

What did you learn about the sonnet
yesterday?
What do you know about Jamaica? What do
you want to know? (KWL chart)

We are going to continue our examination of
the sonnet in this lesson. Now, we are going
to read three sonnets by Jamaican-American
poet Claude McKay and see how the form can
be used in a different time and place.
Mckay lived from 18891948 and was born in
Clarendon, Jamaica.
 In Jamaica, he trained
to be a carriage driver
and cabinet maker, but
actually worked as a
police officer as he
started writing poetry.
 (pic from wikipedia)



Mckay immigrated to the USA in 1912 to study
at the Tuskegee Institute
He later moved to Harlem and became a central
figure in the Harlem Renaissance
 Poetry
 Novels
 Biographies

Upon arriving in the United States, Mckay has to
face strict “Jim Crow” laws and racial violence
that did not exist in his home country.

At this time, Jamaica was a British colony
 1665-1962


The vast majority of Jamaicans are of African
ancestry. Until the abolishment of slavery in
1834, plantation cultivation of sugar and
sugar products made England rich.
During Mckay’s era, the population of
Jamaica was about 80% black and 15% white.

Segregation and Jim Crow laws

“Great Migration” of African Americans from
the rural south to the urban north and west.

Race riots and lynchings
 1919 – The “Red Summer”
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OytIIur3Ck

“The whites at home constitute about 14% of
the population only and they generally
conform to the standard of English
respectability. The few poor ones accept their
fate resignedly and live at peace with the
natives. The government is tolerant,
somewhat benevolent, based on the principle
of equal justice to all” (Passion 48).


“I am a black man, born in Jamaica, B.W.I., and
have been living in America for the last six years.
During my first year’s residence in America I
wrote the following group of poems. It was the
first time I had ever come face to face with such
manifest, implacable hate of my race, and my
feelings were indescribable. I sent them so
you may see what my state of mind was at the
time. I have written nothing similar to them
since and don’t think I ever shall again” (Passion
48).

“I had heard of prejudice in America but never
dreamed of it being so intensely bitter; for at
home there is also prejudice of the English sort,
subtle and dignifyed, rooted in class
distinction—color and race being hardly taken
into account. It was such an atmosphere I left for
America. . . . In the South daily murders of a
nature most hideous and revolting, in the North
silent acquiescence, deep hate half-hidden
under a Puritan respectability, oft flaming up
into an occasional lynching—this ugly raw sore in
the body of a great nation. (Passion 48)

Paraphrase Mckay’s quotes into your own
words.

Write a letter on behalf of Mckay to his family
in Jamaica. Explain how racism is different in
Jamaica and in America and what challenges
he is facing as a black man in the USA in the
1910’s.
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! We must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
(McKay, Passion 124)
His Spirit in smoke ascended to high heaven.
His father, by the cruelest way of pain,
Had bidden him to his bosom once again;
The awful sin remained still unforgiven.
All night a bright and solitary star
(Perchance the one that ever guided him,
Yet gave him up at last to Fate’s wild whim)
Hung pitifully o’er the swinging char.
Day dawned, and soon the mixed crowds came to view
The ghastly body swaying in the sun.
The women thronged to look, but never a one
Showed sorrow in her eyes of steely blue.
And little lads, lynchers that were to be,
Danced round the dreadful thing in fiendish glee.
(McKay, Passion 122)
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
and sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate,
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
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.
(McKay,Passion 126)





Step 1 : each scholar receives one of three
poems
Step 2: scholars group with 1 or 2 other students
with same poem and complete analysis sheet
together
Step 3: scholars group with 2 students with other
two poems according to letter on poem handout
Step 4: each member shares their poem and
analysis with group
Step 5: each group collaborates to complete
analysis chart

These three poems all address the same
theme and relate to the same message. What
is the universal message in these poems in
your opinion? Which poem is the most
effective? Use textual examples!