Claude McKay’s “America”: A Bridge Between Old and New Form
...English or Shakespearian sonnet rhyme scheme (a b a b c d c d e f e f g g) as opposed to using the Petrarchan style. The rhyme words used in this sonnet such as blood, flood, hate, and state give an image of a very troubled, bitter man. These words allow McKay to express many of his thoughts. Not only is he troubled, but as he will elude to later in the poem, America could be in trouble. The way things are being conducted in America is leading it down a troubled path. To get a good idea of how form and meaning coincide, one must look at certain sections of the poem broken down. The first seven lines are written in a very unbalanced way. These lines make up parts of unique quatrains. In these first seven lines, McKay seems to reach back to the old form of sonnet to revive the recurring theme of the unfair-mistress. He explains how the "tiger's tooth" of feminine America takes the breath out of him and makes his life very difficult. Even in the very first line of the sonnet, McKay gives the reader a taste of both sides. He lets them have the “bread,” but it also comes with much pain and bitterness. He also speaks how the "vigor flow like tides" from America to her lover. McKay's imagery of being troubled, but sustaining it, dramatizes the traditional sonnet logic in which the cruel mistress takes down her victim. McKay, throughout this sonnet, confesses a love for the nation’s "cultured hell," where someone can learn that America's every ounce of beauty, hatred, and even boastfulness is a document of thievery. In saying this, McKay is saying that America has become a very greedy nation. Almost as if all that is good here, or seems good, is actually obtained through evil deeds. We can also tell a lot about form and structure by simply looking at the turn of this sonnet. In line eight, the poem’s drama begins to pivot down a different path. Using a simile, McKay is able to tie the way in which the speaker stands within America's walls to the style in which "a rebel fronts a king in state." The reader is able to feel the lines importance as it is right in the middle of the sonnet. One can tell a lot about the overall message McKay is trying to convey in looking at this turn. Taking a look at the last six lines, we can begin to draw some conclusions to how this man is feeling. He begins these final lines by finishing a description of how he stays inside this country’s walls without saying anything. This is saying that he doesn’t complain about the terrible life he has been given. The most important part of these final lines though is the impression McKay is trying to make stick with the reader. To summarize, McKay tries to pass along a warning to the reader that the very things that are going on in America at that time, are the very things that could bring them down. He knows what a beautiful place Americ...