to be slaughtered. However the ways in which they are slaughtered are often ruthless, extremely painful and there is no regard for their value of life. This told his people (African Americans) not to die like hogs and be slaughtered by the white people and their racism. This was extremely influential as this poem was written during the time of the red summer in which what Americans would go out and ruthlessly kill the innocent African Americans. He is asking his fellow people to stand up for themselves and not to subject to these act of violence and
The poem opens upon comparisons, with lines 3 through 8 reading, “Ripe apples were caught like red fish in the nets/ of their branches. The maples/ were colored like apples,/part orange and red, part green./ The elms, already transparent trees,/ seemed swaying vases full of sky.” The narrator’s surroundings in this poem illustrate him; and the similes suggest that he is not himself, and instead he acts like others. Just as the maples are colored like apples, he
In the poem, it says, “ Does it dry up/like a raisin in the sun?”. Since they are comparing two dissimilar things using “like” or “as”, it is a simile. In “Harlem Night”, there is imagery. In the poem, it says, “Moon is shining./Night sky is blue./Stars are great drops/Of golden dew” (Hughes 7-10). There is nice, descriptive images.
...xperienced about not being able to eat at the table when guests would come which refers to how White America has been treating Black America. He then comes to the conclusion that this too shall pass and believes that he will be able to overcome his oppression. McKay portrays his experiences by speaking in a more mature tone about the significant events that have occurred and tries to find a way to tolerate the oppression. He lets White America know that what they have done to Black America was wrong. He shows that even though white America has alienated African Americans and treated them with disrespect, he will not stoop to their level although he is angry about it. The writers make it clear that their poems may differ yet they hold the same meaning of that White America has wronged Black America but it shall pass and in the future they will regret their actions.
“Your beliefs don’t make you a better person, your behavior does.” This quote comes from a picture found on flickr and makes me think about my younger days as I learned how to be a leader in scouting and it’s similarities to the poem, “A Little Scout Follows Me.” The moral of the poem is that there are always younger eyes watching and learning from those they look up to, even those that don’t realize they are being watched.
He is very disapproving and wants to persuade the African Americans to make a move. Claude McKay was a prominent figure during the Harlem Renaissance, so this would make it easier for him to persuade the African Americans. McKay believed that the treatment the African Americans were undergoing was utterly humiliating, and it was up to him to start a revolution. He also believed that African Americans deserved honor and respect, and this meant they should do anything to achieve their honor. Claude says, “The monsters he and his readers resist will be obliged to honor them, even though they are dead,” which suggests that McKay knew his poems would one day make a difference in the world even if it was after he died (Poetry for Students). Throughout the entire poem, McKay is encouraging his readers to make a difference and begin fighting back against the white Americans. The poem serves as a battle cry for the African Americans, so they could understand the harsh treatment they were putting up with and make a difference (Griffin). Claude McKay insisted, “Men should not be like penned-up animals that submit to their fate” (Poetry for Students). This shows that McKay thought a revolution was vital to saving the African American race. He did not believe the African Americans should put up with this unfair treatment and submit to this awful faith.
...eparation between blacks and whites, and he uses both positive and negative word choices. One example shows how McKay, along with all the other African Americans of America, are “sharp as steel with discontent”, and how they are proud to express their frustration to the world. This communicates his hopeful attitude because it encourages other black citizens to do the same. He proves his tone when he tells African Americans to stay strong and to ignore the discrimination happening around them.
The Harlem Renaissance inspired, and was inspired by some of the greatest poets, musicians and artists of the century. Among these great minds, were the poets Langston Hughes, and Claude McKay. Though motivated by the same hardships, people, and events, the works of both Hughes, and McKay show glaring differences in the perspectives of the authors. Upon reading “Harlem” by Hughes, the audience may easily see the author’s more peaceful call to action. In contrast, after reading “If We Must Die,” one can infer that McKay prefers to call his audience to obvious (physical) action. Langston Hughes’s poem portrays a more passive overtone, while Claude McKay’s poem is more aggressive. There are, however, a few similarities between the two works of
...for equal rights. In some poems McKay even called for violent acts to change the laws, however, as an educated man, reason prevailed. As result he adopted religion, and his poetry, like himself became conflicted. Out of this confliction came some of the most powerful African American poetry in history. Claude McKay poured his soul onto to paper, and as a result, it seeps in to all who read it.
Claude McKay was an important figure during the 1920's in the Harlem Rennaisance. Primarily a poet, McKay used the point of view of the outsider as a prevalent theme in his works. This is best observed in such poems as "Outcast," "America," and "The White House." In these poems, McKay portrays the African-American as the outsiderof western society and its politics and laws and at times, the very land that he is native to.
The poem opens a thought of the American Dream, about what he wants America to be, and his hope for the country. The beginning line of the poem entails that America has to be the same America it once was, to me it’s a lie. America back then practiced slavery and oppression, it destroyed the lands of people to build their own homes. The ideal of an “America” was all a dream. It’s what they wanted for their America to be. We as people should be able to rise up and redefine the American equality and take back our land. The poem serves a powerful message of equality. The theme of this poem is against injustice and inequalities that exist in America and that can corrupt the American dream. All characters in the novels we read for the semester i.e. The African, Quick skills, and Tucker, have a lot of similarities with the poem, “Let America Be America Again”. They led their people to freedom by fighting against slavery and restrictions. The African escaped from his master. The African vowed to be free and never be enslaved again. Quickskill came to liberate the fellow slaves, who were enslaved in his master 's plantation. Tucker realized that he had some worth, and wanted freedom for his family. All three of these characters laid their lives on the line for their fellow men. They would rather prefer to die with dignity rather than become a white man’s property. They wanted
In Claude McKay “If we must die” the primary theme is death, but not on how you’re going to die, but how you’re going to face death in certain ways. We get the idea that the speaker of "If We Must Die" isn 't thinking about death in the theoretical sense; he 's actually facing it. It 's not a question of whether he will die or what will happen when he dies, it about how he will meet death. “Pressed to the wall, Dying, But fighting back!” and “ though far outnumbered, let us show us brave, and for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!” show how they will fight back before death occurs as a sign of influence.
McKay expresses his enemy as a pack of dogs stating that they are “mad and hungry dogs”. He also states that the pack of dogs mock their prey. The dogs are supposed to represent the white men and how they treated African Americans at the time. The poem is simply stating let us (African Americans) die in peace and do not push us to death or torture us. This poem acts as call to action for African Americans to rise up and not let the whites treat them like this. In two lines in the poem McKay states, “If we must die, let it not be like hogs” “If we must die, O let us nobly die,”. McKay is trying to emphasize to African Americans to not let these white men who think they are above everyone else kill them mentally and physically. He is also to trying to emphasize to not let the white men kill them in their foolish ways, and to take a stand fight for equality so they will die nobly. Wagner discusses again how McKay’s poem can rally African Americans together, “[With the publication of “If We Must Die” McKay became] the incarnation of the new spirit and the spokesman for a whole people at last resolved to witness no longer, in registration and submissiveness, the massacre of its own brothers at the hands of the enraged white mob, but to return blow for blow and , if necessary, to die” (Wagner). The poem paints a picture of battle scene where a captain or a general is trying to rally his troops up. It is trying to get their blood pumping and get them ready to fight a battle whether it be verbally or
McKay’s long poem contains many progressions. There is no space between lines; it is a continuous poem as it requires the readers remain focus from the beginning to the end. This poem could be effectively presented as a speech to soldiers who are about to fight with their enemies. Therefore, the poem must be long so that it can gradually stir up the morale of the soldiers. Each line is almost the same length, indicating the formal attitude of the speaker who is possibly the leader. Also, as a motivational speech, it has to be consistent so that it can capture the soldiers’ attention without distraction. However, in contrast, the length of “Harlem” is short, and the poem is inconsistent: it consists of eleven lines broken into four stanzas. The first and last stanzas contain one line, while the other two contain seven and two lines respectively. Some lines are short, others are longer. Therefore, readers might become uncomfortable or frustrated while reading it; but this seem to be the poet’s purpose, Hughes utilizes the length of his poem to convey to readers, especially the whites, the blacks’ feelings of dreams being deferred because of racism and injustice in society. Additionally, because the poem is short, the readers might understand Hughes’ point quickly. It also implies that the speaker has
A specific example of a man who tosses three girls out the window and then plunges to his own death serves to show us the horror of the situation. the poem then continues on to tell us of in humane conditions in Scotland. It ends by telling us about the slaves who picked and planted the cotton. The speaker seems to be telling us a story in order to inform us of what's going on in the shirt industry.Robert Pinsky doesn't have many obvious examples of diction in his work, although hints of it can be found. There is a simile in the first line of the tenth stanza.
To begin with, the Harlem Renaissance poets use similes to explain the story without actually saying what is really happening. In the Claude McKay’s poem, “If We Must Die”, McKay says, “If we must die, let it not be like hogs”(McKay 1). Instead of saying for them not to go obnoxiously and messy, the author compares it to hogs. Similar to McKay’s poem, in Countee