The tone of the poem is one of aggression and rebellion. McKay used plosive syllables throughout his poem to convey the sounds of violence. These plosive syllables are found in the consonants, p, s, t, and f. The speaker of the poem is tired of being cut off: “your door is shut against my tightened face” (McKay, 1). The “your” that the speaker is referring to is White America. The speaker feels like White America is shutting out Black America. The speaker is not afraid to express their unhappiness on this unfair treatment: “and I am sharp as steel with discontent;/ but I possess the courage and the grace/ to bear my anger proudly and unbent” (McKay, 2-4). The I the speaker is referring to really means we, the we is the African Americans. The
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Hughes was loved by Harlem: “…with his high-pitched voice, nervous courtliness, and large Phi Beta Kappa key gleaming on the chain across a vested, roly-poly middle, he was the proper poet with proper credentials” (Lewis, 77). Hughes was a Harvard graduate and also a winner of a Nobel Prize. Hughes wanted his poems to pass on a message and reflect the life experiences of the oppressed. Hughes was writing: “mostly because, when I (Hughes) felt bad, writing kept me from feeling worse” (Lewis, 79). Hughes wrote The Nergo Speaks of Rivers, on a train to Mexico, it was: “Hughes’s defiant gesture of rejection of Nathaniel Hughes (his father) and an affirmation of the folks whose oblivion was a matter of perspective” (Lewis, 79). Hughes wrote The Nergo Speaks of Rivers as a way of demonstrating the role that Africans had played throughout history and their importance. Hughes was rebelling against the ideals his father had towards Africans. Hughes’s father Nathaniel Hughes “…loathed the poor, despised Afro-Americans” (Lewis, 78). It was this rebellion against his father that lead Hughes to sympathies with the oppressed and tell their life stories. The Nergo Speaks of Rivers reveals the Blacks’ lineage throughout history, and instills a sense of pride in that
Hughes was loved by Harlem: “…with his high-pitched voice, nervous courtliness, and large Phi Beta Kappa key gleaming on the chain across a vested, roly-poly middle, he was the proper poet with proper credentials” (Lewis, 77). Hughes was a Harvard graduate and also a winner of a Nobel Prize. Hughes wanted his poems to pass on a message and reflect the life experiences of the oppressed. Hughes was writing: “mostly because, when I (Hughes) felt bad, writing kept me from feeling worse” (Lewis, 79). Hughes wrote The Nergo Speaks of Rivers, on a train to Mexico, it was: “Hughes’s defiant gesture of rejection of Nathaniel Hughes (his father) and an affirmation of the folks whose oblivion was a matter of perspective” (Lewis, 79). Hughes wrote The Nergo Speaks of Rivers as a way of demonstrating the role that Africans had played throughout history and their importance. Hughes was rebelling against the ideals his father had towards Africans. Hughes’s father Nathaniel Hughes “…loathed the poor, despised Afro-Americans” (Lewis, 78). It was this rebellion against his father that lead Hughes to sympathies with the oppressed and tell their life stories. The Nergo Speaks of Rivers reveals the Blacks’ lineage throughout history, and instills a sense of pride in that