CU-MA-Eng-SEM-IV-Specialization I - Postcolonial Poetry-Second Draft

To liberate my people from its yoke! At the end of Enslaved, we see the sorrow pass, and the narrator is able to properly express their hatred; the avenging angel could be a simple metaphor, or it could refer to the Angel of Death from the Christian and Judaic Old Testament (the Book of Exodus), who was the tenth plague sent by God to the Egyptian people for defying Moses’ cry for Israelite freedom. The Angel of Death took the life of every firstborn in the Egyptian capital, saving only those whose homes were marked with lamb’s blood, a message which Moses had shared with the enslaved Israelites. It was this final plague that finally broke the Pharaoh of Egypt enough that he freed every slave in Egypt and commanded them to leave. If this was McKay’s intention, it certainly makes sense as a parallel; the narrator of the poem is certainly crying for a similar calamity, to see the world of their oppressors consumed entirely and destroyed, believing it to be the only way that the racism, slavery, and oppression can be finally lifted from the world. Their people will only be free, the final two lines claim, once the world of the “white man” is entirely destroyed. Historical Context As was mentioned earlier, Claude McKay was born in Jamaica in 1889, where he lived and wrote, beginning writing poetry at the age of ten, and publishing his first poetry collection, Songs of Jamaica, in 1912. In the same year, he left Jamaica and went to the United States to begin his university education. The intense racism and heavily enforced segregation he encountered was a significant shock. He did not stay long in South Carolina, his original destination, but instead left for Kansas State University. His poetry from the time was heavily influenced by these experiences. In 1919, McKay moved to London, England, where his experience fighting against racism continued. Three years later, he published the volume in which Enslaved appears, Harlem Shadows. The influence of this period in McKay’s life is extremely evident in Enslaved. Final Thoughts The words of Enslaved memorialize what a world filled with segregation, racism, and hatred did to the mindset of Claude McKay. Enslaved is a call to answer hatred with hatred, a beautifully and powerfully written call for violent revolution. Every line is filled with sadness, anger, or some combination of the two. As a historic poem, it serves as a powerful reminder of what a racist world creates, the anger and pain it causes that manifest themselves in intelligent talents and enviable skills. It is a look into the early twentieth century in the United States particularly, an image of the world as it was, and a call to reflect on the world as it is. The poem “Enslaved” is very brief. It is, in fact, only fourteen lines, which is the classic sonnet length, and this gives it additional power. As the subject is a fierce raging at injustice, 201 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

the sonnet structure serves to render it as a striking contrast from what is usually associated with a sonnet: love, romance, and gentleness. It is also, and necessarily, a one-note song. This is essential; there is no room to develop a theme, but only to present a single cry, or expression of thought. McKay’s work here is interesting because he presents this expression almost as a literary “aside” in a drama; there is, in fact, a Shakespearean passion to the language which, in combination with the sonnet form, adds to the effect. He has one thing to reveal, or confess, and he does so because the thing demands expression. The sentiment is simple: disgusted at the thought of how long African Americans have been maltreated, he wants his disgust to be known. This disgust is not limited to the history of any one place; it is “the great life line of the Christian West” that has forever demonstrated injustice and oppression. Moreover, he refers to how such universal maltreatment has even denied the African American the home he once knew: “And in the Black Land disinherited/ Robbed in the ancient country of its birth…”. It is hard to conceive of a more complete destruction of a race, than that which obliterates even its original home. In a sense, McKay’s words do not call for any response. He is not out here to generate rebellion. As he presents the living scenario, it is too late for that. Only divine justice can set the scales right again, when the “white man’s world of wonders” is utterly crushed. McKay's word choice leads to most of the imagery in the poem. Strong word choice influences the reader and often helps a picture form in the mind of what the poem is about. The words \"long-suffering race\" helps the audience see slaves working on the plantation, being beaten by watchers and their master. This poem reminds the audience of the pain that slaves and their brethren have felt over the course of many centuries. \"From the dark depths of my soul I cry\" harbors a lot of desperation and agony, and the speaker is clearly trying to have his race be heard and for them to no longer have to hide who they are. McKay has a love of rhyming in his poetry, so Enslaved has a Shakespearean sonnet rhyming structure (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG). It makes the poem flow beautifully and makes it cohesive. The lines seem very connected within the poem because of rhyming. He also uses consonance in line 11 with \"w\" saying \"white man's world of wonders.\" For me, it leaves the line sounding bitter but yet still marveling at the world the white man built and how it seems so vastly different from Harlem at the time. The poet uses figurative language to shape the main points of Enslaved. In line 10 he alludes to the angel of death and destruction that kills the first born sons in Egypt in the Bible. He prays to God that the white man will be overthrown and decimated, leaving the black man to raise himself up. The allusion leaves a very impressive picture in the mind of anyone who is familiar enough with The Old Testament. It is a metaphor saying that white people are the oppressing Egyptians, and the black people are the Israeli slaves. McKay says \"My heart 202 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

grows sick with hate, becomes as lead\" which is a simile saying his heart has hardened and grown cold from all the discrimination and animosity toward his race. Many people's hearts turned to lead and became unfeeling to the world around them, and it shows that anyone can turn hateful if enough hate is shown to them. 10.4. TEXT- TO ONE COMING NORTH AT first you'll joy to see the playful snow, Like white moths trembling on the tropic air, Or waters of the hills that softly flow Gracefully falling down a shining stair. And when the fields and streets are covered white And the wind-worried void is chilly, raw, Or underneath a spell of heat and light The cheerless frozen spots begin to thaw, Like me you'll long for home, where birds' glad song Means flowering lanes and leas and spaces dry, And tender thoughts and feelings fine and strong, Beneath a vivid silver-flecked blue sky. But oh! more than the changeless southern isles, When Spring has shed upon the earth her charm, You'll love the Northland wreathed in golden smiles By the miraculous sun turned glad and warm. 10.5 ANALYSIS -TO ONE COMING NORTH My Poem of the Day is called ‘To One Coming North’ and it is by Claude McKay, who was a Jamaican writer and poet. He was born on the 15th of September 1889 and died on the 22nd of May in 1948. McKay was an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, which allowed African-American writers, musicians and artists to become known for their art and their work. McKays first piece of work was the verse collection Songs of Jamaica and Constab Ballads. McKay won an award for Songs of Jamaica, which he used to finance a trip to America in 1912, where he studied at Kansas State College. When he finished his education, he began to write for a living. 203 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

To One Coming North has a speaker who tells us about the Northland and how well be excited to arrive and see the snow and rivers. However, he tells us that well soon grow tired of the snow and cold and cheerless frozen spots begin to thaw. These adjectives create a feeling of homesickness and sadness as we are getting tired of the coldness of the Northern Isles and miss our home in the Southern Isles. But as it then turns to Spring, we will appreciate it even more as its different to the never-changing Southern Isles and the Northland is wreathed in golden smiles. This metaphor creates a feeling of wonder and astonishment to imagine the Northland in Spring bathed in golden, warm sunlight. This poem is most likely about when McKay moved from Jamaica to America. It was written in 1922 and published in the book Harlem Shadows. This poem realizes how much to appreciate things when they are not there, such as the sun in this example. The speaker missed his home because it was always sunny there, not knowing how much he appreciated it until he was no longer there. This is why he thinks it is so beautiful in the Northern Isles when it turns to spring. I also think that it tells us that some change can be good and useful as it can lead us to experience new things and not to draw our final conclusions about something until we have experienced it fully. “To One Coming North” addresses a traveler coming north from the Caribbean. McKay emigrated from Jamaica to the United States in August 1912. He attended Tuskegee Institute in Alabama before transferring to Kansas State College in October. In 1914, McKay left Kansas State and moved to Harlem (see the timeline in Gene Jarrett’s 2007 A Long Way from Home). Given his personal experience, it is reasonable to think of the speaker in “To One Coming North,” as well as the speakers in the other poems I will discuss here, as McKay himself. In “To One Coming North,” addressing a fictional traveler allows McKay to recall his own emotions and experiences in emigrating from Jamaica. “To One Coming North” opens with the lines “At first you’ll joy to see the playful snow,/Like white moths trembling on the tropic air” (1-2). Here, familiar imagery of the tropics is mingled with snow, a new sight for the traveller. Excitement over the novelty of the new landscape, however, is tinged with a sense of longing for home. This longing, McKay warns, will soon overcome excitement. “Like me you’ll long for home, where birds’ glad song/Means flowering lanes and leas and spaces dry,/And tender thoughts and feelings fine and strong,/Beneath a vivid silver-flecked blue sky.” Interestingly, bird song is the first thought that comes to McKay’s mind when he thinks of home. Bird song not only “Means flowering lanes,” it signifies home. Despite the beauty and newness of the snow, bird song and home occupy McKay’s thoughts in speaking to a fellow traveller from the south. And yet, the next stanza returns to the new landscape awaiting the traveler, a landscape that McKay has become intimate with since leaving Jamaica. McKay tells the traveler that when spring comes, they will once again love the northern landscape, writing, “But oh! more than the changeless southern isles,/When Spring has shed upon the earth her charm,/You’ll love 204 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

the Northland wreathed in golden smiles/By the miraculous sun turned glad and warm” (13- 16). McKay finds joy and charm in the changing of seasons, even suggesting that the traveller will love this changeable new landscape more than the “changeless southern isles.” Still, the sense of longing remains. McKay does not say that the traveller will cease to long for home, only that they will love the north when springtime and the sun replace winter. At the end of the poem, longing and nostalgia, not excitement, are the dominant emotions. Even in expectation of spring, bird song and home persist in Mckay’s and the readers minds. 10.6 DAWN IN NEW YORK - POEM THE Dawn! The Dawn! The crimson-tinted, comes Out of the low still skies, over the hills, Manhattan's roofs and spires and cheerless domes! The Dawn! My spirit to its spirit thrills. Almost the mighty city is asleep, No pushing crowd, no tramping, tramping feet. But here and there a few cars groaning creep Along, above, and underneath the street, Bearing their strangely-ghostly burdens by, The women and the men of garish nights, Their eyes wine-weakened and their clothes awry, Grotesques beneath the strong electric lights. The shadows wane. The Dawn comes to New York. And I go darkly-rebel to my work. 10.7ANALYSIS - DAWN IN NEW YORK The poem “Dawn in New York” by Claude McKay compares a morning scene in New York City to dawn on “the island of the sea.” McKay’s varying uses of repetition and rhyme scene for each place polarizes them and reveals his perception of them relative to one another. The two stanzas allocated to dawn in New York employ an ABABCDCD rhyme scheme. This works to provide a lackluster tone and a sense of monotonous routine. In the stanzas discussing New York, McKay uses diction and sort of simplistic repetition that makes them go on slowly. For instance, when the lonely newsboy’s “humming recent ditty” is paired with “the dawn comes to the city,” the mood is set that it is just another typical day. 205 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

The only references to humans in the poem are also exclusive to the New York stanzas. The first is to “dark figures” sadly going to work, and the other to “a lonely newsboy” hurrying by. Personification is then seen in the description of the city cars: “moaning, groaning,” “tired,” and “crazy, lazy.” These elements all serve as examples that depict the city in a tiresome and tedious light. In contrast with the stanzas about New York, the other stanza (repeated twice) is much more optimistic and upbeat. McKay describes the natural beauty on “the island of the sea” by emphasizing the loud noises of animals and streams. While the stanza about the island also employs a lot of repetition, it is instead with power verbs of the different animals. Onomatopoeia is present when all of them produce their distinct sounds; the cocks are “crowing, crowing, crowing” and the old draft-horse is “neighing, neighing, neighing.” This three-time repetition of their sounds helps to create the scene that all of these animals are lively engaged and simultaneously in action. Ultimately, where the first and third stanzas about New York contain a fairly rigid rhyme scheme, the stanza about the island shows the complete opposite. McKay’s positive descriptions of the island’s natural beauty appear to flow in free manner as opposed to his descriptions about the routine-like and empty New York scene. This differing style is thus representative of McKay’s perception and preference between the contrasting sites. While it seems that the morning infringes upon the city inhabitants, the animals and nature instead create a new promising dawn on the island. These eight bars are from a Claude McKay poem entitled, \"Dawn in New York\". The poem is written as a narrative poem. Claude is witnessing the sunrise, as the sun rays blanket New York City. He is very observant and explains to us the atmosphere that was surrounding him that morning when he watched the sunrise in New York City. I can picture him, standing out on his balcony and shouting because the sunrise he is witnessing is so amazing. He uses many descriptive words in this poem to describe the way the city looks at dawn such as \"crimson tinted\", referring to the sky. Claude describes it as being very quiet. “…Almost the mighty city is asleep…” . New York is supposes to be the city that never sleeps, but at dawn it seems as though it has fallen asleep. There are no people walking the streets, only cars. He uses personification when describing the cars, \"...a few cars groaning creep along...\". He uses an A, B rhyme scheme, along with end rhyme in this poem. Claude uses repetition with the word dawn, which is an important theme of the story, so it makes sense that he repeats the word throughout the poem. The overall context of the poem is, a man that is excited and amazed at the sight of a natural beauty, a sunrise, over one of the most amazing cities in the world. I think he is joyous to finally “make” it to the city. Claude Mckay's \"Dawn in New York\" describes a typical day for blacks in Harlem. McKay's language includes an intertwinement of personification, repetition, A B rhyme scheme, onomatopoeia, symbolism, and sensuous imagery. All of these elements combine create a 206 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

feeling a hustle and bustle: the feeling of Harlem. Each element individually creates its own part in the city of Harlem. The personification of the tired cars, moaning, and groaning. Of the crazy, lazy cars, dying stars, and rumbling milk carton. This gives Harlem the feel that it’s a town that never goes to sleep. Even the inanimate objects move all of the time, making the city stay live. Onomatopoeia is also used in conjunction with the personification. Every other stanza onomatopoeia is used. All of the animals produce their distinct sounds once dawn rises. The three time repetition of their sounds helps to create the seen that all of these animals and inanimate objects are there all at the same time. The more their noises are repeated, the more they are contributing to the bustle of the city. The A B rhyme scheme pairs up the nouns and the verbs that rhyme together. This shows that even though there is much activity going on in Harlem, there is still a sense of unity between everything in certain way. There are also a few uses of symbolism. The dark figures that start for work are the black people beginning to wake up at dawn and contributing their part to the city life. The dull stars fading away into the life of dawn represent the black communities’ oppressors fading away because they are ready to start a new day with new ambitions. The darkness can no longer protect their oppressors, so they leave. So, Dawn in New York McKay is in the heart of Harlem, where all of the black community's dreams are coming to life again. The continuous mention of dawn in New York and not of night represents the black community's beginning to find their own identity and freedom. The sensuous use of language helps give the city a taste for what it wants, and the repetition of the animal's noise gives Harlem \"the beat\" it needs to keep going. Embodiment of the Period \" Dawn in New York \" represents the life of Harlem and the sense of the black community finding themselves. The constant sensuous imagery and use of onomatopoeia keeps the reader's mental and imaginable focus, helping them unconsciously concentrate on the nonstop pace of Harlem. This poem is not about the individual people of Harlem, but rather about the city itself. There is no individual reference to anyone, save for the author. The only reference to anyone is symbolistic (i.e. dark figures) or general (i.e. lonely newsboy). There are also many references to loneliness and almost isolation. The lonely newsboy is one example, under the same dull stars in another example, and the last example is when the author describes himself in the heart of the island of the sea. The loneliness further defines the black community's independence from outsiders around them during that time period. 10.8 IN BONDAGE -TEXT I WOULD be wandering in distant fields 207 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Where man, and bird, and beast, lives leisurely, And the old earth is kind, and ever yields Her goodly gifts to all her children free; Where life is fairer, lighter, less demanding, And boys and girls have time and space for play Before they come to years of understanding-- Somewhere I would be singing, far away. For life is greater than the thousand wars Men wage for it in their insatiate lust, And will remain like the eternal stars, When all that shines to-day is drift and dust But I am bound with you in your mean graves, O black men, simple slaves of ruthless slaves. 10.9 IN BONDAGE- ANALYSIS I would be wandering in distant fields Where man, and bird, and beast, lives leisurely, And the old earth is kind, and ever yields Her goodly gifts to all her children free; Where life is fairer, lighter, less demanding, and boys and girls have time and space for play Before they come to years of understanding-- Somewhere I would be singing, far away. For life is greater than the thousand wars Men wage for it in their insatiate lust, and will remain like the eternal stars, when all that shines to-day is drift and dust but I am bound with you in your mean graves, O black men, and simple slaves of ruthless slaves. Repetition: “I would be\" Imagery: I would be wandering in distant fields. Where man, and bird, and beast, lives leisurely\" Alliteration: \"googly gifts\", \"lighter less\", \"simple slaves\" Caesura: \"Before they come to years of understanding----\" Hyperbole: \"thousand wars\" Simile: \"And will remain like the eternal stars\" Metaphor: When all that shrines to-day is drift and dust\" Closed form: A type of form or structure in poetry characterized by regularity and consistency in such elements as rhyme, line length, and metrical pattern. Rhyme: The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words. Claude McKay was born in Jamaica, West Indies. He was educated by his older brother, who possessed a library of English novels, poetry, and scientific texts. At the age of twenty, McKay published a book of verse called Songs of Jamaica, recording his impressions of black life in Jamaica in dialect. In 1912, he travelled to the United States to attend Tuskegee Institute. He remained there only a few months, leaving to study agriculture at Kansas State 208 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

University. He published two sonnets, \"The Harlem Dancer\" and \"Invocation,\" in 1917, and would later use the same poetic form to record his reactionary views on the injustices of black life in America. In addition to social and political concerns, McKay wrote on a variety of subjects, from his Jamaican homeland to romantic love, with a use of passionate language. During the twenties, McKay developed an interest in Communism and travelled to Russia and then to France where he met Edna St. Vincent Millay and Sinclair Lewis. In 1934, McKay moved back to the United States and lived in Harlem, New York. Losing faith in Communism, he turned his attention to the teachings of various spiritual and political leaders in Harlem, eventually converting to Catholicism. McKay's viewpoints and poetic achievements in the earlier part of the twentieth century set the tone for the Harlem Renaissance and gained the deep respect of younger black poets of the time, including Langston Hughes. He died in 1948. 10.10 SUMMARY  The words of Enslaved memorialize what a world filled with segregation, racism, and hatred did to the mindset of Claude McKay.  Enslaved is a call to answer hatred with hatred, a beautifully and powerfully written call for violent revolution.  Every line is filled with sadness, anger, or some combination of the two.  Claude McKay was one of the most important writers of the Harlem renaissance that happened during World War I and middle 1930s.  The Harlem renaissance was a period where a big explosion of culture and art of the African-American placed in Harlem, New York.  This poem by Claude McKay portrays how hard was life for African-American race, what they passed through in their present, and what they felt about the treats of white people to them.  The poem starts with “Oh when I think of my long-suffering race, for weary centuries despised, oppressed”, by this Claude wanted to give a short description of the past of this race which sadly is true.  This race has been oppressed and enslaved by the white men and by this time they had a little bit more of liberty but now they had to deal with racism.  “Enslaved and lynched, denied a human place, In the great life line of the Christian West; And in the Black Land, disinherited, Robbed in the ancient country of its birth, My heart grows sick with hate, becomes as lead, For this my race that has no home on earth”, This is exactly what I meant with the last sentence. Enslaved and lynched, 209 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

denied a human place by the white men since hundreds of years ago, robbed in the ancient country of its birth, enslaved by Europeans and then by Americans and treated for a long time like they were not humans.  Now he expresses how he and maybe many other African-American felt about this, they felt hate. “Then from the dark depths of my soul I cry, To the avenging angel to consume, The white man's world of wonders utterly: Let it be swallowed up in earth's vast womb, Or upward roll as sacrificial smoke, To liberate my people from its yoke!”, he wants to help his people, he wants to be heard, he wants to give freedom and hope to his race.  The tone of this poem is really demanding and depressive but not sad. There is a shift in the middle because it started calm and depressing, and ended up demanding and angry.  All the Analysis of paintings and poems are connected because all of these were made during the same time period and with the same purposeshow bright and dark parts about the life of an African American.  Show how much they suffered to achieve goals like liberty and stopping racism little by little.  To show that they can be good poets and painters. To show that the black race is capable of doing things that white can do and that they are humans too. 10.11KEYWORDS  Confess - to admit  Bitterness - resentment at being treated unfairly  Erect - stand upright  Cultured - having a good education and refined manners  Vigor - good health  Malice - desire to cause harm to someone  Unerring - always right 10.12 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1. Analyze Claude McKay and the transnational novel ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 210 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

2. Examine - The Fragmented Vision of Claude McKay. ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 3. Discuss - Claude McKay and Black Diaspora ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 10.13 UNIT END QUESTIONS A. Descriptive Questions Short Questions 1. What is enslaved by Claude McKay about? 2. What is the central idea of America by Claude McKay? 3. What did Claude McKay urge African Americans to do? 4. What does to one coming north by Claude McKay mean? 5. What did Claude McKay write about? Long Questions 1. Discuss the main theme of the poem to one coming north. 2. Dawn in New York poem significance? 3. Critically appreciate the poem 'Dawn in New York' 4. Explain the theme of the poem 'In Bondage' 5. Explain the plot and style of the poem 'Enslaved' B. Multiple Choice Questions 1. The words \"long-suffering race\" in 'Enslaved' help the audience see __ working on the plantation a. Slaves b. people c. Africans d. Europeans 211 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

2. The poem 'Enslaved' reminds the audience about the ______ that slaves and their brethren have felt over the course of many centuries a. pain b. agony c. culture d. society 3. ______uses figurative language to shape the main points of Enslaved a. McKay b. Derek c. Judith d. A D. Hope 4. McKay prays to God that the _______man will be overthrown and decimated, leaving the black man to raise himself up a. white b. black c. European d. American 5. McKay alludes to the angel of death and destruction that kills the first born sons in ______ in the Bible a. Egypt b. England c. Europe d. West Answers 1-a, 2-a, 3-a, 4-a, 5-a 212 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

10.14 REFERENCES References book  Patel, G. (2007). Poetry with young people. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.  Thomas J. T. (2004). Child poets and the poetry of the playground. Children’s Literature  Bishop, Edward. (1989). A Virginia Woolf Chronology. Macmillan Press, London.  Spiropoulu, Angeliki. (2010). Virginia Woolf, Modernity and History: Constellations with W.Benjamin. Palgrave, London. Textbook references  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56907/raw-meditations-on-money-1-she- speaks-a-school-teacher-from-south-india Websites  https://d7.drunkenboat.com/db20/reviews/finds-larger-chaos-meena-alexanders- birthplace-buried-stones-wallis-wilde-menozzi  https://ijllnet.com/journals/Vol_5_No_3_September_2018/23.pdf  https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Raw+Meditations+on+Money-a077035217  https://poem.shivyogastudio.in/2021/03/a-school-teacher-from-south-india.html 213 CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)