Claude McKay’s poem “America”, expresses his feelings about the USA and describes he uses negative qualities about the country to fuel his own personal ambitions. Although McKay thinks America is great, he thinks that due to its ignorance, it is losing important factors to make it better. Mckay shows this through the use of symbolism of America 's qualities, the structural choice of a Shakespearean sonnet, and the shift of feeling in the last four lines of the poem.
The first line of “America” McKay refers to the USA as “she” (1) to personify the country, and making it clear that this poem is a more personal connection and includes his own feelings towards America. The symbolism that is used throughout the whole poem is first used in the same …show more content…
His “youth” is representative of himself and his childhood ambitions. WE …show more content…
This shift makes it seem that there is a small theme or specific way in which he describes the United States for a set amount of lines. In the first four, America is described as bitter, and as a danger like a “tiger’s tooth” (2). However, in the second set of descriptions, he uses liquids and liquid related subjects in his symbolism. The “vigor” (5) of America “flows” (5) into McKay’s blood “like tides” (5). He acknowledges that this country has power and strength, and that he symbolically takes it all into himself which gives him “strength”(6). McKay says he uses this to “erect against her hate”(6) which refers back to the racial aspect of this poem. By using America 's own vigor, he fights back against the country which he feels so passionately about, which is quite ironic considering McKay hates America for all of its bad attributes, but uses these attributes to give him strength. It is also interesting since before McKay mentioned earlier that America feeds him the bread, or provides for his life, and yet he still rises up against that which provides his whole life sustenance. “Her bigness” (7) is used in a very open connotation in that McKay is not specifically talking about the literal geography, but all the aspects of America is what “sweeps” (7) his “being like a flood” (7). America is described as a flood to help emphasize how powerful McKay thinks America is. Powerful floods can be considered to be
The first line of “America” McKay refers to the USA as “she” (1) to personify the country, and making it clear that this poem is a more personal connection and includes his own feelings towards America. The symbolism that is used throughout the whole poem is first used in the same …show more content…
His “youth” is representative of himself and his childhood ambitions. WE …show more content…
This shift makes it seem that there is a small theme or specific way in which he describes the United States for a set amount of lines. In the first four, America is described as bitter, and as a danger like a “tiger’s tooth” (2). However, in the second set of descriptions, he uses liquids and liquid related subjects in his symbolism. The “vigor” (5) of America “flows” (5) into McKay’s blood “like tides” (5). He acknowledges that this country has power and strength, and that he symbolically takes it all into himself which gives him “strength”(6). McKay says he uses this to “erect against her hate”(6) which refers back to the racial aspect of this poem. By using America 's own vigor, he fights back against the country which he feels so passionately about, which is quite ironic considering McKay hates America for all of its bad attributes, but uses these attributes to give him strength. It is also interesting since before McKay mentioned earlier that America feeds him the bread, or provides for his life, and yet he still rises up against that which provides his whole life sustenance. “Her bigness” (7) is used in a very open connotation in that McKay is not specifically talking about the literal geography, but all the aspects of America is what “sweeps” (7) his “being like a flood” (7). America is described as a flood to help emphasize how powerful McKay thinks America is. Powerful floods can be considered to be