America
by Claude McKay
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate.
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.
This beautiful sonnet by Claude McKay manages, as many of his poems do, to combine hope and anger, optimism and dismay, and all types of rhyme.
I love the first two lines a lot. We know from the title who the "she" in the poem is, and McKay immediately gives us two incredible phrases: "bread of bitterness" and "sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth." Bread--a basic life source--is still feeding the speaker, but it is a bread filled with bitterness. The use of bitterness here is wonderful--a flavor and a state of being/an attitude.
If that weren't bad enough, America is also going for the throat like a tiger, sinking a tooth (not all teeth) into the throat, where air is breathed and food, like bread, is swallowed.
In the next two lines, the speaker tells us straight out: America is killing me, but I love her. This complex duality makes sense when you know that McKay was Black, he was an immigrant from Jamaica, and he lived in the United States from 1912 until his death in 1948.
The duality contines through the poem. America's own energy gives the speaker energy to stand up to America's racism.
The ending is not terribly optimistic, but it is not entirely pessimistic either. The speaker looks ahead in time, and sees America's treasures--the things he loves about this country-- being diminished by/with time.
Let's hope McKay was not privy to actual reality, and that America can keep what has been her ideals.
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