The Song of the Smoke
The song was written by Claude McKay during the Chicago anti-black riots, which chased away all black people and sent them back to their motherhoods. This sonnet had a complex rhyme pattern, which included the fourteen lines. Additionally, it contains three quatrains, the first of which rhymes with a, b, a, c, d, and the last of which rhymes with e, f, e, and is also ended with g, g. Due to the lack of stanzas, the poem's framework was also simple. There is also the use of enjambment because the poem lines elongates to each other for the purpose of bringing out the full meaning of it.
Analysis of the Quatrains
In the beginning of the quatrains, the author brings the sense of the battle. The first two lines showed how the speaker spoke to his fellow blacks by use of the word "we" (McKay 1) which referred to them. He also said that if they happen to die, then they should not allow themselves to die "like hugs" (McKay 2) where he used the word metaphorically showing that if they don’t die or get hunted in zones that are seen to be offensive, then they become shameful and dishonored. The third line is a definition of the hunters and why the whites were like "dogs", who chases the blacks with the urge of killing them, and eventually don’t allow the whites to taunt them ( McKay 5).
The Call to Action
The poetic speaker tries to incite the blacks in the second quatrain that they cannot be coward from the whites. In his lines, there were a lot of repetitions like "If we must die" where he emphasizes how important it was to die with honor and glory after a fight. The author also explains how it was important to die 'nobly' so that blood is not wasted. Claude McKay also uses enjambment just as he did in the beginning of his poet. However he continues by saying that when someone dies nobly, because they fought with the monster, they are still honored afterwards. Moreover, the author referred the blacks as kinsmen which was a sign of connection even if they did not come from the same family (McKay 26). Instead they gathered for a common goal which was to finish the enemy. He also continues by showing how the whites dominated a big number to fight, but still for numerous attacks they will give back one offense of killing despite their enormous number (McKay 45). In the midst of the attack, the author questions the blacks why they fight the whites who do not die but at the end they are the ones who are needed in the grave. His conclusion was that if the blacks pushed to fight back, then they should fight till death because the whites prepare for their death during battle.
Conclusion
The author in the poem supports the blacks by encouraging them that if they decide to fight they should be brave enough even if death was to come. At the beginning, we see the poetic speaker talking about blacks by use of animal metaphor but he later changes it into human language because he referred the blacks as individuals of the same situation and culture of suffering. Also the poem is has a theme of love and it is sonnet because it showed the love of Black Nationalism. Lastly the author displays the evilness of the blacks where they had to fight the injustice despite the misery of having members who were still family.
Work cited
McKay, Claude. Selected Poems-“If We Must Die” . 1-64, 2012. Courier Corporation.
