Claude McKay’s poem “Outcast” explores the fight within oneself to belong, the longing of the persona to be linked to his people, his roots. The poet employs the uncomplicated and unsophisticated sonnet fabrication as he explores the persona’s...

In W.E.B. DuBois’ The Souls of Black Folk, he introduces two concepts which are key to understanding what life is like for the modern Black American. These concepts are: Double Consciousness, and the Veil. These two concepts are intrinsically...

Claude McKay’s “The Harlem Dancer” is a poem immersed in the rich cultural aesthetic of a cultural renaissance that is unable to conceal its somber song of oppression, even in an atmosphere trying relentlessly to exorcise those sour notes. The...

The Harlem Renaissance was a period when African-American writers, artists expressed and articulated themselves through their writing and art. It was a remarkable era, as for the first time in history, African-American writers and poets were...

Heralded as an early pioneer of the Harlem Renaissance, Claude McKay (1889-1948) is often included in the African American literary cannon. On the surface, his poetry, with its focus on issues of racism and exclusion, appears to fit neatly into...

Poetry Analysis Essay: Claude McKay's "If We Must Die" In the poem,

“If We Must Die” written by Claude McKay, the author was inspired to compose this piece of writing because of the brutality and race riots against the African American society...

Claude McKay, a now-celebrated poet who was active during the Harlem Renaissance, was often seen as a literary voice for social justice for African Americans. One of his most famous poems, known for describing his mixed feelings regarding America...

Claude McKay’s sonnet explores the differences between innocence and guilt; the contrast between our own hateful world and the purity of God. As a result, McKay builds the themes of racism and brutality, most effectively by using biblical allusion...

Claude McKay’s sonnet explores the differences between innocence and guilt; the contrast between our own hateful world and the purity of God. As a result, McKay builds the themes of racism and brutality, most effectively by using biblical allusion...

A Sometimes Vagrant, a Sometimes PhilosopherExamining the Intersection of Diametrically Opposing Lifestyles in Claude McKay’s BanjoThough subtitled “A Story without a Plot”, Claude McKay’s Banjo (1929) paints an acute portrait of black diaspora as...