Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The speaker is a symbolic incarnation of people of color speaking from the point-of-view of someone who faces systemic racial discrimination that denies opportunities on the basis of racial prejudice. The poem is narrated in the first person, as the speaker decries the racism they have experienced and demonstrates their resilience.
Form and Meter
The poem follows the form of a traditional 14-line Shakespearean sonnet, but has no stanza breaks. It uses the traditional meter of the sonnet, iambic pentameter.
Metaphors and Similes
Line 2 contains a simile in which the speaker compares himself to a steel blade, emphasizing how his anger focuses and hardens him.
The "poison" in line 14 is a metaphor for racism. Like poison, racism has tainted and destroyed American society.
Alliteration and Assonance
"I am sharp as steel with discontent"
Repetition of the "s" sounds. This intensifies the feeling of rage expressed by the speaker.
"To bear my anger proudly and unbent. / The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet, / And passion rends my vitals as I pass,"
Repetition of the "p" and "b" sounds. These round, bold sounds reflect the speaker's determination and assuredness as they stand against racism.
Irony
The sonnet has traditionally been the form of choice for writing romantic poetry expressing love. It is therefore an ironic choice by the poet considering it is such an intense expression of rage and bitterness by the speaker.
Genre
Protest Poem; Harlem Renaissance Poetry; Sonnet
Setting
The broader setting of the poem is America in the early 1920s. The immediate setting is a symbolic street where the speaker walks by houses with tightly shut doors.
Tone
The overall tone of the poem is one of contained but simmering rage against inequality.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: the speaker as a representative symbol of the victims of hate. Antagonist: those who have been poisoned by the spread of hate and react with prejudice and discrimination.
Major Conflict
The poem is an encapsulation of the conflict in America created by inequitable racial division.
Climax
The poem climaxes with the speaker asserting that he will not allow himself to be poisoned by the same hate which creates racial prejudice.
Foreshadowing
The title foreshadows that the subject and theme of the poem will be racial discrimination in America.
Understatement
"Keep my heart inviolate" is an understated way of expressing the difficulty of constantly being a victim of racism without becoming racist in return.
Allusions
The title alludes to the official residence of the president as a subtle implication of how political power in the United States had historically been reserved exclusively for whites.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
"Wrathful bosom" is a metonym within a metonym. Bosom is a metonym for "heart" and heart is a common metonym for deeply felt emotions.
The closed door is a metonym for the exclusion of Black people from the White House, which in turn represents their exclusion from the culture and economy.
Personification
"Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass." (Line 8).
The door is personified as shutting out the speaker "boldly," reflecting the blatant, clear racism of American society.
Hyperbole
N/A
Onomatopoeia
N/A
