America By Claude Mckay Analysis
Claude McKay’s poem titled ‘America’ was published 1921. It explores the themes love and hatred of America in the black community. The wonderful literature ‘America’ uses symbolism, rhyme and meter to express the duality of the author’s feelings toward the hypocritical and oppressive American society.
The fourteen-line poem “America” was written in the Shakespearean style. McKay refers to America as “her”, and uses personification to present it as a living being. The poem’s rhyme scheme is similar to William Shakespeare’s (abab.cdcd.efef.gg) and is meant to convey the author’s dualistic attitude towards America. The writer says that even though his country feeds him bitterness and attempts to choke his throat with its “tiger’s teeth”, he still feels warmth for them. To give the poem some rhythm, the writer uses iambic meter. The poem’s first quatrain describes the discord in the writer’s soul. Claude McKay stated that he loved his country but this causes him pain as America has taken his ‘breath-of-life’. The writer sees America as a vampire, which feeds on his veins to survive. McKay also likens America to a wild Tiger: “And sinks into mine her tiger’s tooth.” According to McKay’s intuition, the exotic nature of the tiger is a reflection of America’s multi-cultural society. The American flag’s stripes are also represented by the stripes displayed on the animal’s back. McKay makes this comparison to show that America is a dangerous predator that uses inhumane methods to torture black communities.
The poem’s second section, consisting of lines 5-10, gives additional insight into McKay’s feelings about America. McKay describes the country as a river or a sea, comparing it to a large river or a huge ocean. He says that America’s energy flows into his veins like tides, and that she sweeps over him ‘like an earthquake’. The author points out how the country overwhelms him and gives him strength as well as inspiration, even when he is subject to her violence towards black people. Although the author is positive about America, he does his best to avoid expressing affection and instead uses neutral words like “bigness” rather than “splendor”. The writer suggests that America is more like the monarchical states than the democratic countries in lines 8-10.
The last quatrain introduces readers to McKay’s predictions for the future of America. McKay begins the section by saying “darkly” and predicting that America’s future will be dark. The writer is well aware that every empire has a fate and predicts that the hands will eventually overthrow the country and dig it up under the sand. In order to illustrate America’s fate, Claude McKay deliberately added the words’sinking into the sand’ to the end of his poem. The author reminds us that America, despite its grandeur and brilliance, will eventually be lost.
All things considered, America’ is a complex poetry that uses literary devices like rhyme, meter and symbols to communicate the author’s mixed feelings about America and its society. This poem is by Claude Mckay, which describes the struggles of a black man living in the 1920s. This poem demonstrated how oppression helped Mckay to become stronger than it brought him down. This poem stresses the importance of confronting your problems and fighting to overcome them. The poet speaks about feeling oppressed and treated badly by “America”, but will still love “her” for his strength and power. The author discusses his experiences with racism. He also describes how he battled through it and kept going strong. This poem can be used as a reminder to others about oppression around the world. Rather than let it slowly kill you, why stop fighting through it?
