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It seems like really sarcastic that a poem could be both equally an outcry during the Harlem Renaissance and a rallying song for Winston Churchill to persuade his nation to fight against the Nazis, but that is certainly exactly what this kind of poem was. Claude McKay’s “If We Must Die was formerly written about the race riots in Harlem in 1919, and it had been a call up to all African American men it turned out time for these to stand up because of their rights. As with his poetry, McKay himself experienced quite an interesting life.

Born in Jamaica in 1889, he published his first book of poems at the age of 20. From this book known as “songs of Jamaica,  he explains to the reader regarding living the life of an average black in Jamaica. In 1912, he reached America to be able to attend Tuskegee, then moves on to the University or college of Kansas. He flirted with communism and traveled to Europe only to find himself converting to Catholicism in Harlem again. Dying in 1948, McKay undoubtedly left his mark on the world. McKay’s composition “If We Must Die,  leaves a mark of his fierceness when it comes to interpersonal inequality and “bucking its condition. McKay makes a plea to Dark-colored men.

McKay uses various literary methods and equipment in this poem to enhance and emphasize his meaning. He uses “like hogs in line one, which is a simile. This individual immediately commences with this because the reader clearly would not want to spot himself or herself with “hogs. He is establishing the idea that dark people usually do not want to live like pets. Therefore , they must guard their rights. He uses bruit, both in lines 5 and 9. He may infer many other injustices suffered like Harper’s Ferry or slavery.

An extended metaphor would be the creature imagery that is certainly carried throughout the poem with words just like “hogs,  (line 1)”hunted, ” “penned,  (line 2) ” bark,  “mad and hungry pups,  (line 3) “monsters,  (line 7) “cowardly pack (line 13). A metaphor is used equal 7 together with the word “monsters. Once again, McKay is making the conscience choice to evoke animal symbolism because, in the mind, blacks have become pets or animals. They’ve been backed right into a corner like animals, and after this they must decide to fight their very own way out.

His choice of rhetoric or diction clearly displays that of the black man’s dignity and the animal images that dehumanizes the dark-colored man. An example of hyperbole is “If we must die, let it certainly not be like hogs (line 1)and “and for their thousand blows deal one death-blow (line 11). In-line 3, onomatopoeia is used together with the word “bark. A rhetorical problem is used in line 12 with “What though before us lies the open severe? This reminds someone that death waits for everyone, so what have they really have got to lose? Many of these techniques are used to create a sense of urgency inside the reader.

Essentially interpreting this poem is not hard. It really is brief although eloquent. McKay would not feel that his fellow “kinsmen should stand around and enable society or white guy attack them and do absolutely nothing about it. He tells his siblings that they need to fight. They need to show themselves to become brave and fight back against injustice and oppression. They must fight against those who persecute all of them. McKay clearly admits that they could possibly be outnumbered, with the backs pressed to the wall, but they will not go down with out a fight. They will not always be treated like animals within a pen simply by remaining passive, they will sign up for together and fight. If they’ve been made into animals, they will fight like animals.

This poem is obviously a Shakespearean sonnet. One easy method to tell is a rhyme scheme of ababcdcdefefgg. Also the reader is aware because the composition consists of 14 lines and is also made up of three quatrains and a couplet, with the previous rhyming couplet being the “turn. This sonnet is also created in iambic pentameter as to stay with traditional form. The composition is clearly end-rhymed because the vocally mimic eachother scheme advises. There exists repetition in the words “If we must die. 

By simply repeating these words McKay repeats his plea for folks to react, not to just accept the way things are. African Us citizens deserve the same rights and they should get them or at least head out trying. This composition is a call up to Dark-colored men to fight for all their rights. He utilizes a quite classic poetic type with extremely strict rules to talk about a non-traditional topic”African Americans standing for their legal rights. It is formal composition to express a formal message, created almost like a speech or perhaps plea.

McKay’s hatred for the unaggressive nature of black men is demonstrated in this poem. He can calling for dark men to stand up and fight against the injustices which were done to all of them. He says that in the event that they have to pass away, they should in least die fighting, realizing that they were fighting for their trigger. Contemporary society has, in lots of ways, made them into animals. Rather than sitting passively by and being remedied like pets, they should fight like pets or animals. They may have nothing to drop because they may have no privileges and in ways are simply waiting for death.

Works Cited

McKay, Claude, “If We Must Expire,  Recovered October 30, 2007 in Web Site:

McKay, Claude, Gathered October 30, 2007 by Web Site:

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/25