Search results
America. I love this cultured hell that tests my youth. Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood. Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer. Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand. Claude McKay, "America" from Liberator (December 1921).
- “America” Summary.
- “America” Themes. American Bitterness and Love. See where this theme is active in the poem. National vs. Individual Power.
- Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “America” Lines 1-3. Although she feeds me bread of bitterness, And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth, Stealing my breath of life,
- “America” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language. Personification. See where this poetic device appears in the poem. Metaphor.
- Summary of America
- Structure of America
- Poetic Techniques in America
- America Analysis
Beginning with what is bad about the country, McKay quickly says that he loves it. The poet understands that it is a country that has a quality that inspires strength and passion, although there are certainly many bits that do the opposite. The poem is at once a critiqueand a love letter to the United States of America.
‘America‘ by Claude McKay is written in a sonnet form, measuring 14 lines with an ABABABABABABCC rhyme scheme. The poet is, according to the sonnet structure, split into three quatrains and a final rhyming couplet. Upon the 8th line, the poem has a Volta, with a slight change in direction appearing in the verse. This further divides the pome into o...
One technique that McKay uses is oxymorons. He describes America as a ‘cultured hell’, the idea pairing two contrastingnotions together. Indeed, although hellish, somewhere difficult to live with serious cultural and political problems, there are also elements of ‘culture’ and structure to the country, McKay insinuating his simultaneous love and ha...
Lines 1-4
The opening lines of ‘America‘ focus on the ‘bitterness’ which the country inspires. The daily moments which are horrible, the country being personified and feeding the poet ‘bread of bitterness’. The country is extended into an animal metaphor, ‘sinking into my throat her tiger tooth’, presenting the viciousness of America. McKay focuses on the horrors of the country, the violence, and ‘bitterness’ apparent being a key point of criticism. The alliteration of ’t’ across ‘tiger’s tooth’ compou...
Lines 5-8
These lines in the poem focus on a more positive side of America, highlighting ‘her’ ‘vigor’ that gives ‘strength’ to her citizens. The interrelation of nature and human further emphasizes the brilliance of America, the semanticsof ‘flows like tides’, and ‘like a flood’ relating the strength of America to the power of nature. The collocation of opposing words, ‘Strength… hate’, suggests the paradoxical nature of ‘America‘. While on one hand, McKay is arguing that it is a horrible place, dange...
Lines 9-12
Following the two quatrains which detail the characteristics of America, McKay now moves to his personal perspective. This is instantly suggested through the use of ‘I’, the poet placing himself at the forefront of discussion and emphasizinghis individuality. Although within the country, he can distance himself from its patriotism in order to critique it. The power the country exudes allows him too ‘stand with her walls’ without ‘terror, malice, not a word of jeer’. He presents the idea that...
People also ask
What is America by Claude McKay?
Who was Claude McKay?
Who wrote 'America' by Claude McKay?
Is Claude McKay a real person?
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer. Darkly I gaze into the days ahead, And see her might and granite wonders there, Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand, Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand. This poem is in the public domain. America - Although she feeds me bread of bitterness.
‘America’ is a 1921 poem by Claude McKay (1889-1948), a Jamaican-American poet who is often regarded as the first major poet of the Harlem Renaissance. In ‘America’, McKay offers an ambivalent and deeply critical appraisal of the United States of America in the 1920s.
Track 84 on Emily Dickinson. “America” by Claude McKay is a traditional English rhyming sonnet, consisting of three quatrains and a couplet written in iambic pentameter. It was first...
May 13, 2011 · Claude McKay. Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay was a Jamaican-American writer and poet, who was a seminal figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He wrote four novels: Home to Harlem, a best-seller that won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature, Banjo, Banana Bottom, and in 1941 a manuscript called Amiable With Big Teeth: A Novel of the Love Affair Between the Communists and the Poor Black Sheep of ...
