This document provides an analysis of the poem "If We Must Die" by Claude McKay. It begins with the full text of the poem. It then discusses some key elements of poetry like rhyme, meter, theme, and imagery. It provides examples from other poems to illustrate these elements. It concludes with discussion questions about two additional poems: "Touched By An Angel" by Maya Angelou and "The Day Keepers" by Arna Bontemps. The summary analyzes poetic devices and encourages critical analysis of themes in different poems.

1. ENGLISH I
October, 2010

2. “IfWe Must Die” by Claude McKay

3. “If We Must Die”
By Claude McKay
If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry
dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,

4. So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though
dead!
O kinsmen we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us
brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one
deathblow!

5. What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly
pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

6.  Watch the video “IfWe Must Die” by Claude
McKay as inspired by a modern rap song.

7.  What makes poetry different from other
forms of literature?

8. A lyrical form of beauty

9.  telling of a story without the use of
conventional structures (sentences).

10.  is presented in verses and makes use of
stanzas.
 The speaker of a poem is called the persona
and not the narrator.

11.  It relies heavily on figurative languages which
makes it difficult for most people to
understand.

12.  The focus of poetry is on the manipulation of
words to achieve the poetic elements and
to execute a message with style.

13. Rhyme, Meter,Theme, and Imagery

14. Elements of Poetry

15.  It is the likeness of the terminal sound of
words. It emphasizes poetic beat.
Ex.
My head looks high
And then falls down,
I give out a sigh
I’m still in this town.

16.  It helps unify a poem because it repeats a
sound that allows us to see the overall
concept of the poem in an artistic manner.

17.  A rhyme scheme of a poem may differ from
another.You determine the rhyme scheme by
labeling the end sound with the use of
letters.
Ex. CanYou See the Pride In the Panther (a)
As he grows in splendor and grace (b)
Toppling obstacles placed in the way, (c)
of the progression of his race. (b)
- “CanYou SeeThe Pride InThe Panther”
byTupac Shakur

18.  Example:
We wear the mask that grins and lies, (a)
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,- (a)
This debt we pay to human guile; (b)
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, (b)
And mouth with myriad subtleties. (c)
- “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar

19. Touched By An Angel
by Maya Angelou

20. QUESTIONS:
1. What is the rhythmic pattern of the poem?
2. What is the interpretation in the first stanza?
Second stanza?Third stanza?
3. Connecting the rhythmic pattern and our analysis
of the stanzas, what is the overall interpretation of
the poem?

21. Elements of Poetry

22.  It is the distinct rhyme you notice when you
read a poem.
Ex.
All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other -
Only the mountain and I.
- “Alone LookingAtThe Mountain” by Li Po

23.  It is the basic rhythmic structure of a line in
a poem.
Ex.
Her mother pawned her wedding ring
To lay her out in white;
She'd be so proud she'd dance and sing
to see herself tonight.
- “A Brown Girl Dead” by Countee Cullen

24.  Meter has two functions.The first is that it
makes the poem enjoyable because of its
“sing-song” aspect.

25.  The second function of meter is that it makes
a poem meaningful. It can always be felt
when we read a poem and lost when we
paraphrase the poem or translate it.

26. The Day Keepers
by Arna Bontemps

27. QUESTIONS:
1. What particular tune did you notice of the poem?
What is this tune?
2. What is happening in the poem?
3. What did you feel while reading the poem? Did the
tune have any effect on the way you understood
it?

28. Elements of Poetry

29.  It is the controlling idea of the poem and the
idea continuously developed by using a set of
key words.

30.  It is usually the dominant feeling the author
tries to convey.
Ex.
When seeing me sickens you
and you walk out
I'll send you off without a word, no fuss.
- “Azaleas” by Kim Sowol

31.  The word ‘theme’ is used to name the
particular subject matter of the poem in
relationship to the reader's previous
observation of the life about him and
within him.

32. “Grace”
by Forrest Hamer

33. QUESTIONS:
1. Who was the persona of the poem?What
was he feeling?
2. What happened in the poem?
3. What is the poem trying to convey?

34. Elements of Poetry

35.  This refers to the "pictures" which we
perceive with our mind's eyes, ears, nose,
tongue, skin, and through which we
experience the "duplicate world" created
by poetic language.

36.  The poet makes use of concrete details that
appeal to the reader’s senses in order to build up
images.
Ex.
Today again I confront a day that is a source of mystery.
In this day the past, present and future are one,
just as each drop of water in that river
is linked to a tiny spring in some mountain valley
and linked to the distant, azure sea.
- “Today” by Ku Sang

37. Eating Alone
by Li-Young Lee

38. QUESTIONS:
1. Cite particular instances from the poem in which
imagery was exemplified. What were these
images?
2. Based on the images, what is our understanding of
the poem?
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest,
how strong was the imagery presented in the
poem?Why?

39.  http://litera1no4.tripod.com/themepoetry_fr
ame.html