Claude McKay is the author of the poem “America”. It was written on 1921when McKay lived in a neighborhood in Manhattan. At that time, New York was a center of black American artistic development known as “Harlem Renaissance.” (Meyer 865). McKay thrush this poem wants to demonstrate how he thinks about America. For everyone, America is a wonderful place where several people come to get their dreams, but McKay sees America as a cruel system where the Afro-American’s dreams are destroyed. In the poem “America”, written by Claude McKay, the reader can appreciate social characteristic such as inequality and racism during the first half of the Century XX in United States. McKay, in the poem, shows the perspective of Afro-Americans who came to
Dubbed as “The Greatest Country in the World” by god knows who, America is not as awesome and free as some may see. In doing a close reading of Heather Christle’s “Five Poems for America”, we can see how the author uses metaphors to portray a flawed American, specifically within its political system, religion, obsession with technology and basic human rights. Americans have been living with the oppression of these everyday issues, completely oblivious thus creating the America we infamously know today.
During the 1840’s and 1850’s America experienced its golden age in shipping and sailing.1 At the front of this era was Donald McKay whose innovative ship designs lead to the numerous sea speed records, some of which stand today. For most of the early 19th century American ship building consisted of merchant and cargo ships. It took a long time for these ships to sail across seas. With the increased speed came decreased time to wait for pay. Another need for increased speed was the California gold rush of 1849. People wanted to make the trip as quickly as possible in order to stake their claims. Donald McKay’s clipper ships enabled people to do that.
Throughout the words and the lives of the Beat Generation, one theme is apparent: America, everywhere from Allen Ginsberg’s “America,” to Jack Kerouac’s love for Thomas Wolfe. Although the views of America differ, they all find some reason to focus in on this land. Ginsberg, in his poem “America,” makes a point that not many of us can see as obvious: “It occurs to me that I am America. I am talking to myself again.” Each and every one of us make up America, and when we complain about something that is wrong, we are complaining about ourselves. Being raised by his mother as a Communist, and being homosexual, Ginsberg found many things wrong with America, and he does his fare share of complaining, but at the end he decides, “America I’m putting my queer shoulder to the wheel.” Ginsberg didn’t want to sit and watch everything go wrong. He was going to do something, despite the fact that he was not the ideal American.
Sir John A. Macdonald was one of Canada's founding fathers. He is most remembered as being Canada's first Prime Minister, running the government from July 1, 1867 until November 5, 1873. Macdonald would become Prime Minister once again on October 17, 1878 and would stay in this position until June 6,1891. While he was leader of the country he faced his own share of political obstacles, including Confederation, the Metis rebellion and threats of an American he is among the greatest leaders Canada has ever seen and played a significant part in the forming of Canada as a country.
Claude McKay real name is Festus Claudius McKay was an important person in the Harlem Renaissance, a prominent literary movement of the 1920s. His poems are traditional in technique and on the sentimental side in subject and tone.1
Jean Baptiste Lully was a prolific composer who is best known for establishing French Opera. (Boynick) Born in Florence on the 28th of November 1632, (Boynick) Giovanni Battista Lulli was a miller’s son. (Sadie 2000 pg 166) Lully first arrived in France in March of 1646 (Jean Baptiste Lully) to work as an attendant for a female courtier. (Sadie 2000 pg. 166) “During his six years in her household, Lully, already an expert at the guitar and violin, polished his skills as a performer and composer.” (Straughan (a)) He made a name for himself as a dancer in the court ballets. (Straughan (a))
During the Harlem Renaissance, both Claude McKay and Langston Hughes developed an analysis of their time period through poetry. Each writer has a different poem but allude to the same theme. The White House by Claude McKay and I, Too, Sing, America by Langston Hughes makes a relevant comparison to the racial inequality during the 1900s. Both make a point about how White America has withheld equal rights from Blacks or Black America, making it hard for them to survive. More specifically, The White House speaks about the type of oppression being experienced during racial segregation and trying to triumph over it while I, Too, Sing, America speak about what created their oppression and envisioning change in the future.
The narrator also discusses about a girl about the same age as her would have never been the “right kind of American.” Minorities such as the African Americans, Dominican Americans and any other ethnicity that came to America were looked right under the microscope. This perplexed me I do not understand why they are treated unfairly by the “True Americans.” There is no such thing as True Americans and that this poem definitely targeted it's audience through racial discrimination rather than cultural changes within a neighborhood in Queens, NY. Another Poet had a much refined and unique style of another part of New York City, he is one of my favorite poets Langston Hughes.
Alexis de Tocqueville and Langston Hughes both have their own ideas about what America is, was, and should be. Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America praises American democracy in which everyone is included. This inclusion allows for democracy that everyone can be a part of and feel like they are contributing. On the contrary, Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” depicts an excluding America that does not treat everyone equivalently. Hughes portrays America as a misrepresentation that does not uphold the ideals that it is so famous for. The two works contrast in many ways but do have some similarities. Although their ideas are different, politics is still a choice. Tocqueville describes politics as a choice that everyone should make as it benefits them all while Hughes describes politics as a choice that some do not have the power to take part in. The differing sentiments between Democracy in America and “Let America Be America Again” stem
Sir John A. Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 10, 1815. His fathers name was Hugh Macdonald and his mothers name was Helen Shaw. His father had migrated to Glasgow from the town of Dornach. His father was a very pleasant and easy going guy and he alwasys wanted to make everyhting better but he usually made things worst. He was a man that had lots of friends, he would talk a lot and drink too. His mother came from Spey Vally. His mother was a very smart girl, she was like the opposite of his father. His mother and father got married on 1811, and after 8 years they had 5 children, the eldest child died and after John was the eldest. In Glasgow his fathers business wansn't doing that good and he thought that if they would move to upper Canada they would have a better life there. So finally in 1820 they sailed to upper Canada. They arrived at Kingston in mid July, and John was only five years old. When he arrived his thought about Scotland just disapeard. The Macdonald family decided to stay in Kingston. Sir John A. only went to school untill 1829, when he was only 15. His parents couldn't afford to send him to University. He says that if had went to University he wouldn't have went into politics. When he turned 15 Sir John A. articled to a Kingston lawyer, George Mackenzie, so he was learining Law. In 1832 Mackenzie opened a branch office where he put Macdonald in charge of it. Later on he had taken over another law practice i...
Often depicted as a melting pot, America is always being put on a pedestal by the rest of the world due to the large amounts of successful immigrants in the United States. Millions of people have packed their bags and moved to America in hopes of achieving their dreams. While some succeed, others fail and are let down by the dim reality that not everyone can achieve their goals. This essay will compare the poems, “Let America Be America Again” by Langston Hughes and “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus to exhibit my perspective on both works. Both poems portray people’s hopes that America will be great, however, due to the different eras and the authors’ backgrounds, the poems have different meanings. Lazarus’ poem was written in the early stages of America, as it describes her cheerful
What is the American Dream? In the poem, To Elsie, William Carlos Williams asks us the many questions lurking beneath the pavement of our perception behind the American dream. Questions such as: what are the ‘pure products of America’ and what is the reality of this imagined concept? Through various techniques of texture and form, Williams paints the desolate portrait of an America that has been forsaken.
Gustave Le Bon is a French sociologist who was interested in crowd theories and their unconscious mind. Despite publishing various works detailing his observations and analysis, he was not popular among the scholarly world due to his nature of writings. With the intention to confirm Le Bon’s theories, this paper will explore the parallels and differences between my personal experience and the theories laid out by Gustave Le Bon. An example of a crowd I experience most commonly is in religious settings; while the most “moving” part of being in a crowd occurs during the recitation of Buddhism sutras.
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